New member 11/9/26

[judy lynn]

Hello my name is judy. My 17 year old diabetic cat is baby boy. He has been on lantus for 9 years. For the last 3 years his dose is 7 units every 12 hours. I work very close with his vet and he gets check ups every 3-4 months. So far he has been thriving with all good results from the vet. Until recently. He started yowling and acting anxious. I took him to the vet on October 30th. His regular vet was on vacation. We had to see a different vet. He said my cats blood sugar was 60 and he was dehydrated. And he needed to go to a specialist ER hospital for 2 days. For IV fluids and glucose monitoring. The lowest price I found was 4,000 dollars.
That was not possible I'm on disability and very low income. I took him home stopped the insulin and raised his blood sugar with karo syrup. He was doing good over the weekend. His regular vet was coming back on monday. She said to give him 4 units of insulin that night instead of his usual 7. A few hours later he vomited and became very lethargic. I tested him and his glucose was 302. I called her back and told her what happened. She said to stop the insulin. He was ok until Wednesday when he started getting weak and lethargic and didn't want to eat. Thursday night we to him to urgent care vet. They gave him fluids, pain meds and an appetite stimulant which didn't help he still didn't eat. He also had very small amount of ketones and a UTI. Friday morning.my vet had us drop him off for the day so she can give him IV fluids, run tests and do insulin curves. His liver enzymes were slightly high and his potassium was low and all other blood work was ok. She also started him on 1 unit every 12 hours. He didn't seem much better so we dropped him off on saturday for more IV fluids. He did really bad saturday night and Sunday he can't sit stand or walk. All he does is sleep. He's also had to heavy sounding open mouth breathing with acetone smell on his breath. Saturday and Sunday the vet had us force feeding him. This morning he was completely limp and could not hold his head up. We dropped him off at the vet this morning again for the day. I'm so worried about him she don't know what to do for him. But I will say the way he's been looking very weak and very lethargic reminds me of how he looked in the beginning when he was first diagnosed with diabetes. If anyone has any advice or an opinion on what's wrong please let me know. The profile picture is baby boy on Friday 3 days ago. He went from looking good and sitting up to completely limp can't even hold his head up. Thank you for your help.

 

[CORKY]

Welcome to FDMB
Here's a link for financial assistance, they can help with insulin, syringes and strips if you qualify. I use D.C.I..N.
I also have a senior cat Corky will be 14 in September, he was diagnosed January 2023.
Are you home testing? it is very important to test your cat before each shot to avoid hypoglycemia, and testing at lest 2-3 times during the day, most members use the ReliOn Premier meter and strips (Walmart) or any other human meter, you do not need a pet meter. What insulin are you giving? ProZinc and Lantus are the best insulin for cats, is a 12-hour insulin and gentle on the cat; you can save a lot of money and stress on Baby Boy, cats are very sensitive to stress, and a vet visit is their biggest stressor, a non-diabetic's cats' glucose level is between 50-120, you can do a curve yourself without the vets' visit, a curve is simply testing every 2 hours for 1 cycle (12 hours) save your money!
you need to create a hypo kit link below, also you can learn how to handle hypo episodes.
What are you feeding?
diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can or raw food between 0-10% carbs, also have a feeding schedule, and 3-4 small meals or snacks during the day, plus to two main meals before each shot, making sure your cat does not feed 2 hours before shot, since food raises the levels and you will get a false reading, many members use Fancy Feast Pates between 0-10% some feed up to 5%. Food helps Ketones go away, if you are feeding kibbles the transition for high carbs to low carbs needs to be a slow process, you do not want to upset the stomach, also testing during this transition is important, since the change in carbs can dive down the levels; please keep posting, we are here to help you thru this journey. Below is also a link to create your signature and spreadsheet, this way we can all be on the same page and we can also give you dosing advice.
Financial Help Links
Sticky - jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

 

[Connie & Parker & Moonie]

Hi Judy - how is baby boy doing? Unfortunately I don’t have the experience to advise you here but I wanted to check in and also bump your thread for a more experienced member.

When do you get a chance, could you use the dropdown menu by your title to put “?” And maybe edit the title to include something “NEED ADVICE” or “NEED EYES”? It’ll help more experienced members prioritize this thread for a response.

I hope that baby boy is doing better.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Telling someone to lower their cat's dose from 7 units to 1 unit is crazy! And negligent. Yes 7 units may be too high if he's seeing 60, but not that much of a reduction. Did the vet say anything about DKA or diabetic ketoacidosis? Here is some information about it: Ketones, Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA), and Blood Ketone Meters. The lethargy, ketones, inappetance and infection are worrying signs.

This can be treated, but you need to work on it now. He needs to eat as many calories as you can get into him. Ask the vet for an antinausea medication called ondansetron. It is a human medication, the vet just needs to give you a prescription you fill at a human pharmacy. Offer him 1.5 times his normal amount of calories. What type of food is he eating now? What appetite stimulant did they give you? Some are better than others.

Did they give you a potassium supplement to give? Do you know what his potassium number was? You should have a copy of his latest bloodwork from the vet. Low potassium can make it hard to hold their head up.

Back to insulin, 1 unit is way too low. Part of the formula for DKA is too little insulin. If there is any way you can put the blood sugar data into a spreadsheet for us to see it, it can help us help you with insulin dosing. Details on how to do that are in this post: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!