NEW MEMBER 11/26/24

[Vader Mommy]

Hello. My fur baby is 10 years old and his name is Vader. He was diagnosed 8 days ago. He is currently on caninsulin at 2 units every 12 hours. 8 days ago when I brought him to the vet he was consistently vomiting for 3 days and on the third day refused to eat. Sbd had lost weight over a few months. He was sent home with insulin, and Sub-Q fluid, and the goal was to get him eating fully in 48 hours. Vader pulled through and started eating on his own and has been every day now for 8 days straight. His appetite is large. He is staying hydrated, has gained weight, behavior is good. Overall progress has been excellent. Next scheduled vet appointment is December 9th for his blood work to be redone to see if his levels have lowered any. Upon diagnosis he also had high levels in his liver. As of today the only concern there is, is that he started vomiting on Sunday night, at random times throughout the past 2 days. It has only been 3 times so far. 2 of which had food and liquid which were moderate in size. And the third was all liquid. As of this morning he is still eating without problem on his own. Using the litter and drinking water. Behavior is still good. I'm wondering why the random vomiting? So far this morning there has been no vomiting and he is content and taking a nap.
Could it possibly be due to the change of food?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. I moved your post to the Feline Health forum which has a lot more people monitoring.

What food was he eating before hand and what is he eating now? Food transitions should be done slowly.

Are you home testing his blood sugars? Can you describe the vomit? I know. But it does mean something if it's food, hairball, bile (yellow liquid) or just foam.

 

[CORKY]

Welcome Vader, for the record it is very important the food a diabetic cat consumes, diabetic cats need to consume a diet of between 0-10% carbs, wet can foods, kibbles(dry foods) contain approximately between 25-30% carbs do not get sold by your Vet on "Prescribed" food, these foods contain between 20% carbs or more, Vets make commission on these foods, plus the fact that your cat's BG will never regulate because of the high Carbs being consumed, causing for the pancreas not to heal, and more unneeded Vet visits, below is a Drs Food list, here in the Forum like to go by, there are many brands to choose from, the third column contains the % of carb for each food., you should also have handy what we call a HYPO KIT, this should contain KARO syrup or honey, some medium carb foods between 11-15% and some high carbs between 16-24%, this is to be used in a case where the BG goes below 50, but we can help you hike it up with a food protocol, Karo and Honey are only a quick fix, Here in the Forum many of the members enjoy the Fancy Feast Pates, many flavors from 0-10% to choose from and they are US regulated, so no waste goes into their foods, for me the most important factor for a diabetic cats, is the low carb foods, and the dosing, and unfortunately many Vets treat Feline diabetes like they treat dogs, below you will have several links to help us help you, a food list, and how to create your signature and spreadsheet, we need to know more about your fur baby in order to help you, I will also tag an expert on dosing and insulin, the insulin you are using is not a good insulin for cats, this is insulin is for dogs, the best insulin to use on diabetic cats are Lantus and ProZinc, we are here to help you the quicker you create your signature and spreadsheet, we can help you to get your precious Fur baby back to good health
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
If the vomiting continues I would contact the vet to get some antinausea medication such as ondansetron or cerenia. It’s important you get the vomiting sorted out.

2 units of Vetsulin is more than we would recommend. We would recommend 1/2 to 1 unit twice a day.
I would also look to swapping to a more suitable insulin as mentioned above by Corky.
Please consider hometesting the blood glucose as that is the only way to keep your kitty safe.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I agree with Bron about home testing. One other possibility with respect to the vomiting is that his blood glucose levels may have dropped too low or dropped quickly and Vader reacted to the change. Monitoring blood glucose ensures that you're not giving your cat insulin if his pre-shot blood glucose levels aren't in a safe range and similarly, that his levels are in a safe range later in the cycle. Many members in the US use the Walmart Relion meter but any human meter is fine to use. (The cost for the strips for the Relion meter are the least expensive around.)

Also, as Bron noted, Vetsulin is no longer recommended by the American Animal Hospital Assn for the treatment of feline diabetes. Either Prozinc or Lantus (glargine -- it's available as a generic/biosimilar) are the two insulins that are recommended. Vetsulin can quickly drop numbers and doesn't have a long enough duration to offset a cat's fast metabolism.