Ellen & Redd
Member
Hi! My name is Ellen and my 15 y.o. cat is Redd. He was diagnosed with fd in April and is still unregulated. He has many other health issues that complicate things and I am starting to lose hope that we will ever get him regulated.
History - He has had IBD for 7 years but has been stable without regular meds for several years. He is on grain free wet food and takes a short course of flagyl when he has very rare flare ups. Last December he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and takes amlodopine 1/4 tab once daily. At the same time he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and takes atenolol 1/4 tab twice daily. In April, he had a major episode that was diagnosed as pancreatitis by ultrasound and diabetes by blood test. The pancreatitis cleared with fluids and pain meds after a week, but I should add that the ultrasound tech person said his pancreas was the most inflamed she had ever seen and that frequent flare ups are to be expected. We switched to a high protein, low carb grain free wet food (Wellness Core chicken) to address the FD and began insulin.
BG & Insulin - At the start his BG was hovering in the high 300's sometimes over 400 with stress or food spikes. We started at 1 unit of Lantus twice daily testing every 10-14 days with at-home curves. We hovered in the 300's for two months while increasing .5 units after each test curve. At 2.5 units, his curve finally dipped down to mid-high 200's and we increased to 3 units. The following week he had a pancreatitis flare up that sent his BG skyrocketing for a week, and that was followed by an IBD flare up the next week. Cue the buprenex, cerenia, and flagyl. Once that all cleared, his BG curve was back in the mid 300's so his vet upped the insulin to 3.5. I just did his 14 day curve today and it's actually worse with preshot numbers around 400 and peak number around 350. I'm going to repeat the curve tomorrow in case I goofed it up somehow.
What is going on? I'm getting frustrated and impatient and fighting hopelessness. The only things that changed this week were two suggestions from my vet to try to prevent future ibd flare ups - cerenia 1/4 tab twice a week and omega 3 fish oil once daily. Could these have raised his BG? I already know that the atenolol can make regulation tricky but my vet said that it would be worse for him to go without it. How high can we go with the insulin? Does anyone have hopeful stories about their own multi-issue cat.
Thanks! -Ellen
History - He has had IBD for 7 years but has been stable without regular meds for several years. He is on grain free wet food and takes a short course of flagyl when he has very rare flare ups. Last December he was diagnosed with high blood pressure and takes amlodopine 1/4 tab once daily. At the same time he was diagnosed with cardiomyopathy and takes atenolol 1/4 tab twice daily. In April, he had a major episode that was diagnosed as pancreatitis by ultrasound and diabetes by blood test. The pancreatitis cleared with fluids and pain meds after a week, but I should add that the ultrasound tech person said his pancreas was the most inflamed she had ever seen and that frequent flare ups are to be expected. We switched to a high protein, low carb grain free wet food (Wellness Core chicken) to address the FD and began insulin.
BG & Insulin - At the start his BG was hovering in the high 300's sometimes over 400 with stress or food spikes. We started at 1 unit of Lantus twice daily testing every 10-14 days with at-home curves. We hovered in the 300's for two months while increasing .5 units after each test curve. At 2.5 units, his curve finally dipped down to mid-high 200's and we increased to 3 units. The following week he had a pancreatitis flare up that sent his BG skyrocketing for a week, and that was followed by an IBD flare up the next week. Cue the buprenex, cerenia, and flagyl. Once that all cleared, his BG curve was back in the mid 300's so his vet upped the insulin to 3.5. I just did his 14 day curve today and it's actually worse with preshot numbers around 400 and peak number around 350. I'm going to repeat the curve tomorrow in case I goofed it up somehow.
What is going on? I'm getting frustrated and impatient and fighting hopelessness. The only things that changed this week were two suggestions from my vet to try to prevent future ibd flare ups - cerenia 1/4 tab twice a week and omega 3 fish oil once daily. Could these have raised his BG? I already know that the atenolol can make regulation tricky but my vet said that it would be worse for him to go without it. How high can we go with the insulin? Does anyone have hopeful stories about their own multi-issue cat.
Thanks! -Ellen
