Don't know what to do???

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Cathy J.

Cathy J.

Member Since 2016
I am new here and just posted on introduction forum yesterday. My baby Myra was just diagnosed 2 days ago with steroid induced diabetes. Her blood sugar was 331 with 3+ in urine. No ketones. I was sent home with insulin instructions yesterday and I gave her one dose last night at 7 pm, one this morning at 7 am. She is not feeling well at all. I went to Walmart and bought everything needed for home testing. I cannot get blood from her ear! She is due for another injection now but she hasn't been eating much so I don't want to give her insulin if she's not eating much. Will it mess her up if I wait until morning? If I get her to eat later tonight should I give it to her then? I want to test her so bad so I'll try again later but I don't like the idea of just giving it to her without knowing.! I don't know whether she's feeling bad because her sugar is high or low. I hate this!! If she was eating normally it seems like it would be easier but she had stopped eating for a few days and now I don't know when or what she will eat. I feel like she has other things going on that they haven't diagnosed......a skin condition that is spreading. (vet says its from long term steroid use and diabetes). She has autoimmune issues. (Has stomatitis and had her teeth pulled. Reason for her steroids.) I got her from a shelter 2 years ago and she has been in poor health since but she is the sweetest most loving kitty that just wants love and attention. She is an older girl but don't know exactly how old. I don't want to lose her, but hate seeing her suffer. I don't know what to do about the insulin!!! And of course tomorrow is Sunday. Maybe I should skip tonight and give it to her in morning????? Thanks for listening to this confused and crazy mom!
 
Has she eaten anything at all? Did the vet talk to you about hepatic lipidosis? Not eating for more than 24 hours is a crisis. Have you tried syringe feeding?

Here is a link on how to take blood from the ear. http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-test.htm

I don't feel I have enough experience to answer your questions. If someone doesn't come along soon, go to the top of this thread, click "thread tools" which will take you to "edit title". From there you can add a question mark to the title of the thread.
 
Are you warming up the ear before trying to poke? A small sock with some rice in it that you microwave makes a nice warming tool, or you can put some warm water in a small pill bottle to hold against the ear for a little bit to warm it up

Also, a larger lancet is really helpful....get lancets for "alternate site testing" which are usually 25-28 gauge instead of the ones that come with the lancet tools (which are usually 31-33 gauge)

You can also poke 2-3 times quickly in the same area

In lancets, the lower the number, the bigger the "hole" it makes
 
here is a picture of the sweet spot--many people use a warm sock and rub the ear to get the blood flowing.... take a deep breath this is overwhelming and you will have it down in no time....:bighug:
Have you tried baby food? Gerbers 2 stage all meat no veggies..... the ham is pretty popular:bighug:
laur_danny_famoussweetspot.jpg
 
I wasn't able to get blood the first time I tried either. Try milking the ear by holding the ear between your thumb and forefinger and vigorously rubbing in the direction of the poke spot. Also follow the pointers Chris and Jayla gave you and if you're still having problems, please don't hesitate to ask for more suggestions!
 
Red said:
Has she eaten anything at all? Did the vet talk to you about hepatic lipidosis? Not eating for more than 24 hours is a crisis. Have you tried syringe feeding?

Here is a link on how to take blood from the ear. http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-test.htm

I don't feel I have enough experience to answer your questions. If someone doesn't come along soon, go to the top of this thread, click "thread tools" which will take you to "edit title". From there you can add a question mark to the title of the thread.
Click to expand...
No I have not heard of hepatic lipidosis. I will look that up now. She has been eating a little. She just nibbled on some canned Friskies pate and had a few treats. But not enough to feel comfortable giving her insulin. Thank you for info!
 
Wow!! Ok thanks! Vet just told me that Friskies has low carbs. Myra has no phosphorus problems..no kidney issues yet. All this is so sudden I haven't had time to investigate much so I went ahead and switched her. I'm going to see if she'll eat fancy feast classics better.
 
She was getting steroid injection monthly for a year. Each injection lasted 30 days. Her first symptoms were hair loss and black skin scales. They originally thought ringworm. Did biopsies/cultures =all negative. after finding her diabetes, vet determined skin condition due to long term steroid. I don't know if I'm buying that....I still think something else going on with skin. She is now off steroids. Her last one was due 2 weeks ago.
 
Cathy J. said:
She was getting steroid injection monthly for a year. Each injection lasted 30 days. Her first symptoms were hair loss and black skin scales. They originally thought ringworm. Did biopsies/cultures =all negative. after finding her diabetes, vet determined skin condition due to long term steroid. I don't know if I'm buying that....I still think something else going on with skin. She is now off steroids. Her last one was due 2 weeks ago.
Click to expand...
have they tested for fungus?? it is hard to get rid of.... I had a cat that had skin stuff and we never figured it out but I did AB on and off to keep under control. I hate AB but I had no other solutions :(
 
jayla-n-Drevon said:
have they tested for fungus?? it is hard to get rid of.... I had a cat that had skin stuff and we never figured it out but I did AB on and off to keep under control. I hate AB but I had no other solutions :(
Click to expand...
Yes a fungus culture is in progress now. They didn't see any on a quick wet prep or on the biopsy stain. She was also on antibiotics for awhile but did not help. I have a skin spray from vet that is a skin calmer with anti fungal so I'm using that on her.
 
For reference this was a kitty I have a few years back and I know many here do not use convenia but she did fine with it and it is more for the skin so for us it did help. Absolutely not telling you that you should do that but it did help up. Some kittys do have reactions to the convenia shot.
Glad your doing a culture....:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
The current thinking is not to give steroids for stomatitis, it may help short term but can make the condition worse long term - and lead to diabetes. The best bet is to have all the teeth removed which it sounds like has already been done. If that doesn't cure it then you start on finding a management plan that works for her - very frustrating stuff!

I give Vyktor a product called Plaque Off to help manage bacteria in his mouth he eats that in his food no problem. Some people use a mouth rinse (if kitty will tolerate it) called chlorexine (I may have spelt that wrong sorry) or there are products you can add to the drinking water if she'll drink it.

To help manage inflammation I use Slippery Elm Bark. You get 1 tsp pure SEB powder whisk with 1 cup of cold water then, stirring constantly, bring to a simmer on the lowest flame for a minute or two until it thickens a little into a gel. It will keep in a jar in the fridge for 7-8 days. Do not give 2 hours either side of other medications as it can interfere with their absorption. This has been quite a saviour for us at times - he won't eat, give a syringe of SEB and 15-20 mins later he will eat. You can also put the SEB gel directly into food it doesn't taste unpleasant.

For immune system support many people use L Lysine. Vyktor wasn't so keen on that so I have recently started him on Co-enzyme Q 10 to give that a try. It is reported to have a host of other benefits too so overall I think a better product.

Some people have also had success with a specific mushroom supplement, it starts with b...

Stomatitis is about the nastiest thing I have ever dealt with and there is no one size fits all solution so you need to experiement to see what works for you. Unfortunately you need to wait weeks to see if what you've added is having some effect too which is just horrible when you know they're hurting :(

I haven't syringe fed but sometimes when he wont eat by himself he will eat if I do it by hand with the food rolled into little balls and thumbed into the back of his mouth and sometimes just forcing one ball in is enough to get him going by himself.

Diet can also have a big impact; for Vyktor I have found that beef and lamb seem to set off the stomatitis badly so I don't feed those anymore. A UK vet seems to be having a lot of success with just diet change - unfortunately the food he recommends (a simple food without additives) is only available in the UK but you could try a raw diet. Unfortunately Vyktor insists on variety so I haven't been able to transition him to a complete raw diet.

When he loses regulation I figure we have an infection and he gets a Convenia shot or two and when the pain really gets too much and he really won't eat I give him low dose buprenorphine for a few days. His recommended dose is .3 - I have found .15 is sufficient to take the edge off the pain without making him too dopey.

Wishing you the best of luck with it
 
Vyktors Mum said:
The current thinking is not to give steroids for stomatitis, it may help short term but can make the condition worse long term - and lead to diabetes. The best bet is to have all the teeth removed which it sounds like has already been done. If that doesn't cure it then you start on finding a management plan that works for her - very frustrating stuff!

I give Vyktor a product called Plaque Off to help manage bacteria in his mouth he eats that in his food no problem. Some people use a mouth rinse (if kitty will tolerate it) called chlorexine (I may have spelt that wrong sorry) or there are products you can add to the drinking water if she'll drink it.

To help manage inflammation I use Slippery Elm Bark. You get 1 tsp pure SEB powder whisk with 1 cup of cold water then, stirring constantly, bring to a simmer on the lowest flame for a minute or two until it thickens a little into a gel. It will keep in a jar in the fridge for 7-8 days. Do not give 2 hours either side of other medications as it can interfere with their absorption. This has been quite a saviour for us at times - he won't eat, give a syringe of SEB and 15-20 mins later he will eat. You can also put the SEB gel directly into food it doesn't taste unpleasant.

For immune system support many people use L Lysine. Vyktor wasn't so keen on that so I have recently started him on Co-enzyme Q 10 to give that a try. It is reported to have a host of other benefits too so overall I think a better product.

Some people have also had success with a specific mushroom supplement, it starts with b...

Stomatitis is about the nastiest thing I have ever dealt with and there is no one size fits all solution so you need to experiement to see what works for you. Unfortunately you need to wait weeks to see if what you've added is having some effect too which is just horrible when you know they're hurting :(

I haven't syringe fed but sometimes when he wont eat by himself he will eat if I do it by hand with the food rolled into little balls and thumbed into the back of his mouth and sometimes just forcing one ball in is enough to get him going by himself.

Diet can also have a big impact; for Vyktor I have found that beef and lamb seem to set off the stomatitis badly so I don't feed those anymore. A UK vet seems to be having a lot of success with just diet change - unfortunately the food he recommends (a simple food without additives) is only available in the UK but you could try a raw diet. Unfortunately Vyktor insists on variety so I haven't been able to transition him to a complete raw diet.

When he loses regulation I figure we have an infection and he gets a Convenia shot or two and when the pain really gets too much and he really won't eat I give him low dose buprenorphine for a few days. His recommended dose is .3 - I have found .15 is sufficient to take the edge off the pain without making him too dopey.

Wishing you the best of luck with it
Click to expand...
I sell tons of plaque off at my grooming salon!! People love it... I started after the dental :cat:
 
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