New Member & Newly Diagnosed

[suporma]

My 9.5 year old cat was just diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. She has an automatic litter box and after seeing her go in a couple times in a row, I looked at her usage and she had been going in and out a ton of times- I think around 9 times in the span of an hour. She started getting agitated toward me and so I turned off the litter box to see if she was actually doing anything and also heard her yowling when she tried to go. At this point, I called the ER vet to see if I should monitor or bring her in (normal vet had closed at this point, yaay!). They told me the latter, so cue an overnight visit to the ER vet's office.

Her glucose levels were high (over 1000), so the vet did another test to make sure if it was stress or diabetes. I think you can guess the result! Luckily, no blood in her urine and she wasn't in ketoacidosis.

She's teeny tiny (barely 5lbs) so before we left, they gave her 1 unit of Lantus. We went home with gabapentin for pain and buprenorphine to help with UTI symptoms. I gave her the buprenorphine which has drowsiness as a side effect, but she seemed waaay too out of it. I called the ER, concerned, and they said to bring her back. I'm glad I did, because that little bit of insulin managed to tank her to 20. They hospitalized her overnight to manage her blood sugar and discharged her this afternoon. They decided to discontinue the insulin for now since high blood sugar is less of a risk than too low.

I have a follow up vet visit on Monday with her regular vet, so we can figure out a long-term plan with management - whether that be a different type of insulin, just diet management, or whatever. For now, I'm feeding her the wet food I already have, but only the ones with lower carb level. She didn't eat dry food too often, so that's put away for now (and probably for good). Her treats are also going out the door, until I can get more diabetic-friendly ones.

3.5k later (and sure to be more!) and here we are. She was being a menace by trying to eat my chicken nuggets while I was typing this, so I think she's feeling better, if not a little bit drowsy from meds.

 

[Tim & Pookey]

Welcome! Gosh, what a ride you two have been on and glad you trusted your instincts. What's your girl's name?

Definitely would recommend learning to home test blood glucose if you're open to that. A lot of folks on this forum manage low numbers at home. The only way to know what's going on would be to see some data and how she's trending. Maybe she ends up being a short-timer on insulin or the diet is all it takes. You'd just hate to get ahead of things and she ends up needing insulin again in the near future, you know. Lantus is a good insulin though so I think you're covered there.

Keep us posted how the vet goes and if you have any questions, or need some resources for home testing.

 

[suporma]

Welcome! Gosh, what a ride you two have been on and glad you trusted your instincts. What's your girl's name?

Definitely would recommend learning to home test blood glucose if you're open to that. A lot of folks on this forum manage low numbers at home. The only way to know what's going on would be to see some data and how she's trending. Maybe she ends up being a short-timer on insulin or the diet is all it takes. You'd just hate to get ahead of things and she ends up needing insulin again in the near future, you know. Lantus is a good insulin though so I think you're covered there.

Keep us posted how the vet goes and if you have any questions, or need some resources for home testing.

Thanks! Her name is Stella!

I'd definitely be more comfortable keeping track of blood sugar levels on my own at home - her cat dad is also pre-diabetic (and human medically knowledgeable) , so we have some human diabetes background to help us!

 

[Mary & Jude]

Hi Becca,

Welcome to the FDMB. Sorry you have to be here, but we're glad to have you here. As Tim said, you've had a difficult (and expensive!!) ordeal with Stella!

First, let me mention that as far as low carb food goes, you're looking for something below 10% carbs. Many of us here feed our cats Fancy Feast Classic Pates, as most all flavors are below 10%. There are many other foods, as well. Here is our link to food charts: Links to FOOD CHARTS. Some cats do respond well to low carb food and don't need insulin.

Second, did the vet check Stella’s urine for bacteria or mention whether they were concerned about a lower urinary tract problem? I’m not a vet, but I do have a cat with urinary tract issues, so the yowling while trying to urinate would be a red flag for me.

Diabetic cats can be more prone to urinary tract infections because glucose spilling into the urine can create an environment where bacteria are more likely to grow. Yowling while urinating, straining, and making frequent trips to the litter box can all point to a urinary tract problem and deserve close attention.

Her blood glucose numbers are certainly elevated, but pain, stress, inflammation, and infection can also push BG higher. If she does have a UTI or another painful urinary issue, that could be contributing to the high numbers. Buprenorphine and gabapentin may help relieve the pain, and reducing pain and stress—along with starting insulin—could also help explain why her numbers came down significantly.

I’m glad you’re going back to the vet on Monday. In the meantime, I would watch her urination very closely. If she repeatedly strains, cries or yowls while trying to urinate, produces only tiny amounts, or especially if she is unable to pass urine at all, I would consider that an emergency and get her seen right away rather than waiting until Monday. A urinary blockage can become dangerous very quickly.

I also hope the vet has her continue appropriate pain control over the weekend, because urinary problems can be quite painful.

 

[suporma]

Hi Becca,

Welcome to the FDMB. Sorry you have to be here, but we're glad to have you here. As Tim said, you've had a difficult (and expensive!!) ordeal with Stella!

First, let me mention that as far as low carb food goes, you're looking for something below 10% carbs. Many of us here feed our cats Fancy Feast Classic Pates, as most all flavors are below 10%. There are many other foods, as well. Here is our link to food charts: Links to FOOD CHARTS. Some cats do respond well to low carb food and don't need insulin.

Second, did the vet check Stella’s urine for bacteria or mention whether they were concerned about a lower urinary tract problem? I’m not a vet, but I do have a cat with urinary tract issues, so the yowling while trying to urinate would be a red flag for me.

Diabetic cats can be more prone to urinary tract infections because glucose spilling into the urine can create an environment where bacteria are more likely to grow. Yowling while urinating, straining, and making frequent trips to the litter box can all point to a urinary tract problem and deserve close attention.

Her blood glucose numbers are certainly elevated, but pain, stress, inflammation, and infection can also push BG higher. If she does have a UTI or another painful urinary issue, that could be contributing to the high numbers. Buprenorphine and gabapentin may help relieve the pain, and reducing pain and stress—along with starting insulin—could also help explain why her numbers came down significantly.

I’m glad you’re going back to the vet on Monday. In the meantime, I would watch her urination very closely. If she repeatedly strains, cries or yowls while trying to urinate, produces only tiny amounts, or especially if she is unable to pass urine at all, I would consider that an emergency and get her seen right away rather than waiting until Monday. A urinary blockage can become dangerous very quickly.

I also hope the vet has her continue appropriate pain control over the weekend, because urinary problems can be quite painful.

They did the urinalisis first, which is how they found the high number of red and white blood cells and trace protein in her urine but no actual blood. A blood glucose test and fructosamine test were done to rule out if it was just the stress/pain. They gave cerenia and convenia at the vet for urinary tract inflammation and UTI (besides what we got for home meds which she has enough for about a week)!

She's been acting much more like herself yesterday and today, which is great. Fortunately with the automatic litterbox, I can see how often she's going or if she's going in multiple times in a short period like before and it's definitely much more normal now. I haven't heard her crying at the litterbox and I had it switched to manual mode yesterday so I could see what kind of clumps she made in there so all seems well there.

She's already eating Fancy Feast, so it's just a matter of getting her on a kind that's better for her

 

[Mary & Jude]

They did the urinalisis first, which is how they found the high number of red and white blood cells and trace protein in her urine but no actual blood. A blood glucose test and fructosamine test were done to rule out if it was just the stress/pain. They gave cerenia and convenia at the vet for urinary tract inflammation and UTI (besides what we got for home meds which she has enough for about a week)!

She's been acting much more like herself yesterday and today, which is great. Fortunately with the automatic litterbox, I can see how often she's going or if she's going in multiple times in a short period like before and it's definitely much more normal now. I haven't heard her crying at the litterbox and I had it switched to manual mode yesterday so I could see what kind of clumps she made in there so all seems well there.

She's already eating Fancy Feast, so it's just a matter of getting her on a kind that's better for her

Glad that they treated her for a UTI. Since you didn't mention the antibiotic in the first post, I wasn't sure if they treated it.

 

[suporma]

Vet update!

She went in Monday and they did fecal, urine, and blood tests. I didn't get a chance to talk to the vet yet, just listen to his voicemail.

Her glucose was 279 on the blood test, so elevated (but not super high). Urine came back 3 plus glucose. No signs of infection, no parasites in stool, thyroid and levels in kidney and liver look good, red and white blood cell counts came back good. Eosinophils had mild increase (that can be explained by the fun of going to the vet).

He said she's still considered diabetic, but we're not going to insulin yet (considering how bad the little bit dropped her the first time). So figuring out next steps to see what's what's causing the change are the next plan.

I'm still keeping her on the low carb diet regardless, she likes the wet food I switched her to and she doesn't seem to miss the dry food.

 

[Staci & Ivy]

Hi Becca, so glad Stella is doing better. I hope she can be controlled by diet alone.
But if not let’s see how things go.
Glad her glucose is down from earlier in this post.
Keep us posted and we hope she’s feeling much better!