Hello everyone,
First-time poster and very worried owner of a poorly cat here.. Looking for any advice you guys might be able to give, please!
Bit of background -
Our cat Edwin was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about a year ago, aged 6 and a half. He had lost a lot of weight very rapidly, despite eating constantly (we have one other cat and tended to feed both of them sort of as-and-when, as opposed to at set times), and was peeing all over the place and drinking huge amounts of water. Took him to the vet who diagnosed him and we started him on insulin immediately, as well as starting to feed him once in the morning and once in the evening. Since then it's been a massive struggle to get his condition regulated, we were increasing his insulin (Prozinc) dose gradually but he still continued to lose weight even though he was ravenous all the time and eating absolutely everything (to the point of trying to climb into the compost bin to get to leftover food!). Then a few months ago he had a diabetic crisis and had to spend 3 days and nights at the emergency vets because his blood sugar went haywire and he was severely dehydrated. They actually decreased his insulin dose from 3.5 (mg? not sure of the correct unit of measurement) twice daily to 2.5 twice daily. He's been a little better in the past couple of months and I bought a home blood glucose test kit so if he's been seeming a bit off, the vet advised that I should test his blood sugar and find out if it's low, and then give him sugar water to help combat this. We've been administering his insulin half an hour after his breakfast and dinner and in recent weeks he has seemed better and even appears to have gained a bit of weight, and hasn't been so hungry all the time.
However, yesterday afternoon he was off his food - which is unheard of for him! - and very lethargic, wouldn't drink even when I tried to syringe some water into his mouth, and breathing very abnormally. His tummy was making funny gurgling sounds so I think maybe he'd found something outside and eaten it and it disagreed with him. This morning he was the same, so mum took him to the vet as we were really concerned. The vet has said that he has severe ketoacidosis and life-threateningly low potassium, alongside a very low heart rate. They've put him on a drip for fluid therapy and to try and improve his potassium levels, but have told us that we should prepare for the worst as things are not looking good. Unfortunately due to having so many medical complications since he was diagnosed, we have now reached the maximum limit that our pet insurance will cover, and if he has to be transferred to the emergency vet to stay the night, we will probably have to take out a loan to cover the costs. So my poor mum is in an awful situation where she has to decide if it's 'worth it' to go into debt, if he responds well to the treatment today then that will be a good sign that continuing with the treatment overnight will help him, otherwise I don't know what we'll do..
I'm absolutely heartbroken and I feel guilty that we have let him down, we probably should have done a hundred things differently. So I guess my question is, if he does get better from this, what can/should we do to prevent this happening again? How can we help him to get and stay healthy? Do you guys have any advice or words of wisdom about how to manage his diabetes better? I'm just hoping and praying that we get a chance to try.
Thanks everyone, sorry about this long and rambling post, and gold star to anybody who managed to read all of it!
Best wishes,
Laura
First-time poster and very worried owner of a poorly cat here.. Looking for any advice you guys might be able to give, please!
Bit of background -
Our cat Edwin was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes about a year ago, aged 6 and a half. He had lost a lot of weight very rapidly, despite eating constantly (we have one other cat and tended to feed both of them sort of as-and-when, as opposed to at set times), and was peeing all over the place and drinking huge amounts of water. Took him to the vet who diagnosed him and we started him on insulin immediately, as well as starting to feed him once in the morning and once in the evening. Since then it's been a massive struggle to get his condition regulated, we were increasing his insulin (Prozinc) dose gradually but he still continued to lose weight even though he was ravenous all the time and eating absolutely everything (to the point of trying to climb into the compost bin to get to leftover food!). Then a few months ago he had a diabetic crisis and had to spend 3 days and nights at the emergency vets because his blood sugar went haywire and he was severely dehydrated. They actually decreased his insulin dose from 3.5 (mg? not sure of the correct unit of measurement) twice daily to 2.5 twice daily. He's been a little better in the past couple of months and I bought a home blood glucose test kit so if he's been seeming a bit off, the vet advised that I should test his blood sugar and find out if it's low, and then give him sugar water to help combat this. We've been administering his insulin half an hour after his breakfast and dinner and in recent weeks he has seemed better and even appears to have gained a bit of weight, and hasn't been so hungry all the time.
However, yesterday afternoon he was off his food - which is unheard of for him! - and very lethargic, wouldn't drink even when I tried to syringe some water into his mouth, and breathing very abnormally. His tummy was making funny gurgling sounds so I think maybe he'd found something outside and eaten it and it disagreed with him. This morning he was the same, so mum took him to the vet as we were really concerned. The vet has said that he has severe ketoacidosis and life-threateningly low potassium, alongside a very low heart rate. They've put him on a drip for fluid therapy and to try and improve his potassium levels, but have told us that we should prepare for the worst as things are not looking good. Unfortunately due to having so many medical complications since he was diagnosed, we have now reached the maximum limit that our pet insurance will cover, and if he has to be transferred to the emergency vet to stay the night, we will probably have to take out a loan to cover the costs. So my poor mum is in an awful situation where she has to decide if it's 'worth it' to go into debt, if he responds well to the treatment today then that will be a good sign that continuing with the treatment overnight will help him, otherwise I don't know what we'll do..
I'm absolutely heartbroken and I feel guilty that we have let him down, we probably should have done a hundred things differently. So I guess my question is, if he does get better from this, what can/should we do to prevent this happening again? How can we help him to get and stay healthy? Do you guys have any advice or words of wisdom about how to manage his diabetes better? I'm just hoping and praying that we get a chance to try.
Thanks everyone, sorry about this long and rambling post, and gold star to anybody who managed to read all of it!
Best wishes,
Laura
My guy had a bout of diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) a year and a half ago. He spent 3 days in the ER ICU at my 24 hour cat hospital. It's best treated in hospital if you can possibly manage it. Some owners on FDMB have undertaken it at home but it's extremely stressful and time-consuming.
So monitoring his numbers will be helpful and we'll give you some tips for testing for ketones since it sounds like he is prone to developing them. 
. Please keep us posted on how he is doing. We're hoping you get the chance to try as well 