Beyond frustrated and scared

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lavoth

Member Since 2013
Hi! My 14 year old diabetic cat has been hospitalized twice in the last week. She quit eating and her glucose numbers were crazy. It was determined that she has pancreatitis. She was given fluids for dehydration, a fast acting insulin and anti nausea meds. She was stable and eating. I brought her home and she refused to eat. I was feeding her the same food the vet was feeding her. Needless to say, she was hospitalized again. Again, they stabilized her and they said she was "eating like a pig." I brought her home. Again she is not eating. They gave me an appetite stimulant and said within an hour she would want to eat. No luck. This is a vicious circle. She doesn't eat so she can't have the insulin. Because she doesn't get the insulin, she doesn't feel well. The vet is baffled. Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions?
 
Hello and welcome to the board!

Sorry you are having such a difficult time but let's see what we can do.. If we start by you answering these questions we will have a better idea of what's going on

1. What is the insulin? I don't like the sound of this fast actin insulin. What country are you in? Lantus and levemir and prozinc are good insulins for cats but they aren't "fast acting" but work well. Also how much?


2. What food does she get? Wet ? Dry? Type/brand

3. Are you willing to home test? That will give us a better picture of what's going on.. She may be going too low on this insulin, or too high, but unless you test we will never know. And it saves you on vets bills.. Especially since most cats are so stressed at the vet the blood glucose is higher anyway.

4. How was it diagnosed? Did the vet mention fructosamine? What were the symptoms?

Is she eating now?

Wendy
 
Thank you so much for your quick reply!!

They were giving her Humulin - R - it was something they could give her every 4 hours to bring her numbers down. At home I use and have used Prozinc for years. She has been diabetic for probably 5-6 years and this is the first time we have had major issues.

As far as food is concerned, I am giving her the Purina D/M - canned. This is what they were giving her their and she liked it. Before that she ate Evo for a long time. Now she is not willing to eat anything here at home.

As far as home testing - we have everything we need to do it and keep trying in her ear but so far we can't get enough blood for it to work. Maybe we are doing something wrong...

I just spoke to the vet. They gave me two options - readmit her or take her in to give her fluids.

This is so hard as her vet bills are so high now and we are scared about how much more they will be. I can't imagine not doing what she needs because of money!!

Again - thank you for your help!!
 
Have you ever given fluids yourself at home? It isn't terribly hard to do, once you get past the size of the needle. ;-) You can get the supplies online or from the vet, but you'd save "labor" charges at the vet.
 
Hi Carl,
Yes, we actually had a dog we did that with. I think that is what we are going to try!
 
Ok so to confirm, she has been in prozinc for 6 years? What dose? And she was eating Evo before this incident, what flavours?

Also here are some tips for getting blood from her ears.. https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Rd6sMfsrNB41yQVEqpyjlHrJsDIbGEhbRIWR4QAwu3c/pub

Are you testing her urine for ketones? Sorry for all the questions, am trying to get the whole picture.

Last question for now.. Any other medical issues? Steroids? Anything else change recently..?

Here are some suggestions from another member for enticing a cat to eat:
Cheryl & Winnie wrote:
Enticing a Cat to Eat

Here are some things you can do do entice your cat to eat:

-sometimes in order to get a cat to eat you even have to resort to dry it is more important that they eat. there are a couple low carb / grain free brands -- EVO and wellness core.

-making a buffet to give him choices
- heating food

sprinkle food with :
FortiFlora -- a probiotic you can get at vets or online. is very smelly and cats love the taste of it.
parmesean cheese
smashed crumbles of dry food
bonito/tuna flakes (Can be found at Asian markets or sometimes in the Asian food section of a large grocery store.)
halo chicken treats (freeze dried chicken) -- crumble into dust over food -- my Wolfie loves this stuff.
pour a little water from tuna in water over food (I use low sodium/no sodium added as other kinds in water has veg. broth in it and I assume that means onions, which are toxic to cats and it shouldn't contain soy -- check labels)
powdered oregano. yep sounds weird . but some cats like it and it will entice them to eat.

other ideas of foods to offer your kitty to stim appy:
trader joe tuna for cats
baby food -- beechnut or Gerber Stage 2 -- you want a baby food that is only a protein + broth (although the Gerber contains cornstarch). It should have no onions or other additives. some babyfoods have onions . please read labels if you can't find beechnut.
kentucky fried chicken
deli turkey /chicken
plain cooked ( boiled or baked ) chicken breast
canned chicken for people (watch the label that their are no onions)
chicken broth -- low sodium

If enticements don't work, you should consider:
-assist feeding ( syringe or make little meatballs and place in mouth)
-and/or talking to your vet about appetite stimulents ( mirtazapine or cyproheptidine)
Click to expand...
 
Thank you Carl! That will be very helpful. And can't wait to see Gus...:)

Wendy -
Yes, she has been on Prozinc for about 6 years. She was eating EVO turkey formula. Interestingly the Evo was recalled about the time she started not eating. Just a little history - she was on 5 units 2x day for a long time and was stable. Her vet retired and another vet felt that it should be increased to 6 units 2x day. That was when I saw problems, took her to the doc who said at that point to reduce it to 2 units 2x day. We have been struggling ever since. No other medical issues except the recent pancreatitis diagnoses. The vet did test her for ketones yesterday and indicated there was not a problem there.

I feel that since my beloved vet retired I haven't been able to get consistent information.

Thank you for the feeding tips and ear testing information as well!!
 
Hi! I'm Gus's mom! I hope the info we give you can help your kitty.

Besides the video, I also wrote a Primer on Pancreatitis. It contains all the most current I do on how to treat pancreatitis.

One of the important things we stress is to treat any nausea before you give an appetite stimulant. Vets are not always on top of treating nausea and often want to give Pepcid or cerenia. But ondansetron (zofran) is the best choice for nausea. You can also syringe feed your kitty. IAMS Max Cal is a good choice...you will need a prescription if your vet doesn't carry it. It is low carb but high calorie.
 
Hi Gus's Mom! I am so glad I found this group! You all are giving me some great tools...and hope too. I was getting so discouraged and sad for my girl. I will check out all of this information!
 
We don't allow "discouraged and sad" here. At least not for long. :lol: We will do whatever we possibly can to remove those feelings from your head. ;-)
 
I posted this in another thread tonight. It's pretty much my philosophy in life
Try to focus on today and look forward to tomorrow. Screw yesterday. It's done.
Click to expand...

Not quite Plato, but it works for me. :lol:
 
Update on my kitty....we gave her fluids and an anti nausea pill. She became more active-even came to sleep on the bed last night for the first time in a month. She acted very hungry but then only ate a little. Not enough to give insulin. Maybe I am being impatient??? It has been about 12 hours since we gave the med and fluids.
 
If she won't eat for 2 days, you will need to go back to the vet. Fat breakdown for calories can overwhelm the liver in as few as 2 days, causing hepatic lipidosis - inflammation due to excessive fat being absorbed by the liver. It really messes up the metabolism and results in a very ill cat.

See if you can do some active play before feeding; this triggers the hunt, catch, kill, eat, eliminate, groom, sleep behavior cycle in many cats. Plus, it relieves stress and enhances the bond between you.

Ideas to try:
- hand feeding
- picking up the dish, stirring it and putting it back down may trigger a bite or two. (Oh! NEw Food!)
- warming up the food to make it stinky
- FortiFlora sprinkled on the food
- grated parmesan cheese sprinkled on the food
- dried fish flakes sprinkled on the food (Asian markets may have this)
 
I've only seen it at the vets office.

Can you syringe feed her? This is a great video on assist feeding a cat:
[youtube]U6o17wH6ujk[/youtube]
 
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