HELP! Cat has DKA and I need advice - NEW THREAD

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I'm supposed to call the vet today so I'll ask her about her concern about fatty liver if he isn't eating. I've been told before that cats can go 3 days without eating as long as they are getting the fluids.
 
Ok so vet seemed to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to bring him in. A feeding tube is another $600-$800 so NO THANKS...but she said to compromise let's give him another day and then after that just force him a small amount, enough to get food in his system but not so much that he's going to stay averse to the food.
 
Laudie said:
Ok so vet seemed to come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to bring him in. A feeding tube is another $600-$800 so NO THANKS...but she said to compromise let's give him another day and then after that just force him a small amount, enough to get food in his system but not so much that he's going to stay averse to the food.
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Is he taking an appetite stimulant or cerenia for nausea? If he seems interested in food but backs away he could be nauseous.
 
There's another med, ondansetron, that works better than Cerenia in some cats. It's a human antinausea drug for people getting chemotherapy. The brand name is Zofran but it's extremely expensive. The generic, ondansetron, is a lot cheaper. You'd need a prescription from your vet to take to a human pharmacy. Some people give both Cerenia and ondansetron together for their kitty's nausea. They work on different areas in the brain for nausea and can be a good combination.
 
So glad to hear of the negative ketones! Definitely keep checking...once they've had ketones once, they are more prone to them and right now with the lowered insulin and the no food, he's at prime risk to develop ketones again very quickly.

I'm checking out Bandit's numbers for today and it seems he stayed pretty flat. I'd definitely want to bring his dose back up to the one that was getting you some action the other night, but you would want to make sure he had food on board for that. The numbers you are getting are certainly better than blacks, but pinks and yellows are way better than pinks and reds.
 
Rachel said:
So glad to hear of the negative ketones! Definitely keep checking...once they've had ketones once, they are more prone to them and right now with the lowered insulin and the no food, he's at prime risk to develop ketones again very quickly.

I'm checking out Bandit's numbers for today and it seems he stayed pretty flat. I'd definitely want to bring his dose back up to the one that was getting you some action the other night, but you would want to make sure he had food on board for that. The numbers you are getting are certainly better than blacks, but pinks and yellows are way better than pinks and reds.
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I'll go back up if he eats but I don't want to risk pushing him too low if he doesn't eat.
 
Ok so I don't know if he ate but I'm thinking it might be ok to go up to at least 2 units since he's so high again...what do you guys think?

After further inspection it looks like he might have eaten some of those temptation treats...we left 4 out and I don't see them out anymore
 
Laudie said:
Ok so I don't know if he ate but I'm thinking it might be ok to go up to at least 2 units since he's so high again...what do you guys think?
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If I recall, you were syringe feeding when you gave the 3.5 u dose yesterday. Were you able to syringe feed only a small portion of a can of wet food or quite a bit? If it was very little then you will very likely be OK giving 2 u tonight.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
If I recall, you were syringe feeding when you gave the 3.5 u dose yesterday. Were you able to syringe feed only a small portion of a can of wet food or quite a bit? If it was very little then you will very likely be OK giving 2 u tonight.
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We are not going to syringe feed tonight...it seems like he is showing more interest in food so we'll give it to tomorrow morning.
 
Laudie said:
Ok we gave Bandit a small amount of baby food this morning. Maybe 20-30mL but that makes me feel like at least he got a bit of food in him...upped his dose to 2.5 since he did eat a bit
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I'd continue with the baby food if he tolerates it. It's easy to syringe and is often used in these circumstances. In my opinion you've given your vet's advice not to syringe feed enough of a trial. Bandit's health is more important.
 
I talked to another vet today and she said just skip the morning meal and keep trying to offer food throughout the day. Give the entyce in the evening and then syringe feed at night if we need to. Try not to force too much if we can avoid but she's ok with skipping one meal a day and then syringing once a day.
 
Laudie said:
I talked to another vet today and she said just skip the morning meal and keep trying to offer food throughout the day. Give the entyce in the evening and then syringe feed at night if we need to. Try not to force too much if we can avoid but she's ok with skipping one meal a day and then syringing once a day.
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Have you been able to get a ketone test today?
 
Ok looks like we'll need to come up with something because DH won't be home to test starting on Monday...good news is he got a temporary job while he waits for his background to clear for his other job!
 
ugh he walked away but I showed him that I was sprinkling something on it and then DH got the catnip and made him smell it and he showed interest and sprinkled it on the plate
 
His BG was at 160 this morning so I didn't give him a shot. We are doing our best not to force him to eat. He showed some interest in the food but then he just smells it and walks away. I put out 4 different foods today...DH is going to get some baby food and just syringe him like 1 or 2 full syringes so he gets some sugar in him and doesn't go too low
 
Laudie said:
His BG was at 160 this morning so I didn't give him a shot. We are doing our best not to force him to eat. He showed some interest in the food but then he just smells it and walks away. I put out 4 different foods today...DH is going to get some baby food and just syringe him like 1 or 2 full syringes so he gets some sugar in him and doesn't go too low
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He won't go too low if you didn't give insulin.... But he does need food.
 
We tried tuna, salmon, and chicken! I even put a dab of mayonnaise on the plate because he licked that off my plate one time haha
 
That blue number this AM seems out of the ordinary. Did you retest immediately to see whether it was a wonky strip? It's best to avoid a "no shot" with a recent DKA. Even a token dose of 1 u could work.
 
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Kris & Teasel said:
That blue number this AM seems out of the ordinary. Did you retest immediately to see whether it was a wonky strip. It's best to avoid a "no shot" with a recent DKA. Even a token dose of 1 u could work.
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I did not retest but he didn't really eat last night and I did give him 2.5 units so I thought it might be ok. DH is checking ketones still so I'm not too worried yet. He has been acting more normal than ever since he got sick...and considering he hasn't eaten I'm thinking maybe pancreatitis is subsiding or something.
 
It's super important to give insulin with a recent DKA. If you do get a low number like that again, I'd really try to get some food in him and then give a shot..even if it's a token dose like Kris said. Not eating and no insulin just makes me SUPPPERRRR nervous since that's two of the three factors for DKA.
 
Hello everyone! I wanted to give everyone an update on how Bandit is doing since you all have been so helpful.

I was gone this weekend so DH was holding down the fort for me which is why his stuff isn't logged. On Saturday Bandit licked the gravy off a plate of fresh food but didn't chew any of it but that gave us hope. Sunday he didn't really care to eat but yesterday when I got home from work he was acting very hungry so I put some temptations treats in front of him and he ate them all up. I put more and he ate those too! So I grabbed some wet food he hadn't had before and he sniffed it and wouldn't eat it. Then ate some more temptations. That's the most he's eaten since he got sick!

Well today I left out some dry food for him and he ate almost all of it at some point between 4-6 we think. DH came home and he ate some in front of him so he put out some wet food and Bandit ate a decent amount of it! Then around 7:15 I took his blood to give him a dose and he went to the kitchen like it was dinner time. I got him a small can of food AND HE ATE IT!!

I'm so happy I could cry right now but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Hopefully he keeps eating like today and then we can get him back on his normal food and on routine insulin.

PS. His ketones have been negative the entire time except for yesterday morning (they were small) but they are back to negative now
 
Oh Laudie! Thank you so much for the update!!! I've been worried about you! And it is just so so so good to hear that Bandit is eating again! That is really wonderful news.
 
Laudie said:
Hello everyone! I wanted to give everyone an update on how Bandit is doing since you all have been so helpful.

I was gone this weekend so DH was holding down the fort for me which is why his stuff isn't logged. On Saturday Bandit licked the gravy off a plate of fresh food but didn't chew any of it but that gave us hope. Sunday he didn't really care to eat but yesterday when I got home from work he was acting very hungry so I put some temptations treats in front of him and he ate them all up. I put more and he ate those too! So I grabbed some wet food he hadn't had before and he sniffed it and wouldn't eat it. Then ate some more temptations. That's the most he's eaten since he got sick!

Well today I left out some dry food for him and he ate almost all of it at some point between 4-6 we think. DH came home and he ate some in front of him so he put out some wet food and Bandit ate a decent amount of it! Then around 7:15 I took his blood to give him a dose and he went to the kitchen like it was dinner time. I got him a small can of food AND HE ATE IT!!

I'm so happy I could cry right now but I don't want to get ahead of myself. Hopefully he keeps eating like today and then we can get him back on his normal food and on routine insulin.

PS. His ketones have been negative the entire time except for yesterday morning (they were small) but they are back to negative now
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What awesome news!!!!
 
That is WONDERFUL! And go ahead -- there is absolutely nothing wrong with happy tears, it'll help get rid of a lot of emotions that you have probably been holding in while concentrating on dear Bandit. You all are doing great!
 
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