Hello everyone & question & need advice on newly diagnosed diabetic cat panting

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Chris.K

Member Since 2021
Very nice to meet everyone on the message board. We are in the northeast and our 14 year tiny female cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes beginning of April 2021. She is a ginger tabby and is now back to her pre diabetic weight of 8 pounds. She was a stray kitten we found roaming the streets on the Big Island of Hawaii which we ended up adopting and bringing her home! We are animal lovers and have both dogs and cats.

Lilo was diagnosed with diabetes and is now on twice daily prozinc shots, 1 unit twice a day. We have gone through the dosing and BG monitoring with a a few scares when the dose was higher. Right now the BG has somewhat stabilized.

Hoping to solicit feedback on something that happened recently that I am concerned about. Sorry for the lengthy post in advance. Want to provide all the information we have.

We usually feed Lilo in our bathroom away from the other cats. This past Sunday, she went into the bathroom slightly before feeding time and meowed really loudly at my husband and flopped herself down a few times on the floor. It was a hot day and the bathroom was hot. It wasn't quite time to feed her so my husband came back out with her. She then proceeded to pant with her mouth opened, for about no more than 2 minutes intermittantly. We were very scared and concerned and wiped her neck and forehead down with some cold water. She stopped panting and then was back to her normal self. After 20 minutes or so, when it was time to feed her, she would not go into the bathroom to eat. We ended up taking her to her favorite room, our son's room and she ate like her usual self. No other episodes till this morning.

We even opened the AC vent larger in the bathroom after the first episode and Lilo went back to eating her meals there till this morning. I usually talk to her and open the door for her to go into the bathroom with me during her meal times. This morning she followed me in, and I was talking to her as usual. She mouthed her meows (that's normal with no sound) and then went to the corner and meowed really loud. I spotted the sign that something was off and took her out immediately and brought her to our sons room. She panted again for no more than a minute or two and then was back to her normal self. She even ate her normal can food about 5 minutes after she stopped panting, like nothing happened. Both times we took her BG and it was in the 400s as it was time for her shot right after we feed her.

Her BG readings have been starting high in the 400s at time 0 hours and 12 hours before food and insulin. With the lows being in the low 100s. We have caught her eating some kibble at times. We cannot totally keep all the kibble as our other cats have to eat. She does not like the diabetic kibble and is extremely fussy. We did swap out the kibble to senior cat kibble that is higher in protein after consulting with our vet. She is on a can of fancy feast pate at each feeding and we feed before insulin. She usually eats about 80% of the can at each feeding.

We did speak to our vet and she was equally puzzled. We have an appointment for her tomorrow and wanted to watch her for the day. Vet is doing additional research to call us back today as well. Hoping someone is able to provide some insights. Thank you in advance!
 
Chris.K said:
Very nice to meet everyone on the message board. We are in the northeast and our 14 year tiny female cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes beginning of April 2021. She is a ginger tabby and is now back to her pre diabetic weight of 8 pounds. She was a stray kitten we found roaming the streets on the Big Island of Hawaii which we ended up adopting and bringing her home! We are animal lovers and have both dogs and cats.

Lilo was diagnosed with diabetes and is now on twice daily prozinc shots, 1 unit twice a day. We have gone through the dosing and BG monitoring with a a few scares when the dose was higher. Right now the BG has somewhat stabilized.

Hoping to solicit feedback on something that happened recently that I am concerned about. Sorry for the lengthy post in advance. Want to provide all the information we have.

We usually feed Lilo in our bathroom away from the other cats. This past Sunday, she went into the bathroom slightly before feeding time and meowed really loudly at my husband and flopped herself down a few times on the floor. It was a hot day and the bathroom was hot. It wasn't quite time to feed her so my husband came back out with her. She then proceeded to pant with her mouth opened, for about no more than 2 minutes intermittantly. We were very scared and concerned and wiped her neck and forehead down with some cold water. She stopped panting and then was back to her normal self. After 20 minutes or so, when it was time to feed her, she would not go into the bathroom to eat. We ended up taking her to her favorite room, our son's room and she ate like her usual self. No other episodes till this morning.

We even opened the AC vent larger in the bathroom after the first episode and Lilo went back to eating her meals there till this morning. I usually talk to her and open the door for her to go into the bathroom with me during her meal times. This morning she followed me in, and I was talking to her as usual. She mouthed her meows (that's normal with no sound) and then went to the corner and meowed really loud. I spotted the sign that something was off and took her out immediately and brought her to our sons room. She panted again for no more than a minute or two and then was back to her normal self. She even ate her normal can food about 5 minutes after she stopped panting, like nothing happened. Both times we took her BG and it was in the 400s as it was time for her shot right after we feed her.

Her BG readings have been starting high in the 400s at time 0 hours and 12 hours before food and insulin. With the lows being in the low 100s. We have caught her eating some kibble at times. We cannot totally keep all the kibble as our other cats have to eat. She does not like the diabetic kibble and is extremely fussy. We did swap out the kibble to senior cat kibble that is higher in protein after consulting with our vet. She is on a can of fancy feast pate at each feeding and we feed before insulin. She usually eats about 80% of the can at each feeding.

We did speak to our vet and she was equally puzzled. We have an appointment for her tomorrow and wanted to watch her for the day. Vet is doing additional research to call us back today as well. Hoping someone is able to provide some insights. Thank you in advance!
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Not to scare or worry you but when my cat was panting, he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy so far alone that he was in congestive heart failure. Get the vet to check her heart! Good luck to you! :)
 
Thank you. We are seeing the vet tomorrow. When she was first diagnosed with diabetes in April, they did a full set of the tests. Will have them do it tomorrow.
 
Just as a precaution, there is a blood test, proBNP, that can test for heart disease. It's not a test that's typically run as part of an overall blood panel. If your vet gets labs from IDEXX, an SDMA is a test for kidney disease, It is part of a senior panel so make sure it's there and in normal range.

My first thought was whether Lilo's numbers were low. From what you've said, the behaviors weren't associated with a drop in blood glucose (BG). Are you using any sort of scented products -- air fresheners, essential oils, etc. There are some essential oils that are toxic to cats.
 
Thank you for the feedback. Hmmmmm we do use the plug ins from Bath and Body in our bathrooms. Something we have done for many years which does not mean that she might not have developed a reaction to. Answer is yes. I usually use the Eucalyptus spearmint plug in scent. I will check on toxicity to cats. And thank you for bringing up the drop in BG. We tested right away as soon as she was panting and BG was not low. Our vet also plans to take an xray and blood work tomorrow. If you think of anything else, please let me know. Lilo has always been a fussy but absolutely lovable cat. Even with the cat food we feed her, she might love it for a period and not eat it at all after a while. So we cater to her and the rest of the animals like everyone on the forum.......
 
OMG. Thank you Sienna & Gaby. I just checked and peppermint and Eucalyptus oil are toxic to cats. And I use alot of spearmint, peppermint and eucalyptus scented plug ins. Off to remove them right now!
 
I had a cat who could not take the heat. She would pant and howl if the temperature rose above 89F. We would put her on a towel covered bag of peas and wet her down thoroughly – soaking set thoroughly. Then do it again 2 hours later. We had to get central air just for her (and for which I am eternally in her debt).
If it is not any of the more serious things mentioned above (glad you are having her checked), can you put a small fan in the bathroom? or find another place in the house to feed her?

Chris.K said:
We have caught her eating some kibble at times. We cannot totally keep all the kibble as our other cats have to eat. She does not like the diabetic kibble and is extremely fussy. We did swap out the kibble to senior cat kibble that is higher in protein after consulting with our vet. She is on a can of fancy feast pate at each feeding and we feed before insulin. She usually eats about 80% of the can at each feeding.
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Feeding snacks during the first part of the cycle is recommended. Just pick up any food 2 hours before the next insulin shot so her numbers are not food influenced.
There are only 2 types of kibble that are low carb – Young Again (contact the company for a sample) and Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. You will have to introduce low carb kibble slowly to make sure she does not go too low eating a lower carb kibble snack.
 
Thank you for the feedback. The bathroom is usually very hot even with central air. Alot of sun beating down on the room. It was not as hot this AM when she started her second panting episode since the sun was not up yet. We are going to move her into her favorite room to eat her meals. She loves our son's room and it can be hers officially since he is away in school in GA. Haha. I really appreciate the feedback. Believe it or not it is 66 degrees today here in Massachusetts. Good old new england weather. At least Lilo will not be over heating. Fingers crossed that all goes well at the vets.
 
Chris.K said:
Thank you. We are seeing the vet tomorrow. When she was first diagnosed with diabetes in April, they did a full set of the tests. Will have them do it tomorrow.
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We are eager to learn what the vet visit today turned up. Any news to share?
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
There are only 2 types of kibble that are low carb – Young Again (contact the company for a sample) and Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. You will have to introduce low carb kibble slowly to make sure she does not go too low eating a lower carb kibble snack.
Click to expand...
Epigen 90 is also low carb dry food. But these are the only 3 I know of.
 
Thank you to everyone for your replies.

Xray, blood work including test for heart disease and as the vet said all came back unremarkable! Sigh of relief. She has not panted since the second time before my post. So we will keep a close eye on her.

One thing I would like to ask everyone on the forum, Lilo is picky and of course when we feed her can food twice a day, she will usually snub her nose and eat the partial can. We try to coax her to eat more with very little success. We time her prozinc after feeding her the can food twice a day. We know she is eating dry kibble (which we have for the other cats) that is higher in protein content. We are going to try Dr Elsey's clean protein kibble and have ordered it. Will slowly introduce into the dry kibble bowls.

Are there toppers or alternatives that anyone has tried that will entice a fussy cat to eat more of her can food? Thanks and have a great day!
 
Hi there and welcome! Sounds scary and hopefully removal of the plug-ins resolves the issue.

Just one more thought - did you or the vet checked Lilo's ketones?

I ask because once or twice when Minnie had high ketones, she kept her mouth open which freaked me out. She wasn't panting exactly but when I said 'open mouth breathing' to the vet the told me to bring her in. Now, the first ER vet sent her home again but when I took her back later she was positive for ketones (these were the days before I knew how to test for ketones!). The vet said she could have been open mouth breathing because of the ketones - though of course now I google about it nothing comes up.

I looked at Lilo's s/s, her numbers don't seem to have been that high for long but I don't know that means anything.

PS I looooooove the name :)
 
You can also check them yourself with keto strips you dip into the urine stream, available at most pharmacies. Some people also buy a blood ketone meter which gives you info before it shows up in the urine. But with everything being so new for you, vet makes sense!

More details in this sticky Ketones, Ketoacidosis, and Diabetic Cats: A Primer on Ketones in the Health Links / FAQs about Feline Diabetes forum. (it does mention breathing very fast as one of the symptoms).

I do hope it is not this and don't mean to panic you, but better to know. Good luck.:bighug:
 
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