Josie 02/28

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Holly and Josie

Holly and Josie

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First of all, it's Josie's 11th birthday today! Happy Birthday, sweet princess!

Josie had very good numbers last night and this morning. She stayed in the blues for most of the afternoon and evening yesterday.

As I mentioned yesterday, recently she has been having really good numbers in the afternoons and then sometime before her AMPS (midnight) she shoots into the reds. I was trying to figure out the cause of this and one theory I had was that her antibiotic (Albon Liquid) could be causing this. I had been giving this to her at about 9:30pm and it seemed that some time after this, her numbers would go very, very high.

As a test, I decided to not give her the antibiotic at the usual time. So I waited on that and then tested her before her AMPS. Her reading? 214. This is the first good AMPS number she has had in a long time. I fed her and retested again about an hour later and she was at 274. I was feeling more and more like the antibiotic was the cause of the high numbers and decided to wait to give it to her again.

Her numbers remained good in the morning, with a +5 of 139. At +8 she was at 229. I decided to go ahead and give her the antibiotic, to make sure her low numbers last night were't a fluke. My husband tested her before her PMPS and her reading? 469. She has NEVER had this high of a reading for a PMPS.

So I am convinced that these strangely high numbers (when her numbers were low all day) were a result of the antibiotic. I called the vet to see what to do. She has 2 more doses to go and I don't think it's worth giving it to her. I don't want her UTI to come back worse, but these high numbers are scaring me. I feel like continuing to give these meds are more of a risk.

The vets office closed a half an hour ago, so I'm guessing I'm not getting a call back. Frustrating. But my plan is for now is to just stop the antibiotic, see how her numbers are over the next day or two and take her into the vet for another urine test on Thursday.
 
I would be more concerned with the UTI in a diabetic cat than in the 400 preshot numbers. Infections are extremely hard on diabetics and can cause serious complications. Infections "can be" a precursor for Ketones....not always, but "can be".

I know you hate seeing the higher than normal preshots and BGs, but they really aren't as dangerous as infections. You only have two more doses of the antibiotic--- I would give it and live with the two higher cycles.

Just my thoughts....
 
Once might be a fluke, but twice?
But what is really strange is that when you google "albon and blood glucose" you get info saying it can cause lowered BG???
 
kse - wow, thanks for your thoughts. My mom (who really knows nothing about feline diabetes) was saying the same thing and I wasn't listening at all. Maybe I should reconsider. Do you really think it won't be that harmful for her to have 400+ numbers two more times?

I just feel so bad, because I know the bouncing up and down isn't making her feel that great. It's also frustrating to me because the Albon Liquid is kind of a weird medicine for the UTI (it was only prescribed because Clavamox made her sick), so I guess I sort of question whether it's working anyway.

It's good to know about diabetics and infections. Now I feel bad, because I delayed her meds last night by 12 hours. So I hope that didn't cause her infection to come back stronger. I feel like no matter what choice I make I end up feeling guilty!

I wonder if there is a particular time that I should give her the meds so that it impacts her numbers the least? All of this is such a guessing game!
 
carlinsc said:
Once might be a fluke, but twice?
But what is really strange is that when you google "albon and blood glucose" you get info saying it can cause lowered BG???
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Carl, exactly!!! It is supposed to cause hypoglycemia, not hyperglycemia! I have NO idea why this is occurring, but I'm positive that it's the meds. I was going to just stop the meds, but now kse has me wondering. I just don't know what to do! And to make matters worse, my vet won't call me back and he isn't in tomorrow. (The office is open, but it's a different vet. She's not my biggest fan because I had SO many questions at first, and I think she felt I was questioning her.)
 
This is all about puppies, as were most of the links, but can somebody make any sense out of it? It sounds like the parasites cause the hypoglycemia? And then when they take albon, the parasites go away, and so does the hypoglycemia? If that is the case, then the drug doesn't really effect the BG, it's the parasites that are screwing that up, and the drug "works" by taking away the cause of the hypos? Is that what it is saying?




3. You might want to visit your veterinarian and have a stool sample done on your puppy to rule out worms, coccidiosis and /or Giardia. These things can run a puppies system down and cause an otherwise healthy pup to not eat well or go into hypoglycemia. Sometimes, puppies that are prone to attacks of hypoglycemia can also have an undiagnosed bacterial or parasitic infection. If this is the case, then usually once they are put on antibiotics such as Albon, Amoxicillan, or Flagyl either alone or in combination and the infection is cleared up, they may never have another hypoglycemic attack.
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Hey!

I am on my phone.. So this is brief!

Look at my cat, Kitty's first spreadsheet attached in my signature-- a couple of 400 preshots will be ok!!! My Kitty is doing great and now regulated!

Also-- after thinking about It.. Albon is not an antibiotic, but is used to treat GI problems. That being said-- why give it if it is not helping the infection? Google it and be sure I am right. You need to be sure the infection is gone-- I request zenniquin for UTIs, clavamox also upsets my cat's stomach.
 
carlinsc said:
This is all about puppies, as were most of the links, but can somebody make any sense out of it? It sounds like the parasites cause the hypoglycemia? And then when they take albon, the parasites go away, and so does the hypoglycemia? If that is the case, then the drug doesn't really effect the BG, it's the parasites that are screwing that up, and the drug "works" by taking away the cause of the hypos? Is that what it is saying?




3. You might want to visit your veterinarian and have a stool sample done on your puppy to rule out worms, coccidiosis and /or Giardia. These things can run a puppies system down and cause an otherwise healthy pup to not eat well or go into hypoglycemia. Sometimes, puppies that are prone to attacks of hypoglycemia can also have an undiagnosed bacterial or parasitic infection. If this is the case, then usually once they are put on antibiotics such as Albon, Amoxicillan, or Flagyl either alone or in combination and the infection is cleared up, they may never have another hypoglycemic attack.
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It sounds like that's what it is saying. But I know I read somewhere that Albon Liquid causes "hypoglycemia, even in non-diabetics." So it sounds like its known to cause hypos. And I was very worried about that at first. But I really believe it's doing just the opposite in Josie and I can't understand why. My vet did tell me that some cats like it, because it's sweet. And it's described as (and it is) custard-like. So I don't know if it has some sort of sweetener in it? This is just all so weird.
 
kse said:
Hey!

I am on my phone.. So this is brief!

Look at my cat, Kitty's first spreadsheet attached in my signature-- a couple of 400 preshots will be ok!!! My Kitty is doing great and now regulated!

Also-- after thinking about It.. Albon is not an antibiotic, but is used to treat GI problems. That being said-- why give it if it is not helping the infection? Google it and be sure I am right. You need to be sure the infection is gone-- I request zenniquin for UTIs, clavamox also upsets my cat's stomach.
Click to expand...

Yeah, I keep calling it an antibiotic, but technically it's a sulfa drug. I really don't know if it's helping or not. She didn't really have symptoms of a UTI, just found out through a urine test. I had a thread about it on the health board and they were questioning if she really had an infection, and not just inflammation. They said the urine test alone wasn't enough to be sure. And yep, it is not normally used for UTI's or at least it's not the first choice. But I think it is used that way occasionally.
 
Yes, like Kim said (you better not be driving and texting, kim!!!!), albon is not usually used to treat an infection, but used to treat parasites/coccidia (spelled wrong for sure). But Holly, you said the clavamox messed up her stomach?

Carl
 
carlinsc said:
Yes, like Kim said (you better not be driving and texting, kim!!!!), albon is not usually used to treat an infection, but used to treat parasites/coccidia (spelled wrong for sure). But Holly, you said the clavamox messed up her stomach?

Carl
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It did, yeah. After 3 doses she had pretty bad diarrhea. So we stopped it on a Saturday morning and the vet said to come in Monday. He wanted to give her a Covenia shot, but I'd heard such bad things about this shot, that I said no to that. So he said, well, let's try Albon Liquid. He said it wasn't his first choice, but that we could try it. He said it might also upset her stomach, but it hasn't so far. Just the weird, high BG's that seem to perfectly correlate with when I give her the Albon.
 
Holly,
I haven't been in health much lately (too busy in PZI these days!) but have you posted a question there like "Effect of Albon on BG?"
There may be people who never look at PZI that have used it and seen something like this.

Carl
 
carlinsc said:
Holly,
I haven't been in health much lately (too busy in PZI these days!) but have you posted a question there like "Effect of Albon on BG?"
There may be people who never look at PZI that have used it and seen something like this.

Carl
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Kind of. Here's my thread:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/view ... 21#p697121

I guess at the time I was asking more about an alternative to the Albon. And actually at first I was concerned that it was causing low BG's. That first day, anyway. But I now think she just hadn't eaten enough that day and the insulin got ahead of the food.

Maybe I'll go post another thread and hopefully I'll get answers that might be able to help me. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
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