? Bear-Ketones update.. advice pls

[Yogi_Bear]

Trace ketones
Update:
Well mr. Bear decided he didnt want to eat today, even less than the last few days..
He kept spitting out his chicken which is his absolute fave. He ate a churu though. I tried everything to get him to eat.

So we took a trip to the vet which was very confusing.
Labs back tomorrow so no answers currently. I thought they would give him something for his appetite or maybe something for anti nausea but all they gave him were subq fluids because he was a bit dehydrated. He does look much better.

Hes lost almost 3lbs since end of October
Basically the vet told me its my fault because i have him on such a low dose and hes not regulated and headed for DKA. Also told me im stressing him out from all the testing and thats why hes losing fur and probably not eating and his numbers aren’t coming down. She said if i would have been more proactive with his dose hed be regulated snd this wouldnt be an issue.

Not to get too emotional about this but i havent slept being so stressed about this, and i feel like im failing him.. it was all very stressful and incredibly expensive and i feel like were no better off than we were this morning. Feeling super deflated.

Its like he WANTS to eat because hel eat the churu. She also told me no food = no insulin. Only positive was that the car ride stressed him out so his numbers are up instead of crashing atm.

The vet gave me a recovery food to try, he ate a few bites and was over it. Il try anything to get some food in him at this point.. wondering if it would be terrible to try his old kibble? Its not low carb but would it hurt just to get his appetite back? I really dont want to keep skipping shots.

Very deflated

 

[CORKY]

Why don’t you ask the Dr to prescribe MIRATZ, is a small tube but goes a long way, just a pin drop on the inside upper ear in the fold, rub , every day exchanging ears for 5 days, Corky was prescribed it, and I swear by the next meal he almost ate the bowl, is really good to have handy, Here in Miami Fl I paid $37.00 the vets office usually has in stock
Don’t despair I also felt that I was failing, and felt inadequate, I cried till there was were no more tears, and many sleepless nights, but it does get better, he need to eat is good to get rid of Ketones, have you tried Fancy Feast Pates? They have a lot of flavors, and flakes and chunky foods, I’m sorry for your frustration, believe me I feel you

 

[Yogi_Bear]

Why don’t you ask the Dr to prescribe MIRATZ, is a small tube but goes a long way, just a pin drop on the inside upper ear in the fold, rub , every day exchanging ears for 5 days, Corky was prescribed it, and I swear by the next meal he almost ate the bowl, is really good to have handy, Here in Miami Fl I paid $37.00 the vets office usually has in stock

I asked her about appetite stimulants and she said we have to wait for the bloodwork to come back to rule out kidney/liver stuff

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

If you're seeing trace ketones, you need to be proactive. I'd also try baby food (Gerber or Beechnut stage 2). Many cats love the stuff. It's like Churu.

I do think Bear needs more insulin. With SLGS, you adjust the dose every 7 days. He was at the 0.25u dose for longer than necessary. Same for the 0.5u dose. If you want to be even more proactive, you can switch over to TR (Tight Regulation) so you can adjust doses every 3 days/6 cycles. You will need to test at least once during every PM cycle. (You should be doing that regardless of which dosing method you're following.)

I'd suggest adding water to Bear's food. Water helps to flush the ketones. The subq fluids were a good idea.

The reason ketones develop is due to not enough insulin + not enough calories + an infection/inflammation. The lab results will tell you if there's some infection brewing. In the meantime, if Bear will eat some kibble, see if you can crumble a bit on his canned food and if it will help with his appetite. If not, try the kibble. The trade off is that it may jack up his blood glucose.

 

[Yogi_Bear]

If you're seeing trace ketones, you need to be proactive. I'd also try baby food (Gerber or Beechnut stage 2). Many cats love the stuff. It's like Churu.

I do think Bear needs more insulin. With SLGS, you adjust the dose every 7 days. He was at the 0.25u dose for longer than necessary. Same for the 0.5u dose. If you want to be even more proactive, you can switch over to TR (Tight Regulation) so you can adjust doses every 3 days/6 cycles. You will need to test at least once during every PM cycle. (You should be doing that regardless of which dosing method you're following.)

I'd suggest adding water to Bear's food. Water helps to flush the ketones. The subq fluids were a good idea.

The reason ketones develop is due to not enough insulin + not enough calories + an infection/inflammation. The lab results will tell you if there's some infection brewing. In the meantime, if Bear will eat some kibble, see if you can crumble a bit on his canned food and if it will help with his appetite. If not, try the kibble. The trade off is that it may jack up his blood glucose.

Thank you
Ive been adding water to the wet food but he wont eat it. Im going to go to the pet store and see if i can find anything appetizing for him just to get something other than churu in him. I will try the baby food also.

Should i be increasing him even though hes not eating?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

I'm surprised the vet is making you wait for blood work results to get an anti nausea medication, since it does sound like he's nauseous. Ondansetron is what I find best. Vets don't stock it, but can give you an Rx for a human pharmacy.

I'd increase to 0.75 units. As Sienne said above, the recipe for DKA includes not enough calories + not enough insulin and he's got both those going on. Here's a couple other tips to get food into a cat:

• Syringe/Assisted Feeding (Video and Tips)
• THE '~LIVER SHAKE~' FOR SICK CATS

 

[Yogi_Bear]

I'm surprised the vet is making you wait for blood work results to get an anti nausea medication, since it does sound like he's nauseous. Ondansetron is what I find best. Vets don't stock it, but can give you an Rx for a human pharmacy.

I'd increase to 0.75 units. As Sienne said above, the recipe for DKA includes not enough calories + not enough insulin and he's got both those going on. Here's a couple other tips to get food into a cat:

• Syringe/Assisted Feeding (Video and Tips)
• THE '~LIVER SHAKE~' FOR SICK CATS

Yes, when I asked for anti nausea, she responded “well, is he throwing up?” so basically she implied no barf=no nausea.

Would i increase the dosage this evening? Luckily i was off today but i will be at work all day tomorrow so i will not be able to test/monitor until i get home..

He has eaten some turkey, and about less than half a can of the recovery food when I made it into a warm soup mix.

I think i need to get over my fear of him going hypo over night/when im not home because well, now its just landed us on the other side of the crap pile.

 

[Yogi_Bear]

We also have an updated ketone test from today. Our vet did one too, bloodwork, full urine and fructosamine.. i was a bit reluctant on the fructosamine test because we already know hes unregulated

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Trace ketones is a good indicator he needs more insulin. I'm glad he's eating something.

Nausea isn't always throwing up. Cerenia is good if throwing up, ondansetron (I find) better for plain nausea. This webpage has a good description of nausea symptoms. Not saying CKD is present, but the symptoms are the same without it. On that page is a natural treatment called slippery elm bark. Maybe you can try that.