Hypo Event & Major Diarrhea :(

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Charlies_Mom

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Not sure what I should do. nailbite_smile Charlie had a hypo event, I think. He started getting diarrhea yesterday and refusing food, so I checked his BG level and it was 64. I think it had probably been even lower earlier in the day, but he slept all day so I didn't notice.

Here is what happened: I gave him his usual insulin yesterday morning after getting a reading of 350. He then decided to sleep and not eat all day (which isn't like him at all), so his BG obviously went down too much...at least to 64. I eventually got him to eat a little dry kitten food just so his BG would go up and it did, regulating around 210 for a while. BG has now been over 200 for about 10 hours. I skipped insulin last night, obviously, but he still has BAD diarrhea this morning...so bad that I had to physically bathe him once, which wasn't easy! Is this normal when his insulin has been in a normal (or high) range for 10 hours AND he has been eating again...or do you think he's sick with something else? Is there anything I can give him for the diarrhea??
I just checked his BG again and it's now 431. Should I give him insulin or would that put more stress on him and worsen the diarrhea?? confused_cat
 
The diarrhea could be caused by many things -

- eating something bad
- food didn't agree with him
- illness

If his appetite doesn't improve and the diarrhea doesn't subside within a day - you may want to take him to the vet to get a professional opinion and they have drugs that will help with upset tummies and slow the diarrhea.

I hope he feels better soon.
 
I would not withhold insulin, even if you give a reduced dose. The insulin should not cause diarrhea. It is something else. High BG, Illness + no insulin is the formula for Ketones and even DKA.

What dose is he on ? What insulin? Does he normally eat dry or wet food? Did you check him for ketones and do you have ketone strips? You should make sure you give him some liquids even if you have to syringe water, 2 syringes at a time and I would definitely test for ketones. If you don't have ketone strips you can pick them up at just about any drugstore.

Please let me know.

I hope he's doing better by now.

Melanie & Racci
 
He is on 1 unit Lantus twice a day. He eats only Fancy Feast classics wet food. He still has diarrhea but is eating & drinking normally now, purring, playing, etc. Every time his BG drops below 100, he gets bad diarrhea & I know it's a symptom of hypoglycemia, but I'm guessing it's something else since it's persisted so long after the BG rose again. I do have ketone strips but haven't caught him peeing yet because I've been in bed (with him) with a migraine all morning. I'll definitely check for ketones the next time he pees and give him a 1/2 dose of his insulin at least. Thanks for all the replies! I sure hope the diarrhea stops soon because we really don't have the money to take him to the vet. I was laid off recently & I'm 5 months pregnant. I've been getting help from DCIN to cover costs for now.
 
Uggghh...Charlie STILL has diarrhea but he's eating and drinking. His BG is all over the place though. I don't know what to do to help him. :sad: I'm wondering if he has an infection or something, or if we got a bad batch of Fancy Feast because the consistency of the food seemed a little off and he started refusing that certain flavor.
 
Out of compete curiosity...what flavor of FF did the diarrhea start with? Musette just went through a hypo and liquid poo when I switched her to FF where she stopped eating as well. I put her back on her Friskies and she is fine now...but with her it started right after I fed her Chicken & Beef FF.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
It was the Liver & Chicken flavor. I'm pretty sure he's going to have a food aversion to that one from now on if that's what did it!
 
It could have been food allergy or he got into something else. If everything else is back to normal you may be able to avoid the vet expense, but it is always good to have problems checked out. Now to get his gut working properly again. There are benificial bacteria in the gut, if something happens they need to be replaced. That's probiotics. Probiotics balance out the digestive system and diarrhea is a sign of imbalance.

Have you tried a probiotic like Fortiflora? You might be able to get a single packet or two from your vet.

We get a pet specific live culture at a local vitamin/health food store. It's a live culture which is the best and is less than half the price of Fortiflora. Even some plain naturally cultured yogurt could help.
 
Did the diarrhea start before or after the kitten food? I would suspect the kitten food myself, it is richer, sometimes has milk in it, and can cause stomach upset.

I would definitely look a little closer at things. Under 100 isn't anywhere near a hypoglycemic number and shouldn't be causing hypo symptoms, 64 isn't that low unless you are using an Alphatrack. You may be dealing with some IBD or pancreatitis issues where the diarrhea has nothing to do with the diabetes.
 
MommaOfMuse said:
Out of compete curiosity...what flavor of FF did the diarrhea start with? Musette just went through a hypo and liquid poo when I switched her to FF where she stopped eating as well. I put her back on her Friskies and she is fine now...but with her it started right after I fed her Chicken & Beef FF.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette, Autumn & The Fur Gang
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Mel - I feed both my kitties FF chicken & beef (they don't care for the other flavors) and have had no poo issues. May not mean anything but I figured I'd put it out there. I guess every cat reacts differently :)
 
Well, with the help of DCIN, I took Charlie to the vet yesterday and they gave him some sub-Q's, tested a fecal sample (which came back fine), and sent us home with a combo of amoxicillin & metronidazole. The vet said to come back if the antibiotics didn't work and they could do blood tests to see what's going on. She asked if Charlie could take liquid meds, and I told her I'd never given him them before but thought it'd be okay. Well, I was wrong. He foamed at the mouth, slung his head all over the place, and then proceeded to vomit up the medicine twice. I have tried this last night and this morning, both with the same outcome. It may simply be due to the bitter-tasting metronidazole, but I don't know. Anyway, he STILL has bad diarrhea and isn't eating a whole lot, but BG level seems to be okay. I just can't get the antibiotics into him!! I will just have to call on Monday morning and try to get some pills if he's still sick.

Ann, maybe in the meantime, I can get him some Fortiflora this weekend. Thanks for the advice!

Melanie, the diarrhea began before I gave him any kitten food. I only gave him a tiny bit of kitten food because he wasn't eating anything at all and I was trying to entice him to eat a little something. I'm not convinced he's dealing with pancreatitis or IBD unless it's an acute case. My other cat has both pancreatitis & IBD and he is nothing like her. This whole diarrhea ordeal is VERY, very unusual for him. Again, I suppose it could be an acute case or something. I hope not!
 
He foamed at the mouth, slung his head all over the place..
Click to expand...

This unfortunately is common with metronidazole. The stuff is nasty. Most vets don't want to give that as a liquid because of this and want you to get the pill into something and down them as quickly as possible. Since Smokey refuses anything but liquid these days, I give her the nasty first, as far back in the mouth as possible, and then quickly follow it with the other medicine and a dish of yummy smelling food or treats so she can get something on her tongue besides it. Its taken her a few times, but she learned that eating quickly cleared it up quicker than trying to run from it. It is the best medicine to clear up the diarrhea quickly.

And yes, if it was IBD, I would suspect an acute case too.

Hopefully you can keep some meds down him long enough to do some good.
 
I would definitely go for the pills. My Sya is a regular Met. taker and even with the pills I hide it in a Pill Pocket and roll the pocket in crushed dried chicken. Have finally gotten her to the point she's actually happy to take the pills as I have hid the taste enough.
 
Thanks for the ideas on how to get the metronidazole down! I will try some of your tips over the weekend and see if I can get some pills (to hide in pill pockets, of course) on Monday instead. Charlie seems to be his happy, laid-back self at least...just with an upset tummy! Thanks again for all the replies!
 
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