EUTHANIZATION

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

catballou

Member Since 2013
My daughter has two 'sister' cats since born and now 13 years old. Sadly one of them started losing weight the past two months, initially she was overweight. She was drinking more water and using litter more but still cuddly. The other day there was blood on floor from her urine so they got her in to the vets right away and after blood work and urinalysis the vet came back and said she was diabetic with very high glucose numbers and would need to be started on insulin immediately. She also had a UTI that was causing the blood in the urine. My daughter was at a lost for words as she did not expect to hear that news The vet told her to euthanize if she had no plans to start the insulin. My daughter is 9 months pregnant expecting any day now and the vet said if she was to do it do it now as the stress with new baby and taking care of cat would be alot in the beginning. My daughter was very overwhelmed and asked if she could bring cat home and the vet said only if she was given an antibotic shot and put on prescribed cat food but to make decision within few days to come back in if no insulin was going to be given.

The cat recovered from UTI and has more energy and is eating her food and using litter and showing some of her old self so its been a very very hard few days that my daughter has been going through as she loves this cat so much but yet her husband says they can't manage a diabetic cat and new baby ectc...and they have to have her put down. She struggles with how do you take your loving cat and put her in a carrier and say good bye to her and the cat thinking she will be back home soon....it breaks my heart knowing it. It will be so very sad for my daughter and I wish it didn't have to be done so close to the birth of her baby causing her more stress and sadness. Has anyone been in this position before that had to make a decision to put their cat down and not wanting to but had no choice?
 
Diabetes is a very treatable disease.

Suggest she and her husband stop by the board, especially the Relaxed Lantus forum.

It is manageable even with a baby ... or numerous other pets, a job, a spouse, or more.

Really, no need to euthanize.
 
what BJM said plus the fact that cats' diabetes can go into remission and there's a good chance that clearing up the UTI may have gotten the glucose under control or near under control. infections, pain, and stress can raise glucose levels so if kitty was in a lot of pain due to the uti, once the uti is cleared up, the glucose levels could be normal or near normal again.

she should not jump the gun and go kill kitty. what she should do is test the kitty's glucose levels again after treating the uti and see where they are. then she should put kitty on a low carbohydrate canned food and after a week or so of that, test kitty's levels again.

and she can do the testing at home to minimize the costs. she doesn't have to run to the vet and spend hundreds every couple weeks to see if kitty's glucose levels have returned to normal.

think they'd be up for that?
 
There are times people must make a decision with their pets and it may not be the same as others do, but you have to take in the whole scenario and do what is best for all. I am sure there are others that struggle with diagnosis and whether they should start insulin or make a decision? Doesn't make the person and less loving or caring.
 
Altho' I sympathize with them being put in this position, I'm not sure you'll get the support you are looking for here. Diabetes is a very treatable disease, we treat it every day so a decision to put down a cat because of it is just not something most of us agree with. If nothing else, PLEASE have them find a new home for kitty....she shouldn't die just because she's extra sweet. The cat is just as much a living creature of God as they are or the new expected baby are...cats just use 4 feet instead of 2.

I'm sorry you're in this situation....
 
Please let your daughter that she can just TRY treating her kitty. If it doesn't work, the other alternative will always be there. She will feel better if she knows she can try something else. Once the uti is cleared up, and the kitty is on only wet food (pate, not gravy), she may not even need insulin, just a low carb diet.

The diagnosis of diabetes is so very scary to hear at first. But, it is treatable and can go into diet controlled remission. She will have the excitement of a new baby, and seeing her first furbaby start to feel so much better!! Scary, and exciting!

Best of luck to you and yours, grandma!

Jane
 
Before making a permanent decision to euthanize she could try switching to all canned food. Clearing up a UTI and removing all dry will be a big help and kitty may not even need to start insulin. Her kitty has so many years of life left if she is given a chance. My second diabetic was dx'd at 13 and lived another wonderful 5 1/2 years. The time needed to test, feed, and shoot is only a short few minutes a day.
 
Yep I would give that a try for sure - buy Friskies pates or Fancy feast pates and see if that helps. No dry and no high carb treats . And give her antibiotics for the UTI. She may well go into remission on that alone!

Wendy
 
As a new member of the board, I agree that this is pretty treatable. We switched to wet food, and the change back to semi-normal was pretty quick ... with a week or two. The excessive urination / drinking cleared up, and the last time at the vet the numbers were just above normal.

I understand the vet's thinking (probably didn't want the cat to suffer), but to try to decide to euthanize "right now" when you are obviously having other issues (pregnancy) seems very rude. We had similar thoughts with our cat diagnosis, we don't know if we'll be able to do shots. However, after just a diet change our Gem seems so much better! If nothing else, it gives us some time to come to grips with the possibility of giving shots at some point in the future.
 
Where is your daughter located? I'm so sorry that the cat is caught in this situation. Your daughter obviously loves the diabetic cat & wants to do what is best. Have you tried rehoming the diabetic cat? Everyone on the FDMB has had at least one diabetic cat & we adjusted our lives to care for them. Having a newborn & diabetic cat will be a challenge for your daughter.

Maybe one of our members could adopt or foster the kitty. There's an amazing group called Diabetic Cats In Need, which is run by some FDMB members. If you'd like to contact them, they might can help you find a purrfect home or someone that can foster her.

Please don't let your daughter make a decision when there is hope for a better future for the precious kitty!

Hugs!
~ Linda Lee
 
The cat is on antibiotics and canned food the past week. All the vet said was her glucose was over the top and insulin was necessary...if caught sooner then maybe change in diet would help. She said re testing her is an option however she has never seen any cat go into remission with such high numbers after changing to food at this stage of diabetes. she noted her glucose could be lower as the uti can cause higher numbers but not enough to change a diagnosis.

Not sure if they can re test for diabetes with a urine sample only without bringing cat in for blood work too? Do you need to have blood work and a urine test to make a complete diagnosis for diabetes? If just a urine test then they could bring a sample in and have it re tested for peace of mind. Anyone know for sure?

Another question i read you can test the urine at home with 'keto glucose strips'? They said if glucose shows on strip cat is diabetic...if ketones shows to get cat to vet immediately Has anyone used these strips at home before and are they accurate in making a diagnosis of diabetes?? or letting the vet do test is more accurate? Do these strips give any numbers to go by? How do you know if your cat needs insulin or diet alone with these tests??
 
Could you ask the vet what the blood glucose number was when they tested? Stress alone to a cat on a trip to the vet can raise bg numbers well over 200+ alone and that is why majority of us hometest with a meter. Euthanasia is a permanent solution to what might just be a temporary problem or an easy to treat disease that doesn't take but a few minutes a day to treat.
 
The cat is on antibiotics and canned food the past week.
Click to expand...
Great!!What kind of canned are you feeding? You want low carb as many gravy ones are too high carb so fancy feast classic pates, friskies pates (cheap too!) and wellness grain free are good.

All the vet said was her glucose was over the top and insulin was necessary...if caught sooner then maybe change in diet would help. She said re testing her is an option however she has never seen any cat go into remission with such high numbers after changing to food at this stage of diabetes. she noted her glucose could be lower as the uti can cause higher numbers but not enough to change a diagnosis.
Click to expand...
I would wait and see what happens.. cats pancreas have an amazing ability to heal and every cat is differentl!!!

Another question i read you can test the urine at home with 'keto glucose strips'? They said if glucose shows on strip cat is diabetic... Has anyone used these strips at home before and are they accurate in making a diagnosis of diabetes?? or letting the vet do test is more accurate? Do these strips give any numbers to go by? How do you know if your cat needs insulin or diet alone with these tests??
Click to expand...
Keto-diastix test for urine sugar and ketones. If you see either of these in the urine then its probably diabetes and you just confirmed the diagnosis.There is a bar chart on the side of the container you compare it to. Its quite easy and cheap. I can give you tips on how to get the pee too. Ketones are serious and a vet visit would be required. However if you just see urine glucose you can use this as a guide to how the cat is doing on the low carb canned food. The lower the amount of sugar the better

Can you get the keto-diastix strips? We can go from there..

Wendy
 
Can you buy those sticks at any pharmacy? Also when they checked the cats urine it had blood in it also with the sample I brought in and wonder if that would make a difference? Also the vet said the cat needs insulin or could go into diabetic coma so that would indicate ketones high?? I am going to call vet and find out the numbers .
 
Can you buy those sticks at any pharmacy?
Click to expand...
yes! Pretty much any pharmacy has them, including walmart but they will likely be behind the counter. No prescription is needed though. just make sure you get the keto-diastix that test for both sugar and ketones.

Also when they checked the cats urine it had blood in it also with the sample I brought in and wonder if that would make a difference?
Click to expand...
Nope but the blood is likely the urinary tract infection so it should be gone now hopefully

Also the vet said the cat needs insulin or could go into diabetic coma so that would indicate ketones high?? I am going to call vet and find out the numbers .
Click to expand...
Its always a possibility which is why you are testing for it. I think the vet would have been more insistent on insulin or even wanted to hospitalize if he had ketones but let us know what the vet says!

Wendy
 
The vet was out of clinic so I asked them to check file and read me the numbers...she said ketones in urine showed negative, glucose in urine was 55 (I believe that was what the vet said was doubled??) not sure but the cat also had blood in urine and uti., and blood glucose was 23 and was told by girl some go as high as 35.

She wants to talk to the vet when she comes in to see if she could keep her on the food for a bit and then make a decision as the cat is eating canned food and using litter and seems content but on the other hand does not want the cat to suffer if she needs insulin as the vet had said right away.

Does anyone know what the numbers mean...low and high value?? Could you please tell me what 55 glucose in urine means?? Could it be higher due to uti infection? I have searched on forums but can't figure what these numbers mean as they seem different on sites?

Thanks
 
Ok thats great on no ketones as it means you are safe for now to try diet only.

Glucose in urine depends on when they last drank, how much they drank, when they last peed etc. So all 55 tells you is that the cat is diabetic and high enough blood sugar that its being expelled in the pee. Any blood sugar over 15mmol/L and they tend to show sugar in their pee. So when you start testing her pee you will get an idea if she is over or under 15.

23mmol/L is high blood glucose but that can be inflated by being at the vets and being stressed - and due to her UTI and her previously eating dry food. It could already be lower now that she is on antibiotics and canned food.

Remind me what kind of canned you are feeding?

Thanks
 
I don't agree with euthanizing an almost healthy cat. IF the cat continued to lose weight, AND stopped eating and drinking, then yes, I agree to it. However, I don't agree with your daughter's husband's decision to put her cat to sleep when she's obviously rebounding nicely. It's not fair to the kitty, or your daughter. I hope that they don't go through with it. The loss of the kitty will be twice as hard for her, and may affect the baby before the baby is born. I say, don't do it.
 
I am so happy for you Catballou! And for your daughter. What a relief for her to know everyone is on board to try and get her kitty to the best health possible! Congratulations - you did a good job gathering the info and changing the outcome!

Jane
 
You've got a lot of people cheering for you guys here, so yes, please let us know how things go and let us know about your grandbaby's arrival as well. :-D
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top