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heatherj932

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Hello All,

I am hoping that I can find some support as well as usefull info on this site. My cats name is Cyrus. He is 7 years old. Cyrus has stomatitis and had a full mouth extraction in May 2006. He was put on steroids to help with all of the inflammation since the extraction only seemed to help a little. Cyrus as of a couple of months ago was 18 lbs. He is a very loving, affectionate cat. He never hisses or growls when getting his meds.

I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Cyrus was not acting quite right. I took him to a new vet. Upon weighing him, I noticed that he was 15 lbs, he obviously lost weight-but has still been eating tons. They checked his blood sugar and it came back at 364. This is obviously high-my husband is Type 1 diabetic. The vet put him on Glipizde 2.5 mg, 2x daily. I also stopped giving Cyrus any treats. Cyrus is prone to UTI so the vet put him on Hills c/d. I also bought the wet food. I took Cyrus back last night for a re-check and his sugar was 350. The vet now put him on 5 mg glipizide, 2x daily. We go for a re-check next Thursday.

Does anyone know how long it takes Glipizide to start working? I forgot to ask yesterday. The vet also switched Cyrus' steroid to Triamcinolone for the stomatitis. He has to be on something, otherwise his gums will bleed and he just hides, as anyone would.

I am thinking that the steroids along with Cyrus being overweight brought on the Diabetes. Since Cyrus has been on the meds, he is still playing-more than before. I know that some people think that I am crazy-even my old vet told me to put Cyrus down 3 years ago-I refused and here we are. Any advice is appreciated. I am also trying to get Cyrus to run around a bit more. The vet said that if the Glipizide does not work, we will have to do insulin.

Does anyone else out there have a cat that has Somatitis as well as diabetes?? I want to give Cyrus the BEST life possible.

Thank you for reading!!

Heather & Cyrus
 
Hi Heather and welcome :)

I'm sorry you guys have been through so much! The 'good' news is that diabetes is totally treatable. Given the history of steroids, things will be a bit different for you in that remission is potentially less of an option, but regulation is completely doable.

However. Glipizide is not the way to go about treatment! Did your vet not discuss insulin? Glipizide forces the pancreas to work which can end up causing damage. Insulin is a much more natural and successful form of treatment.

Further, CD, especially CD dry, is not a great food. If he's prone to urinary issues he should be on a quality canned food as the moisture will help against dehydration and the protein will ensure a better urine pH. For info on diet please see Dr Lisa Pierson's site www.catinfo.org

Please come on back with more info and questions, and for glipizide info see marvista vet http://www.marvistavet.com/html/body_glipizide.html
Jen
 
Hello Heather!

And welcome to the board. I don't have any experience with the stomatitis, or with steroid treatment, maybe some of the other members do. There will be plenty of people that can offer many suggestions.

Most of us here use insulin and diet to get our furbaby's diabetes controlled. You don't really need to feed Cyrus the vet food. Most of us use particular brands of fancy feast, friskies, wellness etc. Please check out the food charts by Janet and Binky in the links section of the board. Read everything you can on this site. Here is a link to a quick list of the fancy feast flavors that are ok:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm

Many will be along with lots of info. Stand by...And welcome to the Sugar Dance!
 
welcome heather, and yes many many cats here are here becuase of steroids. i think as a rule glipizide is not a good choice as it just makes the pancrease work harder instead of giving it the rest it needs to heal. you want to consider changing his diet and becoming familiar with home testing and possibly shooting insulin. you may find a diet change alone to be very helpful as his initial #'s were not super high (considering he was at vet)
there are a few insulins here that work extemely well
can you stay with an entirely wet/canned food diet and X out all dry. even then there is a list of canned foods extremely low in carbs.
lori
 
btw, steriod kitties have a better chance of remission actually. tom was only insulin depndent for 30 days (first time around) but a steroid induced diabetes has a good chance.
 
Cyrus is currently eating Hills c/d dry along with Fancy Feast-Classic. I found the food table for wet food and went with the Fancy Feast. I must admit that I am a HORRIBLE cat mother. Prior to last week, I was giving Cyrus a handful of treats in the morning, and again at night. I just wanted to make him happy since his gums bother him Shame on me!! I am no longer giving him treats!! I am willing to do insulin or whatever it takes. Since my husband is diabetic, I already have numerous glucose testers. My vet said he will make the decision next week based on Cyrus BS #'s next week.

Thanks for your comments!!
 
heatherj932 said:
Cyrus is currently eating Hills c/d dry along with Fancy Feast-Classic. I found the food table for wet food and went with the Fancy Feast. I must admit that I am a HORRIBLE cat mother. Prior to last week, I was giving Cyrus a handful of treats in the morning, and again at night. I just wanted to make him happy since his gums bother him Shame on me!! I am no longer giving him treats!! I am willing to do insulin or whatever it takes. Since my husband is diabetic, I already have numerous glucose testers. My vet said he will make the decision next week based on Cyrus BS #'s next week.

Thanks for your comments!!
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I would definitely stop with the Hills dry. Unfortunately not all vets are totally up to speed on this diabetes thing! You are doing great by giving him the fancy feast classic. Now you just need to learn the hometesting. It can be a little tricky at first but you can get the hang of it.........
 
Lori, steroid induced diabetics have a chance at remission if it was a one time only use of steroids; but if he's on steroids long-term then I'd say that his chances are much reduced.

Heather, regardless of past feeding practices, its time to move onward and upward :-D educate yourself at Dr Lisa's website and we'll help

Jen
 
THANKS everyone!! I literally balled like a crazy lady when the vet told me about Cyrus and his sugar level. It felt like a hopeless situation. Cyrus & I have been through a lot with getting all of his teeth pulled, to UTI's, we can get through this!! Thanks again-I feel like people finally understand!! :-D
 
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