Don't know what to do?

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Myrtlesmum

Myrtlesmum

Member Since 2017
Last night I didn't give Myrtle her insulin as she vomited up her entire dinner with a hairball and then just kept vomiting up foam. Later on I gave her a snack of raw chicken and FF chicken liver pate. She seemed fine, then this morning instead of her normal food (RC ultra light wet & some tuna) I gave her the FF again as she had been off her normal food anyway - I thought that may have contributed to her vomiting. Anyway, after she ate this morning, I gave her her insulin and she spent the day sleeping in her bed as per usual. At about 7 hours post shot she vomited (I didn't realize until later) and was starving so I gave her a snack of raw and canned chicken - she then proceeded to vomit the whole thing up and continued vomiting foam for ages. I was scared she might have been having a hypo but I tested and her bg is 19 (342). I've now given her a snack of FF and I'll see if she keeps that down.

It may be that I just feed her small frequent amounts but how will that impact on her bg - will it be OK to give insulin if she doesn't have a decent meal inside her? I hate feeding her FF as I think it raises her bg more than other foods but she is refusing almost everything else and what she doesn't refuse is making her vomit!! Any help / suggestions most appreciated.
 
Peacock was throwing up a lot last week, and I asked if we should give her a dose or not, and the advice from the vet was that it would be ok to give a half dose for one day of bring unable to keep food down, but if it was two days, don't give the insulin and call the vet.

I hope your kitty feels better soon.
 
Hi. How is Myrtle now? Is she still vomiting. I see in the spreadsheet you have said that she got an antibiotic injection from the vet 2 days ago and that she was vomiting the day before that. What was the antibiotic for?
I would be concerned about ketones in the urine with the vomiting, skipping insulin and a possible infection. If you haven’t already done so I would test the urine for ketones. If you don’t have any Ketostix, I would go out and buy some today. Collect a urine sample and follow the directions on the bottle. Anything above a trace of ketones needs a vet visit. It is very important you test the urine for ketones.
I can’t help you with the Novolin N insulin as I have no experience with it. I will tag @Elizabeth and Bertie for you as she may be able to help. Also tagging @MrWorfMen's Mom
Continue to feed small meals. If the vomiting continues you may need a vet visit, especially if you can’t give the insulin.
 
She seemed to keep a dinner of FF down so I gave her insulin. She seems to be doing OK - maybe mildly dehydrated. She has had her before bedtime snack and her 3 hour bg (pre-snack) was 6.9 (124.4]. She is on the antibiotics as we saw a different vet a few days ago and he thinks her teeth are bad and she does need a dental (unfortunately they are so busy we have to wait a couple of weeks). I did think about ketones - I’ll see how she is in the morning and may take her to the vet (who will charge a fortune as it’s Sunday). I’ve tried a million times with this cat in a million ways and she will not give up a urine sample!
 
Myrtlesmum said:
I’ve tried a million times with this cat in a million ways and she will not give up a urine sample!
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in your million ways, did you try replacing her litter box with one containing either aquarium gravel, or lentils? turned out I "killed two birds with one stone" by putting an auxiliary litter box with that over the spot where he did his out-of-the-litterbox pee -- at the time he was hiding from fireworks -- has only used it a couple of times, no ketones
 
Myrtlesmum said:
She seemed to keep a dinner of FF down so I gave her insulin. She seems to be doing OK - maybe mildly dehydrated. She has had her before bedtime snack and her 3 hour bg (pre-snack) was 6.9 (124.4]. She is on the antibiotics as we saw a different vet a few days ago and he thinks her teeth are bad and she does need a dental (unfortunately they are so busy we have to wait a couple of weeks). I did think about ketones - I’ll see how she is in the morning and may take her to the vet (who will charge a fortune as it’s Sunday). I’ve tried a million times with this cat in a million ways and she will not give up a urine sample!
Click to expand...
Glad to hear Myrtle is feeling better, do you add a little water to her Fancy Feast? Most of us add water to it , so they get extra water in case they are not drinking some out of their bowl, about a teaspoon , You can make it on the soup side, my cat doesn't like it that soupy, I make it so it's like a creamy texture
 
and then there's Catcat, who has something wrong with his tongue, he can't curl it backwards as most cats do when they drink

he LOVES it when I turn his pate type food into slurry -- lick lick, lick -- had to get him a deep bowl because his tongue flicks it up and forwards, he's up for a dental appointment on Monday, so I'm particularly glad he likes soupy food
 
CandyH and Catcat said:
in your million ways, did you try replacing her litter box with one containing either aquarium gravel, or lentils? turned out I "killed two birds with one stone" by putting an auxiliary litter box with that over the spot where he did his out-of-the-litterbox pee -- at the time he was hiding from fireworks -- has only used it a couple of times, no ketones
Click to expand...
Yes, won’t go near aquarium gravel - just keeps checking the box to see if the “real” litter has come back - one time she was obviously uncomfortable and mewling and I gave her back her normal litter, another time I put a little of normal in a corner of the box and the rest gravel and of course she wouldn’t be fooled and peed on the “real” litter. I’ve also tried litter beads - I think she hates the possibility of getting her feet wet.
 
Mamakin said:
Glad to hear Myrtle is feeling better, do you add a little water to her Fancy Feast? Most of us add water to it , so they get extra water in case they are not drinking some out of their bowl, about a teaspoon , You can make it on the soup side, my cat doesn't like it that soupy, I make it so it's like a creamy texture
Click to expand...
Yes, I always add water to her food to keep her hydrated. I think it puts her off her food sometimes - that is one of the reasons I’m feeding the FF pate at the moment as she doesn’t seem to mind having that watered down into a paste - she doesn’t like it too soupy.
 
Didn't get the tag for some reason.:(

Novolin hits fast so having some food on board is really important.

I notice that extreme drop tonight from 20 down to 6.9. I see Myrtle had an antibiotic injection a couple of days ago (on SS) but you also mentioned seeing a different vet and that she is on antibiotics. Do you mean you are now giving her antibiotics at home or are you just referring to the shot? The antibiotic shot was likely Convenia which may or may not be appropriate for whatever infection the vet suspects. It is marketed as treatment for skin conditions but vets tend to use it for just about anything these days probably just to make things easier for the pet parent and avoid having to pill a cat.

If those high BG readings are from an infection and the antibiotics start working, Myrtle's need for insulin could quickly reduce so I would strongly suggest monitoring her very closely. I also second the idea of getting a ketone monitor since it seems the vet suspects an infection and Myrtle obviously is not a willing participant in the use of alternate litter or giving a sample with you present.
 
Thanks so far for all your comments - everyone on this board is so wonderful!! So I managed to get a tiny urine sample by getting her to pee on a greatly reduced amount of litter (tried the aquarium stones again - no go). I had some old Ketostix which showed she has some ketones but then I read on the box to use the stix within six months of opening and it has been about 2 years although they're not expired - so I don't know if it's a false positive? I then remembered that I had some Multistix for urine that expire today - she has heaps of glucose in her urine but these showed no ketones although I don't know if I had enough urine to get them wet enough. Yes, I need to buy a ketone monitor. I think we'll go to the vet today anyway just to double check and hopefully he can give something for the vomiting too if it happens again.

She is on the Convenia - she had been on amoxyclav but stopped eating almost entirely on that and I wonder if the vomiting has something to do with her tummy still not being right from that. We had originally suspected a UTI which she is prone to but now bad teeth too :(
 
From the SS info, I thought the last round of amoxclav was in 2017. If that's the case, I seriously doubt it has anything to do with the current situation.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
From the SS info, I thought the last round of amoxclav was in 2017. If that's the case, I seriously doubt it has anything to do with the current situation.
Click to expand...
Sorry, no, she also had amoxyclav last week - I've updated the spreadsheet. This is all a bit too much for me atm.
 
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