tam with Keith and Kass
Member Since 2015
I just posted a lengthy post under new members and am hoping someone can help me and give me some advice.
Briefly, Keith is my 4-year-old cat who was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of May. He was losing weight and his urine had a very strong smell which reminded me of when my son was 9 and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and when I washed my mom's bed pads (she was a type 2). She is a home vet, came over did a CBC, blood profile, leukemia/FIV test. He had lost about 3 pounds in less than two months. She called the next morning and said everything was normal except his BG was 495. She said he was a type 1 diabetic. If you read my intro,it went downhill from there because I asked about treatment and she told me to take the weekend to think about it, and suggested to "enjoy" him now, described he would lose more weight, get neuropathy in his legs, get foggy thinking and slip into a coma and then she would come over to put him to sleep. She said it would not be painful for him. I'm the mom of a 22-year-old special needs on and my vet has known me 13 years and has seen me dealing with my son's type 1 diabetes since age 9, giving him 10-12 shots a day, plus his 26 other meds and dealing with his high functioning autism. She told me I had "enough on my plate" to deal with and there was no way I could afford a diabetic cat and the commitment involved plus everything else would be too stressful because I am all alone. My son overheard the conversation and was very upset and asked me why I didn't just let him die when he was diagnosed because Keith is a family member and I knew he was right. I researched found DCIN and contacted Jenna who led me to reading info on the boards and everything I could get my hands on. I started testing Keith with Noah's OneTouch meter and he was running high. I had Lantus insulin and had read about how it is used in cats. Jenna from DCIN came over that Sunday with syringes I could use with the pen, information about carbs in canned food like classic Fancy Feast and the importance of getting Keith off dry food. I checked him for Ketones and even though he was running high, that was negative. He has had diabetes now for a little over 1-1/2 months. I have talked to my vet who does not believe in home testing and wanted me to wait two weeks and then she would come and initiate Lantus insulin starting at 2 units twice a day. She would also check his blood and come back every two weeks and do that and adjust the dose by 1 unit every two weeks and then bring him in and do a curve. I didn't follow that. I read the Lantus guidelines and as of June 1, he was started on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day with checking his BG at least 3 times a day. He was still running very high, so after about a week, I raised him 1/2 unit. I've done curves on him and have always waited about a week to raise him. The lowest he has been is 48 (1 time) just recently and the highest he has been is 550 (also just recently). I've been doing as much as I could at home but in the middle of the night Wednesday and Thursday morning, he got worse. In three hours his number went from 297 to 531. He was 446 for his preshot that day and received 4 units of Lantus, which had just been upped two days earlier. He is usually very responsive and when I called he did not come. I went to look for him and he was in the bathroom between the wall with his face turned to the wall. I took him out of there and his eyes were kind of glossy and I picked up his skin, which felt taught. He was awake, but not "talking to me" like usual. He seemed like he was walking around looking for somewhere to lie down and be comfortable. That is not Keith. He was licking his lips a lot. He then vomited about seven times and I became really concerned and called Jenna from DCIN who authorized me to take him to the Mayfair Animal Hospital because a different client had recommended it to me. I took him there with my notebook with all the dates and values written down, also printed out the latest info on how to treat cats with diabetes. Jenna recommended a test for pancreatitis also. I spent a lot of time explaining everything to the vet. She did a feline pancreatic snap test which she said was "borderline" or midly abnormal because the dot was equal to the control. She did a urinalysis which showed 3+ glucose and 1+ protein, but no ketones. She wanted to calibrate my meter. My OneTouch showed his glucose to be 392 and their Alpha Treks read 413 and 422. The blood they drew for glucose was 448, so between 19-56 point difference. She gave him over 300 ml of Normosol R 400 mg subcutaneous fluids, 7.5 mg injection of cerenia, 7.5 mg injection of famotidine. I have done curves on him at home and test him a minimum of 3x daily. She told me that he should never be under 170 and even though I am familiar with the Somogyi effect, Keith's patterns over the past month and a half really don't reflect that. She felt that could be his problem. Her recommendation was to cut him down to 2.5 units twice a day for the next 5 days and then come back next Wed at 8:00 a.m. after feeding him and giving him his injection and he would be put in a cage for 12 hours and every 2 hours they would draw blood and I should bring my meter again and they would calibrate it with the blood they were drawing from him. I asked her what I should do if his numbers started running really high, and she said I should do nothing. I said what about the 500 or if the meter just says "high" and she promised me he would not go into DKA. She said not to worry at all about high numbers. She said the Somogyi effect was a guess on her part and if it wasn't that maybe he should be tried on a different insulin. I asked her about the pancreatitis test and she said usually they are positive or negative, not borderline abnormal and if he starts vomiting, loses his appetite I should bring him back in. I was given advice to buy famotidine off the shelf and am giving Keith 1/2 tablet 3x daily and was also instructed about subcutaneous fluids and am doing that. I told Jenna and Wendy from DCIN about what she wants me to do and they said that I was already doing curves and she already calibrated the meter, which is about 20-56 points higher than mine reads. There is no reason to stress him out, bring him in for $180 curve, when they are doing a fundraiser for the bill now and with what money I have from selling things and not paying some bills,I think I am going to take him to an internist that has been recommended by me for a second opinion. Can I get an opinion from anywhere here?
Briefly, Keith is my 4-year-old cat who was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of May. He was losing weight and his urine had a very strong smell which reminded me of when my son was 9 and was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and when I washed my mom's bed pads (she was a type 2). She is a home vet, came over did a CBC, blood profile, leukemia/FIV test. He had lost about 3 pounds in less than two months. She called the next morning and said everything was normal except his BG was 495. She said he was a type 1 diabetic. If you read my intro,it went downhill from there because I asked about treatment and she told me to take the weekend to think about it, and suggested to "enjoy" him now, described he would lose more weight, get neuropathy in his legs, get foggy thinking and slip into a coma and then she would come over to put him to sleep. She said it would not be painful for him. I'm the mom of a 22-year-old special needs on and my vet has known me 13 years and has seen me dealing with my son's type 1 diabetes since age 9, giving him 10-12 shots a day, plus his 26 other meds and dealing with his high functioning autism. She told me I had "enough on my plate" to deal with and there was no way I could afford a diabetic cat and the commitment involved plus everything else would be too stressful because I am all alone. My son overheard the conversation and was very upset and asked me why I didn't just let him die when he was diagnosed because Keith is a family member and I knew he was right. I researched found DCIN and contacted Jenna who led me to reading info on the boards and everything I could get my hands on. I started testing Keith with Noah's OneTouch meter and he was running high. I had Lantus insulin and had read about how it is used in cats. Jenna from DCIN came over that Sunday with syringes I could use with the pen, information about carbs in canned food like classic Fancy Feast and the importance of getting Keith off dry food. I checked him for Ketones and even though he was running high, that was negative. He has had diabetes now for a little over 1-1/2 months. I have talked to my vet who does not believe in home testing and wanted me to wait two weeks and then she would come and initiate Lantus insulin starting at 2 units twice a day. She would also check his blood and come back every two weeks and do that and adjust the dose by 1 unit every two weeks and then bring him in and do a curve. I didn't follow that. I read the Lantus guidelines and as of June 1, he was started on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day with checking his BG at least 3 times a day. He was still running very high, so after about a week, I raised him 1/2 unit. I've done curves on him and have always waited about a week to raise him. The lowest he has been is 48 (1 time) just recently and the highest he has been is 550 (also just recently). I've been doing as much as I could at home but in the middle of the night Wednesday and Thursday morning, he got worse. In three hours his number went from 297 to 531. He was 446 for his preshot that day and received 4 units of Lantus, which had just been upped two days earlier. He is usually very responsive and when I called he did not come. I went to look for him and he was in the bathroom between the wall with his face turned to the wall. I took him out of there and his eyes were kind of glossy and I picked up his skin, which felt taught. He was awake, but not "talking to me" like usual. He seemed like he was walking around looking for somewhere to lie down and be comfortable. That is not Keith. He was licking his lips a lot. He then vomited about seven times and I became really concerned and called Jenna from DCIN who authorized me to take him to the Mayfair Animal Hospital because a different client had recommended it to me. I took him there with my notebook with all the dates and values written down, also printed out the latest info on how to treat cats with diabetes. Jenna recommended a test for pancreatitis also. I spent a lot of time explaining everything to the vet. She did a feline pancreatic snap test which she said was "borderline" or midly abnormal because the dot was equal to the control. She did a urinalysis which showed 3+ glucose and 1+ protein, but no ketones. She wanted to calibrate my meter. My OneTouch showed his glucose to be 392 and their Alpha Treks read 413 and 422. The blood they drew for glucose was 448, so between 19-56 point difference. She gave him over 300 ml of Normosol R 400 mg subcutaneous fluids, 7.5 mg injection of cerenia, 7.5 mg injection of famotidine. I have done curves on him at home and test him a minimum of 3x daily. She told me that he should never be under 170 and even though I am familiar with the Somogyi effect, Keith's patterns over the past month and a half really don't reflect that. She felt that could be his problem. Her recommendation was to cut him down to 2.5 units twice a day for the next 5 days and then come back next Wed at 8:00 a.m. after feeding him and giving him his injection and he would be put in a cage for 12 hours and every 2 hours they would draw blood and I should bring my meter again and they would calibrate it with the blood they were drawing from him. I asked her what I should do if his numbers started running really high, and she said I should do nothing. I said what about the 500 or if the meter just says "high" and she promised me he would not go into DKA. She said not to worry at all about high numbers. She said the Somogyi effect was a guess on her part and if it wasn't that maybe he should be tried on a different insulin. I asked her about the pancreatitis test and she said usually they are positive or negative, not borderline abnormal and if he starts vomiting, loses his appetite I should bring him back in. I was given advice to buy famotidine off the shelf and am giving Keith 1/2 tablet 3x daily and was also instructed about subcutaneous fluids and am doing that. I told Jenna and Wendy from DCIN about what she wants me to do and they said that I was already doing curves and she already calibrated the meter, which is about 20-56 points higher than mine reads. There is no reason to stress him out, bring him in for $180 curve, when they are doing a fundraiser for the bill now and with what money I have from selling things and not paying some bills,I think I am going to take him to an internist that has been recommended by me for a second opinion. Can I get an opinion from anywhere here?
