New to Feline Diabetes - Please help!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
M

montana722

Member Since 2014
Hello,

I was just referred here by someone who said you all saved her cat's life. I'm new to this whole diabetes thing with our cat, and I really don't know what to do right now. Our 16 yo cat was diagnosed with diabetes just about a month ago. We've been giving her, per vet's instructions, 2 doses of Vetsulin (2.5 ccs) daily (12 hours apart). She's been doing well with this regimen. For whatever reason, our vet did not recommend that we test her blood sugar at home. I didn't even realize that one could do that before reading some of the posts on this board. Anyway, today, she is NOT doing well.

She vomited, I'm pretty sure she urinated where she was lying, and she won't get up and move around, and won't take any canned cat food or water. She's moved twice, but not very far, since she vomited (and there wasn't much there, btw). Now, she is lying still and twitching somewhat. I wouldn't call it a full-blown seizure, but there is definitely something not right.

I only know that when she was first diagnosed, she had bleeding from her rectum and difficulty walking around (bumping into things). In reading over symptoms, that sounds to me like LOW blood sugar, but at the time when the vet tested her, her levels were incredibly high (I want to say somewhere in the 450-500 range, but I could be inflating it due to my own stress. I don't have the paperwork here). Anyway, I know her levels were high, not low, when that was happening.

Her symptoms today seem to be low-blood-sugar related, but I don't know how to tell without testing. I don't have a car right now (our second is in the shop and my husband has it at work). I'm afraid to give her karo syrup (as I've seen suggested), because I don't know what will happen if her blood sugar is already high and I give her that. Is there any way to tell???
 
I wish we could help, but it sounds like she is in bad shape. Can you get to a vet? Would a friend drive? The symptoms are more than we could help with, even if we knew if she was too high or too low. I think she needs veterinary intervention.
 
Yes, you definitely need to take her to the vet ASAP! Do you have some Karo syrup on hand? Rub a little bit on her gums and see if that helps perk her up a little and that might buy you some time to get her to the vet, if she's hypo. If not, at this point it doesn't really make too much a difference because she needs to be at the vet's.
 
i put some Karo on her gums, but she cried and started foaming a little. I've wrapped her up in a towel and am just holding her until my dh gets home (he's on his way). She's all stiff -front legs are straight out and she just keeps twitching. :cry:
 
I am so sorry this is happening to you and your sweet kitty.

Please let us know. We care and will be waiting and hoping she gets the help she needs.
 
Thank you all for your concern (and for the prayers). My husband came home early from work (thank goodness), and we took our cat straight to the vet's office. He did a blood test, but I don't know where she fell right now - I was a little out of it, honestly, by the time we got there and by the time he called, I didn't think to ask. I thought I had lost her at least three times: she couldn't hold her head up, the twitching would completely stop for a period and then she would suddenly jerk a bit then she panted, but it got less and less frequent the later it got, she cried without making noise….you know the drill…. :sad: I wrapped her up in towels and just held her; I just wanted her to know I was there if she was going.

I don't know how much longer she would have been able to hold on, I doubt she would have lived if we had waited for my dh to get off work at his regular time, but the vet got her on glucose and a heating pad (her temp was only 92 degrees!!!) and as of a little while ago (he FINALLY called), she was doing better - she was lifting her head and moving around. I doubt that she's out of the woods yet, but it sounded like a huge improvement to me.

So thank you all for your kind thoughts and for your prayers. Please keep them going for her - she still needs them.

Thank you again,
AM
 
I am so glad to see your post. Yes, we are all pulling for her. Are they thinking too much insulin or too high levels? One thing you could do is to take in an unwashed tshirt for her to sleep on - it will smell like home.
 
Sending more prayers and healing thoughts for your kitty. Oh please be ok sweet kitty! Your mommabean and daddabean love you so much.

Please let us know how things are going AM when you get a chance. The power of prayer here has been magical in healing other kitties.
 
We went to see our cat after work today (I was off yesterday for a school holiday). She was doing better - the vet said she had been walking around, but she wasn't doing it when we got there. He wanted her to eat, but we tried her regular food, the canned food we'd been giving her, even tuna, and she wouldn't touch it. She'd eaten a bit of what he'd given her (Friskie's canned, I think), but wouldn't touch anything else. I picked her up and held her for as long as she would tolerate it, and I got a bit of purring out of her, so I'm taking that as a win, for now.

Doc said her blood sugar was 13 (!!!!) when we took her in yesterday. He didn't think she had another hour left in her when we got her there. He'd given her glucose and then a 5% Dextrose solution, but her sugar was 335 this afternoon. He didn't want to give her insulin, because she wouldn't eat. He was going to go ahead and give her fluids again this evening.

Is it just me, or does high blood sugar look a lot like low blood sugar when you're just observing (without the advantage of blood testing)? She was wobbly and lost her balance when I put her down after petting her this afternoon. I'm worried that she was crashing, but I know our vet will take good care of her.

Edited to add: We have ferrets (2 of them now), and when they get sick, there is something called "Duck Soup" that ferrants recommend to get in lots of protein and calories. It's basically a gravy made from cooked chicken, nutritional supplements, etc. I was wondering, since our cat doesn't want to eat her food, if there was something similar that people recommend for cats when they are ill. The closest thing I know of is a formula-like (feline) milk substitute we gave to an abandoned kitten once. Any suggestions on that front? We need to get some food in her, even if I have to give it to her via syringe.

Please keep sending those prayers - I know they're helping her.

Thank you so much!
AM
 
That's good to hear she's feeling a little better. Depending on how bad she's not eating, it might be prudent to look into getting a tube inserted and tube-feeding her (it's not as melodramatic as it sounds). You can also syringe feed if she'll take it. There's a Recocery RS prescription food (and pretty much the only prescription food that actually works). Pretty much any high calorie pate liquified with water will work. The Kitten pâtés are usually low carb and higher calorie if you can find those.

If you're talking about KMR (Kitten milk replacement), that's a good choice for calories, but I'm not too sure on the sugar content so it might not be good for a diabetic.
 
So glad she is doing better! (BTW, did the vet take any responsibility for her condition given that he started her on a higher dose and didn't suggest home testing?). Many people here have done the SubQ feeding or syringe feeding if you want to get her home. Sometimes all it takes for them to start eating again is to be finger fed. It's like they associate eating with how awful they felt and they getn"out of the habit" . You might try that when you go visit again..FortiFlora sometimes helps also. It's a probiotic your vet should have access to.
 
So, our cat has not eaten anything since Monday, at least.

We took food by, tried hand-feeding her, you name it; she didn't eat. Our vet has had her on fluids with a less than 5% dextrose mix, but she won't take any food, and until she eats, he won't give her insulin. Her blood sugar has been all over the place. 339 on Tuesday, then 254 on Wednesday (but still no food), then 152 yesterday, and today - it's 669??!! (With no food, no IV glucose, nothing).

We brought her home, and we stopped at PetSmart (only pet place near here). We got some senior formula "milk replacement"/supplement, a variety of canned cat foods, some nutritional gel (similar to the laxative you would give for hairballs), and my husband is getting some real dairy cream, some hamburger to brown up, and anything else we can figure out to give her. She spit out the nutritional gel and turned away from the canned food. We're letting her relax for a bit, and then I'm going to thin some of the wet food with some chicken broth and syringe-feed her if she won't take the cream or the milk replacement.

She is holding her head up, but she's not able to walk anymore. She tries to stand, but isn't able to get all the way up. She's just so weak - I don't know what else to do for her besides insert the tube. I imagine it's going to be a LOONNNNGGG night. ~O) We're taking her back to the vet in the morning; we just wanted to try to get her in a less stressful environment to see if she would be able to eat.

Thank you for the suggestions and prayers. We're not giving up yet. :)

AM
 
So sorry she's not doing too well. A feeding tube will be necessary if she hasn't eaten since Monday. Prayers for you and your kitty! o:-)
 
I second the feeding tube. It'll make things much easier on you guys and make sure she's getting the proper amount of nutrients. If she was diagnosed with hepatic lipidosis, I'm surprised they didn't already put one in! :o Lack of appetite is a side-effect of both hepatic lipidosis and DKA.

It's not so bad and doesn't bother the cat at all. My previous cat, Patrick, had to be tube-fed for a few months and he got to the point where he would purr in contentment when it was time to feed him. Once he started eating on his own, the vet walked me through over the phone how to remove it (it was Thanksgiving weekend).
 
Have you tried baby food?

Scooter needed that once when he was sick and it worked like a charm to stimulate his appetite. Make sure it is chicken only no additives. Beechnut brand is the best but any others may also help.

did you get a home testing monitor?
 
I would definitely ask about a feeding tube.
My cat was hospitalized for 8 days and wouldn't eat at the vet and they said he couldn't come home until he ate for them. Finally, he came home with a feeding tube. Feeding tubes save lives. Cats can not go a very long time without eating.
I hope she eats this morning or gets the tube put in. Another option is assisted feeding via syringe. I would recommend you join this Yahoo group called Feline-Assisted-Feeding or at least check them out https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/Feline-Assisted-Feeding/info This is the video on how to assist feed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U6o17wH6ujk
 
I just wanted to thank you all for your advice and prayers. Unfortunately, our sweet kitty lost her battle during the night and has gone on to the bridge. :cry:

We will miss her dearly, but won't forget the lessons we've learned through her and through this experience.

Thank you again,
AM
 
I'm so so very sorry it was her time to cross, she was a very sick girl. BIG HUGE LOOOOOOOOONG HUG - remember, she's not gone, you just have to hug her differently.

BIG HUGS,
 
I am so sorry.

Seems like she went to the Rainbow Bridge while at home with you...so much better than at the vet's all alone.

Land softly at the bridge...fun times await you there. rb_icon

Paw Hugs to you from me and RumpelT.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that your kitty passed away. We know that she was deeply loved by you and your DH and will be sorely missed.


Lighting a ring of candles, in loving memory of your beloved girl kitty. Goodbye sweet darling. You were deeply loved.
 

Attachments

  • candle.jpg
    candle.jpg
    7 KB · Views: 1,026
I am sorry to hear how quickly you lost your fur baby, but it is a blessing that she died on her own and at home. I have had to have two of my kitties put down by the vet and I felt awful making that decision. I know how much you will miss your kitty, because I still miss all of mine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top