6/23 Tucker pmps 53.2, +6 32.43

Tucker

Tucker

Member Since 2018
After 8+ years as a diabetic momma I’ve learned how to deal with the occasional hypo but Tucker is doing something new right now and I could use some group advice, please?? It’s 1am in Australia and I’m 1 day home from the hospital myself- and not allowed to drive for a week! Our closest emergency vet hospital is appx 45 minutes away and Tucker freaks out in the car so I’m afraid grabbing an Uber would kill him so I’m trying to do the best I can here. He’s been having some back leg neuropathy for the past year, but I was told his recent bloods and urine have improved and he was looking great 2 weeks ago. Tucker has been extremely regulated with a pretest in the 145 range and 90 at nadir for the last 6 months. I tested Tuck before tea and he was a little low so I’ve stayed up with him. I try to avoid giving him honey because he gets so sick on the bounce back. I usually give him small amounts of medium carb food and ease him back into safe territory should he dip below 40. Tonight he fell asleep on my chest purring and I woke up to little puffs of air on my face. I’ve tested him and he’s 1.8/32.43. I’ve given him a tsp of medium carb food and he’s responding, purring but still breathing a bit hard - not panting but even through his purring I can see his head moving in time with his breath. He’s laying here with his head on his tester pack purring his head off, but his breathing is definitely heavier than normal. Has anyone experienced similar and can you give me some advice, please??
 
Tucker said:
After 8+ years as a diabetic momma I’ve learned how to deal with the occasional hypo but Tucker is doing something new right now and I could use some group advice, please?? It’s 1am in Australia and I’m 1 day home from the hospital myself- and not allowed to drive for a week! Our closest emergency vet hospital is appx 45 minutes away and Tucker freaks out in the car so I’m afraid grabbing an Uber would kill him so I’m trying to do the best I can here. He’s been having some back leg neuropathy for the past year, but I was told his recent bloods and urine have improved and he was looking great 2 weeks ago. Tucker has been extremely regulated with a pretest in the 145 range and 90 at nadir for the last 6 months. I tested Tuck before tea and he was a little low so I’ve stayed up with him. I try to avoid giving him honey because he gets so sick on the bounce back. I usually give him small amounts of medium carb food and ease him back into safe territory should he dip below 40. Tonight he fell asleep on my chest purring and I woke up to little puffs of air on my face. I’ve tested him and he’s 1.8/32.43. I’ve given him a tsp of medium carb food and he’s responding, purring but still breathing a bit hard - not panting but even through his purring I can see his head moving in time with his breath. He’s laying here with his head on his tester pack purring his head off, but his breathing is definitely heavier than normal. Has anyone experienced similar and can you give me some advice, please??
Click to expand...
I'm way too new to help but I just wanted to say at least for human diabetics, I know hypoglycemia releases adrenaline, which can cause rapid shallow breathing or hyperventilation. Maybe it's something similar?

I hope his blood glucose comes up soon. If he's not responding to the MC food, do you have any HC food (either wet or dry on hand)?
 
Thank you for the reply. His last test he had dropped back to 34 so I gave him a tsp of high carb wet food. He’s with it enough now that he’s used the little box and has just walked over to drink from his water fountain. His breathing is still a bit heavy and I’ve noticed him licking his lips = nausea. It’s 2:30am now, still 5 hours before our vet opens…
 
@Marje and Gracie Do you have any experience with a diabetic kitty breathing with little puffs during a hypo? Besides managing his blood sugar and trying to ease him out of the 1.8, I’m not sure if there is anything else I could or should be doing.
I just retested and have him up to 2.3 (41.4).
 
Up you go, Tucker! MC doesn’t seem to be doing quite enough, hope the HC gets him to stay up. Can you try to count his respiratory rate when he is resting? If memory serves, for most cats, it typically needs to be under 30 breaths per minute. One breath is counted as when his chest moves in and out. You can set a timer and count breaths for 30 seconds then multiply by 2 or watch him for a full 60 seconds.

Is Tucker showing any signs of weakness? Anything above 30 breaths per minute consistently needs to be checked by vet.
 
Depending on where you are in the cycle, you don’t want him lingering in the 30s and 40s. Better to use the HC and/or honey
rather than trying to ease him up and out of the lows.
 
Thank you for your response. His breathing is definitely fast tonight, I counted 52 per minute. He was just at the vet and was given 2 thumbs up during the exam. He had a bit of constipation but a dab of pumpkin soup sorted him out and he’s been doing great.
He’s just jumped up on the sofa and snuggled into a cozy blanket on his own, and is sleeping with his head down on his glucose testing pouch-so he’s not head up struggling for air or anything.
 
That seems high, but could be in part because he was still purring? My civvie had a fast RR but at the time it was related to something else. He was very calm and comfortable otherwise.
 
I gave him honey a while ago and his BG is up to 100 but he’s still doing this very light “puff” breathing, and when we lay next to him he purrs loudly.
He is kind of grabbing onto me, and even though his numbers are safe I think there’s something else going on here.
My husband is trying home very emergency numbers but not getting any answers.
 
I agree with you, I don’t think it’s the blood sugar levels. If he is not usually a loud purrer that can also be a sign of some other thing bothering him.
 
Tucker said:
I gave him honey a while ago and his BG is up to 100 but he’s still doing this very light “puff” breathing, and when we lay next to him he purrs loudly.
He is kind of grabbing onto me, and even though his numbers are safe I think there’s something else going on here.
My husband is trying home very emergency numbers but not getting any answers.
Click to expand...
I don’t mess with what I would consider to be labored breathing if he’s not purring and hasn’t been playing and you are getting a RR over 30. I would get it checked out now if you can see your vet ASAP or an ER.

I might be a little overreacting but I just lost my 16 yr old to a pulmonary embolism and his RR went from normal 24 to 32 when I rushed him to the ER where they immediately put him in an oxygen cage.
 
Marje and Gracie said:
I don’t mess with what I would consider to be labored breathing if he’s not purring and hasn’t been playing and you are getting a RR over 30. I would get it checked out now if you can see your vet ASAP or an ER.

I might be a little overreacting but I just lost my 16 yr old to a pulmonary embolism and his RR went from normal 24 to 32 when I rushed him to the ER where they immediately put him in an oxygen cage.
Click to expand...
I agree with you and I would have already been in the car, but I can’t. It’s a long story, but in a nutshell? My husband is 67 and has always been in perfect health… still fits his high school Levi’s, last time in hospital was at his birth, never even taken an antibiotic! Collapsed at the gym at 6am class and had open heart surgery for regurgitating valves and can’t drive for 2 more weeks. I’m less perfect (but younger) and while visiting him last week my BP went from 110/70 to 195/110… emergency angiogram and every other test, 7 days in. I’m not allowed to drive until next weekend. We’ve called the animal hospital that’s about an hour away and they said they think stress would kill him if we tried to drive him in, so they are trying to help us get a home vet here.
Meanwhile, they told me to give him some Bupe.
 
Tucker said:
I agree with you and I would have already been in the car, but I can’t. It’s a long story, but in a nutshell? My husband is 67 and has always been in perfect health… still fits his high school Levi’s, last time in hospital was at his birth, never even taken an antibiotic! Collapsed at the gym at 6am class and had open heart surgery for regurgitating valves and can’t drive for 2 more weeks. I’m less perfect (but younger) and while visiting him last week my BP went from 110/70 to 195/110… emergency angiogram and every other test, 7 days in. I’m not allowed to drive until next weekend. We’ve called the animal hospital that’s about an hour away and they said they think stress would kill him if we tried to drive him in, so they are trying to help us get a home vet here.
Meanwhile, they told me to give him some Bupe.
Click to expand...
I hope you can get a mobile vet there quickly but they aren’t equipped to handle complicated cases. I would avoid steroids as, if there were an embolism developing, it would make it worse. I’m not saying that is what is going on. Tucker might have fluid in his chest cavity (Tobey did not) so there is a whole slew of things that could be causing it. But he would need an X-ray and possibly echo and I’m just not sure a mobile vet has that.

I don’t know if taking Tucker there….if you had someone….would cause him too much stress. It did not worsen Tobey’s breathing but I also blasted all the air from the ac right on him and that helped until I could get him there.

Is there a friend or relative that can take him? I’d risk it.

And I’m truly sorry for your health issues. That must be very difficult to have been so healthy for so long.
 
I'm sorry that you and your husband have been having health issues.

Is Tucker's abdomen heavily involved in the act of taking a breath?
 
Tucker said:
I am. I have a message ready to send but my husband is stopping me because it’s 4am. My message starts off, “Please please forgive me but..”
Click to expand...
I messaged her! It’s 4:30am…. She saved Tucker as a rescue kitten so she’s emotionally attached.
 
She’s still not here. He’s not breathing with his mouth open anymore, but his breathing still isn’t normal. His BG is currently 6.1/109. He’s responsive but something is very wrong. We’ve been ringing SASH, our state animal emergency number and after listening to the instructions and blurb about triage and then their blurb that says, “We promise the same level of care at our pet emergency hospital as you would expect at an regular hospital”… it says, “The mailbox is full, goodbye.” and hung up on me. I’m so upset and furious.
 
I'm so sorry, that is truly infuriating. I hope your vet is able to get there soon, and I'll be keeping you and Tucker in my thoughts. Sending lots of love and healing energy to you both.
 
Patti asked me if I would post and give an update about Tucker. She is feeling heartbroken at the moment but has said she will post at a later date and read any messages.
Very sadly Tucker passed away. The vet said it was sudden onset heart failure.

Her friend, the “supervet”, saved Tucker when he was a kitten. He was the only survivor…his mother and the other kittens in the litter had been killed…and Tucker was in a bad way. But he survived, and he certainly used up his 9 lives along the way. He was a real character.
I remember probably 7 or more years ago, Tucker’s BG had dropped really low and Patti was posting on the forum. My internet was playing up (we had storms around us) and I couldn’t post…it was about 12 mn our time…so I rang Patti on the phone and was talking her through what to do. She lives in Australia as I do. She rang the Supervet who said she would come out to her but it would take I think it was 40 minutes. Tucker was very slow to respond to the honey and I heard Patti say Tucker…Tucker…wake up, wake up. And then my phone went dead. I felt ill. Finally after 20 minutes I was able to get through again and I was expecting to hear the worst. But the superstar had arrived and Tucker was alert and his BG was rising.

Another time Patti rang me to say she had Tucker at the vet (not the supervet…she was on holidays) and the vet had said Tucker had severe pancreatitis and he wanted to euthanise him. The vet would not treat him as he said it was pointless. I said to Patti to pick Tucker up and find another vet who cares because pancreatitis is treatable in most cases…certainly worth the try. So she did and Tucker responded really well, much to everyone’s delight.

His two companions Daisy and Teddy were able to say goodbye to Tucker and are missing him.
Here is a photo of Tucker taken just a couple of days before he died. He appeared well and was chasing one of the other cats up the stairs. And another photo when he was a kitten.
Bron
 

Attachments

  • IMG_9021.png
    IMG_9021.png
    3 MB · Views: 14
  • att.LhC93iIMyB1XmD9y9pPJghUXFoM-r-5Rn0oPJY0WIZw.jpeg
    att.LhC93iIMyB1XmD9y9pPJghUXFoM-r-5Rn0oPJY0WIZw.jpeg
    51.6 KB · Views: 11
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Patti asked me if I would post and give an update about Tucker. She is feeling heartbroken at the moment but has said she will post at a later date and read any messages.
Very sadly Tucker passed away. The vet said it was sudden onset heart failure.

Her friend, the “supervet”, saved Tucker when he was a kitten. He was the only survivor…his mother and the other kittens in the litter had been killed…and Tucker was in a bad way. But he survived, and he certainly used up his 9 lives along the way. He was a real character.
I remember probably 7 or more years ago, Tucker’s BG had dropped really low and Patti was posting on the forum. My internet was playing up (we had storms around us) and I couldn’t post…it was about 12 mn our time…so I rang Patti on the phone and was talking her through what to do. She lives in Australia as I do. She rang the Supervet who said she would come out to her but it would take I think it was 40 minutes. Tucker was very slow to respond to the honey and I heard Patti say Tucker…Tucker…wake up, wake up. And then my phone went dead. I felt ill. Finally after 20 minutes I was able to get through again and I was expecting to hear the worst. But the superstar had arrived and Tucker was alert and his BG was rising.

Another time Patti rang me to say she had Tucker at the vet (not the supervet…she was on holidays) and the vet had said Tucker had severe pancreatitis and he wanted to euthanise him. The vet would not treat him as he said it was pointless. I said to Patti to pick Tucker up and find another vet who cares because pancreatitis is treatable in most cases…certainly worth the try. So she did and Tucker responded really well, much to everyone’s delight.

His two companions Daisy and Teddy were able to say goodbye to Tucker and are missing him.
Here is a photo of Tucker taken just a couple of days before he died. He appeared well and was chasing one of the other cats up the stairs. And another photo when he was a kitten.
Bron
Click to expand...
Absolutely heartbreaking. Thank you for sharing this news with us. RIP little Tucker.
 
I am so sorry for Patti and her family. Sudden heart disease is hard to manage. Piling on more of those Canadian hugs.

Tucker was definitely a character, I always laughed at his antics. We will miss him too.
 
Thank you, Bron.

(((Patti and DH)))). I m very, very sorry for your loss of your sweet and enigmatic boy. Tucker always kept everyone on their toes with his antics and gave more than a few people some scares with his BGs. May you find peace in the love you share.

Gentle journey, Tucker. 🌈🌈
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top