Kobe not eating well. BG is 79

Kobe (Dean and Lesley)

Kobe (Dean and Lesley)

Member Since 2025
Since we brought Carmelo home, Kobe has not been eating like normal. He mostly stays in one room in a loaf position. He has been eating half pate and half kibbles for a year and a half. Always very kibble motivated. Right now, It's all we can do to get him to eat the kibbles. Tested BG yesterday and he was 79. Last night Dean and I decided to give Kobe Cerenia, Ondansetron, and some Gabapentin. I was hoping to see him acting like the meds helped, but I can't tell that they did.

I am really struggling to have them both not well like this. I am losing it.
 
I use powdered whole egg sometimes. Maybe syringe in that or another food for the moment? Maybe Kobe will eat a little more once he has some food on board that way.
Major struggles, and with two cats! Sending big hugs!
 
I’m so sorry you’ve had so much going on 😢
Do you think he could have pancreatitis? The symptoms seem like it’s possible with the loaf position, not eating and isolating (in pain?)

It’s good you’ve given him the right meds, and Ondansetron can be given every 8 hours.
Do you think he should be seen by the vet to assess what’s going on.

He may need some fluids and buprenorphine if it’s pancreatitis. (I hope not) 🙏

Sending healing vines to all of you 🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀🍀
 
I was taught in the Forum by a very wise member, When Corky was first diagnosed I was at the point of a nervous breakdown, even my neighbors saw it, and then this member said to me "Take a step back, breath in, breath out, cats are very sensitive to stress, you stress, they stress" and I would do anything to make things right, but I began to repeat this phrase, in my mind, and I began to concentrate better, and things got better, because I WAS literarily losing it , emotionally and physically; Hoping that you, Carmelo and Kobe get better soon, you need to be ok, they both need you:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:🫶
 
Thanks everybody! Kobe ate about 5 grams of his kibbles last night, not nearly enough, but not nothing. (he is on half pate and half kibbles for 1.5 years now) I made an appointment to take him to the vet. We are going in about 3 hours.

I have given him ondansetron, cerenia, followed by mirataz. last night he had a gabapentin when he got the ondansetron. last night he was pretty wobbly, so he just slept after figuring out he didn't have good balance. This morning he is moving around more. He came to the kitchen door like he does when it's time to eat. He didn't touch the pate we put out for him, but he ate a gram of kibbles at once- I have been having to give them to him one at a time.

We are definitely getting fluids. I have been syringing a few mLs of water whenever he gets a pill, but it's hard to tell how much he's actually swallowing.

I will give updates when I have them! Thanks for the support and healing vines!
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Good luck with the ultrasound. :bighug:. I hope it provides answers.
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We have some answers. Looks like a lot of inflamation along the entire digestive tract. enlarged abdominal lyphnodes (could be benign or cancer). Kidneys are a little small but are giving values in the normal range. Creatinine is on the high end, but that could be from lack of fluids. Extremely low white blood cells.

He is going to stay at the hospital and get IV fluids, antibiotics, anti nausea meds, steroid, appetite stimulant.

They think it's either IBD or the SCL. Just like Carmelo. What are the odds? I am attaching the results of his tests.

Going to the hospital was the right choice. Our vet is willing to work with us and helpful, but they aren't set up for an overnight like this.

Thanks again for all the healing vines. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
Did the vet say anything about a biopsy? Either fine needle aspirate of the lymph nodes (since enlarged) or endoscopy or surgical? Sounds like you have choices. Although I'm worried about the steroid, as that could invalidate any of the diagnosis options as the steroid can mask the disease.

Kobe (Dean and Lesley) said:
What are the odds?
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I had two kitties (unrelated) when Neko was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma. My other kitty had been diagnosed the year before and was in remission at the time. When Neko passed I got the civvie a buddy, who a year later was diagnosed with IBD and SCL. :arghh: By that time, I knew the drill. SCL is very common, and thankfully very slow growing. Both my civvies with SCL passed from other totally unrelated cancers. The latest 8 years after her SCL diagnosis.

Treating the GI condition can improve the kidney numbers.

I hope Kobe can come home soon.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Did the vet say anything about a biopsy? Either fine needle aspirate of the lymph nodes (since enlarged) or endoscopy or surgical?
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because the inflamation was along the entire tract, the Vet didn't say that the endoscopy was impossible, but I could feel that she was preparing my expectations for the more invasive surgical procedure for biopsy. She mentioned the fine needle aspirate could be done at the same time as the other procedure.
Wendy&Neko said:
I had two kitties (unrelated) when Neko was diagnosed with small cell lymphoma. My other kitty had been diagnosed the year before and was in remission at the time. When Neko passed I got the civvie a buddy, who a year later was diagnosed with IBD and SCL. :arghh: By that time, I knew the drill. SCL is very common, and thankfully very slow growing. Both my civvies with SCL passed from other totally unrelated cancers. The latest 8 years after her SCL diagnosis.
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Thank you for sharing what you have learned caring for your kitties with us. :bighug::bighug::bighug:
Wendy&Neko said:
I hope Kobe can come home soon.
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Hopefully around dinner time. sounds like he started to eat overnight. fingers crossed!!!
 
I'm glad she recommended the GI blood panel. Many of kitties with IBD or SCL are low in B12, though not mine.

I've seen much worse numbers for bowel thickness/inflammation. The surgical biopsy is the most effective way to sample all layers. You won't need the FNA if she does that.

Hope he's home soon. Make sure you have a good supply of the supportive meds on hand.
 
Kobe came home last night and He's got mushy poo. Not liquid, thank God. But he's "scooting" which is a lot less fun than it sounds.

BG an hour ago was 245. I'm trying not to panic. He's only eating PowerCat right now, with no pate to keep that number down. We're going to switch him over to the YA that Carmelo is eating. But obviously it can't happen all at once.

Will you guys be able to tell us if and when to start him back on Lantus?

Some good news is that he is eating!

He's got his prednisolone split between a morning and evening dose.
He's on a couple antibiotics because of low white blood cell counts (they told me tgat the counts were coming back up.) I'm struggling with the veraflox; it's a liquid. Today's dose ended up on the towel.

the doctor who was releasing him didn't want to send him home with antinausea meds. But we got some. It was a whole thing.
 
I suspect the prednisolone (how much?) is what is messing with his BG. How long is he supposed to be on it? Neko went on budesonide, an alternate steroid, and it didn't impact her BG. Budesonide is more locally acting on the GI system.

I've given Veraflox pills, quite small and easy to give.

Yeah for eating! Though it sounds like the s. boulardii needs to be shared around.

Let's see what Kobe does for a day or two. Could still be some residual vet stress that should go away very soon now that he's home. His numbers should tell you if his pancreas is still reporting for duty.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I've given Veraflox pills, quite small and easy to give.
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Yeah. They have them in Europe too. I think we just have liquid. :rolleyes:

I started him on the S. Boulardii. I think it's helping. He's better off than Carmelo was after 24 hours.

His prednisolone schedule is 2.5 mg twice a day for 5 days. Then 2.5 mg once a day for 5 more days. Then 2.5 mg every other day for 5 days.

We already ordered the Budesonide for Carmelo, it took a few days to get compounded. I'll work on getting some for Kobe. Carmelo is doing okay on the prednisolone, I think his BG was 116 when I checked the other day.
 
We have updates!
  • His appetite is good. Very good. 🥳 We are transitioning to Young Again Mature Zero LID which is Hydrolyzed and Low Carb.
  • He is drinking water. We are seeing urine in his box. 🥳
  • He came home with runny milkshake diarrhea which has been firming up. 🥳 Stools now range from thick milkshake to smearable. While not yet firm, this is a vast improvement. he has been getting Forte and S. Boulardii sprinkled on his food and pinch of Psyllium Husk in his capsules in the empty space around his other meds.
  • We have had no vomiting. 🥳
  • Blood Glucose has been moderately high. 😞 I measured his BG at 245 on THU, 275 on FRI, and 268 Today. These values are coming from varied times of day which leads me to suspect that his BG is floating in the mid to upper 200's for much of the day. If you need a curve to confirm this, I will do it.
  • Ketones are trace only: 0.2 and 0.3 on his Centri Vet 🥳
We were hoping his BG would be lower today. I tested first thing this morning before I stressed him out with taking all his other pills and syringing his antibiotic. I was hoping that the stress of getting the meds was driving up the BG, but it was pretty similar today to what we got yesterday (after meds). Not sure whether the transtion to Young Again and decreasing the Prednisolone will be sufficient to bring the BG back down.
 
So... the good news is that Kobe's BG isn't skyrocketing. The bad news is that it's not going down yet from what I can tell. I got him at 274 this AM. I can get another value in a bit. I'm just giving him a little break after the liquid antibiotic.

Appetite good. No diarrhea messes on floors from scooting this AM 🥳. Pills are getting easier!
 
We have unopened Lantus pens in fridge. Good til February of 2027. I am feeling pretty ready to intervene with Lantus. My only concern on that front would be that on Tuesday we reduce his Prednisolone. That might not play into the decision. Insulin is probably the way to go. I emailed his doctor yesterday to ask if we should start insulin and when. It would make me feel better to have the doctor say it's time, but if they won't answer... I'm pretty frustrated with the doctors. Grateful for their help, but the after support has been nonexistent. :rolleyes:
 
I finally called up there and the doctor said we could intervene with Lantus. As far a dosing recommendations go, all I could get was, "do what the box says." :rolleyes: In case you are curious, box says 1.75 Units because that was his dose when we got the box. That seems very high to me for where we are today. I would like to shoot in 3 to 4 hours from now. Where do we start?

Thank you for everything!!! :bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
To get more eyes on this, you might want to post in the Lantus forum. Kobe was seeing higher numbers first time he started insulin. You might also want to think about what you will do for a dosing methodology.
 
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