911 Diarrhea, losing appetite & high numbers

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Mancat

Mancat

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Sorry I haven't been around for a few days. My internet went out after the storm and I had to wait for the repair guy to come out and fix it which took a couple of days. I am making a vet appointment for Nala because now I can see that something is wrong after her numbers were coming in high. She seemed ok at first but this morning 10 minutes ago she had diarrhea and she's barely touched her food. Everything was alright until just now. She doesn't seem listless or unhappy, although she looks like she's moving a little slower, sort of gingerly. She was playing with catnip yesterday. Today is the first time I'm seeing a sign of a problem. What are common problems that diabetic cats face? I've seen a few threads on here with appetite loss and the cat ended up having an infection. Thanks a lot for the advice.
 
I'm sorry Nala isn't feeling well! It sounds like a vet appointment is a good plan. Is she going in today?
 
Fortunately I was able to remember my password so I'm responding at work. My vet doesn't open until 9am so I'm going to call them as soon as I can. I should probably be able to get her in today but if not I'm going to keep an eye on her and make sure to get her in tomorrow. They're usually pretty good if your cat has more serious symptoms.
 
Thanks, Sue. I was thinking infection too, probably pancreatitis over UTI. She used to get really bad UTI's constantly but as soon as I switched her to wet food her symptoms cleared up completely within a month. Of course that doesn't mean it couldn't be that. I'll keep everyone updated. She was doing so well there and I was so excited.
 
I hope Nala is better and that she doesn't have pancreatitis - is she meat loafing like she is in pain? Are her stools watery or light colored and really smelly?
If she does have pancreatitis, I hope she can get to the vet today fingers crossed that it is just some mild passing thing
 
She's not acting like she's in severe pain no but she was walking gingerly this morning. It was definitely slow like there was some discomfort going on. Her stool was extremely light and watery and yes it smelled something awful.
 
Quick update - got an appointment this morning at 11:40 est (im on the east coast of the us for non us members.) I'm heading to it now. Her ketones are negative, urine looks good, and she finished eating her food even though she had another bout of diarrhea.
 
The smelly, light colored feces suggests the enzyme-producing cells in the pancreas have been impaired. This could be exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Discuss with your vet the use of supplemental pancreatic enzymes to see if those could help.
And with low grade chronic pancreatitis, the cat may still eat unless there is an acute flare.
 
BJM said:
The smelly, light colored feces suggests the enzyme-producing cells in the pancreas have been impaired. This could be exocrine pancreatic insufficiency. Discuss with your vet the use of supplemental pancreatic enzymes to see if those could help.
And with low grade chronic pancreatitis, the cat may still eat unless there is an acute flare.
Click to expand...
Hi BJ - everything ok in Ohio? When Murphy had the acute flare, his stools were chalky, horrid smelling, but voluminous - but not watery. We will be anxiously awaiting the vet's assessment - fingers crossed it is just something minor
 
I'm home today with a respiratory infection on top of cough variant asthma- just really physically tired.

Another possibility to consider is SIBO - small bowel bacterial overgrowth. It reeks, too, and may cause diarrhea. The vet might Rx metronidazole which covers many candidate infections.
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Well I just got done with the vet appointment and honestly it left a sour taste in my mouth. Perhaps someone could bring perspective to the situation for me. They just charged me $265 for an exam, pro-biotic and "nonspecific geriatric profile." Her blood work should be coming back tomorrow. She said she didn't want to give me antibiotics until blood work comes back (which is fair and I agree with that.) I feel like she pushed the pro-biotic on me without even explaining anything. She said she wanted to try it. Did I panic and take Nala in for no reason and I could have waited a day or two to see if it cleared up? I don't know. I don't really feel confident after that appointment. Part of me feels like I paid a small fortune for no reason. They also want me to get a urine sample but I'm not even sure if that was included in today's price. Plus they want me to spend $650 for dental surgery because they want to pull a few teeth.
 
Blood work came back and everything looked great except her glucose, which I knew about. No other conditions or infections. I dropped off a urine sample and they're going to call me when that's done.
 
I would say think about the dental. Diabetes and dentals go together for cats. Fern just had 5 teeth pulled and I saw the X-rays they needed to go. It will likely help with his diabetes overall:
 
She's improving. Soft stool but not as bad as yesterday. She finished her morning food before I left for work. I put the pro-biotic on it that the vet recommended. Last night before I went to bed she was playing with a catnip toy I recently bought her. She definitely perked up a considerable amount. Her AMPS came down to 297 as well. I did reduce her dose to 1.8 in the meantime per the vet's recommendation, at least until the urinalysis comes back.

Honestly I would like to consider the dental but its incredibly expensive and if I don't do it during their Feb discount special it jumps up to $850.
 
Tell them you can't afford the $850. Say that if you had known she needed dental work last Feb, you would have had it done then. Ask if they could give you the discount now. After all, since she is diabetic, they are making lots of money from you.
 
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