New member - my cat Ellie

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eleanorrigby

Member Since 2023
Hello - I had to take my cat Ellie (around 5 years old, female short haired cat) to the emergency vet yesterday because she was having UTI symptoms and our regular vet was closed. She was going in and out of the litter box and producing very little urine. I'm glad I took her in, because the vet was able to diagnose her with a UTi through urine testing. They also did some bloodwork since I noticed she was drinking more water recently (I initially thought it could be kidney related.) Her glucose level at the hospital was 440. They also noted glucose in her urine but I'm not sure of the amount. There were not ketones. One of our options was to have her stay at the hospital overnight to do a glucose curve with close monitoring by the staff. The other option was to bring her home and start the injections that night by myself. I opted to go for the glucose curve - I was nervous to start the injections myself, especially since the vet said we'd have to watch her closely for hypoglycemia. I'm feeling guilty about her staying there over night, but I was able to visit her last night and she was doing well. They started her on antibiotics for the UTI, gave her gabapentin for anxiety (she is a skittish cat) and gave her first glucose injection last night.

The vet called me again this morning and she is still doing well. Her glucose is still a bit high (178) but has been going down. She got another injection this morning and I should be able to bring her home tonight.

I'm sorry this post is so long. I'm extremely nervous about starting the glucose injections. She is quite skittish with anything medical related and she hates to be held. The few times I've tried to medicate her, she has resisted very hard (she will bite or scratch). I also have another cat that has IBD and is on a special diet - I'm nervous about managing the specific diet needs of both of them.

Trying not to panic until I hear more from the vet on next steps this afternoon but would appreciate any initial thoughts. I am also planning to take Ellie to our regular vet on Wednesday this week as a follow and for more advice on managing both my cats' conditions.

Thank you!
 
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Welcome to FDMB!

The first big question is which insulin are they suggesting. Lantus (or it's generic, glargine) or Prozinc are the two insulins recommended by the American Animal Hospital Assn. Please do not get a prescription for Vetsulin if you can avoid it. You will need insulin, syringes that are appropriate for the insulin prescribed, and lancets. You will also want to start home testing. You can get a human meter anywhere although most people here use the Walmart Relion brand meter because the strips are inexpensive. Depending on the insulin, we have information that is specific to what it is you're cat's prescribed.

Your cat will need to be on a low carbohydrate diet and preferably a canned food diet since most dry food is very high in carbs. Prescription diabetic foods are unnecessary (and ridiculously expensive and there's nothing in the food that makes it specific for diabetes). Many people here use either Fancy Feast or Friskies pate style foods. What's important is that the carbs are less than 10%. In fact, most people here feed their cat food that is in the 5% carb range. As for two cats on different foods, I had a cat with IBD and a diabetic and they ate the same food. What's important for a cat with IBD is that you're feeding novel proteins. There are a number of novel protein foods that are low in carbs. The one that's immediately coming to mind are some of the ZiwiPeak flavors (e.g., venison or rabbit and lamb). I'm sure other members will have additional suggestions. We have lots of kitties with both IBD and diabetes or are in multi-cat homes.
 
Thank you! They are prescribing glargine for her. I will look into get the home testing materials ASAP.

She's back home now and her glucose levels have stabilized in the low 200s. The vet said her glucose did get a little low last night. I'm nervous to give her insulin tonight (next dose due in a few hours) in case it gets too low. I don't have a way to test her at the moment since this all happened very quickly. We have a follow up appointment with her regular vet on Wednesday. Do you think it would be reasonable to hold off on additional doses until her appointment in a couple days? I'd like to get our regular vet's opinion on everything and also get testing materials in case her blood glucose gets low again.
 
Holding off on insulin sounds perfectly reasonable given that her elevated glucose levels could be due to the UTI and associated stress. At 5 she's also kind of young for diabetes, not that it can't happen, just that it's uncommon.

Several years ago a youngish cat was urinating everywhere and had glucose in the low 400s. Turned out he had a UTI and was on the verge of blocking. The vet had proclaimed him diabetic based on one test and wanted to start insulin right away when the main issue was a raging infection, which he completely missed. Fortunately his guardian held off on the insulin, started testing at home, put the cat on a wet food only diet and when the antibiotics took effect his sugar returned to normal levels.
 
And get the testing supplies so you can monitor at home. You can get all of it at your nearest Walmart. Most of us use their ReliOn Premier meter. I also used to buy the ReliOn 1/2 unit marked syringes there.

Ask your vet to do a fructosamine test which gives you a 3-week average. If they didn’t do it at the er.
 
Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA) said:
And get the testing supplies so you can monitor at home. You can get all of it at your nearest Walmart. Most of us use their ReliOn Premier meter. I also used to buy the ReliOn 1/2 unit marked syringes there.

Ask your vet to do a fructosamine test which gives you a 3-week average. If they didn’t do it at the er.
Click to expand...

I will definitely ask about fructosamine with our vet! I asked them at the ER too and they didn't do one.
 
Unfortunately Ellie was officially diagnosed today based on results of the fructosamine. We’ll be starting her on .5 units of glargine and she will be getting a Freestyle Libre next week.
 
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