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dd & savannah

dd & savannah

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Hi,
I haven't posted in a while.I hope everyone is well. My previous name was mimi and my cat's name is Savannah. She has had diabetes for 3 years. I have never had a hypo reaction with her but tonight as she was about to eat she was very wobbly and looked as though she was about to tip over. I gave her Karo syrup and some old dry food we keep stored. She seemed better moments after eating this. When I tested her sugar she was 188 at almost 12 hours! She had been going up and down in bg for the past week and I have only been giving her between .25 and .5 units of humulin n based on her readings(above 250 .5 and below was .25). Obviously I didn't give her any insulin tonight. She seemed like her old self almost instantly and was able to walk and jump without being wobbly. I just woke up a little while ago and she was walking a bit funny but her bg is now in the 400's. Does anyone think this is not related to her diabetes? Maybe she is having trouble with her hips or joints, or could it be signs of neuropathy?
Any advice would be helpful.
Dianne
 
I'm hoping others can step in here too, but I was wondering how is the litterbox? Are there problems going? Any struggling?


Do you have a ketones box to check for ketones?
Here is a link on Diabetic Neuropathy to help you out.

I hope you can come back and update.
 
She's been able to use the litter box, I just gave it the "super clean" this weekend. Up until this point, I haven't seen her try yet.
I can try and test for ketones.
 
did you test her before you gave karo and kibble. we really don't know if it was low bg's or something eles. i know you may have panicked but a test before give that amount of carbs and sugar would have helped in knowing what really might be going on.
i don't think 188 at +12 is anything to worry about....unless that was +1 or so after all the karo and kibble.
 
Hi Dianne, I don't know much about Humulin N to be any help, but for others, do you have any other BGs you can share? Do you typically test preshots, and get mid-cycle spot checks? I don't know when N nadirs, but any idea what kind of #s she has been seeing that might be the typical lows of her cycle? I don't know that it will help me give you any suggestions :-D but I'm thinking info like that will be a big help to others who might know more about it than I do.

With Bix and his neuropathy, sometimes it has freaked me out, like he's going to tip over, but usually not. If Savannah improved immediately with Karo and food, that does seem like it would support the hypo idea, but hard to say for sure. Also if she was 188 after 12 hours (I think N is shorter acting, right, so you wouldn't generally expect that # at +12? not sure though), even with the Karo, that also could support the hypo idea, i.e. if she was 188 at +12 who knows how low she might have been earlier. But again, really hard to say for sure.

Did the wobbly stuff happen at +12 time, like you got the 188 test right after giving Karo? Or was it earlier in the cycle? I would suspect hypo if it was around nadir time, but if it was 12 hours since the last shot then it seems less likely (again, not knowing anything about this insulin). Bix tends to get wobblier when he needs his next shot...
 
Hi,
I don't have any answers for you. I suspect getting (and posting) more blood glucose numbers throughout a cycle would give a better hint of whether it's diabetes related.

I hope she feels better really soon. It's so hard when they're sick.

Odiesmom
 
Hi all,
It's been a long night at the e-vet. They don't think it has anything to do with her bg/diabetes. They looked over my previous numbers. Here they are:
6/29
324 am .5
224 pm .25
6/30
305 am .5 skinny
247 pm .5 skinny
7/1
414 am .5 skinny
427 pm .5 skinny (she had boiled chicken this day)
7/2
390 am .5 skinny
188 pm -no shot
When we got to the vet she seemed fine but when it was our time to see the vet she started to have focal seizures. Thinking back to our night, she was having these seizures when we woke up around 11:30 maybe she had one or two, but at the vet it seemed like she was having several within the course of 30 minutes. I did not know that's what it was when I was home with her. I guess these seizures are not like grand mal, Savannah is still "with us" and is more aware of her surroundings. They are doing various tests today. The vet had also asked if she may have gotten into something and there could possibly be a toxin in her body. We tried to think back to all of the things she could have possible eaten, we recently sanded and polyurethaned the floors and painted. Savannah was also licking my husband's tee shirts which may have had deoderant on it.
Sorry for all of this rambling, I have had little sleep. I'm fearful that this is the end for her. Any further advice would be great or ideas as to what may be triggering the seizures.
Thanks for listening,
Dianne
 
If she is still at the vet could you ask them to check her potassium levels.

I'm no expert, but what I've learned since Tucker was diagnosed with hypokalaemia is low potassium can cause:

- weakness
- unstable gait
- kitty to keep head down
-muscle cramping


Again, no expert, but maybe the muscle cramping could cause some of the other symptoms. Since potassium is lost through excessive urine, FD and CRF kitties can lose potassium more than civvies.

So if your kitty is still at the clinic, a simple electrolyte test to rule out potassium defiency may not be a bad idea.
 
Hi all

I just spoke to the vet. She said everything is normal. her bg of course was high and they gave her some insulin. Red and white blood cells are ok, chemistry profile was fine, no ketones, kidneys were fine, x ray came back normal. She did say there was some bacteria in her bladder, and that she has a small uti. They are going to treat with antibiotics.They have not given her any anti-seizure medication yet b/c they want to see what is going on. Her last focal seizure was around 5:45.
I'm assuming since the chem. profile was fine that they tested for potassium, but I will definitely double check and ask the doctor when I speak to her in a few hours. She is able to walk, except of course when she is having the seizure.
She is going to consult with another doctor and then possibly recommend that we see a neurologist and maybe do an MRI.
Thanks for all of your care and concern. If anyone has any possible ideas as to what may trigger her seizures please post, maybe I can ask the vet about possible diagnosis.
Thanks!
Dianne
 
My Gwyn started having seizures after her third stroke -- which it doesn't sound like Savannah has had. But the place I went to for information on helping Gwyn with her seizures was the YahooGroups epi-felines mailing list. I hope Savannah gets better quickly!

-- Jean and her Gwyn
 
This may be completely off base, but you mentioned that you recently sanded and polyurethaned the floors and painted. I'm wondering if maybe she walked through the debris from sanding, then licked it off her paws and ingested it? Polyurethane gives off fumes along with paint, could that be part of it? I'm sure you ventilated, but some animals are more sensitive to toxins than others....birds, for example, I have to be really careful about what I use in my house because I have birds. Not sure about cats?

Did you talk to the vet about all of this? If so, you may have already eliminated this as a cause. I hope you get some answers soon, and that Savannah is improving!
 
Thanks for the link!

We did tell the vet about the sanding/polyurethane and we kept her in an upstairs bedroom with the windows open until the floors had dried. In terms of the initial sanding she was also upstairs during it, but was allowed to walk on it, so it is possoble she may have ingested some of it. The only things was that was a little more than two weeks ago, could something take that long to pass through?
I'm hoping they'll give us some sort of answer soon. Or they will let us take her home with some anti-seizure meds until we can see a neurologist.
Thanks everyone for thinking of us.
Dianne & Savannah
 
Gosh how scary! I'm glad you got her to the ER and that they are able to help. Hopefully they can figure it out & get the right meds working for her. Thinking of you & sending good thoughts!!! :YMHUG:
 
Hi all,

So far Savannah is still @ the vet's. She may be able to be discharged b/c she has not had a seizure in the past 12 hours. I don't think they have a diagnosis but hopefully they can tell us more when we get her. I'll keep you posted. Thanks everyone for the warm thoughts & prayers!

Dianne & Savannah
 
To answer an earlier question, I think N nadir is around +3. My cat was on N for a few weeks at the beginning of my spreadsheet, so you can see a little about his numbers there before I switched to Lantus
 
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