Luckyducky
Member
Hello! These forums have been a tremendous help to me, and I was hoping the folks on these forums might be able to give some advice or insight on my current situation. It would be greatly appreciated!
A little over a month ago I started taking care of a friendly stray cat (large, orange and long-haired) that was camping out on my doorstep. But then he ran into some health problems: one day I found that he had stopped eating the food I left out, and was spending a lot of time laying about, looking kind of sickly. On Feb. 18 I noticed his eyes looked strange (I could easily see the second eyelid, which I'd never seen on a cat before) so I decided to bring him to the vet hospital.
After some blood tests and questions about the cat's condition, the vet explained that the cat was likely diabetic, and was possibly experiencing the effects of ketoacidosis. The vet took a urine sample and found ketones in the urine, which seemed to confirm that the cat was diabetic. The urine also appeared bloody, which they said suggested an infection of some sort. I was given the grim news that the cat likely only had days to live, and that I had two options: either expensive emergency treatment (possibly in the thousands of dollars), or euthanizing the cat and putting him to sleep.
After a lot of worrying, tears and soul-searching, I finally made the decision to bring the cat to the emergency hospital, where they kept the cat for 3 days in order to stabilize its glucose levels and hopefully remove all the ketones in its urine (the cat was also dehydrated, so it was placed on an IV and given lots of phosphorus injections). The treatment seemed to be a success and the doctors said the cat made a remarkable and surprisingly fast recovery. He was in good health and spirits when I brought him home, and I was glad I had taken the path to save his life.
Unfortunately the emergency treatment cost an arm and a leg, approximately $2400. The cat was prescribed pill antibiotics (Enrofloxacin and Metronidazole), as well as 2 units of glargine insulin twice a day. Thanks to the information available on these forums, I was able to convince the doctors to prescribe the Solostar insulin pens, to help keep the insane costs as low as possible for me. I brought the cat home on Feb. 20th, learned the ropes of giving the pills and insulin, and scheduled a follow-up appointment with my vet on Feb. 28th.
On my appointment on the 28th the vet took a blood glucose reading and found that the cat's glucose was really low (in the 40's range). Till that point I had been carefully giving the insulin shots on time at the prescribed dosage, including the one immediately prior to the appointment. Given that, the vet suspected that the cat's pancreas might have been jump-started by the emergency treatment and that the cat might have returned to normal, and asked if I could leave the cat for a glucose curve to find out. Not being at all familiar with glucose curves, I decided to give the go ahead, and left the cat with the hospital for the day. I also asked the doctor if I should buy a glucometer and test strips, and though she generally didn't recommend it, she said she would make the determination after the cat's dosage had become properly regulated.
That afternoon when I went to pick up the cat, the vet explained the glucose curve results: the numbers were low at the start of the day, but eventually climbed back up to the 200 range by the end of the day without his second shot. She suspected that he was still diabetic, but that the originally prescribed insulin dosage was too high. She set the new dosage to 1 unit twice a day, and explained that I should come back in a week for another glucose curve.
I followed her instructions and a week later left the cat with the hospital again for another glucose curve (this past Wednesday, the 4th of March). When I returned that afternoon, the doctor explained that she was confused by the new results, because the cat's glucose was still reading in the low 40's range and climbing back up over the course of the day (IIRC it was rising up into the 90's range, but I don't recall specifically since none of my paperwork has the numbers written down). I showed her the syringes I had been using, which were 29 gauge and 1/2 mL cc (the kind the emergency pet hospital had given me the previous week). She suspected that this type of syringe might have been making my dosing measurements less accurate, and told me to switch to 31 gauge and 3/10 mL cc syringes instead. As for the dosage, she was concerned that the cat's glucose levels were still low despite the lower dosage, and explained that it wasn't possible for me to give the cat doses lower than 1 unit. She decided the best option would be to reduce the insulin dose to 1 unit only once a day, and mentioned that I should schedule another appointment for a glucose curve next week, on this coming Wednesday.
As of late, the cat's recovery seems to have been incredible, in that he's a lot more active and lively than he was when he was on my doorstep. He's indoors now, and is very curious and exploring all the nooks and cranny's. After my second appointment, though, the cat's demeanor has gotten kind of strange --- he had been eating only a can of Fancy Feast Classics a day, but now he seems to be really hungry at various points throughout the day (he's getting over 2 cans already, though maybe that's normal for him since the doctor said he should eat about 2 cups of dry diabetic cat food per day [I stopped feeding him the dry food because he kept throwing it up]). In the past two days he also seems to be experiencing diarrhea, since his poop has started coming out like pudding instead of clumps. He hasn't been vomiting though, nor has he been drinking inordinate amounts of water or acting lethargic (on the contrary, he's much more energetic than when he first came to my house).
And that's been my journey so far. Sorry for that long explanation, but I thought it would be better to cover as much as possible to give a better picture. These are the questions I wanted to ask:
My first question is if anyone has any thoughts, remarks or concerns about anything that I've experienced in this dramatic past two weeks thus far. Part of me is grateful that these doctors seemed to have saved this cat's life, but another part can't help but be doubtful/skeptical, mostly because of how much money I've had to spend so far. I hate coming across as doubtful about the doctor's work, but I've had the wool pulled over my eyes enough times before to know that not everyone in the world is always honest about their work.
My second question is about the blood glucose curves. They've been costing me an arm and a leg too, at about $160 for each curve. As far as I can tell, it seems like just a matter of testing the cats blood glucose levels with a glucometer every few hours throughout the day and determining a proper dosage based on the results. I know I'm a novice when it comes to feline diabetes, but I can't shake the feeling that I could be doing these expensive tests myself at home with a glucometer at a fraction of the cost I'm paying the vet. Am I having a terrible misunderstanding? My spleen drops into my gut every time the vet tells me to come back for another glucose curve, especially without a foreseeable end in sight. Come this Wednesday I'll have spent $450 on these curves, and I guess I just want to make sure that it's been money well spent.
Thank you all so much for the help and information you provide on these forums, and any help you can give for my situation (it's very much so greatly appreciated).
A little over a month ago I started taking care of a friendly stray cat (large, orange and long-haired) that was camping out on my doorstep. But then he ran into some health problems: one day I found that he had stopped eating the food I left out, and was spending a lot of time laying about, looking kind of sickly. On Feb. 18 I noticed his eyes looked strange (I could easily see the second eyelid, which I'd never seen on a cat before) so I decided to bring him to the vet hospital.
After some blood tests and questions about the cat's condition, the vet explained that the cat was likely diabetic, and was possibly experiencing the effects of ketoacidosis. The vet took a urine sample and found ketones in the urine, which seemed to confirm that the cat was diabetic. The urine also appeared bloody, which they said suggested an infection of some sort. I was given the grim news that the cat likely only had days to live, and that I had two options: either expensive emergency treatment (possibly in the thousands of dollars), or euthanizing the cat and putting him to sleep.
After a lot of worrying, tears and soul-searching, I finally made the decision to bring the cat to the emergency hospital, where they kept the cat for 3 days in order to stabilize its glucose levels and hopefully remove all the ketones in its urine (the cat was also dehydrated, so it was placed on an IV and given lots of phosphorus injections). The treatment seemed to be a success and the doctors said the cat made a remarkable and surprisingly fast recovery. He was in good health and spirits when I brought him home, and I was glad I had taken the path to save his life.
Unfortunately the emergency treatment cost an arm and a leg, approximately $2400. The cat was prescribed pill antibiotics (Enrofloxacin and Metronidazole), as well as 2 units of glargine insulin twice a day. Thanks to the information available on these forums, I was able to convince the doctors to prescribe the Solostar insulin pens, to help keep the insane costs as low as possible for me. I brought the cat home on Feb. 20th, learned the ropes of giving the pills and insulin, and scheduled a follow-up appointment with my vet on Feb. 28th.
On my appointment on the 28th the vet took a blood glucose reading and found that the cat's glucose was really low (in the 40's range). Till that point I had been carefully giving the insulin shots on time at the prescribed dosage, including the one immediately prior to the appointment. Given that, the vet suspected that the cat's pancreas might have been jump-started by the emergency treatment and that the cat might have returned to normal, and asked if I could leave the cat for a glucose curve to find out. Not being at all familiar with glucose curves, I decided to give the go ahead, and left the cat with the hospital for the day. I also asked the doctor if I should buy a glucometer and test strips, and though she generally didn't recommend it, she said she would make the determination after the cat's dosage had become properly regulated.
That afternoon when I went to pick up the cat, the vet explained the glucose curve results: the numbers were low at the start of the day, but eventually climbed back up to the 200 range by the end of the day without his second shot. She suspected that he was still diabetic, but that the originally prescribed insulin dosage was too high. She set the new dosage to 1 unit twice a day, and explained that I should come back in a week for another glucose curve.
I followed her instructions and a week later left the cat with the hospital again for another glucose curve (this past Wednesday, the 4th of March). When I returned that afternoon, the doctor explained that she was confused by the new results, because the cat's glucose was still reading in the low 40's range and climbing back up over the course of the day (IIRC it was rising up into the 90's range, but I don't recall specifically since none of my paperwork has the numbers written down). I showed her the syringes I had been using, which were 29 gauge and 1/2 mL cc (the kind the emergency pet hospital had given me the previous week). She suspected that this type of syringe might have been making my dosing measurements less accurate, and told me to switch to 31 gauge and 3/10 mL cc syringes instead. As for the dosage, she was concerned that the cat's glucose levels were still low despite the lower dosage, and explained that it wasn't possible for me to give the cat doses lower than 1 unit. She decided the best option would be to reduce the insulin dose to 1 unit only once a day, and mentioned that I should schedule another appointment for a glucose curve next week, on this coming Wednesday.
As of late, the cat's recovery seems to have been incredible, in that he's a lot more active and lively than he was when he was on my doorstep. He's indoors now, and is very curious and exploring all the nooks and cranny's. After my second appointment, though, the cat's demeanor has gotten kind of strange --- he had been eating only a can of Fancy Feast Classics a day, but now he seems to be really hungry at various points throughout the day (he's getting over 2 cans already, though maybe that's normal for him since the doctor said he should eat about 2 cups of dry diabetic cat food per day [I stopped feeding him the dry food because he kept throwing it up]). In the past two days he also seems to be experiencing diarrhea, since his poop has started coming out like pudding instead of clumps. He hasn't been vomiting though, nor has he been drinking inordinate amounts of water or acting lethargic (on the contrary, he's much more energetic than when he first came to my house).
And that's been my journey so far. Sorry for that long explanation, but I thought it would be better to cover as much as possible to give a better picture. These are the questions I wanted to ask:
My first question is if anyone has any thoughts, remarks or concerns about anything that I've experienced in this dramatic past two weeks thus far. Part of me is grateful that these doctors seemed to have saved this cat's life, but another part can't help but be doubtful/skeptical, mostly because of how much money I've had to spend so far. I hate coming across as doubtful about the doctor's work, but I've had the wool pulled over my eyes enough times before to know that not everyone in the world is always honest about their work.
My second question is about the blood glucose curves. They've been costing me an arm and a leg too, at about $160 for each curve. As far as I can tell, it seems like just a matter of testing the cats blood glucose levels with a glucometer every few hours throughout the day and determining a proper dosage based on the results. I know I'm a novice when it comes to feline diabetes, but I can't shake the feeling that I could be doing these expensive tests myself at home with a glucometer at a fraction of the cost I'm paying the vet. Am I having a terrible misunderstanding? My spleen drops into my gut every time the vet tells me to come back for another glucose curve, especially without a foreseeable end in sight. Come this Wednesday I'll have spent $450 on these curves, and I guess I just want to make sure that it's been money well spent.
Thank you all so much for the help and information you provide on these forums, and any help you can give for my situation (it's very much so greatly appreciated).
