Benny’s mom
Member Since 2020
HI! I’m Terri, and my sweet boy Benny was diagnosed with FD on 5/23. I’ve been lurking for a while, trying to read everything I can in order to gain as much understanding as possible about this disease and how best to manage it. I am blown away not only by the information, but by the commitment and compassion of the members of this board. I have never joined or posted in a forum before, but this feels like the right place and time to start!
Benny is 10 years old, 15.5 lbs and is the sweetest natured kitty ever. His health issues began in July of 2017, when he was diagnosed with clostridium overgrowth and placed on Metronidazole long term. In Feb 2018, he was prescribed Denamarin for elevated liver enzymes. A month later he was referred to an IM vet due to persistently elevated liver enzymes, inappetence and lethargy. Ultrasound showed mildly thickened intestines (IBD) and liver irregularity. Pancreas was ok. Budesonide started. Liver enzymes bobbled around for a bit, then skyrocketed in Aug 2018. IM vet recommended biopsy to determine whether we were dealing with infection, inflammation or cancer. Turned out to be inflammation (cholangitis). Budesonide discontinued, Prednisolone and Ursodiol started (in addition to Metronidazole and Denamarin). By October of 2018 he was finally stabilized and remains on this regimen to this day. After a bout of pancreatitis in October of 2019, he is now officially a Triaditis kitty. In addition, he has had occasional episodes of FLUTD/struvite crystals, which we have dealt with by adding a urinary acidifier, cornsilk extract and d-mannose powder to his food as needed.
So...I was not entirely surprised by the FD diagnosis due to his long term and relatively high dose of Pred (7.5mg per day at the time of FD Dx). Previous attempts at reduction always resulted in an elevation of his liver enzymes. So I just accepted the fact that that’s what his body needed to keep the inflammation down. But as his insulin needs increased (I know I’m getting ahead of myself here), I was determined to try and SLOWLY reduce the Pred, to see if we could get a better response to the insulin without an uptick in his liver enzymes. He’s now down to 5mg per day. I hope we can eventually reduce it further...
I really like and have a good relationship with my vet, and had put my trust in him as he himself had a diabetic cat for 8 years. However, he does not recommend home testing, says he never tested his own cat (!!) and that none of his patients test theirs. He said to just monitor clinical signs and bring Benny back for a glucose curve after a week or two. A friend had a diabetic pup that passed last year. She had an extra AlphaTrak meter, lancets and test strips which she gave me. I didn’t think it would “hurt” to get a little more info, so I cautiously began testing, with spot checks here and there. When I look at Benny’s spreadsheet I cringe, so many lost opportunities to gather data early on. All I can say is, I was still trying to follow my vet’s advice (he did say I could do curves at home, and the occasional spot check if Benny seemed off), and honestly, I was reluctant to accept the idea that managing diabetes would require multiple daily tests so I had motivation to accept his advice...it would have been so much easier if he were right! Well now I know better...
Benny started at 1U Lantus 2x per day, and is currently at 5.5U. The how and why (and mistakes made along the way) will be evident from his spreadsheet. Although his numbers still aren’t great, he was starting to do better...until a few days ago due to yet another panc flareup which we are treating with fluids, Pepcid, Cerenia and Buprenorphine. He’s eating, has not lost weight, pee clumps are still larger than normal but only two per day, and he’s not hovering over his water dish. He’s not walking on his hocks but doesn’t move around as much as he used to. The vet suggested that might be due to neuropathy, so I also started him on Zobaline. Diet is low carb wet (Ziwipeak, Merrick’s, FF), Savage raw and Ziwipeak air dried raw in bone broth. Benny and his sister Lola previously LOVED their Instinct Ultimate Protein kibble but at diagnosis I switched to Dr. Elsey’s, just 1/16 cup, supplementing wet PM meals until 8/17 when I eliminated it entirely in order to determine if that might have been a contributing factor in keeping him in higher numbers. It does appear that it might have had an impact (along with a simultaneous increase to his current 5.5 U) as that’s about the time we finally started seeing blue numbers! That said, I’m pretty sure he’s going to need a dose increase, was going to run a curve but wasn’t sure if it made sense to do so during a panc flareup...advice would be greatly appreciated!
Well that was a novel! Thanks for reading, I welcome all input and look forward to being able to do better for my boy with the help and support of this amazing community!
Terri and Benny
Benny is 10 years old, 15.5 lbs and is the sweetest natured kitty ever. His health issues began in July of 2017, when he was diagnosed with clostridium overgrowth and placed on Metronidazole long term. In Feb 2018, he was prescribed Denamarin for elevated liver enzymes. A month later he was referred to an IM vet due to persistently elevated liver enzymes, inappetence and lethargy. Ultrasound showed mildly thickened intestines (IBD) and liver irregularity. Pancreas was ok. Budesonide started. Liver enzymes bobbled around for a bit, then skyrocketed in Aug 2018. IM vet recommended biopsy to determine whether we were dealing with infection, inflammation or cancer. Turned out to be inflammation (cholangitis). Budesonide discontinued, Prednisolone and Ursodiol started (in addition to Metronidazole and Denamarin). By October of 2018 he was finally stabilized and remains on this regimen to this day. After a bout of pancreatitis in October of 2019, he is now officially a Triaditis kitty. In addition, he has had occasional episodes of FLUTD/struvite crystals, which we have dealt with by adding a urinary acidifier, cornsilk extract and d-mannose powder to his food as needed.
So...I was not entirely surprised by the FD diagnosis due to his long term and relatively high dose of Pred (7.5mg per day at the time of FD Dx). Previous attempts at reduction always resulted in an elevation of his liver enzymes. So I just accepted the fact that that’s what his body needed to keep the inflammation down. But as his insulin needs increased (I know I’m getting ahead of myself here), I was determined to try and SLOWLY reduce the Pred, to see if we could get a better response to the insulin without an uptick in his liver enzymes. He’s now down to 5mg per day. I hope we can eventually reduce it further...
I really like and have a good relationship with my vet, and had put my trust in him as he himself had a diabetic cat for 8 years. However, he does not recommend home testing, says he never tested his own cat (!!) and that none of his patients test theirs. He said to just monitor clinical signs and bring Benny back for a glucose curve after a week or two. A friend had a diabetic pup that passed last year. She had an extra AlphaTrak meter, lancets and test strips which she gave me. I didn’t think it would “hurt” to get a little more info, so I cautiously began testing, with spot checks here and there. When I look at Benny’s spreadsheet I cringe, so many lost opportunities to gather data early on. All I can say is, I was still trying to follow my vet’s advice (he did say I could do curves at home, and the occasional spot check if Benny seemed off), and honestly, I was reluctant to accept the idea that managing diabetes would require multiple daily tests so I had motivation to accept his advice...it would have been so much easier if he were right! Well now I know better...
Benny started at 1U Lantus 2x per day, and is currently at 5.5U. The how and why (and mistakes made along the way) will be evident from his spreadsheet. Although his numbers still aren’t great, he was starting to do better...until a few days ago due to yet another panc flareup which we are treating with fluids, Pepcid, Cerenia and Buprenorphine. He’s eating, has not lost weight, pee clumps are still larger than normal but only two per day, and he’s not hovering over his water dish. He’s not walking on his hocks but doesn’t move around as much as he used to. The vet suggested that might be due to neuropathy, so I also started him on Zobaline. Diet is low carb wet (Ziwipeak, Merrick’s, FF), Savage raw and Ziwipeak air dried raw in bone broth. Benny and his sister Lola previously LOVED their Instinct Ultimate Protein kibble but at diagnosis I switched to Dr. Elsey’s, just 1/16 cup, supplementing wet PM meals until 8/17 when I eliminated it entirely in order to determine if that might have been a contributing factor in keeping him in higher numbers. It does appear that it might have had an impact (along with a simultaneous increase to his current 5.5 U) as that’s about the time we finally started seeing blue numbers! That said, I’m pretty sure he’s going to need a dose increase, was going to run a curve but wasn’t sure if it made sense to do so during a panc flareup...advice would be greatly appreciated!
Well that was a novel! Thanks for reading, I welcome all input and look forward to being able to do better for my boy with the help and support of this amazing community!
Terri and Benny
) and it only bumped his numbers up about 30 points and he wasn't diabetic.
