Hi -
I was on this board in 2010 when my Siamese cat was diagnosed with diabetes - during a DKA breakdown. We kept Emma alive until November 2012. At that time, we were on vacation with a good caregiver, but something went wrong. It appeared she gave up eating for some reason (she just hadn't seemed healthy no matter how much we regulated sugars) and she went into a diabetic coma and died while we were away. Anna (her litter mate) was diagnosed with Diabetes in December 2010 (6 months after her sister). We recognized the signs so caught it long before it became DKA. Life was challenging with 2 diabetic cats - especially when it came to who was eating what and who was peeing what amounts, but we managed.
When we lost Emma in 2012, I didn't think Anna could survive it. She depended on Emma for everything. I became inseparable with Anna and tried in my own way to let her know if she would fight to be with us - we would fight for her and make sure she wasn't too lonely with Emma gone. We involved her in all family activities we could and she slept with us every single night. For the first week after Emma died, she would curl up between my husband and i so she was on both of us and wrap her paw around my finger and just squeeze and squeeze. She was never completely the same again but we got a lot of Anna's personality back. It was easier to regulate and be checking one cat and looking/seeing signs of trouble faster (though we would have done anything to have Emma back).
We went on vacation and left her with a family member that she loves nearly as much as us and she did extremely well. There were times in the last 6 months she would start to show some signs of food aversion but overall she seemed good. About 2 months ago, I started to find that her blood sugar was getting more challenging to regulate. We did regular checks with our glucometer but she always seemed low or high. I made an appointment with our long time vet who didn't see anything out of ordinary, but had us do a 48 hour curve - she had some suspicions of a Somalgy effect. We did that but she just felt that her insulin needed to be adjusted down a bit more. She would rather see her up a little consistently than crashing with lows - which we were starting to experience at night and that was scaring me. We felt we had a revised plan and all was good.
Went on vacation and left her with same caregiver (she would go to her house - but it's my mom and she's used to travelling with us since Emma died - 4 hours away and loves it there and my mom). Mom would check in with us constantly and the first 6 days they were having a blast with her. Mom was in the house 24/7 so would be there for her constantly. She was playing and active. On the 7th day, she refused to eat and started staggering etc. Blood sugars showed a slight elevation but nothing too much. She was vomiting constantly. After that night mom got her to the vet immediately. She was in kidney failure and DKA. They wanted to put her down (different vet hospital but very experienced) but I asked to do everything possible unless they knew 100% that she was suffering in intense pain. Her kidney values were still high, sugars were all over the place and very very very dehydrated. On constant drip. I asked to keep her alive for 2 more days and do one more round of bloodwork that Monday. On the Monday AM, they called excited. She was walking around her cage, peeing, drinking on her own and showed some interest in food. Dehydration started to resolve itself but most of all, kidney tests came back NORMAL! She was always a tiny Siamese but this took her down to just over 6 pounds.
I tried to change my flight and the moment I landed, I jumped in my car and drove through the night for 4 hours to be there for 8AM when the vet would let me in. After a long consult, they let her come with me (I was to see my vet immediately when I got home). She was very skinny but other than that, she was Anna. They felt in conclusion that she had an 'acute kidney failure' attack that might have been brought on from the stress of our leaving on vacation - which I felt beyond myself about. Brought her home and she was so glad to be home - I just didn't want to lose her the way I lost Emma (not being there and thinking she thought we didn't care or weren't coming back). I spent so much time with her over the last 3 weeks - one Friday night I even had plans just for her and I to hang out on the couch and watch movies and curl up in a blanket. I almost have squeezed her to death over the last 3.5 weeks telling her how much I love her and believed in her. She slept with me every night.
Vet checked her out consistently and we had to switch her insulin (much smaller amount and long lasting) and she was getting insulin only once every 1.5 days. Checking sugars all the time to make sure ok. She was eating special A/D diet. Still seemed tired but attributed that to her recovery and thinness. Vet checked weight and she had not gained anything, but felt we shouldn't be concerned because eating and drinking and not throwing up. Sugars crashed one night and had to call emerg and got her to eat and them back up but I knew her body couldn't take much more of this and couldn't understand why they were changing.
Saturday morning she stopped eating. She curled up in my lap before I went out Saturday lunch time. By supper time, she was having trouble walking, eyes didn't look good and seemed in discomfort and weak. Called emerg and rushed her in. They did blood work and came back with everything normal. That upset us more because we knew she wasn't ok. They gave her anti-nausea drug and fluids to make sure didn't dehydrate (was ok at that point) and some recovery diet liquid formula to syringe. She had a complete obsession with water though her sugars were just on the high end of normal. Would look for it constantly and I swear she would drink the whole bowl if I let her. Doctor asked us to remove the water and only give her equivalent to 1 1/2 tsp every half hour or so as it was causing her to throw up and she had the fluid injection. By Sunday morning, she didn't seem there anymore. Darkness in her eyes and didn't focus on anything. Not comfortable. THe most cuddly cat ever would not be held and then the vomitting started again even though she had the anti nausea drug in her system. We called emerg and they got her in. At that point, they said her eyes were showing complete unresponsiveness. They believed she heard me but couldn't see me. She lay on her side. I thought she was already gone a couple of times in the car as I held her wrapped in her favourite blanket in my arms. We said goodbye and put her down.
We are beyond ourselves. We had those cats for 13+ years. They were our babies and we had them as diabetics since 2010. We don't know what to do with ourselves. We had accepted that we would not go on family vacations any longer because Anna could now never be left with anyone. We made sure she was always comfortable, checking sugars all the time, peeing properly and now we have nothing. She's just gone and we have an empty petless home. Our hearts are broken. Diabetes care giving had taken up a lot of time but it had become daily routine and now we don't know what to do without it and without them.
I'm still so confused by what happened. Doctor is suspecting pancreatic cancer at this point or even something neurological based on eye shifting etc that had started the night before. They told me that in Canada there is only one place to go for proper pancreatic testing and it's far away from me and they didn't think she could endure that. But wouldn't something have shown somewhere else if that had been? I've researched to death that what if we had known or known to suspect that - there could have been enzyme replacements or something that might have helped. not sure why I'm posting - I'm just really lost and don't want Anna or Emma to feel I let them down. Money has been a consideration with a small child at home - I spent over $5,000 in the last 4 weeks to keep Anna going but I'd spend $5000 more if it would bring her back. I just feel there must have been something more I could have done.
The only thing I have with Anna is I told her constantly for the last 3 weeks how much I loved her and cuddled her and was with her every night. She'd wait up for me if I was out (rarely in the last 3 weeks) and I would make sure to carry her up the stairs and tuck her in next to me because I knew she was still weak and didn't want her to overdo it. I really loved them with all my heart and would do anything to fix whatever went wrong.
Thanks.
I was on this board in 2010 when my Siamese cat was diagnosed with diabetes - during a DKA breakdown. We kept Emma alive until November 2012. At that time, we were on vacation with a good caregiver, but something went wrong. It appeared she gave up eating for some reason (she just hadn't seemed healthy no matter how much we regulated sugars) and she went into a diabetic coma and died while we were away. Anna (her litter mate) was diagnosed with Diabetes in December 2010 (6 months after her sister). We recognized the signs so caught it long before it became DKA. Life was challenging with 2 diabetic cats - especially when it came to who was eating what and who was peeing what amounts, but we managed.
When we lost Emma in 2012, I didn't think Anna could survive it. She depended on Emma for everything. I became inseparable with Anna and tried in my own way to let her know if she would fight to be with us - we would fight for her and make sure she wasn't too lonely with Emma gone. We involved her in all family activities we could and she slept with us every single night. For the first week after Emma died, she would curl up between my husband and i so she was on both of us and wrap her paw around my finger and just squeeze and squeeze. She was never completely the same again but we got a lot of Anna's personality back. It was easier to regulate and be checking one cat and looking/seeing signs of trouble faster (though we would have done anything to have Emma back).
We went on vacation and left her with a family member that she loves nearly as much as us and she did extremely well. There were times in the last 6 months she would start to show some signs of food aversion but overall she seemed good. About 2 months ago, I started to find that her blood sugar was getting more challenging to regulate. We did regular checks with our glucometer but she always seemed low or high. I made an appointment with our long time vet who didn't see anything out of ordinary, but had us do a 48 hour curve - she had some suspicions of a Somalgy effect. We did that but she just felt that her insulin needed to be adjusted down a bit more. She would rather see her up a little consistently than crashing with lows - which we were starting to experience at night and that was scaring me. We felt we had a revised plan and all was good.
Went on vacation and left her with same caregiver (she would go to her house - but it's my mom and she's used to travelling with us since Emma died - 4 hours away and loves it there and my mom). Mom would check in with us constantly and the first 6 days they were having a blast with her. Mom was in the house 24/7 so would be there for her constantly. She was playing and active. On the 7th day, she refused to eat and started staggering etc. Blood sugars showed a slight elevation but nothing too much. She was vomiting constantly. After that night mom got her to the vet immediately. She was in kidney failure and DKA. They wanted to put her down (different vet hospital but very experienced) but I asked to do everything possible unless they knew 100% that she was suffering in intense pain. Her kidney values were still high, sugars were all over the place and very very very dehydrated. On constant drip. I asked to keep her alive for 2 more days and do one more round of bloodwork that Monday. On the Monday AM, they called excited. She was walking around her cage, peeing, drinking on her own and showed some interest in food. Dehydration started to resolve itself but most of all, kidney tests came back NORMAL! She was always a tiny Siamese but this took her down to just over 6 pounds.
I tried to change my flight and the moment I landed, I jumped in my car and drove through the night for 4 hours to be there for 8AM when the vet would let me in. After a long consult, they let her come with me (I was to see my vet immediately when I got home). She was very skinny but other than that, she was Anna. They felt in conclusion that she had an 'acute kidney failure' attack that might have been brought on from the stress of our leaving on vacation - which I felt beyond myself about. Brought her home and she was so glad to be home - I just didn't want to lose her the way I lost Emma (not being there and thinking she thought we didn't care or weren't coming back). I spent so much time with her over the last 3 weeks - one Friday night I even had plans just for her and I to hang out on the couch and watch movies and curl up in a blanket. I almost have squeezed her to death over the last 3.5 weeks telling her how much I love her and believed in her. She slept with me every night.
Vet checked her out consistently and we had to switch her insulin (much smaller amount and long lasting) and she was getting insulin only once every 1.5 days. Checking sugars all the time to make sure ok. She was eating special A/D diet. Still seemed tired but attributed that to her recovery and thinness. Vet checked weight and she had not gained anything, but felt we shouldn't be concerned because eating and drinking and not throwing up. Sugars crashed one night and had to call emerg and got her to eat and them back up but I knew her body couldn't take much more of this and couldn't understand why they were changing.
Saturday morning she stopped eating. She curled up in my lap before I went out Saturday lunch time. By supper time, she was having trouble walking, eyes didn't look good and seemed in discomfort and weak. Called emerg and rushed her in. They did blood work and came back with everything normal. That upset us more because we knew she wasn't ok. They gave her anti-nausea drug and fluids to make sure didn't dehydrate (was ok at that point) and some recovery diet liquid formula to syringe. She had a complete obsession with water though her sugars were just on the high end of normal. Would look for it constantly and I swear she would drink the whole bowl if I let her. Doctor asked us to remove the water and only give her equivalent to 1 1/2 tsp every half hour or so as it was causing her to throw up and she had the fluid injection. By Sunday morning, she didn't seem there anymore. Darkness in her eyes and didn't focus on anything. Not comfortable. THe most cuddly cat ever would not be held and then the vomitting started again even though she had the anti nausea drug in her system. We called emerg and they got her in. At that point, they said her eyes were showing complete unresponsiveness. They believed she heard me but couldn't see me. She lay on her side. I thought she was already gone a couple of times in the car as I held her wrapped in her favourite blanket in my arms. We said goodbye and put her down.
We are beyond ourselves. We had those cats for 13+ years. They were our babies and we had them as diabetics since 2010. We don't know what to do with ourselves. We had accepted that we would not go on family vacations any longer because Anna could now never be left with anyone. We made sure she was always comfortable, checking sugars all the time, peeing properly and now we have nothing. She's just gone and we have an empty petless home. Our hearts are broken. Diabetes care giving had taken up a lot of time but it had become daily routine and now we don't know what to do without it and without them.
I'm still so confused by what happened. Doctor is suspecting pancreatic cancer at this point or even something neurological based on eye shifting etc that had started the night before. They told me that in Canada there is only one place to go for proper pancreatic testing and it's far away from me and they didn't think she could endure that. But wouldn't something have shown somewhere else if that had been? I've researched to death that what if we had known or known to suspect that - there could have been enzyme replacements or something that might have helped. not sure why I'm posting - I'm just really lost and don't want Anna or Emma to feel I let them down. Money has been a consideration with a small child at home - I spent over $5,000 in the last 4 weeks to keep Anna going but I'd spend $5000 more if it would bring her back. I just feel there must have been something more I could have done.
The only thing I have with Anna is I told her constantly for the last 3 weeks how much I loved her and cuddled her and was with her every night. She'd wait up for me if I was out (rarely in the last 3 weeks) and I would make sure to carry her up the stairs and tuck her in next to me because I knew she was still weak and didn't want her to overdo it. I really loved them with all my heart and would do anything to fix whatever went wrong.
Thanks.
