Anybody Seen This Sympton

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CatPaws

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Hi everyone. Just joined and so glad I have someone else who can give me some answers. My cat, Cuddles, at 13 was diagnosed with diabetes over a year ago. I was not alarmed as I have a cat boarding business and have had many diabetic cats over the years. However, some times when I get up in the morning he is just roaming the house sniffing everything in sight. The first time I picked him up his eyes were totally dialated, even when the lights were on. Of course I took him to the vet right away. He couldn't find anything wrong, and said all counts were good. He continues to have an episode like this about once a month, except he has had two this month. I have to show him where his food is to get him to stop sniffing long enough to eat. For the first year he was on PZI and then the vet switched to Vetsulin because he said they were no longer making PZI. I just switched to Vetsulin and found out they too will not be making any more after the end of the year. I didn't think it was the insulin since he did this with PZI also. He gets 4 units of Vetsulin once a day.

He also has been diagnosed with Thyroidism and gets 5mg of methimazole x2 daily.

Anybody got any new ideas?

Jo Ellen and Cuddles
 
CatPaws said:
However, some times when I get up in the morning he is just roaming the house sniffing everything in sight. The first time I picked him up his eyes were totally dialated, even when the lights were on.
Anybody got any new ideas?

Jo Ellen and Cuddles
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Yes, those are classic symptoms of hypoglycemia. If he's having them that frequently, you need to re-examine the dose you're giving. To stay at the same dose with those symptoms is putting him in real danger.

Better yet, learn how to home test so you can keep his glucose at safer levels.
 
That is also a huge dose of methimazole. Do you have a T4 / Free T4 test done every 3 months to confirm that the dose is ok?

My Hyperthyroid cat gets 3/8 of a 5 mg pill per day (1/4 in the morning, 1/8 in the evening)
 
Ditto what Deanie said. HYPO symptom........please, lower the dose until you learn how to hometest. So far, you've been very lucky to catch it and get food into him.
 
Joining the crowd here: please learn to hometest his BG -- this is the best way to regulate his diabetes.

Also, have his blood pressure checked the next time he goes to the vet. Hypertension isn't uncommon in older cats with hyperthyroidism or kidney disease.
 
I wonder about both the insulin dose AND the methamizole dose too.

How is his eating? What is his diet?

Cats need insulin twice a day (bid), not once about 98% of the time. And vetsulin certainly doesn't work for once a day (sid) dosing. The 4u will drop him very low and then he will bounce back up very high in about 4-6 hours and stay high until the next shot. My Beau was on a huge dose of vetsulin sid. He got up to 7u. At no time while he was being dosed sid with vetsulin and not home tested did he ever reach regulation. Testing the BG at the vet just doesn't give accurate and timely data about how the dose is working.

For a cat on a low carb diet, the usual dose of vetsulin would be between .5u and 1.5u bid.

I have two hyperthyroid cats and that is a huge dose of methimazole. Beau ended up hypothyroid this past summer and again a month ago because his dose was too high (at less than you are giving) and he acted strange both times. They can be withdrawn, lethargic, not want to eat, grumpy and irritable and their body temp can go too low.

I encourage you to get a meter and learn to home test his blood glucose (BG), get his thyroid levels checked, look into his diet - but do NOT change him to lower carb foods until you are testing him at home because his BG can drop dramatically. Lastly, since vetsulin is having issues with quality (I did not know they were going to stop making it), I would suggest that you look into levemir , lantus, or ProZinc. These insulins are better than vetsulin. I only have experience with vetsulin and levemir, but can recommend levemir 100%.
 
Thank you all for quick responses. Now I am really confused. When cuddles got like that I would run to the vet each time, but he kept saying everything is fine. He said his BG was a little high when I brought him in but nothing to worry about. After everyone's comment about the Methimzaole being too high I went back to recheck that too. The pills were 5mg, but now I use the twist a dose transdermal applicator, but that says apply 0.05ML twice a day.

I will get the kit to start testing at home and will ask about the other insulins. Thank you all for the support.
 
Jo Ellen, the transdermal methimazole is compounded to whatever dose your vet instructed them to make - so you need to call the vet and ask what the .5ml is equivalent to in terms of mgs.

Let us know if you need testing help - maybe start a new topic post so it gets seen. Testing will give you such peace of mind - and no more rushing him to the vet, you can check him right then and there at home.
 
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