Alice 7/5 AMPS 149 +3.6 23/27, +4.3 57

AliceMeowliss (GA)

AliceMeowliss (GA)

Member Since 2019
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...-now-amps-62-advice-available-perhaps.231446/

Okay, I could use some guidance.

Alice’s appetite has been really low.
She keeps going hypo and is completely asymptomatic when she does.
I leave plenty of food out. I have tried adding all the supplements she likes and I have tried heating her food.
I recognize there are some weird gaps in testing that, if I myself were doing well each day, would likely not be there. Like the times I didn’t re-test after 20-30 minutes when she was low (but I also always gave a lot of syrup).

I remember once reading someone’s comment that a sudden reduction in insulin needs could be indicative of cancer. It’s been a little over 1 year since her mammary tumor was removed, and it was grade 2 with chance of metastasis, according to the histopathology report. So I worry about that.

Also, it could just be her IBD. Nausea? A sudden complete disdain for the ziwi lamb?
I found a couple local places (I think) that carry the halo kangaroo limited ingredient food. I could try to switch foods. I’m pretty broke without enough income so I can’t order a whole new case of anything expensive for her right now, and I still have 3+ cases of ziwi lamb.

Also, is slippery elm for nausea? It’s also kind of pricy for my slim budget but I’d be willing to try it if I can find it in an affordable quantity. The past couple days I gave her some Cerenia and today I just have her a ribbon of Mirataz (transdermal mirtazapine). Are there consequences for long term use of mirtazapine and Cerenia?

She keeps taking these dives and she’s so skinny. Why won’t she eat? :( I’m worried for her. I’m also having a civvie with some loss of appetite lately, unrelated I’m sure, but a stressor nonetheless, and I can’t afford a vet visit for each cat without any idea whatsoever what they should be checked for. My vet doesn’t have an ultrasound in house. Alice has never had one.

It scares me. She doesn’t act differently at all when she is so low. It’s terrifying. I skipped a dose and she was HI, I reduce the doses and give them late too and she dives for limes. :banghead: :nailbiting:
 
I do not know about the BG and how it relates to cancer as I’m pretty new to diabetes, but I have had a cat with mammary cancer. She was a breeding cat until she was eight years old and then spayed and studies do show that cats that are spayed after the time they are 2 yrs old do run more risk of having malignant breast cancer. Her mass was about the size of a pea and as I worked for the vet we went full course and did a bilateral chain mastectomy along with her lymph nodes. She is just about to her two-year mark of being cancer free and I’m happy for that. She was adopted by a lovely family in Colorado and gets the best of care with them, too.

I have not followed Alice so I’m not familiar with her IBD diagnosis, Was it with biopsies or are you treating her presumptively or on pancreatic profile results? If she has not had an ultrasound it would tell you what’s going on internally as far as any in large lymph nodes or other abnormalities, but I certainly understand the financial constraints, which I also have now I am retired and not working for a veterinarian…
 
Thanks @Teri (Disco NoFurNo) !

I made a mistake in not spaying Alice early because the males in the house were always neutered, and so she was spayed at the time her cancer was removed (age 12). The full mammary chain was not removed I don’t believe. Maybe I’m mistaken but I remember asking about it because I had read it was recommended. I think I asked. It was a rough time as Alice had been down to 1.8kg and had DKA only 2-2.5 months before she had her cancer removed. In fact her being so emaciated after being on the wrong insulin (we tried NPH BID for about 3-4 months) kept her tumor from growing! When we switched to Lantus she started to become more weight restored. When her spay and tumor removal occurred she had about a 60% reduction in insulin needs.

Anyway, to answer your question, the IBD dx is presumptive. She used to be on a dry lamb-based food. Prior to her diabetes she was switched to a chicken-based dry food. After that she had an infection then she had as diagnosed diabetic and I noticed a lump on her a couple months after that but did not get anyone to really diagnose it until her DKA hospitalization. She was never overweight and so it was assumed early on she had cancer or IBD or something contributing to the diabetes. After her tumor was removed, she continued the chicken-based wet food and continued to have these extremely foul-smelling bowel movements and poor fecal score. Last October she started licking the fur off her belly so I got the impression there was more bothering her. Finally I switched her to ziwi lamb at the beginning of this year and her bowel movements improved tremendously. Looking back, she and her litter mate brother always would throw up a lot when they were young. They were also bottle babies born to a feral cat my mom fed. It makes sense they would have always had some bowel issues.

More recently, she has had some constipation episodes from the ziwi, so I’ve been struggling with that some. One time it resulted in hypokalemia. She had also had a couple of UTIs this year.



I’m horrified knowing that she is so asymptomatic even with her BG in the 20’s..... I wonder what I am missing, why her appetite is low, how I can improve her quality of life at this time.

Anyway she’s stable for the day, at least. I need to decide what a safe dose for her is this evening and going forward.
 
In my experience with an IBD kitty, it's not uncommon to get bored of a particular food. Foods that were good and tasty, all of a sudden become garbage. :arghh: I have to rotate either proteins or brands of the same protein.

Is Alice getting B12 regularly? How about probiotics?

I would try 1.25 units.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
In my experience with an IBD kitty, it's not uncommon to get bored of a particular food. Foods that were good and tasty, all of a sudden become garbage. :arghh: I have to rotate either proteins or brands of the same protein.

Is Alice getting B12 regularly? How about probiotics?

I would try 1.25 units.
Click to expand...

Thanks! Every time I switch foods do I need to do a gradual switch?
I want to do B12 shots and she always appears to feel better when she has had one. Someone mentioned before I can just buy and give it on my own? What kind, how much, where??? I called and left a message at the vet one time recently but didn’t hear back and then had something else to handle so I didn’t follow up.

She is getting some fortiflora mostly as a way to encourage feeding right now, I had Imuquin from my vet but can’t find it between moving about twenty times this year. :arghh: (May I never move again!!!) Is there a probiotic you would recommend?

Will an IBD kitty go back to that food later? Maybe I can order just one case of venison to mix it up, on the ziwi, and then try the kangaroo when I can go look for some of that. Funds are currently at choice between utilities and cat/bunny supplies but I’m trying to improve the situation. If I could buy one thing to help her, I don’t know which it would be.

Thank you for your input. :)
 
Visbiome is a probiotic specifically designed for IBD. There are others, mostly you want lots of flora and many types. Fortiflora is just one type of flora - not the best probiotic.

I find sometimes I just need to change manufacturers, but if I have some "time off", the food will become edible again. :rolleyes:
 
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