SandraAndChief
New Member
Hi everyone,
I hope this is the right place to post and sorry if it will be very long, I want to be thorough. I am also in what I can only describe as an ongoing mental breakdown since this all happened and I cry every few hours.
The light of my life, Chief (he’s around 14, I adopted him as an adult and the shelter didn’t know his exact age or background, my family thinks he’s older), got diagnosed with diabetes and DKA on the 27th of December after about 2 months of what I now know were clear symptoms of diabetes. And I feel like I am losing my mind.
I’ll give a little background; in mid October, he caught a stomach bug. My parents adopted a kitty from foster care and it turns out she had a tummy issue. Unfortunately I didn’t realize right away and going from their place to mine, I didn’t think I had to change clothes, and by the time I realized the kitten was sick it was too late and Chief caught it. He had diarrhea for about 3 days, but had no other symptoms and recovered well. Then at the end of the month a vet came to see him for a quick check up, we did bloodwork and biopsied a bump on his hip. The bloodwork was good, only Hematocrit and Creatine Kinase were slightly elevated, and his bump was benign. Then, due to the diarrhea he had dealt with, and the fact that Chief has always had a sensitive tummy, I introduced Royal Canin Digestive Kibble (he had been eating the wet food for years) thinking it would maybe help improve his digestion. Then within about a week, I noticed increased thirst, urination, and appetite. Although I recognized the symptoms of diabetes, due to his good blood work merely 1-2 weeks prior, I assumed maybe the change in food was to blame. Over the next few weeks this continued but otherwise his behaviour didn’t change. After a while I noticed weight loss and weakness, but he was still behaving normally. Then around mid December he became a bit less active, and on the 23rd of December I got litter that shows glucose in urine, and of course the granules turned deep blue. On December 25th I took him to the only vet that was open in my city, other than the Vet ER. I told him about Chief’s textbook diabetes symptoms and even brought a clump of litter with his pee on it showing the blue granules. The vet, unfortunately, suggested that Chief was likely suffering from dementia, and that the pee might have been from my other cat “because his recent bloodwork was good and diabetes wouldn’t just come out of nowhere”. I insisted on doing bloodwork and urinalysis, and he suggested x-rays as well. Unfortunately with it being Christmas Day, the results would of course take a while. He prescribed amitriptyline, which I did not give because I didn’t trust this vet after his assessment. The next day was uneventful but he became a bit less interested in food the night of the 26th, and by the morning of the 27th I saw he hadn’t touched his food or water overnight. I gave him a few hours to see if anything would perk him up, but nothing worked so we headed to the ER Vet. There, they redid his bloodwork and urinalysis and got instant results. Not only was he diabetic but in DKA. I almost collapsed. The vet did seem fairly positive and said there was a good chance he would respond to treatment. He spent 4 nights in the hospital, improved steadily and began to eat on his own fairly quickly. His ketones took a while to go down, but eventually they got to 1, which is when they put him on insulin to determine the dose that would work for him going forward. I did visit him everyday with my parents and my husband, and on the 31st we took him home.
He’s taking 1.5u Lantus 2x a day 7am-7pm. The instructions were to only feed him at those times but this has been impossible for me. He almost hurt himself trying to climb to areas where he thought there could be food. He was meowing at me and sleeping in an empty food bowl, after licking it aggressively. He climbed into a box and emerged with a bag of Greenies in his teeth. I couldn’t stand it and I got some freeze dried salmon and treats (all grain free, just meat) and some Weruva Kitty Gone Wild (no starch, or grains) as it has large pieces of fish and I give about 2 tablespoons when he seems super hungry. He still eats a full can of food with his insulin. For his main meals with insulin, I’m feeding what they were feeding him at the hospital- Purina Veterinary Diets EssentialCare for seniors. He likes it heated and I put 1/4tsp Restoralax on top as his ER vet recommended. I don’t know if he has used the bathroom as I do have another cat and they both use both litter boxes, but I do think he may have pooped once since I got him back from the hospital. I am not sure and I’m definitely stressed about this.
Here’s why I’m really freaking out. I got a glucose monitor, although the vets didn’t encourage it, and the readings have been high. The first time I tested he was at 588.6 mg/dL. This was at 11pm, so 4 hours after his insulin. Called the vet, and they said to check again in 2hours. It eventually went down to the 400s and I didn’t retest. It’s very hard to test, even for my mother who is a nurse. He doesn’t bleed easily at all, so we had to poke my poor baby so many times just to get a tiny droplet, if I can even call it that. And we had to do it on his paw pad, as his ear would not bleed at all. I also got keto-diastix, which seem to show trace ketones (it’s a bit hard to tell with the colour change, it’s like between negative and trace. This freaks me out so much. Especially because on the 25th, it turns out there were no ketones in his urine. So somehow between having 0 on the 25th, he had 4+ on the 27th. It makes me feel like something could happen in an instant, and there are so many variables. His glucose also appears high on the sticks. I always test his pee about 1.5hrs after his insulin and dinner.
I am completely losing it. I can’t sleep, I check on him every few minutes and multiple times a night. I check his sleeping position and location and based on that I try to guess how he’s feeling. Now I am having a breakdown because he’s sleeping under the dinner table where he had been sleeping lately. He would sleep there before when he was healthy as well, but now I associate it with him getting sick. He is sleeping comfortably, at times even showing his belly, which I assume means he’s comfy. He hasn’t been upstairs at all since he got back from the hospital and hasn’t cuddled at all, which he usually loves doing and would sleep on my chest multiple times a day. His appetite is good, and he drinks less water than before his diagnosis/DKA, but I do see him at his fountain a few times a day. I also add a tiny bit of water to his food and at this point I only feed him wet food and his freeze dried grain free treats. He also does tend to go to sleep after his dinner/shot. I know this can be a sign of hypo but the doesn’t show other symptoms and every test I’ve done has shown high BG and high urine glucose. He does have a vet appointment in the morning to check in, and will be working with home vets after that ideally, to spare him the car rides.
Does anyone have similar experiences? Does his situation sound bad or is it fairly standard. I guess after DKA it makes sense he wouldn’t be fully himself yet but it’s hard to tell if there is improvement. I desperately want him to get better but I can’t help but have a feeling of hopelessness, which is awful.
Anyway, I appreciate any advice or words of encouragement. Sorry about the length of this post, I just really am spiraling and feel so scared and overwhelmed. Thanks in advance for any input you guys may have <3
I hope this is the right place to post and sorry if it will be very long, I want to be thorough. I am also in what I can only describe as an ongoing mental breakdown since this all happened and I cry every few hours.
The light of my life, Chief (he’s around 14, I adopted him as an adult and the shelter didn’t know his exact age or background, my family thinks he’s older), got diagnosed with diabetes and DKA on the 27th of December after about 2 months of what I now know were clear symptoms of diabetes. And I feel like I am losing my mind.
I’ll give a little background; in mid October, he caught a stomach bug. My parents adopted a kitty from foster care and it turns out she had a tummy issue. Unfortunately I didn’t realize right away and going from their place to mine, I didn’t think I had to change clothes, and by the time I realized the kitten was sick it was too late and Chief caught it. He had diarrhea for about 3 days, but had no other symptoms and recovered well. Then at the end of the month a vet came to see him for a quick check up, we did bloodwork and biopsied a bump on his hip. The bloodwork was good, only Hematocrit and Creatine Kinase were slightly elevated, and his bump was benign. Then, due to the diarrhea he had dealt with, and the fact that Chief has always had a sensitive tummy, I introduced Royal Canin Digestive Kibble (he had been eating the wet food for years) thinking it would maybe help improve his digestion. Then within about a week, I noticed increased thirst, urination, and appetite. Although I recognized the symptoms of diabetes, due to his good blood work merely 1-2 weeks prior, I assumed maybe the change in food was to blame. Over the next few weeks this continued but otherwise his behaviour didn’t change. After a while I noticed weight loss and weakness, but he was still behaving normally. Then around mid December he became a bit less active, and on the 23rd of December I got litter that shows glucose in urine, and of course the granules turned deep blue. On December 25th I took him to the only vet that was open in my city, other than the Vet ER. I told him about Chief’s textbook diabetes symptoms and even brought a clump of litter with his pee on it showing the blue granules. The vet, unfortunately, suggested that Chief was likely suffering from dementia, and that the pee might have been from my other cat “because his recent bloodwork was good and diabetes wouldn’t just come out of nowhere”. I insisted on doing bloodwork and urinalysis, and he suggested x-rays as well. Unfortunately with it being Christmas Day, the results would of course take a while. He prescribed amitriptyline, which I did not give because I didn’t trust this vet after his assessment. The next day was uneventful but he became a bit less interested in food the night of the 26th, and by the morning of the 27th I saw he hadn’t touched his food or water overnight. I gave him a few hours to see if anything would perk him up, but nothing worked so we headed to the ER Vet. There, they redid his bloodwork and urinalysis and got instant results. Not only was he diabetic but in DKA. I almost collapsed. The vet did seem fairly positive and said there was a good chance he would respond to treatment. He spent 4 nights in the hospital, improved steadily and began to eat on his own fairly quickly. His ketones took a while to go down, but eventually they got to 1, which is when they put him on insulin to determine the dose that would work for him going forward. I did visit him everyday with my parents and my husband, and on the 31st we took him home.
He’s taking 1.5u Lantus 2x a day 7am-7pm. The instructions were to only feed him at those times but this has been impossible for me. He almost hurt himself trying to climb to areas where he thought there could be food. He was meowing at me and sleeping in an empty food bowl, after licking it aggressively. He climbed into a box and emerged with a bag of Greenies in his teeth. I couldn’t stand it and I got some freeze dried salmon and treats (all grain free, just meat) and some Weruva Kitty Gone Wild (no starch, or grains) as it has large pieces of fish and I give about 2 tablespoons when he seems super hungry. He still eats a full can of food with his insulin. For his main meals with insulin, I’m feeding what they were feeding him at the hospital- Purina Veterinary Diets EssentialCare for seniors. He likes it heated and I put 1/4tsp Restoralax on top as his ER vet recommended. I don’t know if he has used the bathroom as I do have another cat and they both use both litter boxes, but I do think he may have pooped once since I got him back from the hospital. I am not sure and I’m definitely stressed about this.
Here’s why I’m really freaking out. I got a glucose monitor, although the vets didn’t encourage it, and the readings have been high. The first time I tested he was at 588.6 mg/dL. This was at 11pm, so 4 hours after his insulin. Called the vet, and they said to check again in 2hours. It eventually went down to the 400s and I didn’t retest. It’s very hard to test, even for my mother who is a nurse. He doesn’t bleed easily at all, so we had to poke my poor baby so many times just to get a tiny droplet, if I can even call it that. And we had to do it on his paw pad, as his ear would not bleed at all. I also got keto-diastix, which seem to show trace ketones (it’s a bit hard to tell with the colour change, it’s like between negative and trace. This freaks me out so much. Especially because on the 25th, it turns out there were no ketones in his urine. So somehow between having 0 on the 25th, he had 4+ on the 27th. It makes me feel like something could happen in an instant, and there are so many variables. His glucose also appears high on the sticks. I always test his pee about 1.5hrs after his insulin and dinner.
I am completely losing it. I can’t sleep, I check on him every few minutes and multiple times a night. I check his sleeping position and location and based on that I try to guess how he’s feeling. Now I am having a breakdown because he’s sleeping under the dinner table where he had been sleeping lately. He would sleep there before when he was healthy as well, but now I associate it with him getting sick. He is sleeping comfortably, at times even showing his belly, which I assume means he’s comfy. He hasn’t been upstairs at all since he got back from the hospital and hasn’t cuddled at all, which he usually loves doing and would sleep on my chest multiple times a day. His appetite is good, and he drinks less water than before his diagnosis/DKA, but I do see him at his fountain a few times a day. I also add a tiny bit of water to his food and at this point I only feed him wet food and his freeze dried grain free treats. He also does tend to go to sleep after his dinner/shot. I know this can be a sign of hypo but the doesn’t show other symptoms and every test I’ve done has shown high BG and high urine glucose. He does have a vet appointment in the morning to check in, and will be working with home vets after that ideally, to spare him the car rides.
Does anyone have similar experiences? Does his situation sound bad or is it fairly standard. I guess after DKA it makes sense he wouldn’t be fully himself yet but it’s hard to tell if there is improvement. I desperately want him to get better but I can’t help but have a feeling of hopelessness, which is awful.
Anyway, I appreciate any advice or words of encouragement. Sorry about the length of this post, I just really am spiraling and feel so scared and overwhelmed. Thanks in advance for any input you guys may have <3
