JenElliot
Member
Mali is 17 years old and has been diabetic for 5 1/2 years. He has been quite healthy for his age and we've been managing his diabetes well over the last several years. Over the past couple of weeks he started twitching a little bit, sometimes made worse by sounds (making kissing noises, plastic bags being moved, squeaky doors opening), but no other symptoms of illness or odd behavior. The twitching ranged from just tiny face movement to full body "jumps" (as if he was startled by a loud noise). It worsened on Saturday afternoon and he had a full-body seizure on Saturday evening. It lasted 20-30 seconds and he was fine a couple minutes later.
We rushed him to the vet. His blood sugar was checked and it was 54. They said it was low but not enough to cause a seizure. He also had blood tests to check all of his organs and everything came back fine. We discussed various reasons for the seizure (they thought it could be a brain tumor, which terrified me!). It was time for him to have a curve so we left him there. AFTER he was fed (no insulin shot) he was tested again and his blood sugar was 29. Very strange that it went down, but he stresses easily so I'm wondering if the first test (54) was affected by stress and his level was actually lower. So they didn't give him any insulin and the next test was 39. They put him on a glucose drip until his numbers were up. Once he was stabilized they did the curve and concluded that he should now be given only 2 units of insulin (it was 3.5 units before).
I've done hours of research online and am convinced he had the seizure due to hypo. Mali is a picky eater and has always liked dry food better than wet. He would never eat enough of the wet food so we would give him dry food as well. Then he all but stopped eating wet food all together and was primarily eating dry Fancy Feast food. His levels have been maintainable on this diet so we have stuck to it. But several weeks ago he had a tooth break while eating (had another trip to the vet for that) so we started giving him wet food (some low-carb, some higher-carb), and surprisingly he gobbled it up so we started giving him wet food all the time.
The twitching started about 3 days after switching to a wet food diet. He was also on antibiotics (for his tooth) and has a history of bad reactions with medications, so we assumed the twitching was caused by the antibiotics. But now I think it's safe to say that the meds didn't cause it, the change in diet did.
So here's where we are now: His insulin has been reduced to 2 units (down from 3.5) twice daily. He is eating all wet food (some Hill's m/d (14% carbs) some tuna cat food (4% carbs)). He is still twitching but it's very subtle and just in his face. I'm worried that he is still getting too much insulin and it's making his blood sugar too low and causing the twitching. I tried testing his blood with a home monitor but was unsuccessful. I am committed to learning how to test him at home, but it's going to take some time (he's a very squirmy cat and doesn't like being held). In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out the best course of action. IS IT SAFE TO REDUCE HIS INSULIN FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS TO SEE IF THE TWITCHING STOPS? I was thinking of reducing it to 1.5 or even 1 unit twice daily. If his blood sugar levels get too high for just a couple of days will it harm him? I'm also planning to get better/lower-carb food for him tomorrow (Wellness brand - 4% carbs), so his carb-intake will be lower.
He'll be going back to the vet for another curve in about 1 week, so I'm just trying to maintain/stabilize him until then. I don't want to do anything harmful or dangerous, but I'm quite sure that the twitching is cause by low blood sugar levels and I don't want him to seizure again.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!!
We rushed him to the vet. His blood sugar was checked and it was 54. They said it was low but not enough to cause a seizure. He also had blood tests to check all of his organs and everything came back fine. We discussed various reasons for the seizure (they thought it could be a brain tumor, which terrified me!). It was time for him to have a curve so we left him there. AFTER he was fed (no insulin shot) he was tested again and his blood sugar was 29. Very strange that it went down, but he stresses easily so I'm wondering if the first test (54) was affected by stress and his level was actually lower. So they didn't give him any insulin and the next test was 39. They put him on a glucose drip until his numbers were up. Once he was stabilized they did the curve and concluded that he should now be given only 2 units of insulin (it was 3.5 units before).
I've done hours of research online and am convinced he had the seizure due to hypo. Mali is a picky eater and has always liked dry food better than wet. He would never eat enough of the wet food so we would give him dry food as well. Then he all but stopped eating wet food all together and was primarily eating dry Fancy Feast food. His levels have been maintainable on this diet so we have stuck to it. But several weeks ago he had a tooth break while eating (had another trip to the vet for that) so we started giving him wet food (some low-carb, some higher-carb), and surprisingly he gobbled it up so we started giving him wet food all the time.
The twitching started about 3 days after switching to a wet food diet. He was also on antibiotics (for his tooth) and has a history of bad reactions with medications, so we assumed the twitching was caused by the antibiotics. But now I think it's safe to say that the meds didn't cause it, the change in diet did.
So here's where we are now: His insulin has been reduced to 2 units (down from 3.5) twice daily. He is eating all wet food (some Hill's m/d (14% carbs) some tuna cat food (4% carbs)). He is still twitching but it's very subtle and just in his face. I'm worried that he is still getting too much insulin and it's making his blood sugar too low and causing the twitching. I tried testing his blood with a home monitor but was unsuccessful. I am committed to learning how to test him at home, but it's going to take some time (he's a very squirmy cat and doesn't like being held). In the meantime, I'm trying to figure out the best course of action. IS IT SAFE TO REDUCE HIS INSULIN FOR A COUPLE OF DAYS TO SEE IF THE TWITCHING STOPS? I was thinking of reducing it to 1.5 or even 1 unit twice daily. If his blood sugar levels get too high for just a couple of days will it harm him? I'm also planning to get better/lower-carb food for him tomorrow (Wellness brand - 4% carbs), so his carb-intake will be lower.
He'll be going back to the vet for another curve in about 1 week, so I'm just trying to maintain/stabilize him until then. I don't want to do anything harmful or dangerous, but I'm quite sure that the twitching is cause by low blood sugar levels and I don't want him to seizure again.
Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated. Thanks!!
We'll give him his insulin at dinner, I don't want things to go badly in the opposite direction, but we'll probably reduce it a bit (maybe 1.5 units instead of 2).
I did the test about 3-1/2 hours after his shot and it was 74, which still seems low. Isn't the lowest reading usually around 8 hours after the shot? At least now I know reducing his insulin from 2 units to 1 was the right thing to do, thank you all for helping me make that decision! I'll test him again tomorrow closer to 8 hours after and see what I get, I'm hoping to be able to do a curve within the next week or 2.
