diabetic cat is not stable when walking

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shady

Member Since 2016
hi, my cat Shady is 16 and was diagnosed with diabetes last week. he spent 4 days in ther clinik and now home getting 1 unit of insulin 2 time a day. this morning he looked ok, ate, and got his shot.
he slept full day and now when he is trying to walk he is almost falling, refuses to eat too. please help
 
Hi
Are you home testing?
Is he having any other symptoms?
If you are not testing I would be watching for signs of hypo--
I am not experienced enough to give advice--
I will bump this up for you-
 
just tested for the first time using relion prime. his blood sugar is 248. next insulin shot is in one hour
 
we gave him a little fancy feast (about 1 oz ) with syringe, so far he is holding food down and sleeping again, haven't tries to force him to walk to see if he is still unstable. he groomed himself after eating . something he haven't done for a while.
 
his insulin is Lantus. he didn't get any other diagnosis other than diabetes, and we weren't told whether he had dka.. i'm just assuming that if he had we would have been told? they did tell us he has elevated blood nitrogen, but we were told its possible its diabetes related, so we don't wanna jump to conclusions.

that being said, he's been sick for a couple weeks now and lost a lot of weight already.

I guess we're wondering whether it's just that he's weak due to sickness, and hasn't recuperated yet OR if it's maybe a sign of some neurological issue? yeah I guess if anyone has any experience with this it would help. he has eaten already, and seems content at the moment. we're seeing a vet tomorrow either way. really appreciate the quick replies, thanks everyone
 
shady said:
his insulin is Lantus. he didn't get any other diagnosis other than diabetes, and we weren't told whether he had dka.. i'm just assuming that if he had we would have been told? they did tell us he has elevated blood nitrogen, but we were told its possible its diabetes related, so we don't wanna jump to conclusions.

that being said, he's been sick for a couple weeks now and lost a lot of weight already.

I guess we're wondering whether it's just that he's weak due to sickness, and hasn't recuperated yet OR if it's maybe a sign of some neurological issue? yeah I guess if anyone has any experience with this it would help. he has eaten already, and seems content at the moment. we're seeing a vet tomorrow either way. really appreciate the quick replies, thanks everyone
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Blood nitrogens are often elevated with DKA. What was the reason they kept him at the clinic for 4 days? Was he on any sort of IVs etc that you know of or where his electolytes out of balance?

ETA Trying to get a handle on whether the trouble with walking may be a condition that he has not totally recovered from.
 
yeah maybe you're right. they kept him to try to monitor his blood nitrogen, which fell while he was there. they just gave him fluids with potassium, so yeah he most likely had an electrolyte imbalance.

he was there for 4 days, cos we caught his condition late. he's had periods in previous (like 3) years where his appetite dropped, so it took us longer than we'd have liked to catch on that he was sicker than usual.
 
shady said:
yeah maybe you're right. they kept him to try to monitor his blood nitrogen, which fell while he was there. they just gave him fluids with potassium, so yeah he most likely had an electrolyte imbalance.

he was there for 4 days, cos we caught his condition late. he's had periods in previous (like 3) years where his appetite dropped, so it took us longer than we'd have liked to catch on that he was sicker than usual.
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That does sound like he had DKA. Once a kitty has had a DKA episode it is very important to test for ketones at home. You can buy ketodiastix at most pharmacies:

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You use these strips to test for ketones in the urine.

Is Shady eating now? Hopefully you are using a low carb wet food and you can add extra water to the food.

How is Shady's walking? Is he still falling over?

Just concerned that if he did have DKA (which it sounds like) it may not have been totally cleared up or could have returned.


ETA If Shady is still refusing to eat and is still falling over I strongly suggest calling your vet's office if they are open or the ER to ask for advice. IF this is DKA he would need to be treated right away.
 
I agree, DKA is a possibility. It is also possible, if he needed potassium supplementation at the vet, that his potassium is low - that can definitely cause a cat's back legs to be wobbly when they walk and can be serious if not treated promptly. With that said, there are other things that can also cause similar symptoms - high potassium can look just like low potassium based on symptoms. If you can call the ER vet, please do so - it would be much better to get urgent blood work done so that you know exactly what you're dealing with as there are really too many possibilities to make guesswork an option at this point.
 
Important Note:

Both too much and too little potassium are dangerous. Blood work is necessary in order to determine whether potassium levels are off. If blood tests were to show that supplementation was necessary then the treatment must be carried out with proper, full veterinary supervision and regular blood work is necessary to monitor potassium levels.


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