Help with Huckleberry

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banjokitties

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Hi there! Nine yo neutered Huckleberry was diagnosed FD in late November 2010. We started TR end of January. In the last few days his numbers have come way down so we're seeing some headway. He's not there yet but we're hopeful. He has never had much hair and years ago the vet gave him a steroid injection which did little. We decided the hair wasn't that important as we really didn't want him on steroids. With the onset of diabetes, he lost about half his weight before he was diagnosed. So now he's very skinny and sparsley haired. Yesterday I noticed he has what appears to be fluid in his paunch which is easy to see in a hairless skinny cat. He also has a musky smell and tends to lick that area a lot. It doesn't appear he has an infection as his BG numbers are coming down. His tummy is fat but I don't think it's distended. The paunch is not noticable except when he is up and moving around as gravity pulls it and the fluid (?) down. It looks uncomfortable to me but he seems to be getting around fine with it swinging between his legs. What is this and should I be concerned? Is it normal and I just don't see it on my other cats because they have hair and are normal weight? We've isolated him from the other cats; he's eating and drinking normally and all pee and poop appears normal. My biggest concern is taking him to the vet where TR might not be accepted or understood. I'm worried about losing control of his testing times and worse, having him fed improperly and losing ground. I don't want to take him in if it's nothing to worry about. He's not very active and is sleeping a lot; I'm hoping this is healing him. He also had a bad cold on the 5th, his numbers skyrocketed, and he's a little sniffly now but his numbers are much lower. Any help or insight would be appreciated.
 
To me this sounds unrelated to the diabetes, so no need to discuss TR with the vet

Are you testing for ketones? The cat can smell fruity / sweet-ish or like nail polish remover if ketones are present. This is potentially serious. Urine can be tested for ketones at home using Keto-stix available at human pharmacies

Could it be an abscess or infection? That can have unpleasant odor - sometimes very strong.

And the third possibility that I hate to talk about --- my Norton had inoperable intestinal cancer (hemangiosarcoma) -- it was leaking into his abdomen and causing it to swell up. The vet drained his abdomen of nearly 1 lb of fluid. We helped Norton cross the bridge before he became painful a second time.

Kitties do normally have some loose skin on their abdomen - it hangs down and can sway back and forth in "normal weight" cats. I call it the "apron" but not sure if that is "official" name.

Any sudden change is worrisome though.
 
Agree with Phoebe and would add that some cats with athritis can't groom they way they used to, they can get odors from that. Other times anal sac expression is needed or did occur and that could be the scent. Even bad teeth could cause this. If his breath is bad and then he grooms himself, he could get that odor on his skin.

Is he still skinny or has he gained weight back since treatment was started?
 
agree with above and are you sure this is fluid?? could be loose skin from weight loss. if fluid, definitely needs to be seen by vet
 
On top of the questions already asked, where did you learn about TR? Its a pretty controversial idea, depending on what exactly you mean by it. It really sounds like your cat has a lot going on that may complicate things. Did you ever find out the cause for the hair loss???
 
Also could just be a kitty with a paunch.....I've had them and still do......their belly hangs down and when they run it can really get to swinging side to side.
 
Has your kitty ever been tested for Hyperthyroid?

One of my civilians has HyperT and he licked off his fur on his back legs and belly.

The regular blood panel showed him in the Normal range at the high end -- I requested the special test for it, and he was positive.

In addition, untreated Hyperthyroid causes hyperactivity, weight loss, aggressive behavior, upset stomach, excessive drinking and peeing, excessive hunger. The licking off of fur is due to itchiness.
 
Hello--Thanks for your answers. The fluid didn't go away or absorb, even seemed to get worse so we took Huck in to the vet. She suggested a blood panel and we didn't have to leave him. We'll have results today. He seems to be uncomfortable now and of course his numbers spiked after the stress of going to the vet. DH told her we were doing TR and she didn't object so that was good. He's gained two plus pounds; don't know if that's good or bad as it might be mostly fluids. He's on Clavamox now for his cold. Vet wanted to give him Convenia but thanks to this website, we got the Clavamox instead. Thanks again.
 
We just got back from the vet again today. Huck has retained a good deal of fluid making xrays difficult to read. He was put on Clavamox yesterday for his cold and today we added furosemide, a diuretic, to get some of the liquid off. I gave him the pill about an hour ago and haven't had an effect yet. The vet drew some of the fluid for testing but so far nothing seems to be pointing to a particular issue. He's doing well on the TR (tight regulation) for his diabetes having most numbers under 200 when he's not sick or stressed by visits to the vet. He's eating better (high protien/low carb canned instead of dry perscription) and getting less insulin than the vet prescribed shooting blind twice a day. He's been on TR for the past two and a half weeks. He's getting his insulin whenever his numbers are heading above 150 and after at least 6 hours. He's always had sparse hair most probably from licking it off. Years ago the vet gave him a steroid shot in an effort to help the situation but it did little and I'd rather he not be on steroids just to look pretty for me. So he has become downright scary looking without a true coat of fur but is the sweetest cat I've ever had. I've got four choices on how to proceed with his diabetes: do nothing, put him down, shoot blind of follow TR. The vet feels the fluid retention is due to either heart disease or an infection neither of which would be caused by TR. I doubt we would be in any better shape had I chosen a different path than TR.
 
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