alphadog0228
New Member
Hello,
My cat, Mickey, is a 17 yo tuxedo kitty. He weighs now approximately 9 lbs and has lost weight over the last few months. Athe vet has been treating him for a sinus/respiratory infection over multiple months. He has had 4-5 rounds of different antibiotics during this time without probiotics. He finished his last round of Veraflox a few weeks ago. This antibiotic was chosen after the vet cultured his nose and ruled out FIV or other problems. He had about 2 rounds of the Veraflox. After finishing the last one, he slowly redeveloped the sinus infection again.
After another vet visit, we discussed treating it again with another antibiotic and starting him on a probiotic which he has now been on for 7 days now. I decided to hold on the antibiotic again because it seems like he had been on so many of them, and I wanted to see if the probiotic could help restore his gut health. Since I’ve been concerned about his weight, I started weighing him again. He had been at 9 1/4 pounds the 1 week following this October vet visit. I weighed him once a week after that visit. The first week he was 9.1 but this past Sunday he was 8.7 which really concerned me. I contacted the vet again and told her about the weight change. She looked through the data and I asked her if he could be a diabetic. He’s had a lot of tests over the last few months, but they did not take a glucose reading since September 2024, so she told me to come in which we did this morning.
His ear prick test came back at 347 which I know is extremely high. His urine did not show ketones. My regular vet that sees Mickey and who I spoke with was not in today. The vet that was in the office today originally talked about oral medications, but when she remembered he has IBD, she then changed her mind and said that it really wouldn’t be appropriate and could not in good conscience prescribe it. She put in a call to my regular vet who was out of town today to ask for her opinion. My regular vet said she would not recommend the oral meds and that he should go on insulin because of his IBD.
My concern is this seemed like it was hitting him very aggressively with treatment when we only had one data point for a glucose test this morning. This test was not even one that was done with fasting. He has been extremely hungry and eating but his weight has been slowly declining since about the September. Before going in today, I fed him at 5 AM and then again at 8 AM just prior to our 9:30 AM appointment.
The vet suggested I use a libre 3 monitor which we have running today and they are sending blood for a Fructosamine test to see the levels over multiple periods. This will come back early next week. So far, the libre 3 system is reporting readings around 300. I did feed him at noon when he came home so I would think this would be expected.
I am really opposed to starting insulin when there are these oral medications that could be considered. It seems like insulin is a very big step and once in the started, it is for life. Also, with his biome so disturbed after the multiple rounds of antibiotics, it seems very drastic since the biome being off would seem like it would throw off everything in his system.
Has anyone ever been in a situation like this? I am really at a loss of how to proceed, but it is so painful to watch him be hungry and eating and not getting the nourishment he needs. I feel helpless on what to do for my buddy.
Thanks for any thoughts you could share.
JJ
My cat, Mickey, is a 17 yo tuxedo kitty. He weighs now approximately 9 lbs and has lost weight over the last few months. Athe vet has been treating him for a sinus/respiratory infection over multiple months. He has had 4-5 rounds of different antibiotics during this time without probiotics. He finished his last round of Veraflox a few weeks ago. This antibiotic was chosen after the vet cultured his nose and ruled out FIV or other problems. He had about 2 rounds of the Veraflox. After finishing the last one, he slowly redeveloped the sinus infection again.
After another vet visit, we discussed treating it again with another antibiotic and starting him on a probiotic which he has now been on for 7 days now. I decided to hold on the antibiotic again because it seems like he had been on so many of them, and I wanted to see if the probiotic could help restore his gut health. Since I’ve been concerned about his weight, I started weighing him again. He had been at 9 1/4 pounds the 1 week following this October vet visit. I weighed him once a week after that visit. The first week he was 9.1 but this past Sunday he was 8.7 which really concerned me. I contacted the vet again and told her about the weight change. She looked through the data and I asked her if he could be a diabetic. He’s had a lot of tests over the last few months, but they did not take a glucose reading since September 2024, so she told me to come in which we did this morning.
His ear prick test came back at 347 which I know is extremely high. His urine did not show ketones. My regular vet that sees Mickey and who I spoke with was not in today. The vet that was in the office today originally talked about oral medications, but when she remembered he has IBD, she then changed her mind and said that it really wouldn’t be appropriate and could not in good conscience prescribe it. She put in a call to my regular vet who was out of town today to ask for her opinion. My regular vet said she would not recommend the oral meds and that he should go on insulin because of his IBD.
My concern is this seemed like it was hitting him very aggressively with treatment when we only had one data point for a glucose test this morning. This test was not even one that was done with fasting. He has been extremely hungry and eating but his weight has been slowly declining since about the September. Before going in today, I fed him at 5 AM and then again at 8 AM just prior to our 9:30 AM appointment.
The vet suggested I use a libre 3 monitor which we have running today and they are sending blood for a Fructosamine test to see the levels over multiple periods. This will come back early next week. So far, the libre 3 system is reporting readings around 300. I did feed him at noon when he came home so I would think this would be expected.
I am really opposed to starting insulin when there are these oral medications that could be considered. It seems like insulin is a very big step and once in the started, it is for life. Also, with his biome so disturbed after the multiple rounds of antibiotics, it seems very drastic since the biome being off would seem like it would throw off everything in his system.
Has anyone ever been in a situation like this? I am really at a loss of how to proceed, but it is so painful to watch him be hungry and eating and not getting the nourishment he needs. I feel helpless on what to do for my buddy.
Thanks for any thoughts you could share.
JJ
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