Desperately need advice

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Rainey

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my kitteh is borderline diabetic and I need help -- I think he's dying.
His blood sugar is at 440 and he went into a coma earlier tonight, then snapped out of it and started eating. He's very thin and very weak.
We're working closely with a good vet, but she's reluctant to put him on insulin, and he has a raised white cell count, so he's on the antibiotic Chloramphenicol, .5 ml 2x daily. I'm afraid we're losing our boy, and I desperately need advice.



(Edited to remove 911 icon.)
 
A cat with BG of 440 is not borderline diabetic.

If you feel your cat is in danger, please take him to an emergency clinic in your area. Not sure what you mean by a coma, but any loss of consciousness needs immediate attention.
 
I don't know how familiar you are with researching the old posts on this board, but the vet that many of us approach for phone consultations is Dr. Lisa Pierson. She's amazing, I can tell you from firsthand experience. Why don't you check out her site CatInfo.org, and if you're so inclined, you can contact her. 440 is not borderline diabetic, it definitely is diabetic and needs to be treated.
Also, can you tell us what kind of food (brand, wet or dry) you are feeding the kitteh?
 
Are you home testing? When was the 440BG taken? And just what does you vet mean by borderline, 440 is not borderline? WE need a little more information in order to give advice.
 
I would suggest two things that should help. First, feed wet lo carb food. It can make a huge difference in his blood sugar- our Oliver went down 100 points overnight when he changed from dry to wet. Look at this website by a Feline Diabetes vet: www.catinfo.org

You can also test your kitty's blood glucose levels at home so you know where he really is and see the difference the food makes. We can teach you how over the Internet.

I don't know about the infection. Hopefully others will have advice. The 400s are high but many cats start out with those kinds of numbers. And generally numbers are higher at the vet than at home, because most cats get stressed at the vet. If you home test, you can tell what his numbers really are. As others have said, insulin started sooner than later is a good idea.


Keep reading and asking questions. Let us know how we can help.
 
to be blunt? get your cat on insulin, pronto.
and while you are waiting to do that , please go to a pharmacy tonight and get a bottle of ketostix, stalk your cat, and test his urine for ketones as they are a potentially life threatening condition that happens with poorly managed diabetes (amongst other reasons).

Is your cat eating or drinking at all?

Consider posting where you live in case we have someone living nearby who can help

Jen
 
Rainey is having problems posting for some reason. Please try to keep an eye out for when she can get back on line.

Thanks,
Rebecca
 
your advice saved a great cat's life

...My Velvet Elvis is on the road to recovery!! I want each one of you who wrote to me with suggestions & directions to give yourselves a big honking {{{{ HUG }}} because you saved the life of a very dear scrapper who was the soul of gentlemen and has held our hearts in his velvety little paws for the past six years. The vet is encouraging about what can be done for him, after a deeply frightening experience watching him come close to dying on the kitchen floor.
I will update frequently about his progress. The bill (an estimate) was ballparked at $700 to $1500 -- and the surprises just keep on comin'!
Still, having my boy home safe with us will mean more than .... good news from my oncologist.
Here is more of Velvet Elvis's story:
thanks to you fellow humans owned by diabetic felines, I realized I should blow off the vet's advice about "borderline diabetes" and called the emergency animal hospital (only one open at night around here). They said "bring him in NOW", so at 10:30 pm my husband was driving Velvet Elvis and me at upwards of 90 mph down the interstate into Madison, Wisconsin. The vet hooked him (Velvet Elvis, not my husband) up to an iv for fluids, took blood samples for tests, and has started him on a very low dose of insulin. We should see a noticable improvement by morning.

Earlier in the evening I was holding him in my arms, he was floppy and 'out of it' and I didn't think he'd live until morning. Now there may be a chance! It's gone on for at least 3 months, probably closer to 4 months, and the poor little love has just gradually gone downhill, gaining speed as he went along.

But now we may have an alternative in sight!! I'll be on your website daily, learning about testing and giving insulin. I know it's a hog for time and worse for spare cash, but I'm partially disabled and don't have much of a life anyway.

I see by my magick crystal ball that the next few months are going to be busy. A 'learning experience', I guess it's called.
I can DO this!

Another potential problem: we normally keep our cookie data dump empty, refusing to allow other people's cookies to set up housekeeping in our computer. I guess that could change, WILL CHANGE!!!!! for my Elvis.

I'll report more info on the Velvet Elvis when I talk to the ER in the morning. And the vet who misdiagnosed the severity of the 440 blood glucose and the treatment for it will be asked a few calm, rational, pointed questions. Um-hmmm.
I am impressed by the FDMB members' skills, tactful caring, and compassion.

Rainey
 
Dear Rainey, and, of course, you too, sweet Velvet Elvis,

I'm so glad Elvis is at the ER hospital. It's where he needs to be right now.

Please know we're holding you all in our hopeful, healing thoughts and prayers...

Now you get some rest and take good care of yourself, dear Rainey. You and your race car driving husband are going to want to be perky for Elvis' homecoming!

Love and countless hopeful, healing hugs for you all,
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz, forever dancing in my heart...
 
Rainey,
Thank you so much for updating us. I was worried. Yes, there's a lot to learn, and it takes time, but you will get there.
I'm so glad that Elvis is getting treatment. It's obvious you love him very much!
Keep us posted. And ask questions! There's a lot of reading but it really helps to have others with the real life experiences explain things further.
 
Glad to hear that Rainey is doing much better. Would you please remove the 911 icon from your original post as your emergency is now over and this will help others to know that it's no longer an emergency situation
 
Hillary & Maui said:
Glad to hear that Rainey is doing much better. Would you please remove the 911 icon from your original post as your emergency is now over and this will help others to know that it's no longer an emergency situation
Click to expand...


Done. ;-)
 
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