Karen & Biscuits
Member Since 2021
Hi everyone, I'm back. I apologize for my long absence again, but it's been a whirlwind of sick cats the last few months and I can't seem to catch a break.
On Tuesday this week, I woke up and fed Biscuits and her brothers their breakfast. Shortly after that, Biscuits vomited almost all of what she ate. I found that a bit weird because she isn't usually like that and when she does vomit it's usual hairballs as she's a long-haired cat. This was different. For a few hours, she vomited more and was in the water bowl every 10-15 minutes. Her BG was in the 300's which is not unusual for her, so I wasn't sure what was going on. As the morning wore on, I could tell she was feeling bad and decided to go to the vet as I started thinking she might be going into ketoacidosis, which has happened twice before.
We found out later that afternoon that she has pancreatitis. I'm irritated because this all started with her brother Purrcey, who is not diabetic, getting into food that belongs to my roommate's cats. She feeds them Cat Chow or Rachel Ray Nutrish or Purina One - it varies according to what coupons she has. Regardless, Purrcey is obsessed with that food and Biscuits has seen him eating it so she got into it as well and despite my efforts to keep her out of that food, she is sneaky and will figure out a way to get to it. I can't exactly remove it because my roommate has 2 cats in the house that do eat that food and it's not fair to them to have to change their habits to accommodate my diabetic cats. I will be investing in a baby gate asap to block my cats from having access to that food but that's how this all started. She is doing slightly better today, she was able to eat and keep the food down but her sugar is running in the 400's at the vet despite having zero food for 2 days. The scary part is, she is alone in the clinic from closing time until 7:30 am, so giving her high doses of insulin when no one is there to watch her to be sure she doesn't bottom out, is a bit scary. Thankfully that hasn't happened but I am extremely careful at home because of that huge seizure she had last Fall from bottoming out at 28. I don't sleep much because I'm so paranoid about her having similar issues when I give her 3.5 units at night.
Anyway...has anyone here experienced pancreatitis with a diabetic cat? What did you do, and did you have to change anything for the cat after they came home from the vet? I currently feed her and her brothers Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken dry kibble and they get 1/3 of a can each of Weruva Cats in the Kitchen wet food every day as well. My roommate's elderly cat had pancreatitis back in January and while he's not diabetic, he's also not allowed any dry kibble anymore, and I fear the same will happen for Biscuits. The thing is, she really likes the dry food and so do her brothers. What do I do about that?
Anyway, I haven't got her new spreadsheet done because our old meter died and I just got a new one, the Alpha Trak 3 (don't like it), but as soon as she comes home from the vet I will make a point to do the spreadsheet. The clinic has her meter over there to keep things consistent for me and for her. Suffice it to say, her sugar is running between 280-550 on a regular basis, morning, noon and night. She's on 3.5 -4 units of Levemir 2x a day. Every once in awhile she gets down into the 100 or lower range and I cannot figure out why she can't stay there aside from eating the food she shouldn't have but this issue has been going on long before that happened. What has your experience been with pancreatitis in cats? Just curious on where I need to go from here with Biscuits.
Thanks for taking the time read her story.
On Tuesday this week, I woke up and fed Biscuits and her brothers their breakfast. Shortly after that, Biscuits vomited almost all of what she ate. I found that a bit weird because she isn't usually like that and when she does vomit it's usual hairballs as she's a long-haired cat. This was different. For a few hours, she vomited more and was in the water bowl every 10-15 minutes. Her BG was in the 300's which is not unusual for her, so I wasn't sure what was going on. As the morning wore on, I could tell she was feeling bad and decided to go to the vet as I started thinking she might be going into ketoacidosis, which has happened twice before.
We found out later that afternoon that she has pancreatitis. I'm irritated because this all started with her brother Purrcey, who is not diabetic, getting into food that belongs to my roommate's cats. She feeds them Cat Chow or Rachel Ray Nutrish or Purina One - it varies according to what coupons she has. Regardless, Purrcey is obsessed with that food and Biscuits has seen him eating it so she got into it as well and despite my efforts to keep her out of that food, she is sneaky and will figure out a way to get to it. I can't exactly remove it because my roommate has 2 cats in the house that do eat that food and it's not fair to them to have to change their habits to accommodate my diabetic cats. I will be investing in a baby gate asap to block my cats from having access to that food but that's how this all started. She is doing slightly better today, she was able to eat and keep the food down but her sugar is running in the 400's at the vet despite having zero food for 2 days. The scary part is, she is alone in the clinic from closing time until 7:30 am, so giving her high doses of insulin when no one is there to watch her to be sure she doesn't bottom out, is a bit scary. Thankfully that hasn't happened but I am extremely careful at home because of that huge seizure she had last Fall from bottoming out at 28. I don't sleep much because I'm so paranoid about her having similar issues when I give her 3.5 units at night.
Anyway...has anyone here experienced pancreatitis with a diabetic cat? What did you do, and did you have to change anything for the cat after they came home from the vet? I currently feed her and her brothers Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken dry kibble and they get 1/3 of a can each of Weruva Cats in the Kitchen wet food every day as well. My roommate's elderly cat had pancreatitis back in January and while he's not diabetic, he's also not allowed any dry kibble anymore, and I fear the same will happen for Biscuits. The thing is, she really likes the dry food and so do her brothers. What do I do about that?
Anyway, I haven't got her new spreadsheet done because our old meter died and I just got a new one, the Alpha Trak 3 (don't like it), but as soon as she comes home from the vet I will make a point to do the spreadsheet. The clinic has her meter over there to keep things consistent for me and for her. Suffice it to say, her sugar is running between 280-550 on a regular basis, morning, noon and night. She's on 3.5 -4 units of Levemir 2x a day. Every once in awhile she gets down into the 100 or lower range and I cannot figure out why she can't stay there aside from eating the food she shouldn't have but this issue has been going on long before that happened. What has your experience been with pancreatitis in cats? Just curious on where I need to go from here with Biscuits.
Thanks for taking the time read her story.
