Newbie, Dom has issues after 4 years on Vetsulin, not eating

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dommjz

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Dom is an 18 plus year old cat. I inherited from my aunt when she went into a rest home. He's now my very dear friend. Here's what's happening: a week or so ago he had ONE bout of diarrhea, I took him to the vet, started Clavamox since the vet said he had a few bacteria in stool, told me to stop as soon as stool started to form, only 2 days so i did stop. Other crisis, my Mom's 17 year old dog had to be put to sleep because of kidney failure; new little young dog here. Dom always raised with dogs, curious, no big panic, he swatted her once and that was it. 3 days later, Dom had a small hypoglycemic event; luckily I noticed he was not his usual self. Rushed to vet, vet took blood tests, 70 for blood sugar, slight anemia, all else fine. He had me stop shots for 36 hours (Vetsulin 3 units twice a day-4 years, no home monitoring, curves at vets fine for 2 years). I did not know to ask for a curve once a year after that,vets had front desk changes, no one suggested as I picked up Vetsulin. 36 hours later and not much eating his glucose was 565! I am now back to giving him 2 units of Vetsulin. He is not eating well, is drinking some water and under bed where he stayed for 2 months after he came from my aunt 4 years ago. I KNOW ABOUT VETSULIN, BUT HAVE CONTINUED TO USE IT BECAUSE DOM HAS DONE SO WELL ON IT UP UNTIL NOW. I have not done home testing, after this note I am going out to buy home monitoring kit and begin this. I have tried many kinds of wet food to entice eating. Last night gave him roast beef. He has been eating his freeze dried wild salmon kitty cookies, but this morning only one before his shot. I am also going to pick up baby food to try. I am supposed to try 2 units of Vetsulin for 10 days and then come back for a curve. Dom HATES the vets so stress there is definitely an issue. In 10 days of not eating well he can lose a lot of weight, though he is now overweight. The 2 units may be too much with the not eating much right now. I do not want to drag my feet here and have him get in a worse condition....suggestions?
Sorry if this is too long, tried to give whole picture all at once to avoid too much back and forth. Have not done boards before, hope I am doing it correctly. Thank you. nailbite_smile
 
The not eating and hiding are concerning. I would probably want to go back to the vet to see if he can be tested for ketones...you can do it at home, just get some ketodiastix at the pharmacy and try to catch some pee. This may be difficult, hence the vet visit. Also, if he hasn't eaten well...has he eaten anything? Things can go bad very quickly. And you are right to be concerned about giving insulin without food on board. So many variables right now. You definitely need to get the home testing and ketostix at a minimum...but do not hesitate to get to the vet also. I hope he is better soon!
 
Good luck with Dom and with the hometesting if you do that to give you a clear picture of what's going on. Just FYI, Clavamox causes diarrhea in my 15+ y o cat.
 
Dom,
Welcome to the FDMB. You have come to a good place to get some help.
Your post was a bit difficult to decipher but several things are a concern. For folks to actually help you you need to get some real data ASAP. and it is really important that you get him to eat. I would not shoot insulin without food in his system. Better too high for awhile than too low for a minute.

1) Ketodiastix or ketostyx are available without a prescription at any pharmacy window. Directions are on the bottle. Basically you dip the strip in fresh urine and it tells you whether your kitty is excreting ketones. Ketones are a serious emergency and need vet help immediately. Some folks collect pee with a ladle, others are able to run it through a stream while he's going, some put plastic wrap in the litter box. you just need a drop. If you get positive ketones, you are off to the vet without delay....

2) Home testing glucose is crucial. Many folks seem to like the Relion meters available at Walmart (without a prescription) and the strips are more reasonable than most. Look for stickies/videos in the forum that explain tips for successful testing. It really isn't hard. You want to test his blood a minimum of before every shot. and since you are having trouble now I would collect data every 2 hours to see what is really going on, or at least as often as possible. When you get numbers, post them as : +1, +2, +3 etc hours since the last insulin injection, rather than clock hours (we cover every time zone)

3) I used vetsulin up until Nov 09 and I home test. At that time, I noticed a sudden onset of many very low random glucoses numbers that were very unusual for my guy. My cat has a disease (acromegaly) that makes him very resistant to insulin's effects so he never hypo'd but most diabetic cats could have had a problem. Your number fluctuations could have been caused by Vetsulin.

4) 70 is not typically a "hypo " number. It is a perfect BG for a non diabetic cat. BUT, Since he was stressed at the vet, it probably was lower at home, so it may have been a hypo. Again, I would seriously wonder about the vetsulin causing it. Sometimes after a hypo I've heard you will see numbers go sky high and erratic for awhile.

There is a new FDA approved insulin called Prozinc that many vets are just learning about. It seems to be very smooth acting and was very well accepted by my little long term vetsulin user. I'm really happy we switched. Something to consider.
 
Hello, I just wanted to add to the good advice already received that it is not just that vetsulin is a fast acting insulin that raises concerns. Currently vets are being advised by the fda to not prescribe it and to switch clients currently using it, as there are problems with the vetsulin itself and its ability to be offer consistent results.

Please have a look at the stickies here on the vetsulin insulin support group. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=311
I used this insulin and have supported many while they worked with it, but at this time I have no faith in it and we are seeing kitties end up with terribly inconsistent readings that sometimes lead to ketones and DKA due to the problems.

While you are sorting out what is going on with your kitty, (and hiding and diahhrea are very concerning) I am glad you are reading and looking to what you can do to be proactive about at the moment. ketone testing and looking at an insulin change would be something to consider asap.

Please keep us posted as to how your kitty is doing and feel free to ask any questions.
Kimmee
 
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