My cat Nico was just diagnosed last week

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rob&nico

rob&nico

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Rob and Nico:
(I added the response I have already gotten from another member, Patti and Merlin)

My cat was just diagnosed last week and spent the week at the Vets getting his insulin adjusted, I brought him home yesterday and he is getting 3 units every 12 hours, the problem is I can't get him to eat anything. What can I do to get him to eat?

Patti and Merlin:
I've been thru this with several kitties including my Boris right now. I'm afraid I need to read up on your kitty but just for some starters..
Have you tried baby food, lunch meat, tuna fish in water, even dry food right now - what's most important is to get your cat to eat anything. Some have had success with Kentucky fried chicken. Is he drinking??? How is he acting? What does the skin do on the back of his neck when you pinch it? Does it stand up and stick together - then he is very "dry" and needs fluids. Or does it go back to normal quite briskly. If he hasn't eaten in more than a day and is not drinking - it would be wise to see a vet. Especially if he is lethargic. Sometimes fluids and an appetite stimulant are necessary. It also helps to know where his BG's are. Have you been testing for ketones in the urine? I'm not sure if you have posted on health bit I will check!

Rob and Nico:
I have tried all the foods you mentioned except the baby food and KFC. He isn't drinking water and has been sleeping all day. I held off on his injection this evening and plan on the vet first thing in the morning. I called the vet hospital to see if they could just test his blood and the wanted to charge me $125.00 just to walk through the door plus testing, IV for fluids and I'm sure keep him over night, so I'm sure we're looking at $400.00 or more because it is emergency care. He just spent the week at the vets and the bill hit $979.00. I'm a disabled vet I don't have money like that so I have to wait the night to see my vet, I pray my little man will be OK, he's my baby and I love him so much

Patti and Merlin:
Do you do your own home blood testing??? I see you've never posted before on the feline health board? I'm glad you found the moderators but also please post on the main feline health forum of this board as more people will answer more quickly to help you too. Please let us know how things go. We'd love to help you more

Rob and Nico:
No I don't have the testing available at home yet; Nico was just diagnosed this past Monday so all of this is new to me. This sight is a bit confusing to me about posting thank god I found you, I have been so lost.
All I know is that 2 months ago he had a lesion on his upper lip and I took him to my vet and he told me it was a Rodent Ulcer and treated him with an injection of steroids and antibiotic. He started guzzling water and I called the vet and he told me it was normal with steroids and should slow down after a month but it didn't. I took him in 2 weeks later because it didn't slow down, he had lost 2 lbs. and the vet told me he was OK and scheduled me to bring him back in 2 weeks, but then he stopped drinking as much and he slowed way down on eating and he was getting really skinny so I took him in early which was last Monday and he had lost another lb. and the vet drew blood and tested it and it was 343, he did all the other testing for kidneys, liver and all was fine. He started him on 1 unit, then up to 2 units and by the time I brought him home Saturday he was at 3 units.

Rob and Nico: 10/3/11 8pm eastern

I took Nico back to the vet and he restarted his insulin at 2 units. He also gave him an apatite stimulant but as of 5:45 it wasn’t really working, he is going to give him more stimulant. The vet is going to test him for Feline Leukemia and Feline Aids to see if that is what is going on. He was fine until the Rodent Ulcer appeared on his upper lip and he was given Steroids. I am not going to give up on my little man. Please keep us in your thoughts and prayers.
 
I am glad you are here too. That vet bill is crazy but not surprising.
First, you can't regulate a cat in a week and especially at a vet office. Stress alone will give the vet false readings.

I know others will have some questions but here are mine.

1. Where are you located? There may be some other members who are close by and can help you get started, show you how to home test, etc.
2. What insulin are you giving and what syringes are you using? Some insulins from the vet use u40 syringes and other insulins use u100 syringes.
3. What were you feeding before, how much and how often? What was the vet feeding Nico while at the vet office?
4. Does your vet know that Nico is not eating, and if yes, what was suggested? If you do not have any, see about getting a feeding syringe as you really need to get some food into Nico. Your vet should have some or even your local pharmacy.

If you can get a regular blood glucose meter, test strips and lancets, you can be helped to testing Nico's BG numbers.
The dose of 3u is fairly high, no matter what insulin and many cats don't ever need that much insulin, so you need to see if that dose is causing Nico to be too low.

And don't you worry now about having to go the expensive way with the vet because most care can be done by YOU at home for a fraction of the cost the vet charges.

If you are in the US, the Relion meter is very good and the test strips are most economical. If in Canada, most meters will do, but I prefer Bayer Contour and OneTouch.
 
Hi Rob and Welcome,
So very glad you found the site.
I know that steroids can cause high blood sugar so I am sure the shot did not help

Rico needs to be on a low carb diet.
What insulin are you giving him?
I hope you are close to someone on the board that can help you get started.
home testing is so important.
I know with my cat shakespeare, his blood sugars will go up close to 200 points just from
going to the vet.(he is not at all sociable!)
so the best way to regulate is to go slow, we ususally recommend starting at one unit
and hold the dose for 3 to 4 days to see how he will respond.
by doing this yourself it will save you a bundle on vet care.
PLease ask all the questions you want, we are here to help
Take a deep breath as you are not alone.

Denise and Shakes
 
He is getting ProZinc insulin.

1. Where are you located? There may be some other members who are close by and can help you get started, show you how to home test, etc.
Ans: New Haven, ct.

2. What insulin are you giving and what syringes are you using? Some insulins from the vet use u40 syringes and other insulins use u100 syringes.
Ans: ProZinc, U-40

3. What were you feeding before, how much and how often? What was the vet feeding Nico while at the vet office?
Ans: Purina dry indor/hairball, self feeder. he had had a great apatite. The vet was giving him various dry and wet foods, he was eating well when I brought him home.

4. Does your vet know that Nico is not eating, and if yes, what was suggested? If you do not have any, see about getting a feeding syringe as you really need to get some food into Nico. Your vet should have some or even your local pharmacy.
Ans: Try different types of food dry, wet.
 
Hi, thank you Hope for sending me the message.

I'm in Milford, easy access to I-95. I can bring you a meter and test strips and teach you how to hometest in person. I have some Forti Flora, that sometimes helps kitties get interested in food. If you have any of your cats old food, try that. Anything is better than nothing.

You may have a steroid induced diabetic and the dose of insulin could be high. I'm a little tired right now so I'll let others give you advice, but if you'd like to hometest, I'd be happy to come by and set you up with everything you need, I am free evenings, I work during the day, so it would have to be after 6pm if you want to meet this week, otherwise I'm free the weekend.
 
welcome to the board. i was just checking in for the evening and when i saw new haven i thought of Jennifer first too. you're lucky to have her so close as to help you :-)
 
Hi Jennifer,
I live on my boat at a Marina in New Haven. How do I give you my contact info?

Thank you so much Cindy and Hope for directing Jennifer to me.
 
Rob,
If you click on the picture of Jennifer's kitty, it will connect you to her information. You'll see a button or a link to "send a private message". Click on that and it'll open the PM window. Just like sending an email more or less. She'll respond to your PM.

If you look up at the top of the page on the left hand side on any forum you are reading, you'll see a link that says "user control panel", and next to that in parenthesis it says (O new messages)? When Jennifer replies, it'll say (1 new message), just click on it and it'll take you to your PM inbox and you can read and reply from there.

Carl
 
Hi Rob,
Just an fyi, there is a Prozinc insulin support group if you would like to post there also
there are a lot of great people there who can also help
Great news that someone is close by so they can stop by to help
Please keep us posted on your and Nico's progress

Denise and Shakes
 
Can you please remove the 911 icon from your post? That icon is used for emergencies, like if a cat is having very low blood glucose levels and serious symptoms. Look at the bottom of your post for an Edit button. Click on that and then remove the 911 icon.
 
Hi Rob & Nico!

Like you my kitty Ozzie was recently diagnosed.

I live in Hamden, so if you ever need help with anything let me know:)

Which vet are you seeing?

-Vivian and Ozzie
 
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