Increased Folate and Increased Blood Glucose

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Rachel & Gus

Member Since 2010
Has anyone had a cat with increased folate and increased blood glucose? Gus has been running very high glucose numbers. We tried a new insulin, but that didn't resolve it. The test showed increased folate. His cobalamine is almost normal so the vet doesn't want to give B12 since that isn't the problem.

We have always known he has IBD along with pancreatitis. I started him back on probiotics (Country Life) but that doesn't seem to be working. The vet said we might need to try a different probiotic.

Did anyone with this problem find that probiotics resolved it and if so - which probiotic did you use? Did you do any other treatments?

Thank you for your help.
 
Per Wikipedia, folate is metabolized through the liver in humans.
Wikipedia link

This is a guess - maybe his liver is not breaking it down into the necessary components &/or his kidneys are not excreting the excess.

Consider discussing this with your vet. Perhaps liver and kidney function need to be assessed.
 
Thank you for the link.
My best guess of what has happened - although I could be wrong - I was feeding Gus Avoderm starting in August. It is high in Omega 6 which I now found out that too much of that causes insulin resistance. At first everything was great - all of his ear problems cleared up and his coat turned super soft, but within a month his glucose started going up and I didn't make the association to the food until I read an article about Omega 6 and insulin resistance. Gus's soft coat started turning less soft which is a sign of too much Omega 6. He also started having hiccups and making gulping sounds.

There is a specialist in my area who is studying Omega oils and diabetes in felines and I might take Gus to him. It's Dr. Thomas Graves - who has been discussed on this board before. I don't know if this is in fact the problem and if it is - how to resolve it. It is just what I have been able to piece together.

I've been giving Milk Thistle which is good for the liver and kidneys, but I read it has a lot of omega 6 in it so I may stop it and just use the probiotic.

Gus just started on Zofran last night which seems to make him feel better, but of course does nothing for glucose levels.

Gus had his blood tests done in August for liver and kidneys before he had his teeth extracted. His kidneys of course are showing signs of CRF because he is 14. It was 2.5 - not terrible, but of course it isn't ideal. Everything else was fine.

This is such a complicated mess. He has triad's disease - IBD, pancreatitis and diabetes, however we have managed the diabetes pretty well until now. Its the other two that are so terrible.
 
I have heard that aloe vera juice may be helpful for GI issues.

For the renal issues, you want to watch the phosphorus levels and have them under 200
for the meal (Others, please chime in). The food list at Cat Info may include phosphorus levels.
 
Gus's phosphorus has been normal and the vet has no concern right now regarding food and phosphorus. She said if that should ever become the case then we will deal with it, but finding a food is already so difficult because of the numerous issues he has. At the moment we are just on mostly plain chicken and turkey with some Before Grain.

I just got off the phone with one of our vets and she said to continue on the Zofran twice a day as well as the probiotic. We are removing the milk thistle. We will see how he is by Monday if he is still high then increase him to 2 units of Lantus.

She wants me to try some antioxidants with him, but we are going to wait because if we throw everything at him then we don't know what is and isn't working.

She just kept saying that Gus is so complicated and that's what most of the vets we go to say. It sucks and it gets so depressing because I love him so much. He is my best friend.
 
You and the vet may find it helpful to line list the case comprehensively in a page of your profile or spreadsheet with diagnosis and each treatment, whether it be watchful waiting, each medication, and so on, plus any notes & how one condition or treatment affects another condition or treatment.

Its a really obsessive-compulsive endeavor, but it can be difficult to remember everything and a "cheat sheet" may help better manage his care.
 
Thank you for the suggestion. I think I do need to make out a chart for Gus because there are so many foods and ingredients he can't have and so many medications that he has bad reactions to.
 
Try B12 injections for inflammation. It works, and maybe that's something your vet meant by trying antioxidants.... it would be non-intrusive with all the other stuff you are giving.
 
The vet doesn't believe Vitamin B12 will be of any help because we tested his levels and they are very close to normal. Her feeling - along with the vet who owns the practice - is that the vitamin B12 will just go out in his urine because he doesn't need it. If he was low on B12 then she would have prescribed it which is why we tested his levels.
 
Sorry about your vet not believing in the B12.
I know first hand that it worked like a miracle for my own cat who had horrible frequent pancreatitis attacks. You could not even touch her sides when she was having an attack, she was in such pain.
Pancreatitis was confirmed via fPLI and u/s.
She needed fluids and bupe often, and pepcid was needed BID, but once I started giving her weekly B12 shots, her issues with the inflammation disappeared and I no longer needed to give her pepcid.

I started giving B12 shots every week to my other cat and he also improved.

B12 was the only thing changed in their regiment, so I know that it was the B12 which helped.
Another note: it also helped to bring down her BG.

http://www.felinecrf.org/vitamin_b.htm
 
Did your vet check the B12 levels before you started giving them B12 injections? Do you know if they were low to begin with?
My vet just doesn't believe in giving something to a cat if it doesn't need it which is why she checked the levels.
I gave Gus B12 last year, but it didn't seem to do much good for him.
 
Please read the following for info on B12:
http://www.felinecrf.org/vitamin_b.htm#methylcobalamin
Why Methylcobalamin is Helpful
Vitamin B12 in the form of methylcobalamin (rather than the more commonly available cyanocobalamin) is the neurologically active form of Vitamin B12, and is used by the body to correct or prevent neurological problems. A lack of Vitamin B12 may also cause cognitive dysfunction. It is also essential for red blood cell production, so too low a level of Vitamin B12 in your cat's body may cause or contribute to anaemia.

Cats with IBD or pancreatitis tend to have low levels of cobalamin so are often given methylcobalamin. It is also often recommended for cats with diabetic neuropathy. The prevalence of hypocobalaminaemia in cats with spontaneous hyperthyroidism (2011) Cook AK, Suchodolski JS, Steiner JM & Robertson JE Journal of Small Animal Practice 52(2) pp101–106 found that a sizeable percentage of cats with hyperthyroidism have low levels of cobalamin.

Plasma homocysteine, B vitamins, and amino acid concentrations in cats with cardiomyopathy and arterial thromboembolism (2000) McMichael MA, Freeman LM, Selhub J, Rozanski EA, Brown DJ, Nadeau MR, Rush JE Journal of Veterinary Internal Medicine 14(5) pp507-12 found that cats with heart disease who have thromboembolism (thrown a clot or saddle thrombus) have significantly lower levels of vitamin B6, vitamin B12 and arginine, an amino acid. The study concludes "We interpret the results of this study to suggest that vitamin B12 and arginine may play a role in CM and ATE of cats." If your cat has heart disease, therefore, you may wish to discuss using methylcobalamin with your vet.

Vitamin B12 may be a particular concern for older cats. Vitamin B12 deficiency (2003) OH RC & Brown DL American Family Physician 67(5) pp979-86 mentions that one study found that 15% of people over the age of 65 had a Vitamin B12 deficiency. Addressing age-related changes in feline digestion (2010) Patil AR & Cupp CJ Nestlé Purina Companion Animal Nutrition Summit 2010 Focus on Gerontology states "if Vitamins E & B12 are at low levels, then processing of fat and protein are likely compromised in older cats."

Methylcobalamin has been found by members of Tanya's CRF Support Group to be very helpful for various CKD-related problems, including anaemia, incontinence, appetite loss and constipation. If you are using famotidine (Pepcid AC), it may reduce the absorption of vitamin B12 from food, so it might be worth supplementing it.

Oregon State University has some information about Vitamin B12.
Chronic renal failure promotes severe variant of Vitamin B12 deficiency (2006) Duning T, Nabavi DG, Dziewas R, Kugel H & Schäbitz W-R European Neurology 56 pp62–65 reports on the case of a human CKD patient with Vitamin B12 deficiency and concludes that CKD patients "may require earlier and much larger therapeutic cobalamin doses than previously considered."
PDR Health has some information about methylcobalamin in humans.
Net Doctor has some information about Vitamin B12 deficiency in humans.



I had a cat with horrible pancreatitis issues, and when I gave her B12 shots weekly, the pancreatitis issues disappeared. As for her levels, I don't think it much matters because she had a problem that is mentioned in your signature, pancreatitis, I gave her weekly shots of 25units of B12, and the problem went away.
B12 worked for my cat.
 
I realize Vitamin B12 is important for cats who are low in it. Many cats with IBD and pancreatitis have malabsorption of vitamin B which is why my vet checked his levels. She will give it to me if I insist on it, but she doesn't see the point of giving him something he isn't low on. If you didn't have tests done on your cat then you don't know if it was low to begin with - which it probably was if there was improvement from giving the shots.
I will talk to her again about it but she has explained that excess Vitamin B12 is excreted in the urine. If he is levels are good then he isn't going to use it, but I will ask again.
 
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