Hi. I'm new & I think in deep doo-doo ....

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Cat Migliano

Cat Migliano

Member Since 2023
Hi. I adopted Spike from someone who gave me several stories why she and her husband could not keep him in 2018. At that time, I got very little background, which is usually the case when I adopt a cat. When I finally got vet records, he had not been to the vet in 5 years and at that time was guestimated to be 2-3 years old. At that time, she had him declawed so as not to ruin her precious new furniture in her expensive condo. (You see where I am going with this?) The only thing she told me was that he was subject to frequent UTI's. I did notice right off the bat that he hated being picked up or held.

Fast forward to the beginning of the month, he lost a drastic amount of weight, even though he was eating me out of house and home and drinking his fountains dry. He stopped jumping up on furniture and his beloved tower and he developed an antalgic, plantigrade gait that included walking on his metatarsils. Took him to the vet. Diagnosis: Diabetes Mellitus. Tossed any dry foods. Started him on 1 unit insulin BID. When we got to 6 units, with glucose still in the 488-579 range, he suddenly became injection-phobic. Even tho I had other areas I could tent, I would barely touch him and I could feel the tensing up. That started the course of fur injections, air injections, stabbing myself and bending the needle. So a couple days, he got only one injection of no injection. Forget about the glucose testing.

Past couple of days, we were fine. We're due to see vet on Tues. This morning I awaken very early to him crying and find him in the bath tub where he is trying to cover his feces which happens to be in the drain. Never did this before. I take him out. He appears disoriented -- actually drunk. When I get done cleaning, I do see him go into his litter box to urinate. He then goes to his favourite hiding place: between the pedestal of my water bed and the wall, which he knows no human can reach him. He is there for the better part of today until I see him drinking from the fountain. About ten minutes later, when I go back into my bedroom to use the master bath, he has peed all over the bath mat. He has also gone back between the pedestal and wall. He has never done this before.

When everyone talks about diabetes, they all talk about gaining weight, but Spike has had a drastic weight loss in 4 months like 6 lbs. The behaviour is really out of sorts.

Whenever he sees the tester of the syringe, off he goes under that pedestal .... And yes, I am alone, all by myself. Help!!!
 
Welcome to FDMB!

Most cats do not gain weight with feline diabetes (FD). In fact, they often lose a good deal of weight since the nutrition from what their eating that's converted to glucose is floating around in their blood stream vs getting into the cells where it belongs. Insulin is what transports glucose into the cells. If Spike is hungry, feed him!

A couple of questions...
  • Which insulin did your vet prescribe?
  • What are you feeding Spike? Not all canned food is low in carbs!
I'd suggest that you do what you can to block Spike from his hiding place. Pillows, boxes, etc. can potentially work. I'd also suggest getting some low carb treats. Many of the kitties here are more than happy with being bribed with freeze dried chicken or other freeze dried protein. If your cat likes cooked chicken, turkey, etc., that works too.

I'd also suggest you get a container of Ketodiastix. These are strips you dip in your cat's urine to test for ketones and glucose. The glucose testing is not highly accurate -- a meter is much, much better. If you can't test, it will give you a ballpark. The ketone testing is better. If Spike's numbers have been running high, there's a possibility that ketones are developing. They can be dangerous so testing can be important for the health of your cat. You can get Ketodiastix at any pharmacy.

If for the time being home testing doesn't seem possible, please talk to your vet about a Freestyle Libre. This is a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) that is glued to the skin and you can get a blood glucose (BG) reading from your phone. Ultimately, you'll want to be able to home test since cats get very cleaver about dislodging the sensor or they do, sometimes, fall off.

I'm linking a post that we ask new members to take a look at. It's called helping us to help you. There's information on setting up your signature and a spreadsheet. We are very numbers driven so the spreadsheet will help. It's hard to know if what you were describing (i.e., Spike seeming drunk) was due to low BG numbers -- which is why home testing is so important. The information in your signature will prevent us from asking you the same questions repeatedly.

Please let us know how we can help.
 
Thank you for the response and info. I was doing some research, and found an instructional video for the glucose testing which for sure was not how the vet showed me, and the video was much more benign. There was a cotton ball involved and blood was taken from outside the ear, not inside. No wonder Spike has almost killed me each time I tried.

Instructions were completely different. I was told to test him after he ate. Nothing about testing him before. He started pre insulin at 688. After 1 week on 1 unit, he was still in the low 600's. The vet said he'd never seen a cat so insulin resistant. He was raising the dosage 1 unit per week. Finally I asked him, because I am insulin resistant, but know it's different in felines and had researched it, why he was being so conservative when feline insulin resistance is usually treated with 10-15 units. At that point, he told me to be patient and figure we may not get stabilized until Oct or Nov.
  • Which insulin did your vet prescribe? the vet dispensed Vetsulin (porcine insulin in Zn suspension)

  • What are you feeding Spike? Not all canned food is low in carbs! When I got Spike, he was a hefty, overweight 26 lbs. Part of what I was told was the problem was, depending on the version of the story, Spike was left to spend his time in a utility closet. That changed very quickly. Plus, while I am vegan, I respect cats need meat protein, but I wanted him healthy with little of no additives. I was recommended a couple of low carb natural wet foods that ended up as fish food because he wouldn't eat them. The only low carb I found that was acceptable to him was Fancy Feast Daily Harvest. He has never been a treat cat, except to take a couple of licks of my cashew ice cream and for some reason loves Goudray cheese like Boursin.
 
Vetsulin is not a good insulin for cats. It’s harsh and short lasting so Spike is not protected a full 12 hours. It’s also called caninsulin because it was made for canines who have a much slower metabolism than cats. With Vetsulin you need to have food onboard at least 30 minutes before the shot because it hits hard and fast. We also don’t do dose adjustments by 1 unit because you can speed right past the ideal dose. Our dosing here is done in 1/4 units. I would be willing to bet he’s not insulin resistant. I’d encourage you to talk to your vet about switching him to a gentler longer lasting insulin like Lantus or prozinc.
You may want to share the guidelines from the American Animal Hospital Assn for the treatment of diabetes in both dogs and cats. the AAHA no longer recommends Caninsulin/Vetsulin for treating feline diabetes.

most wet Fancy feast foods are low carb.
FOOD CHART have a look on this chart and choose foods that are under 10%.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions.
 
Hi and welcome!!

And also thank you very much for helping this obviously abused cat, you are doing a great thing and having a lot of patience with him.

As they mentioned diabetic cats usually lose a lot of weight and are thirsty all the time so the drink a lot of water and pee a lot, with the behavior changes you are describing it is important to test for ketones as they mentioned and since unfortunately diabetic cats are also prone to UTI (urinary track infections ) and those can cause a change in his behavior specially regarding the litter box you may need to check for this too.

Any low carb food is ok a lot of people here in the forum actually give Fancy Feast, cats like them they are affordable and easy to find so no problem with that as long as is low carb ( not all Fancy Feast are low carb), regarding the treats just find something he likes again that is low carb so that he starts associating the treat with the testing and injections

And if you can talk to the vet and change insulin that will make a big difference and it will help you get him regulated, vetsulin can be used but is not an easy one to manage
 
Before I start you really need to know I'm not judging you and that taking Spike into your home could not have been an easy thing to do. So....
It was a week ago today that Spike started with the bathtub thing. We have a older cat that poops in the tub only because he's obese and going up and down two flights of stairs sucks the life out of him but for Spike this sets off some alarm bells. Cat's that hide in closets, the basement and even the clothes dryer (it's happened to me) are trying to tell you something is very wrong. He needs to see a vet very soon. That's easy for me to say with a car in the driveway, both our vets 10 minutes away and money is not an issue. NOT judging you!
Sooner rather than later you will have to start testing him before his shot. I've been mutilated by many cats just trying to pill them but you do have alternatives even when alone. Try "swaddling" which is wrapping him snuggly in a big towel with his head poking out. If there's a lot of blood test first and apologize later.
Now I'm just repeating myself. None of this is easy and isn't meant to be. You're performing a minor medical procedure at home all alone and it takes guts to adopt any animal with pre-existing medical condition. Your social life will change, cat pee stinks, the money you could have spent on things you really need. It can be a rewarding experience for some people and cause others to lose their hair. You need to know we all started with one cat and some of the same problems, no one here gets paid to pretend it's all so easy. You're among friends now so keep posting, cry when you need to and know you're not alone. Make sense?
 
It's been ten days. @Cat Migliano , any news yet? We're all here to help you, not to sell anything or poke fun at you.
If you've had the worst luck and things turned out for the worse there's no shame in that, many of us have been there. You obviously care and this is the one place where you'll never hear "it's only a cat". We've all cried, you're not alone. :bighug:
 
Sorry for the long silence. Trying to adjust to things and work things out.
The bathtub incident only happened once. Point of info: Spike is not obese. He weighs 9 lbs.
After the bathtub incident, he peed on my bathmat and in his carrier where he had peed whenever I took him to the vet. The carrier had been cleaned, but you know how that goes. I kinda decided that this was his way of letting me know he wasn't happy that those 2 days, I didn't clean his litter box first thing in the a.m.
The shots have been hit or miss. All he has to do is see the needle and he bails. We've confirmed I am injecting him correctly. He's just being an ass butt. When I can, I enlist help, which is difficult, so we're down to one injection per day.
His glucose has remained around 400-450.
 
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