Can hypos really kill???

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Lisa & Jax

Lisa & Jax

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Good Morning all,

I just wanted to hear your opinions. I have seen on these boards thread after thread of a vet giving a ridiculous amount of insulin on low BG's over a period of days. None of these vets are blinking twice, nor are cats dying under their care. What gives? When we hit hypo numbers we are on full alert, spooning out hi carbs, gravy, etc. Acutely aware of our cats every move.

I am not advocating dosing your cat recklessly or ignoring low BG levels AT ALL. I'm just wondering why vets have no problems giving 3 units...4 units...and the cats go low, but don't hypo.

Any thoughts out there?
 
I watched a dog die from hypos. It took all day. It was the most horrifying thing I have ever seen.
Two kitties died from hypos last year. The threads are still on the Grief forum.

Carl
 
Oh, the dog happened at the vet clinic, and the dog was being boarded at the time. They were giving the shots.
Carl
 
It's uncommon, at least on FDMB. I like to think it's because people test, catch a low number in time and start bringing it back up with food and syrup. I think the few times it has happened is when the cat was alone and went low. Sometimes a new member, not testing, will come on Health and have a kitty acting blind and stumbling around. We send them to the ER. Usually the cat recovers with an emergency glucose IV (and the bean starts testing the next day). But not always. We have had several tragedies, with the bean saying they wish they had known about testing. The vet usually had said bring the cat back in 2 weeks and watch for hypo symptoms.

We probably worry more than we have to. Human meters test lower than animal meters so there is a built in safeguard. And we see very few symptoms with low numbers other than hunger. But by the the time symptoms are present, a 20 minute drive to the ER may be too long.

Again, always better safe than sorry.
 
Yes! I can't speak for other vet's. But the two vet's i went to before i finally found a decent one were very ignorant of FD. They also didn't really seem to care. If i had followed either one of the other vet's rx copper would not be here now purrrring and loving our family.

Always question and educate yourselves as much as possible, even with human doctors. THey make mistakes all the time. I've experience that unfortunatley(long story and won't go into that).
 
I think the reason you don't hear much about it from anywhere except here is because people don't realize exactly WHY their diabetic animal dies. I just ran into an old friend & discovered his cat had diabetes and had died. He told me I might as well go ahead & have Thumper PTS cause she was just gonna die anyway. He said he did everything the vet said but his cat died anyway. I didn't ask for any details of how he was treating cause I didn't want to dredge up a lot of sad memories but I would be willing to bet the cat died due to a hypo. Most people (and I have been there in the past) just take what their vet says as the gospel. They don't know what to look for so they continue to shoot too much insulin & feed dry food. I know the head of a local no kill rescue who is doing exactly that, she didn't want my help, her vet knows & can take care of it. :roll: One day the stars are all going to line up & the cat will die from a hypo. So very sad.

BTW, I'm not vet bashing. I just believe they don't have the time to concentrate on diabetes only. I'm sure it's a very difficult job, the animals can't talk & they probably only get sketchy info from the owners (been there too). Then you have to consider a LOT of people don't want to do all we do & the vets are probably afraid if they tell the owner they have to do all the testing some people will just say PTS.
 
just happen to spot this thread this morning and wanted to add a couple things. 1. in alot of cases where the cat has been prescribed a higher dose, they are also eating a yucky prescription often higher carb dry food that is saving their lives. 2. often it's only a matter of time before the cat's body runs out of reserves and the cat has a symptomatic hypo. 3. several years ago, when i first came across the feline diabetes world, hypos were a daily occurrence almost around these parts. people who have joined fdmb in the last 3-4 years have never seen anything like it. so often someone would suddenly appear on fdmb screaming HELPPPPPPPPP??? because their cat was wobbly, or yowling, or seemed blind or disoriented and they went to the internet to see what they could find out about it, only to find that their cat was overdosed and on the verge of knocking on death's door. fortunately, most, with some guidance, lived. but there were many that did not. 4. and lastly, like the person Barbara mentioned, how many people out there lose their cats to hypos or dka, etc.... that we'll never know about because they never find a place like fdmb and never realize why their kitty died
 
I just want to share this story with you.
When Baxter was DX & the vet called me in to learn about adminstering insulin.
He went over the needles with me very slowly & wanted me to make sure I understood about the needles. Then we moved on to the insulin again very slowly. Then we went over both & drawing the insulin.
He told me why he was doing this. One reason is to make sure I completely understood & felt comfortable. He wasn't going to let me leave until I had it all down. The other reason was.....
Two weeks before Baxter was DX there was another cat from the clinic DX with FD. My vet went over everything with the client just like he did with me. The client went home...about a week later she went to give her cat insulin. She drew back 5 units of ProZinc :o :shock: !! When she was only suppose to give .50. The cat went into serve hypoglycemia/shock & coma. My vet told me he almost wasn't able to save her cat. The cat spent 1 week in the hospital.
That story terrified me! When I walked out of the office the story never left my mind. I try to be so careful when I draw Baxters insulin.
I still tell my vet I'm glad he told me the story. I ask about that cat every time I go to the vet.
 
Barbara said:
I think the reason you don't hear much about it from anywhere except here is because people don't realize exactly WHY their diabetic animal dies. I just ran into an old friend & discovered his cat had diabetes and had died. He told me I might as well go ahead & have Thumper PTS cause she was just gonna die anyway. He said he did everything the vet said but his cat died anyway. I didn't ask for any details of how he was treating cause I didn't want to dredge up a lot of sad memories but I would be willing to bet the cat died due to a hypo.
Click to expand...

Ditto!

My co-worker told me she had 2 diabetic cats. She shot blindly. One died a "horrible death" - I didn't ask. The other she had PTS. If only she had questioned the vet or sought out answers on her own, thus finding this board...
 
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