New Member. Thoughts on Senvelgo?

[OliviaL]

Good morning, new member and new Mother of diabetic cat. Darth is a 10 year old Chantilly and we were just diagnosed a month 1/2 ago when I noticed after a dental cleaning that he was drinking almost 16 oz of water daily. My vet thought he was a good candidate for Senvelgo which relieved me because I'm overwhelmed at the thought of the insulin route. We've been having a rough time with it though. Darth has always been a picky eater and we've lost almost a pound, having diarrhea. We have been given prescription appetite enhansers, high blood pressure medicine, probiotics, tried prescription RC food. We've had days where he was up at 3am can't get comfortable, very vocal, won't eat, hanging out under the bed or in a closet. Weekly visits to the vet for labs. She's wondering if there are now underlying conditions she wants to run more tests for. I feel like I've seen him age a year a week and have even had thoughts, at 4am on two days of no sleep that his quality of life isn't worth all of this. And then he will suddenly rally and seem a little better. I feel like I'm on an emotional roller coaster.
So the latest is she thought putting him on the RC and pulling back the Senvelgo from .5 to .3 might get the diarrhea under control. The labs are showing the Senvelgo is working, maintaining his levels but he's never pulled back on how much water he's drinking. I'm supposed to go back Wednesday and she wants to do GI labs and a sonagram to see if there isn't some other condition going on and I'm just not sure I want to move forward with anything more. I've spent over $2000 since June and it's not the money really it's about his quality of life. He hates going in and we've been going in every week. I'll stop, I'm just a wreck.
Mostly anyone's thoughts on Senvelgo. Sorry about the rant.

 

[CORKY]

Welcome to FDMB, it is overwhelming, when we are told our loved fur baby is diagnosed with diabetic, I was not familiar with human diabetes but had no idea that a cat can suffer from it either until like you, I kept seeing Corky glued to the water bowl, and one day when he allowed me to pick him up by coincidence, I know he weight 16.5 lbs, he is a very very large cat, not overweight, I picked him up during the water episode and he felt like a feather, I took him to my scale, and he was 8.5 lbs, in a blink of an eye, he ate played chased his sister Coco, nothing made me see the weight loss, or that there was anything wrong with him he was hospitalized 8 days with 650 glucose, gladly Feline Diabetes is treatable, and this Forum has saved is life, so you are in the right place to ask about any concerns you may have about diet, dosing, insulin. We would like to know more about Darth, We are very numbers oriented, and encourage home testing. We would like you to create your signature and spreadsheet for Darth, below are the links, in the meantime I will tag one of the members familiar with Senvelgo, also I suggest you read the sticky notes located in the Main Forum, they have a lot of valuable information

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB.

I'm linking our information on the newer approaches to treating feline diabetes. The post includes a large section on Senvelgo. You'll note that diarrhea is the main side effect of this medication. You didn't mention what the vet has suggested you try to control the diarrhea. What I've seen great success with is a particular probiotic, S. boulardii. It's often recommended for cats with inflammatory bowel (IBD) problems where diarrhea is common. This is a link to one of the IBD websites that has very good information on managing diarrhea. A general probiotic may not do the job when it comes to diarrhea. You can get S. boulardii online. Jarrow's is a good brand and is available on Amazon. Personally, I think S. boulardii is magic! Just so you're aware, if the conventional means for controlling you're kitty's diarrhea aren't working, he may not be a good candidate for Senvelgo. Also, please make sure your vet is following the guidelines in the post. We've had a number of members who have noted that their vet was not great about being attentive to some of the lab tests, etc. that we described and the outcomes were not good.

I'd also suggest your revisit the food you're using. Royal Canin, both the dry and canned foods, are not low in carbohydrates. The canned diabetic food, Glycobalance, is 14% carbs. We consider low carb as under 10%. It's also not a great food from the standpoint of quality. In addition, if you made a quick transition from Darth's pre-diabetes diet to another food, that may be contributing to a tummy upset. You have lots of choices when it comes to food. This is a food chart which lists the carb content of many/most of the canned cat foods available in the US.

Has your vet tested for diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA)? That Darth's water intake hasn't reduced might indicate osmotic diuresis. This causes dehydration and can lead to DKA. Not only is Senvelgo contraindicated in cats with symptoms of DKA, DKA is a life-threatening condition. You can test for ketones at home. There are urine test strips, Ketostix, that you can purchase at any pharmacy. You swipe the strip in your cat's urine stream then follow the directions as to how long to wait (it's a matter of seconds) and compare the color on the strip to the coding on the container.