Another new vet.Cat is still sick.

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Benny

Benny

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Hi, I took Benny to a different vet since my last post.Vet ( #4 )four different vets to get answers... unbelievable!!

Benny was given a blood test.His glucose was 344 after not having insulin(Lantus) for 2 days.The vet switched Benny back to prozinc,1unit 2x daily I was told everything else looked good with the blood work.I'm waiting on a complete urine analysis.I did check benny with the Ketostix which showed neg. for ketones but the glucose was still high.
Benny is still very lethargic everthing he does is just very slow.He is now having a problem with his vision and has become constipated.Can I use sugar free benefiber(wheat dextrin,gluten free) in Benny's food and water?
Can someone tell me if their diabetic cat has had any of these ailments.What is best thing to give Benny for the constipation.What could be happening with his vision and is it permanent.What is the best home glucose testing kit.I would like to use a tester which uses less blood and draws the blood in to the meter.I finally was able to hometest benny a couple of times with a relion meter, but it require's to much blood.
 
Hi guys .. I don't think I've ever posted to you before, so welcome from us! I know a lot of people here use miralax to help with constipation, as well as pure pumpkin. But wait for others to verify if this is correct, and what amounts you should use. I'm not surprised that Benny is acting lethargic. His numbers are pretty high, which probably makes him feel pretty cruddy. :sad: He will start to feel better once his numbers look lower. I can't help with the vision question since I have no experience with that. Also, we use the relion micro which took just the tiniest amount of blood. I want to say one of the smallest samples meter's can take, but perhaps there is another one that takes less blood.
 
For constipation. I am not sure of your Miralax over there contains sugar, but I think dr vet Lisa Pierson here have suggested Miralax over Lactulos. Lactulos contains a LOT of sugar and thus isn't good for diabetics. At least that's my experience over here.

I also think that some diabetic cats gets problems with their vision, similar to catharact in diabetic dogs. But there are others here that now more about that than I do.


I have a Bayer Contour http://felinediseases.weebly.com/diabetesdka.html , it requires very little blood and also sips it up fast. But from what I've learnt it is quiet pricey for you in USA.
 
I use the Freestyle Freedom Lite meter and love it. It uses the teeniest bit of blood and the strips sip it up. I highly recommend it. It also keeps years of history on it by date and automatically does averages. You can get the strips just about anywhere. I usually wind up getting them online at Hocks.com since they're very cheap there. They probably have the meters too. I think I bought my meter at Walgreen's.

I use Miralax for constipation, I put 1/8 tsp in all her water dishes and encourage her to drink. According to our vet member, Lisa, it is very safe and what she recommends. After Racci has a movement, I switch her water back to normal until the next day and do the same but lots of cats take it twice a day. You have to see what your cat needs. In the beginning Racci needed more than she needs now that she's going more normally and she feels a lot better also.

I also have heard of eyesight problems with diabetes but usually in dogs. They get cataracts but cats also get all kinds of problems from the FD and it is possible. I think Racci also may not be seeing as well as she used to and gets runny eyes a lot, but she's also 15. How old is your cat? Cats usually get neuropathy in their hind legs like poor Racci has.

Melanie and Racci
 
Thank you Melanie,Ann,and peter on your opinions and advice .The new vet told me Benny is anyware from 7 to 10 years old.I found him in 2007 and Benny's vet at that time told me Benny was around 1 to 2 years old.I am still very concerned about his diabetes symptoms.But now he is having vision problems. It just started a few days ago.
 
hi and welcome
probably the most inexpensive is the relion from walmart, either the micro (macro)[forget the real name] or the confirm. these are the cheapest when it comes to buying strips. miralax can be given 2x a day. 1/8 tsp but can go up to 1/4 tsp 2x a day
kitty could have high blood pressure which can cause vision problems and eventual blindness. happened to my cat this past august. never got her vision back but it doing great
 
Thanks Dian,My cats problem with his vision started suddenly after a visit to the vet a couple of days ago.His pupils restrict and dialate according to different lighting conditions and he is not bumping into things, but he is having vision problems.Benny was never diagnosed with high blood pressure but its seems like that might be the problem along with his diabetes.
 
Hi, Chuck and Benny. When I read your post about Benny's vision, I thought of my furry daughter Emma who almost went blind back around Thanksgiving. At first I noticed she was very careful walking and jumping on things. And then I noticed her pupils were big black and dilated most of the time. Of course, I had to surf the net and looked at pics of cats with eye issues, and one picture looked similar to hers and i thought OMG my baby is going blind. Turns out, she had bilateral retinal detachments due to high blood pressure per a vet optamologist I was referred to. Emma was put on .625 mg of amlodipine (norvasc) and a week later, her eyes started looking good again and eye vet said she's back to about 90% normal. Eye Vet also said that Emma has some underlying issue causing the high blood pressure. She said it usually turns out to be hyperthryroid or some sort of kidney issue, as I noticed that Emma was drinking more and peeing more but her blood sugar was perfect. (She gets 2 units in the AM and 2 in the PM of Prozinc). Local vet ruled out hyperthyroid as all those tests came back negative and all the other blood work they ran was normal. Go figure! Eventually Emma wasn't eating as much and constipated so they figured maybe a UTI. Eventually she quit eating so they took X-rays and noticed her right kidney was about 2 1/2 times normal size. At first they thought maybe cancer but after ultrasound they said kidney infection. She was on Orbax liquid that last 4 weeks as well as the blood pressure med (amlodipine) and enalapril (heart/kidney disease), but she went back to not eating and was constipated again. I had her in the ER early Monday morning and the emergency vet took a bunch of xrays and she said that Emma should really have a biopsy done. Day practice came in and a radiologist did ultrasounds again of kidney area and her heart too. Unfortunately they couldn't biopsy her on Monday as her blood is abnormal for coagulation. Talk about frustration! I just want to know what's wrong with her! Anyhow local vet took her off the Orbax, gave her a couple of enemas. I bought her home yesterday and she is SO happy. Had a regular bowel movement today and eating well. Local vet is recommending Miralax since you can't use Lactalose on a diabetic cat. BUT...I still don't have an answer as to what is really wrong with her after spending like $2500 in vets bills in 2 months between diagnostics, meds, blood work etc. Anyhow sorry I have been so wordy...wanted to give you background. You probably want to take your cat to a vet optamologist to check on her eyes. Not sure what state you live in. I live in Connecticut and there are only 2 eye vets in the state. Long drive to Norwalk CT but Emma has done great. I just pray she keeps feeling as good as she has the past two days. Prayers for you and Benny!!!
 
Thanks Imtree,Some of your cats health issues are similar to what Benny has went thru.Benny had a ultrasound of his kidneys done this past Oct. and the vet found his kidneys were different sizes... one larger than normal.The vet told me the interior(nephrons I think they are called) of the kidney looked ok though.He was treated for a kidney infection after seeing a specialist. Benny was prescribed an oral antibiotic which I gave him for 2 weeks and his health really improved and remained that way until late Nov.into Dec.
I have taken Benny to 4 different vets just since Oct. and after thousands of dollars I still do not have a complete diagnosis.None of these vets even mentioned that Benny may have blood pressure issues.Bennys current vet did recommend an Eye specialist but of course that involves more money which I really dont have, and a very long road trip which stresses Benny out.I'm Still trying to get his diabetes under control on top of this most recent issue with his vision.Hopefully this new vet can Help Benny out if Not I will take him to someone else.I'm determined to getting Benny's health issues correctly diagnosed and treated.


Best Wishes to you and your Cat Emma.
 
Hi again. My regular vet never mentioned high blood pressure either. It was the vet optamologist that said Emma needs to be on blood pressure meds. Let me tell you, her office tried to take her blood pressure but Emma would not let them and she was so stressed out. Eye vet is an hour away from my home and Emma has done better in the car but that is a long trip for an already stressed out cat. Anyhow, they put her on the lowest dose for the blood pressure meds and I was lucky. One week later her eyes were looking better. BTW....I figured it was going to cost me a couple of hundred bucks just to walk into eye vet specialist but it wasn't bad at all. First visit was about $126. And follow up two weeks later was less than $100. It gets wicked expensive if it's something they need to correct of course. And I feel your pain in the wallet. $2500 so far for my little princess and I have not given up on her. She's been fine most of this week and praying the trend continues.
Continuing prayers for you and Benny as I know how stressful it is for both of you.
 
Hi IMTREE, I was curious what the time frame was when you first found out Emma was having vision problems... to her first vet appointment for treatment.I just read that the sooner cats have treatment (if possible)for vision problems the better their chances are of regaining some of their sight back.I was finally able to get an appointment for My cat Benny for this Monday 1/30/12.Geeez.... I was just getting to the point were I was able to home test Benny on occasion and now the vision issue poped up.I have really lost all trust and faith in alot of these vets.I have been to 4 different vets since the first week of this past Oct. as I mentioned previously ,and still have many unanswered questions.

Best Wishes for you and Emma cat_pet_icon
 
Hi again. I noticed Emma was slowly walking and cautious on/around Thanksgiving, which was a Thursday. I went to local vet on Monday and was at the vet optamologist on Tuesday. She started her blood pressure meds that Tuesday night and her eyes looked better a week later. And yes, I read and heard the same thing. The earlier you catch it, the better chance the condition can reverse itself. Some sites said you have to catch within 24 hours so I didn't have much hope. But when it did reverse itself to her getting 90% of her vision back to normal, I was beyond elated. But vet optamologist was optimistic from the beginning so I feel truly blessed. I only wish I knew what was wrong with Emma now, as I, like you, am slowly losing faith in any vets at this point. On the other hand, when blood work comes back normal and X-rays and ultrasounds don't red flag anything, I can understand a vet's frustration as well as my own.
Let us know how things work out for you on Monday. Continuing to send prayers and good thoughts your way.

Tree, Sparky (my 12 year old furry son the kitten) and Emma (my 11 year old furry daughter)
 
Forgot to mention to you, this was on site I had looked at when someone had a similar issue. Turns out that cat was finally diagnosed with high blood pressure which also caused her retinas to detach.

http://www.catforum.com/forum/38-health ... blind.html

Here was an article about feline hypertension...

http://cats.about.com/cs/healthissues/p ... ension.htm

BTW...Emma's pupils were just about always fully dilated, and had that glow in the dark look all the time when it happened. Even when I shined a flashlight into her eyes, they did not go back to normal. And I did what I call my finger test where I would move my finger and back and forth, where she used to move her head and eyes back and forth following them. And she wasn't following them. I was even able to almost completely touch her eye with my finger without her flinching. That on top of seeing pics online of cats that were going blind late on night in tears, that is when I realized I had a problem.
 
Thanks Tree for the info. about Emma and the article links.I am hoping for best when I take Benny to the vet.Monday.
I feel so sad not only for my cat, but for everyone else on this site with similar problems.

Thanks again, and wishing you all the best for a positive outcome with Emma .
 
Hi, Chuck. Was wondering how Benny was doing? Any news?

I had Emma at the vet today. No bowel movement in over 4 days. So she got an enema. Gotta love it. Admission to vet hospital - $15.00 Enema - $22.00 two view x-rays to see how constipated she is $140.00!!! I told them she had issues last week and all she needed was an enema but they said they need to do x-rays to see how backed up she is, to determine if regular enema would work. If too compacted, then I guess they sedate them and go in manually!!! Neither sounds pleasant. My little baby had long day so she's been sleeping. At least she's been eating better and not drinking a ton of water anymore. But her kidney has gotten a little larger from the last x-ray :(

Theresa, Emma, and Sparky
 
Hi Theresa,I haven't been on here for a while...just read your post.Sorry that Emma had to go all thru those procedures for her constipation issue.I hope she is feeling a little more comfortable now.
Benny is still having a rough time, and he too just had a constipation issue going on.I took him to yet another new vet #5 and I do like her so far.She re-tested benny's urine and blood and the results were pretty good. Benny was becoming dehydrated though so the vet told me to give benny subcutaneous fluids( not fun)but he needs it for now and it also helps with the constipation.I also took Benny to the eye doctor($95.00) the doctor told me his vision problem was age related and not to worry... which I completely disagreed with and so did my new vet.So now the new vet is sending me to another opathamologist $151.00 just for the exam not including any treatment.I'm hoping for the best but running out of money I set aside for Benny's Healthcare.

Thanks for keeping in touch.
Wishing Emma all the best... with positive results. Chuck
 
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