DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Update

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Pringles

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I noticed about 5-6 days ago and it appeared that Pringles had stopped eating as much... She is currently on Humulin and at the time of this change her preshot blood sugar values were in the low 300 range, which has typically been lower than what I usually see in her. Typically, her blood sugar levels are in 400-450 range and with 1.8-2 unit shot, it typically drops it down to normal values at the low point of the curve.

So, on Wednesday, I took her into the vet and they said that she was slightly dehydrated. They took a fecal sample, said there was a little blood on the sample, but they couldn't determine if it was from trying to obtain the sample or if she may have some bleeding in her intestine. I had him do a complete blood panel, but due to the holidays, we won't get those till tomorrow. He did give her some subq fluids (I'm not sure how that's spelled), gave her a shot of b12, a shot of anti-inflamatory, and said that she may start eating some more with these shots. He also gave me some Nutri-cal and anti-biotics (Her teeth were inflamed from a dental she had a couples of weeks ago) So on the way home, I got cut off and got into a car accident at probably about 15 miles an hour - with Pringles in the car!!.. Not good. My neck hurt today so she probably isn't feeling much better. Needless to say since then, she is still drinking water, she's ate very little of watered down wet food. She seems very lethargic, wobbles when she walks and is pretty much just staying in my bed room. I started the antiobiotics today and we should get the blood work back tomorrow.

My concern is, she seems very tired - she will walk and then stop and just stand there. She is wobbly and seems confused. She is still drinking water, but her urine seems concentrated. I'm just wondering if I should take her to an emergency vet, or just want until the blood work comes back tomorrow.

The doctor said she could have eaten something bad that is upsetting her stomach, she could have a bacterial infection in her stomach, it could be her gums (which were inflamed still from her dental), or could be something much worse.

I appreciate any advice if anyone has had any similar situations......


Thanks,
Amanda
 
Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Needed

I'm sorry Pringles is having a hard time. Has she been acting this way all day? Also, if she's not eating a lot did you still give insulin? I don't know if you are testing at home... but if she is not eating and is still getting insulin she might be really low?

It also sounds like she's still dehydrated if her urine is concentrated. If you are really worried I would take her to the ER... do you have a vet apt tomorrow?
Wish I had answers.
 
Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Needed

I gave her a reduced amount of insulin this evening. It appears she is more wobbly today than yesterday. I have a syringe and have fed her some baby food mixed with water. I don't have an appointment tomorrow, but they will be calling with blood work results.... I always have the emergency vet also. How do you know when it is time to take them? I know she is definitely not normal. She did walk to the backdoor and I let her sit outside with me for a little while... she hasn't even tried to go out for several days... I just think she is possibly slipping away.. Not sure what an emergency vet would do right now except stress her out and charge alot of money...

I did check her blood sugar about an hour ago and it is stilll in the 300 range.
 
Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Needed

Have you checked her for ketones?
 
Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Needed

She could still be dehydrated. Have you tried tuna water? My cat likes deli turkey and beef, maybe that would perk her up. Sounds like her mouth could be bothering her. Has to be over the holiday too. When I am asking myself, should I go to emergency, I think: is he active enough or just laying. Not eating for 3 or 4 days can lead to hepatic lipidosis which makes them very sick. I'd call the vet first thing in the morning.
 
Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Needed

Your cat's symptoms are the same as my cat had, except my cats BG level went into the 500's and stayed there.
Be aware, that the symptoms can be for something other than what was wrong with my cat.
But I would get her to the ER right away to be safe.

My cat, as I said had the same symptoms.
I was syringe feeding her food and water every 2 hours overnight.
In the morning she got worse, could not walk or get up at all. When I picked her up to test her and feed her, she peed all over me. She also would pee, right where she was laying.

I rushed her to ER, all day and overnight hospitalization was necessary. Her temperature 94.5. She was put on heated pads to bring temperature to normal. She was Dehydrated, Anemic & had extremely high electolyte levels. No ketones were present.
The specialist felt she had brain damage and complete kidney failure and only a 10% chance of survival that would be a very diffcult and hard recovery.
So, I decided to have her put to sleep as they recommended.
My regular vet felt that the high BG levels she had for the 3 weeks she was on Lantus, caused this damage.
10 days beforehand, all her blood work looked fine except for the high BG level.
 
DKA -Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Ne

Well I rushed Pringles to the ER this morning around 8am. She would not lick any more tuna juice or canned cat food juice. I syringe fed her some FF an water. She threw up and could barely keep standing up while she was throwing up. (This is the first time she threw up) The first thing the vet did was run a glucose sample and she came back positive for DKA. I was able to get the blood work results that I had run the day before thanksgiving faxed to their office and her liver values were elevated. They ran a ultrasound on her liver and she said she was positive for fatty liver and was jaundiced. So they started her on IV fluids today and inserted a catheter for food through her nose to give her nutrition for the jaundice, and also so that she can keep some food down. They said that they would also be putting her on an insulin drip to treat her during her time there. She will be in the hospital all weekend. They've given her a 70% chance of survival. I'm going to visit her tomorrow morning.

I just don't understand why my vet did not test her on this on Wednesday! We probably would have been alot better off at this point!! Hopefully she will pull through this. I should have just taken her to the ER on Wednesday... now I have 2 large vet bills!

Thank you everyone for your responses.

Amanda
 
Re: Pringles still barely eating - Update and Advice Needed

Oh Amanda, I am so sorry to hear this. Paws crossed that Pringles will be alright. We have had several kitties here do okay after DKA. If the morning, take one of your "smelly" tshirts so it will smell like home. If you want to put DKA in your subject line, you may get some uplifting stories that will give you hope.
 
Re: DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Updat

There is hope ..... we have battled DKA three times in the past two months, with my Payne being
in the hospital all three times. The last time we almost lost her. We felt strongly she couldn't live her
life in the hospital but we couldn't keep her stable at home. But this list has taught us so much! and
when she had an incident with very high ketones two weeks ago, we were able to detect it right
away and take measures at home to avert DKA. (and with help from the list:)

So yes you can do this. Everyone here is so supportive and every day you learn more and more to
handle the emergencies that will come up. Once a cat starts with the high ketones, that becomes
your biggest problem. High ketones will go into DKA quickly and DKA is a killer. We have found
with Payne that she needs to have very few carbs and if she gets food from one of the kids, it can
bring up her ketones.

We check for ketones 2X a day with strips and have ordered the ketone monitor to check more
accurately. We have found that catching the rise in ketones early, allows up to counter quickly.
We found that being on pred. helped her to eat and once the ketones are gone,
her appetite came back. We are now on the next stage of canned food, getting the lowest carb
foods and see how that does.
Good luck,
Nancy and Payne
 
Re: DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Updat

I'm glad you got Pringles to the ER.

A few months after my cat J.D. was first diagnosed, 5 years ago, I took him to the ER with the same type of symptoms. We stayed through the night and since it was a Sunday night and that ER closed at 8:00am on Monday, I was told I had to get him to a 24 hour 7 days a week hospital. I had to drive him, in critical condition, to the U of Penn Vet Hosp in Philadephia that was 2 hours away at 7:00am in commute traffic on a Monday morning. We made it with lots of praying, as I was driving to a strange city that I'd never been to before, on no sleep. They worked hard. I felt like he was in the best of hands. He stayed for 8 days, and had a feeding tube put in because he would not eat for them the entire time. Everyday I went to visit him and to sit with him for awhile. That was all I thought about, was my visit to see J.D.
He slowly got better and better, every day. He came home with the feeding tube still in, but that only lasted a day and a half before he got it out somehow, and started eating on his own. Yay, what a relief and celebration that was.
J.D. is a healthy diabetic cat now. I do test for ketones with the urine test strips whenever he stays in the high range for too long. I also tested for ketones this past couple of days, because he had a possible infection along with high BG. I took him to the ER on Thanksgiving and he is now on antibiotics for the infection, is eating fine, and I increased his dose, all because I know what DKA is and don't want it to happen again.

I believe the ingredients for ketones are a combination of two of these: not enough insulin / not eating / infection.

Good luck with your Pringles. I will keep her in my prayers. Go visit her everyday and tell her what a good girl she is. Bring her something with your scent on it (like a not washed sweat shirt or pillow case) to lay with while you are not there. 70% is a good chance of getting better (((BIG HUGS)))
 
Re: DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Updat

So glad you got your kitty to the ER and that there is such a good chance of survival.
Hugs to you.
 
Re: DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Updat

Sending lots of prayers for Pringles! Many kitties do fine after DKA and it sounds like he is in the right place.

(((((Amanda))))) Keep us posted !
 
Re: DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Updat

So Pringles was also diagnosed with fatty liver along with the DKA. Now they are stating that before releasing her we would have to insert an esophogeal tube or a tube into the stomach so that we can ensure that enough food is getting into her system. On Monday they will release her, but potentially to my vet, who would have to perform the procedure to put her under. I'm not sure how experienced he is with this. I can keep her there with the specialist that they have on site, but the doctor I spoke with a few minutes ago indicated that she would potentially need to stay with them an additional 2 days. The costs are really adding up and I didn't realize she was going to have this tube inserted and she would need to be fed through this for a few weeks or potentially a few months while her liver healed. She indicated the costs on this would be similar to her stay there so far, which is now over 2000.... I just would hate to do all of this and then she gets an infection with the tube, or some other complication and the costs keep going up, and to keep putting her through this...
 
Re: DKA Diagnosis - RE: Pringles still barely eating - Updat

I cant help you decide the financial part but tubes can be extremely successful. i am sorry tho that it has come to this...
 
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