jimsy
Member
Hi all,
I've been visiting the board since my 6-year-old kitty, Whistle, was diagnosed with diabetes in November 2009. I've never posted before, but I wanted to thank all the regular posters here, as some of the information on this board saved Whistle's life last week. Whistle was initially easy to regulate. Her vet was very supportive and suggested home testing, and even handed me a copy of Janet and Binky's list. Whistle was doing very well on 2 units of Lantus BID for a couple of months, eating EVO chicken and turkey. However, last week I noticed her seeming reluctant to eat. Her blood glucose numbers were looking ok (not great, but not too high), so I tried to pay extra attention to any behavior changes. Last Thursday she refused to eat and started vomiting and hiding under the couch. I made an appointment with my regular vet for the next day, as Whistle has had a bit of a habit of eating things she shouldn't and then vomiting. However, something seemed off. I checked Whistle's blood glucose and my meter simply read "HI," which has never happened. I did a quick urine check for ketones and watched in horror as the test strip turned progressively darker. I had read a posts on the forum about how cats who appear to be DKA need to go the emergency vet right away. With that in mind, my boyfriend and I gathered up Whistle and rushed her to the nearest emergency vet. Sure enough, things were looking bad. Apparently Whistle's kidney values were high (just a month ago the values were normal on her bloodwork, so we had no clue she was having problems). Her BUN was 148 and her creatinine was 3.7, blood glucose stayed steady in the 600-700 range for nearly two days. She stayed at the emergency vet for 6 days, and ended up needing an insulin IV and constant fluids. On Sunday, her kidneys were still not responding to treatment and the vets were quite upset, but urged me to give her a couple more days. On Monday things turned around. Her kidneys started responding and the values are now in the normal range! Her blood glucose came down as well, and they've been slowly adjusting her Lantus dose as she'll need to be on a lower phosphorus diet which unfortunately has higher carb percentages than she's used to. I can finally bring her home this afternoon. I just wanted to let everyone here know how grateful I am that you've made this information available. I'm convinced that had I not been reading the board, I would not have been as prepared for this event and Whistle might not have gotten help in time.
I've been visiting the board since my 6-year-old kitty, Whistle, was diagnosed with diabetes in November 2009. I've never posted before, but I wanted to thank all the regular posters here, as some of the information on this board saved Whistle's life last week. Whistle was initially easy to regulate. Her vet was very supportive and suggested home testing, and even handed me a copy of Janet and Binky's list. Whistle was doing very well on 2 units of Lantus BID for a couple of months, eating EVO chicken and turkey. However, last week I noticed her seeming reluctant to eat. Her blood glucose numbers were looking ok (not great, but not too high), so I tried to pay extra attention to any behavior changes. Last Thursday she refused to eat and started vomiting and hiding under the couch. I made an appointment with my regular vet for the next day, as Whistle has had a bit of a habit of eating things she shouldn't and then vomiting. However, something seemed off. I checked Whistle's blood glucose and my meter simply read "HI," which has never happened. I did a quick urine check for ketones and watched in horror as the test strip turned progressively darker. I had read a posts on the forum about how cats who appear to be DKA need to go the emergency vet right away. With that in mind, my boyfriend and I gathered up Whistle and rushed her to the nearest emergency vet. Sure enough, things were looking bad. Apparently Whistle's kidney values were high (just a month ago the values were normal on her bloodwork, so we had no clue she was having problems). Her BUN was 148 and her creatinine was 3.7, blood glucose stayed steady in the 600-700 range for nearly two days. She stayed at the emergency vet for 6 days, and ended up needing an insulin IV and constant fluids. On Sunday, her kidneys were still not responding to treatment and the vets were quite upset, but urged me to give her a couple more days. On Monday things turned around. Her kidneys started responding and the values are now in the normal range! Her blood glucose came down as well, and they've been slowly adjusting her Lantus dose as she'll need to be on a lower phosphorus diet which unfortunately has higher carb percentages than she's used to. I can finally bring her home this afternoon. I just wanted to let everyone here know how grateful I am that you've made this information available. I'm convinced that had I not been reading the board, I would not have been as prepared for this event and Whistle might not have gotten help in time.
![JJ & Gwyn [GA]](/FDMB/data/avatars/m/0/167.jpg?1419296044){kind=avatar}
