Kelly and Vesper
Member
Trigger warning: asking about euthanasia
I am new to the group and have a 13 year old cat, Vesper, who is my absolute soulmate in life. Unfortunately, I could use some advice on a very emotional subject.
Vesper’s first episode of DKA happened in 2022. It was very bad and resulted in fatty liver disease and she was on an esophageal feeding tube at home for 4 weeks. It was very difficult, but we got her through it, and she was diagnosed with diabetes and put on Novolin.
We thought we achieved stability but didn’t know about this group or home testing. The vet thought she was going into remission and we lowered her dose from 3 units to 1 unit last fall. In the past 2 months, she has lost a significant amount of weight.
She vomited and stopped eating last Wednesday so we rushed her to the hospital, and they admitted her and she was diagnosed with her second DKA episode. She was hospitalized for 3 days and rebounded faster than they thought. She was out of her acidotic state and discharged on Saturday and placed on Lantus. They noted that she had some evidence of chronic pancreatitis and think that may have caused the DKA.
Within 24 hours of being home, she urinated outside of her box 4x, which was highly unusual. She acted very hungry but didn’t eat a ton and still seemed a bit off (was hiding, not snuggling). We brought her back to the ER last night and they found ketones in her blood (level 15) and admitted her.
This morning, we were told she is acidotic again. Her ketones are 40, and she is not showing much interest in food. They are estimating another week in the hospital.
I always said I would never let finances get in the way of treating Vesper, and enrolled in pet insurance when she was 8 weeks old to prevent exactly that. But pet insurance has maxed out for these conditions at $3k, and we are currently up to $17k, not including any upcoming hospitalization, which is estimated to be another $15k.
I’m at a total loss at this point about what to do. Another 7 days in the hospital will be at least $15k more. They said she’s not currently in pain and could potentially recover but also that she could have DKA again and don’t know if she will be able to get her diabetes under control. They do not think home treatment is possible due to her current electrolyte disturbances.
They are holding off on further diagnostic tests at this point to focus on keeping costs down and treat her DKA.
I never thought I’d be in this situation, and was so encouraged to join this group and learn about home testing and Lantus. So now I’m hoping for this group’s wisdom about what we should do moving forward. Are there viable paths that we aren’t thinking about? Are there other questions we should be asking? We have reached the point where we are thinking about euthanasia but the thought makes me sick knowing that she could recover from this. But we also don't have $30k and hate to put her through more treatment if this is going to be futile.
I don’t know what I’m looking for—just a sounding board and to make sure we’re not missing anything? Thank you for reading. My heart is shattered.
I am new to the group and have a 13 year old cat, Vesper, who is my absolute soulmate in life. Unfortunately, I could use some advice on a very emotional subject.
Vesper’s first episode of DKA happened in 2022. It was very bad and resulted in fatty liver disease and she was on an esophageal feeding tube at home for 4 weeks. It was very difficult, but we got her through it, and she was diagnosed with diabetes and put on Novolin.
We thought we achieved stability but didn’t know about this group or home testing. The vet thought she was going into remission and we lowered her dose from 3 units to 1 unit last fall. In the past 2 months, she has lost a significant amount of weight.
She vomited and stopped eating last Wednesday so we rushed her to the hospital, and they admitted her and she was diagnosed with her second DKA episode. She was hospitalized for 3 days and rebounded faster than they thought. She was out of her acidotic state and discharged on Saturday and placed on Lantus. They noted that she had some evidence of chronic pancreatitis and think that may have caused the DKA.
Within 24 hours of being home, she urinated outside of her box 4x, which was highly unusual. She acted very hungry but didn’t eat a ton and still seemed a bit off (was hiding, not snuggling). We brought her back to the ER last night and they found ketones in her blood (level 15) and admitted her.
This morning, we were told she is acidotic again. Her ketones are 40, and she is not showing much interest in food. They are estimating another week in the hospital.
I always said I would never let finances get in the way of treating Vesper, and enrolled in pet insurance when she was 8 weeks old to prevent exactly that. But pet insurance has maxed out for these conditions at $3k, and we are currently up to $17k, not including any upcoming hospitalization, which is estimated to be another $15k.
I’m at a total loss at this point about what to do. Another 7 days in the hospital will be at least $15k more. They said she’s not currently in pain and could potentially recover but also that she could have DKA again and don’t know if she will be able to get her diabetes under control. They do not think home treatment is possible due to her current electrolyte disturbances.
They are holding off on further diagnostic tests at this point to focus on keeping costs down and treat her DKA.
I never thought I’d be in this situation, and was so encouraged to join this group and learn about home testing and Lantus. So now I’m hoping for this group’s wisdom about what we should do moving forward. Are there viable paths that we aren’t thinking about? Are there other questions we should be asking? We have reached the point where we are thinking about euthanasia but the thought makes me sick knowing that she could recover from this. But we also don't have $30k and hate to put her through more treatment if this is going to be futile.
I don’t know what I’m looking for—just a sounding board and to make sure we’re not missing anything? Thank you for reading. My heart is shattered.