Snowshoes
Member Since 2020
Hi,
I re-adopted Priss just over a year ago from my mother in AZ. She had adopted her three cats over 10 years ago from a rescue. Priss was picked on/literally thrashed by the other two continually and lived under the bed or was the only cat mom would let outside for a getaway. Three cats were getting to be too much for her to care for as well as Priss’s sad lifestyle, so I took her with me back home to AK.
She has a history, diagnosed about a year ago, of possible inflammatory bowel disease, she struggled with chronic loose stools sometimes with blood or mucus in it. She was uncomfortable and I could tell she was occasionally in pain. After full work up including ultrasound, and repeat vet visits and treatment with antibiotics, steroids and several diet changes (different diets recommended by different vets in the same clinic) she improved on the one I eventually settled on - Royal Canin Digestive, canned and dry. (Most of her life her diet was inexpensive dry only cat food).
Priss was diagnosed with diabetes July 1. I had taken her in a month prior to see her regular vet because something was “wrong“. Her fur was getting oily and dandruffy, drinking more water than normal, and I could tell she was losing weight. (Also by this time both of her siblings had been diagnosed and are insulin-dependent diabetic. One for the last three years and then other for one year). At that time we got full blood panel and another complete work up including a “quick” ultrasound, that she didn’t charge me for. The diagnosis was that I had a perfectly healthy cat. No thyroid problems, not diabetic, and her belly seemed better. Priss got a pat on the head and we went home.
It became worse quickly, much more water consumption - the cat box turned into a mud box. She developed a voracious appetite. I made another appointment which took an extra couple of weeks to see the internal medicine specialist in the same clinic. When I took her in the vet was alarmed at the weight loss. It took him a few hours to determine that she was diabetic even though her BG was high. There were no keytones in her urine. He said diabetes typically comes on gradually not a fast onset like hers, although it was not unheard of. He was also considering lymphoma or complication from inflammatory bowel disease. Her ultrasound showed pancreas, spleen, and liver concerns. New blood panel, as well as the previous one showed inflammatory markers elevated also. Ultimately he declared her diabetic and off we went.
This vet was uncomfortable at my request to monitor her blood glucose. His concern was that I would over check and be chasing her blood sugars. He wanted to stay within certain parameters once they learned the curve. Which I understood and did not want to make it any harder on myself either. I did buy the meter however. He also knows that I am an LPN, I am comfortable with checking vital signs and I work with human diabetics. I’ve also had pets in kidney failure so I’m comfortable with fluid administration and symptom checks. Not afraid of jumping in.
She gets Lantus. He started me off giving her one unit twice a day. He didn’t say much about the food choice but wanted not to change her diet at this time. She eats mostly canned, and at that time I was giving her a tiny amount of dry, same type. I started weighing and measuring so that her food would be exactly the same twice a day. No free feeding any longer. And when I would take her in for curves checks she would be too low, and we would readjust.
The test meter turned out to be a very valuable tool because Priss’s blood sugar has been all over the place. I am down to 1/4 of a unit at times (or as close as I can get with 1/2 unit marker above it!). Her vet has set parameters on amounts to give and when to hold. He says he’s hopeful that we may be able to go with a once a day injection considering her drop in need.
Yesterday morning she was 363, even though I should’ve given her a half I gave her 1/4 unit trying to stay consistent. Last night she was 184 and 1/4 unit. I dropped her dry food last night and bumped up the wet by weight a little bit. This morning BG was 112.
I learned, through a very helpful link on this website that her current food is 25% carbohydrate! That’s the canned, I don’t want to look up the dry! I think her little body would be willing to not be on insulin any longer with a tweaked diet...?
I re-adopted Priss just over a year ago from my mother in AZ. She had adopted her three cats over 10 years ago from a rescue. Priss was picked on/literally thrashed by the other two continually and lived under the bed or was the only cat mom would let outside for a getaway. Three cats were getting to be too much for her to care for as well as Priss’s sad lifestyle, so I took her with me back home to AK.
She has a history, diagnosed about a year ago, of possible inflammatory bowel disease, she struggled with chronic loose stools sometimes with blood or mucus in it. She was uncomfortable and I could tell she was occasionally in pain. After full work up including ultrasound, and repeat vet visits and treatment with antibiotics, steroids and several diet changes (different diets recommended by different vets in the same clinic) she improved on the one I eventually settled on - Royal Canin Digestive, canned and dry. (Most of her life her diet was inexpensive dry only cat food).
Priss was diagnosed with diabetes July 1. I had taken her in a month prior to see her regular vet because something was “wrong“. Her fur was getting oily and dandruffy, drinking more water than normal, and I could tell she was losing weight. (Also by this time both of her siblings had been diagnosed and are insulin-dependent diabetic. One for the last three years and then other for one year). At that time we got full blood panel and another complete work up including a “quick” ultrasound, that she didn’t charge me for. The diagnosis was that I had a perfectly healthy cat. No thyroid problems, not diabetic, and her belly seemed better. Priss got a pat on the head and we went home.
It became worse quickly, much more water consumption - the cat box turned into a mud box. She developed a voracious appetite. I made another appointment which took an extra couple of weeks to see the internal medicine specialist in the same clinic. When I took her in the vet was alarmed at the weight loss. It took him a few hours to determine that she was diabetic even though her BG was high. There were no keytones in her urine. He said diabetes typically comes on gradually not a fast onset like hers, although it was not unheard of. He was also considering lymphoma or complication from inflammatory bowel disease. Her ultrasound showed pancreas, spleen, and liver concerns. New blood panel, as well as the previous one showed inflammatory markers elevated also. Ultimately he declared her diabetic and off we went.
This vet was uncomfortable at my request to monitor her blood glucose. His concern was that I would over check and be chasing her blood sugars. He wanted to stay within certain parameters once they learned the curve. Which I understood and did not want to make it any harder on myself either. I did buy the meter however. He also knows that I am an LPN, I am comfortable with checking vital signs and I work with human diabetics. I’ve also had pets in kidney failure so I’m comfortable with fluid administration and symptom checks. Not afraid of jumping in.
She gets Lantus. He started me off giving her one unit twice a day. He didn’t say much about the food choice but wanted not to change her diet at this time. She eats mostly canned, and at that time I was giving her a tiny amount of dry, same type. I started weighing and measuring so that her food would be exactly the same twice a day. No free feeding any longer. And when I would take her in for curves checks she would be too low, and we would readjust.
The test meter turned out to be a very valuable tool because Priss’s blood sugar has been all over the place. I am down to 1/4 of a unit at times (or as close as I can get with 1/2 unit marker above it!). Her vet has set parameters on amounts to give and when to hold. He says he’s hopeful that we may be able to go with a once a day injection considering her drop in need.
Yesterday morning she was 363, even though I should’ve given her a half I gave her 1/4 unit trying to stay consistent. Last night she was 184 and 1/4 unit. I dropped her dry food last night and bumped up the wet by weight a little bit. This morning BG was 112.
I learned, through a very helpful link on this website that her current food is 25% carbohydrate! That’s the canned, I don’t want to look up the dry! I think her little body would be willing to not be on insulin any longer with a tweaked diet...?
