Newly Diagnosed cat in DKA, looking for support and reassurance...

Status
Not open for further replies.
MangoPie

MangoPie

Member Since 2024
UPDATE 2: Sorry for all the updates! This has been a stressful ongoing issue for me and I've found it to be somewhat therapeutic to document the process somewhere. I think tonight is where I see whether my boy will make it or not. His electrolytes are a mess and need to start showing improvement soon or his prognosis will likely worsen. He definitely looks a lot brighter than he did before, but this change in attitude does not reflect his blood test results, so I will remain cautious.

He's a little gross and drolly looking but he's such an important cat to me. He's only 11 years old so I'm really hoping he can make it a few more years.
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachme...66cc0e71a8bfd58f9477e12b060bf3c491381768c4ef&

UPDATE: His phosphorus has dropped to dangerously low levels (1.9) and the vets have started to loose some confidence in his ability to improve. Hoping for the best, but it might be time for me to consider giving up. Really heartbroken considering how well he's been doing so far.

***

Hello all! New member who is very happy to find this forum. My cat has had a long history of medical conditions now and it seems as if Diabetes has now been added to the list.

The tl;dr of his situation is that he has been on steroids to manage gingivostomatitis for quite some time now. Diabetes seemed to be off of me and the vets radar since he had been fine for so long, but following a URI and now a UTI he has had a sudden crash, and I feel very lucky that I insisted that the vet take him in earlier rather than later. I was so confused about what might be wrong with him-- he was very lethargic and had no interest in eating. We initially thought it might be due to constipation-- he received an enema and the vet assured me that he would feel much better afterwards. When we took him home, things only got worse and worse...

He has now been at the vet for 3 days now recovering from DKA, he is slowly improving and looks better than when I brought him in for sure, but I'm still very worried he might crash again. The biggest concern right now is that he still will not eat. Today he had a feeding tube inserted to help with nutrience. I'm aware that most cats can successfully recover from DKA which is keeping me hopeful, but it's definitely been a very stressful and costly situation! The financial burden of it all is it's own can of worms as well-- every extra day only adds more to the bill and I am hoping that eventually some sort of resolution can be reached.

The vet has not spoken of any other conditions such as pancreatitis or fatty liver disease, so I'm hoping it's just the UTI that is the catalyst for this. His blood-sugar (blood glucose?? Still learning all of the terms) has been stable and/or lowering, which seems good. The vet said that his electrolytes and other readings still need a lot of correcting. His potassium in particular is quite low at the moment.

Has anyone else had their cat on a feeding tube? Did they eventually start eating again or is this something I should be super concerned about? I'm worried that he might never start eating again and what that might mean for his prognosis.
 
Last edited:
Hi,

Sorry to hear, I know how scary this all is. I'm still new to everything myself.

My cat was in the ICU for 11 days last year due to DKA and had the feeding tube and wouldn't eat. We are very bonded, and the consensus was to bring him home, as he may be more likely to eat that way.

I had to do some squeeze tube food before his insulin for a couple of weeks, so that he had proper food before his shots, but he eventually started eating and finishing his food on his own.

He went into into remission a couple months later. He become a social eater, and now requires pets while eating.

He's currently dealing with possibly being diabetic again, so I'm feeling that anxiety all over again. Great that a community and site like this exists. I'm sure you will get more knowledge people respond, but thought maybe this would help
 
ETheCat said:
Hi,

Sorry to hear, I know how scary this all is. I'm still new to everything myself.

My cat was in the ICU for 11 days last year due to DKA and had the feeding tube and wouldn't eat. We are very bonded, and the consensus was to bring him home, as he may be more likely to eat that way.

I had to do some squeeze tube food before his insulin for a couple of weeks, so that he had proper food before his shots, but he eventually started eating and finishing his food on his own.

He went into into remission a couple months later. He become a social eater, and now requires pets while eating.

He's currently dealing with possibly being diabetic again, so I'm feeling that anxiety all over again. Great that a community and site like this exists. I'm sure you will get more knowledge people respond, but thought maybe this would help
Click to expand...

Wow, 11 days! I hope it doesn't end up being that long for me.
At first my vet was confident he'd be home after one day, but it's clear now that it won't be the case...
I was a little optimistic at first but I'm glad I did some proper research into DKA to get a better idea of what I'd be dealing with. I was really distraught on the day that I brought him in, so perhaps they just wanted to reassure me.

Really hoping his prognosis is good! He's remained stable all throughout his visit and is definitely improving. After all the downtrends though I'm still very anxious about any curveballs, and I really hope further tests don't reveal more problems for us.
 
Hi and welcome to the group. My 10-year-old boy Hendrick was hospitalized with DKA for about 3 days (2 nights) but thankfully he made a full recovery and is now a diet-controlled diabetic feline going on 1.5 years! Thanks to the wonderful people here, and the Tight Regulation dosing method. Paws crossed your boy Mango bounces back!
 
Hello all, thank you so much for the supportive words. It really means a lot to me...

It is now day 4 at 5am, we got a call from the vet to say that he's doing better and we've successfully made it through the night :)

Yesterday the vet said she had never seen a cats potassium drop so quickly and they had only given him a low dose of insulin. They treated his deficiency quite aggressively, and the number is now back up to a 3.4 which is a much better. He's now up and walking arround too! Even used the litter tray for the first time in awhile.

Will have to figure out a plan for tomorrow since it will be Australian day (and also live in Australia), but hopefully that stress or can be sorted and that things continue to improve.

Should have mentioned too-- is name is Hugo! Confusing with the username, I know. It's just one I picked out haha
 
@MangoPie
My cat started eating 5 days after his e tube was placed. His tube was placed for nearly 2 weeks though. I didnt want to risk removing it and then him be in the same situation again, and not able to eat. It was also easier to give him meds in the tube. I had a Kitty Kollar (this is for tube placed in the esophagus) around his neck to hold the tube in place and to cover the incision area. Even if he would have scratched the area, the collar protected it. Please keep the kollar on until the incision has fully healed. My cat scratched the area where his incision was. I had to make a type of collar for him as I had already returned the kitty kollar back to the vet. I am sure because it was an incision sight, it itched as it healed.

Make sure to keep the anti nausea meds (ondansetron, not cerenia) and appetite stimulants in his system even after his tube is removed. My cat's vet didn't think he needed it anymore and didn't write me another prescription. I had to go back to their office because he definitely needed more. When it is time to stop these medications, please ween him off. Do not abruptly stop them. This isn't good for your cat. I recommend keeping some ondansetron on hand moving forward also. I stress ondansetron because cerenia didn't help my cat at all. Cerenia is more of an antiemetics (made for dogs) where Ondansetron helps with nausea. This set my cat's healing back some, not having the correct meds initially.

Make sure you are properly flushing the tube when you get home before and after each use. Sometimes, you need to flush during use too. Please go very slow when tube feeding. Your cat can aspirate if not. If you notice him gagging, stop feeding immediately. Call your vet. I'm not telling you any of this to scare you. It is a risk you need to be aware of.

I've never heard of a cat going home 1 day after being treated for DKA. It is usually several days. I couldn't afford 10k to leave my cat. I treated him at home for everything, but I don't recommend anyone try this. It was hell for both of us. If you can afford to keep your cat at the vet, please do so. My cat had ketones present, but they had not become acidotic. He would not have been released to me if his ketones were acidotic because you can't treat that at home.

I don't know anything about this situation other than what is posted in this thread. I'm hopeful I'm not missing key information as I didnt try and find all post related to Hugo.

Had I not allowed a feeding tube to be placed, my cat would've died. I'm glad you went ahead and placed one.
 
Last edited:
Basic's Mom said:
@MangoPie
My cat started eating 5 days after his e tube was placed. His tube was placed for nearly 2 weeks though. I didnt want to risk removing it and then him be in the same situation again, and not able to eat. It was also easier to give him meds in the tube. I had a Kitty Kollar (this is for tube placed in the esophagus) around his neck to hold the tube in place and to cover the incision area. Even if he would have scratched the area, the collar protected it. Please keep the kollar on until the incision has fully healed. My cat scratched the area where his incision was. I had to make a type of collar for him as I had already returned the kitty kollar back to the vet. I am sure because it was an incision sight, it itched as it healed.

Make sure to keep the anti nausea meds (ondansetron, not cerenia) and appetite stimulants in his system even after his tube is removed. My cat's vet didn't think he needed it anymore and didn't write me another prescription. I had to go back to their office because he definitely needed more. When it is time to stop these medications, please ween him off. Do not abruptly stop them. This isn't good for your cat. I recommend keeping some ondansetron on hand moving forward also. I stress ondansetron because cerenia didn't help my cat at all. Cerenia is more of an antiemetics (made for dogs) where Ondansetron helps with nausea. This set my cat's healing back some, not having the correct meds initially.

Make sure you are properly flushing the tube when you get home before and after each use. Sometimes, you need to flush during use too. Please go very slow when tube feeding. Your cat can aspirate if not. If you notice him gagging, stop feeding immediately. Call your vet. I'm not telling you any of this to scare you. It is a risk you need to be aware of.

I've never heard of a cat going home 1 day after being treated for DKA. It is usually several days. I couldn't afford 10k to leave my cat. I treated him at home for everything, but I don't recommend anyone try this. It was hell for both of us. If you can afford to keep your cat at the vet, please do so. My cat had ketones present, but they had not become acidotic. He would not have been released to me if his ketones were acidotic because you can't treat that at home.

I don't know anything about this situation other than what is posted in this thread. I'm hopeful I'm not missing key information as I didnt try and find all post related to Hugo.

Had I not allowed a feeding tube to be placed, my cat would've died. I'm glad you went ahead and placed one.
Click to expand...

Hello! And thank you so much for your response-- it has been really informative.

This is my first thread and post so you won't find further History on this forum. The only things I haven't mentioned are his asthma and constipation issues, but these aren't having much baring on his situation at the moment

His feeding tube is actually the one that is inserted through the nose and not the neck. It seems as if my vets intend to take it slow with feeding at the moment. I'm not sure if this will be able to be managed at home or if it's viable long term if his appetite doesn't return soon.

I will definitely insist on keeping up with appetite stimulants when we are home-- ill make sure to check which one they are giving him also. He is usually a veracious eater but with how often I've been in and out of emergency over the past two weeks, I don't intend on taking any chances.

Thank you once again for your help. I think I'm estimated to be in the 5-6k spending range so it has definitely been a lot. While I could fathom treatment at home, I definitely do not want to stop vetinary monitoring early.
 
Do they know what caused the DKA? What are his liver values? You can look at my Labs Tabs on my spreadsheet and compare my cat's numbers with yours. My cat had hepatic lipidosis aka fatty liver disease at diagnosis. Because of this, antinausea was a must. You never want to give a nausea cat an appetite stimulant either. You want to give them the antinausea, wait for onset of the medication, then give the appetite stimulant. My cat is also very motivated by food. It was hard to see him hungry for days until his tube was placed. He still struggled to regain his appetite after the tube was removed until I got him on the proper meds and proper doses for those meds.

A nasogastric tube is what he has. I'm not sure how long those are allowed to be in. I think they are more temporary than the e tube my cat had. I'm hopeful Hugo's appetite has returned by then.

I'm glad your latest update was that he was feeling better. I hope they have gotten his other levels back under control too.

You are welcome.
 
Basic's Mom said:
Do they know what caused the DKA? What are his liver values? You can look at my Labs Tabs on my spreadsheet and compare my cat's numbers with yours. My cat had hepatic lipidosis aka fatty liver disease at diagnosis. Because of this, antinausea was a must. You never want to give a nausea cat an appetite stimulant either. You want to give them the antinausea, wait for onset of the medication, then give the appetite stimulant. My cat is also very motivated by food. It was hard to see him hungry for days until his tube was placed. He still struggled to regain his appetite after the tube was removed until I got him on the proper meds and proper doses for those meds.

A nasogastric tube is what he has. I'm not sure how long those are allowed to be in. I think they are more temporary than the e tube my cat had. I'm hopeful Hugo's appetite has returned by then.

I'm glad your latest update was that he was feeling better. I hope they have gotten his other levels back under control too.

You are welcome.
Click to expand...

I believe the cause had a number of factors. Long-term use of redipred (so a corticosteroid), an unidentified UTI, and just a general lack of treatment when he has probably had diabetes for a little while now. He had been consistently losing weight despite eating a lot for months. Unfortunately the vet was booked out for awhile and I was just hoping he'd stay stable until his next appointment (which at the time seemed reasonable. He seemed to be in very good health arround Christmas time when I made the appointment). Things deteriorated quickly from there. I really should have pushed for more blood tests / blood glucose tests. He had been fine on redipred for so long that I forgot it was on the radar.

The vet has not mentioned fatty liver disease so I'm hoping this has been ruled out through his blood work, though I may inquire about further testing if there's any doubt.
 
MangoPie said:
Wow, 11 days! I hope it doesn't end up being that long for me.
At first my vet was confident he'd be home after one day, but it's clear now that it won't be the case...
I was a little optimistic at first but I'm glad I did some proper research into DKA to get a better idea of what I'd be dealing with. I was really distraught on the day that I brought him in, so perhaps they just wanted to reassure me.

Really hoping his prognosis is good! He's remained stable all throughout his visit and is definitely improving. After all the downtrends though I'm still very anxious about any curveballs, and I really hope further tests don't reveal more problems for us.
Click to expand...
My boy was in the hospital for 8 days with DKA, hepatic lipidosis due to not eating. He got an esophageal feeding tube, which was a game-changer for him. Yes, the daily IV fluids and insulin, etc. we life savers for him, but it was only when he started with the feeding tube at the ER vet and they began “slow feeding” him with a metered infusion of nutrients through the tube (gradually increasing the food over time) that he really turned the corner. How is your baby doing now?
 
I couldn't see the picture of Hugo earlier from work, finally saw it now. awww what a poor sick boy! I hope he feels better soon.

My wife is an Aussie, she's from Mackay QLD. I love your country! I've been there five times now, and cannot wait to go back. I stole one of your prettiest and smartest ladies, sorry about that. She's here in the states with me now. And actually the fact that we're both 100% cat-people is a big reason we are together.

Ok now SUPER IMPORTANT INFO...when Hugo comes home he will be in a very tenuous post-DKA condition and there are things you are going to want to do to make sure he doesn't go BACK into DKA:

  • FOOD! Feed about 150% of normal calories. Ketones build up when there is not enough insulin, food and water.
  • Plenty of water! Water helps flush those nasty ketones out
  • Insulin, insulin, insulin. Make sure he is getting the right dose of insulin with consistent dosing times
  • Test daily for ketones! We used a blood ketone meter but many people use keto-stix. Dip them in a urine clump in the litter box or snag some pee with a ladle or put plastic down under the litter to catch urine.
 
Some more updates as of today...

Positives:
  • He has finally gained weight through his feeding tube! It's not much, but considering he hasn't gained weight in months, I'll take this as a good sign. The vet also let me know he is now tolerating small amounts of food through a syringe. He really has started to perk up after being given the feeding tube.
  • His blood glucose levels are remaining mostly stable with little drops and rises here and there.
  • He's consistently been looking a lot brighter
  • I asked about fatty liver disease and that seems to be off of the table. They mentioned that his pancreas is 'very angry right now' (don't know what that means in medical terms lol), but they are also keeping that on the radar and treating it
Negatives:
  • Vets have told me that he isn't 'out of the woods' yet. Unfortunately getting his electrolytes under control has been a real struggle for the vets. They are not sure why this is the case. Anytime they get his blood glucose under control, his electrolytes get messed up, and every time they get the electrolytes corrected, his blood glucose is higher again. I don't know how this is going to shape up long term. They mentioned a transfusion of some sort to correct his blood glucose-- would this be a good thing to consider sooner than later?
  • He is back to emergency today for more strict monitoring. This is going to be quite expensive so I'm really starting to weigh up the pros and cons and his current prognosis.
  • Just in general, he's been a difficult case. The vets have said it's not usually this difficult to correct a cat in his current state.

Other notes:
  • I did ask about the larger feeding tube. This might be an option later on.
  • I forgot to ask about ketones again! Ketones have not come up in conversation yet which I find quite odd. I will make a note to ask next time
 
MangoPie said:
Some more updates as of today...

Positives:
  • He has finally gained weight through his feeding tube! It's not much, but considering he hasn't gained weight in months, I'll take this as a good sign. The vet also let me know he is now tolerating small amounts of food through a syringe. He really has started to perk up after being given the feeding tube.
  • His blood glucose levels are remaining mostly stable with little drops and rises here and there.
  • He's consistently been looking a lot brighter
  • I asked about fatty liver disease and that seems to be off of the table. They mentioned that his pancreas is 'very angry right now' (don't know what that means in medical terms lol), but they are also keeping that on the radar and treating it
Negatives:
  • Vets have told me that he isn't 'out of the woods' yet. Unfortunately getting his electrolytes under control has been a real struggle for the vets. They are not sure why this is the case. Anytime they get his blood glucose under control, his electrolytes get messed up, and every time they get the electrolytes corrected, his blood glucose is higher again. I don't know how this is going to shape up long term. They mentioned a transfusion of some sort to correct his blood glucose-- would this be a good thing to consider sooner than later?
  • He is back to emergency today for more strict monitoring. This is going to be quite expensive so I'm really starting to weigh up the pros and cons and his current prognosis.
  • Just in general, he's been a difficult case. The vets have said it's not usually this difficult to correct a cat in his current state.

Other notes:
  • I did ask about the larger feeding tube. This might be an option later on.
  • I forgot to ask about ketones again! Ketones have not come up in conversation yet which I find quite odd. I will make a note to ask next time
Click to expand...

@Suzanne & Darcy
@Wendy&Neko

Her first post starts with
Hello all! New member who is very happy to find this forum. It's in post #1

Her second update is also in post #1 starting with
UPDATE 2:Sorry for all the updates!

As you can see her 3rd update is where I tagged you

I'm only explaining this is because of the way she gave the updates
 
Last edited:
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Have you read this article from the World Small Animal Veterinary Association regarding management of DKA. I think it would be worth you reading it to see if he is being managed correctly. I think that one red flag is the fact that they seem to be not checking for ketones.
https://www.vin.com/apputil/content/defaultadv1.aspx?pId=11372&meta=Generic&id=5709925
Click to expand...

I've had a skim of this but I haven't tried to understand all the minute details yet. I feel as if they have to be monitoring for ketones, and that perhaps it just hasn't been brought up because things are ok on that end and they don't want to overwhelm me with more information. He has been back and forth between two practices over the past few days (my main practice doesn't have overnight monitoring), so between 3 different vets, I can't imagine that they all would have all forgotten to check ketones. The focus has very much been on his electrolytes and how odd it is for them to continue to destabilize throughout his treatment. There has been a particular focus on his phosphorus and potassium levels.

I'm really hoping they can be stabilized or perhaps insulin treatment will not be viable for him long term. He's always been a very puzzling cat to veterinarians and nothing has ever been simple with him.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
@Suzanne & Darcy
@Wendy&Neko

Her first post starts with
Hello all! New member who is very happy to find this forum. It's in post #1

Her second update is also in post #1 starting with
UPDATE 2:Sorry for all the updates!

As you can see her 3rd update is where I tagged you

I'm only explaining this is because of the way she gave the updates
Click to expand...

Thanks for explaining! Sorry for how sporadic it's been, still new and figuring out how I should be doing updates. New posts seem to be the way to go :)
 
MangoPie said:
I've had a skim of this but I haven't tried to understand all the minute details yet. I feel as if they have to be monitoring for ketones, and that perhaps it just hasn't been brought up because things are ok on that end and they don't want to overwhelm me with more information. He has been back and forth between two practices over the past few days (my main practice doesn't have overnight monitoring), so between 3 different vets, I can't imagine that they all would have all forgotten to check ketones. The focus has very much been on his electrolytes and how odd it is for them to continue to destabilize throughout his treatment. There has been a particular focus on his phosphorus and potassium levels.

I'm really hoping they can be stabilized or perhaps insulin treatment will not be viable for him long term. He's always been a very puzzling cat to veterinarians and nothing has ever been simple with him.
Click to expand...
My boy was between the ER, which only operates on nights and weekends… all animals are picked up before 8 a.m. and you must take them to your regular vet for the day. In the evening you do it all over by picking them up and transporting to the EE VET for overnight treatment. We did this for 8 days before he could be released. His electrolytes did go up and down quite a bit.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
My boy was between the ER, which only operates on nights and weekends… all animals are picked up before 8 a.m. and you must take them to your regular vet for the day. In the evening you do it all over by picking them up and transporting to the EE VET for overnight treatment. We did this for 8 days before he could be released. His electrolytes did go up and down quite a bit.
Click to expand...

Same thing here! I don't have my own car so the transport alone has been a headache. Before and after work I've been rushing back and forth between vets which are about 25mins away from each other.

It's also reassuring to hear that the problems with electrolytes are at least somewhat normal. I've been doing the best that I can to learn about what it all means, it's been making me wonder if they'll ever be able to remain stable without ongoing intervention.

I'm now on day 5 and thankfully have days off until Monday. I'm hoping that his physical improvements are a good sign, I just know now not to get my hopes up since this doesn't always reflect the internal side-- still, it has been concurrent with improvements thus far.
 
Insulin drives potassium into the cells (and out of the bloodstream), so it makes some sense to me that getting better blood glucose numbers could go hand in hand with some lower blood potassium levels. At one point when my boy was very sick and hospitalized (although not in DKA), the small dose of Lantus they administered drove down his blood potassium levels to a point that was nearly inconsistent with life. The IM vet was surprised but they addressed it with IV supplementation and over time things stabilized. It can be rocky in the beginning, especially with DKA. Cats have amazing healing capabilities, however, and we do see many pull through and do well given some time and proper medical care. I hope that’s the case for Hugo.

Just curious…why was he on a corticosteroid and is he still on it?
 
JL and Chip said:
Insulin drives potassium into the cells (and out of the bloodstream), so it makes some sense to me that getting better blood glucose numbers could go hand in hand with some lower blood potassium levels. At one point when my boy was very sick and hospitalized (although not in DKA), the small dose of Lantus they administered drove down his blood potassium levels to a point that was nearly inconsistent with life. The IM vet was surprised but they addressed it with IV supplementation and over time things stabilized. It can be rocky in the beginning, especially with DKA. Cats have amazing healing capabilities, however, and we do see many pull through and do well given some time and proper medical care. I hope that’s the case for Hugo.

Just curious…why was he on a corticosteroid and is he still on it?
Click to expand...

I'm glad to hear things worked out for you. Cats really are amazing with their ability to keep going, so I'm hoping my boy still has the will to get through it.

He has an interesting case of gingivostomatitis (the vet called it chronic proliferative plasmatic pharyngitis), another one of those things where my vet told me that, I quote, 'in my 20 years of practice I've never had to give out this diagnosis'. We initially thought it was throat cancer as the inflammation was so bad, it had spread down his throat. The best way I can describe it is it is like gingivostomatitis but it only affects one side of his mouth. He has had all his teeth removed on that side to manage it (which has helped a ton, might I add!), but the corticosteroid was required in order to keep inflammation down to a comfortable level. We have discussed the possibility of removing all of his remaining teeth to keep his redipred dosage as low as possible should he pull through.

I cannot say if they are still keeping him on the redipred at this point-- if they are, I hope it's not a high dosage considering it was the medication that caused this problem in the first place. He has been on this medication for 2 whole years, which is definitely longer than is recommended. I could understand that maybe the inflammation in his mouth would effect recovery, but I trust that the vets know what they are doing in terms of balancing this medication and his current condition.
 
This is a small update, but Hugo started eating on his own again today! It was only a small amount of food but it's promising to hear.

What concerns me now is that I found out that my vet hasn't been testing for ketones! I can't imagine why since knowing the level of ketones he has should be integral to optimizing his recovery from DKA. He is now going to be tested so I should soon have a reading.

The emergency vet was also keen to talk to me about longer-term treatment now which I hope bodes well for his recovery. I personally haven't tried looking too far into it just in case Hugo didn't make it, but I'm feeling a bit more keen now. She suggested giving him a Freestyle Libre reader as he's been looking a bit bruised from the samples taken manually. I'm wondering if this is a good option and/or it is very accurate. It might not be my long-term go-to if it's expensive and/or difficult to manage but I'd love to hear some thoughts.

I will also be looking into monitoring his ketones at home as well as this also seems optimal. After going through all of this I can't imagine not taking every precaution in order to prevent it in the future.

His current diet consists of a mix of wet and dry food but I will be removing his dry food entirely after this. He is currently on Ziwi Peak for wet food which seems to still be a good choice for a diabetic cat. It is expensive, so I might look into some other brands that I can use in conjunction with Ziwi Peak

Thank you all so much for your comments and help over the past few days. I will continue to update. I read everyone's posts and appreciate all the advice given SO so much. I'll be very happy to remain here as treatment (hopefully) continues as you've all been wonderful :)
 
that's a huge milestone and bodes well! When my boy was in hospital for DKA he would not eat and they actually brought us in and asked us to bring some of his favorite treats to see if we could get him to eat anything. They put us in a room and after he calmed down a little we tried the treats, holding our breath...

When he happily munched down on the treats I lost it, cried my eyes out. They let us take him home that afternoon. I hope your Hugo is home soon!
 
MangoPie said:
Thanks for explaining! Sorry for how sporadic it's been, still new and figuring out how I should be doing updates. New posts seem to be the way to go :)
Click to expand...
No problem at all, I just wanted Suzanne to see the whole picture.
Saying prayers for Hugo .That's great news that Hugo started to eat on his own today, that is promising to hear .:cat: Come on Hugo you can do it ,keep eating :bighug::bighug::bighug:♥
 
MangoPie said:
This is a small update, but Hugo started eating on his own again today! It was only a small amount of food but it's promising to hear.

What concerns me now is that I found out that my vet hasn't been testing for ketones! I can't imagine why since knowing the level of ketones he has should be integral to optimizing his recovery from DKA. He is now going to be tested so I should soon have a reading.

The emergency vet was also keen to talk to me about longer-term treatment now which I hope bodes well for his recovery. I personally haven't tried looking too far into it just in case Hugo didn't make it, but I'm feeling a bit more keen now. She suggested giving him a Freestyle Libre reader as he's been looking a bit bruised from the samples taken manually. I'm wondering if this is a good option and/or it is very accurate. It might not be my long-term go-to if it's expensive and/or difficult to manage but I'd love to hear some thoughts.

I will also be looking into monitoring his ketones at home as well as this also seems optimal. After going through all of this I can't imagine not taking every precaution in order to prevent it in the future.

His current diet consists of a mix of wet and dry food but I will be removing his dry food entirely after this. He is currently on Ziwi Peak for wet food which seems to still be a good choice for a diabetic cat. It is expensive, so I might look into some other brands that I can use in conjunction with Ziwi Peak

Thank you all so much for your comments and help over the past few days. I will continue to update. I read everyone's posts and appreciate all the advice given SO so much. I'll be very happy to remain here as treatment (hopefully) continues as you've all been wonderful :)
Click to expand...
Eating! That’s HUGE! I’m super happy to hear this. I was worried about the ketones, but it did seem improbable that they were not testing them. Was the ER vet testing them? And the regular vet was not? When my boy was in the hospital for DKA, I bought a Nova Max Plus Blood Ketone Meter from ADW Diabetes Supply. There’s no way I wanted to risk another DKA and I didn’t want to rely on catching him in the litter box. He did tend to be a cat who produced a lot of ketones until his insulin dose got closer to what he needed.

Go Hugo go! We are all rooting for you.

With regard to Potassium we had low potassium and then one day super high potassium- so high his heart could have just stopped. The treatment was insulin (a short but fast acting insulin) to get the blood potassium levels down and to make sure it stayed in a good range. They monitored all night long very carefully. Finally, things started to stabilize. We didn’t have electrolyte problems after the hospitalization as I recall.
 
Oh, and the Libre might be a good idea for a little while in the beginning. Long term they may be expensive. Some people will place them on their cats themselves instead of having the vet do it- to save money. I noticed Darcy’s ears got really bruised up when the vets were testing him. It’s like they didn’t take care when poking his ear. I just assumed they didn’t take the time to apply pressure to his ear for a minute after poking. That helps a lot. I almost never bruised him like that. I also rotated ears and moved up and down the ear just a little bit. Also, often they try to hit the marginal vein to make sure they get a lot of blood. The best way is to poke just outside of that marginal vein. Anyway, we can help with all of that after he is home! He IS coming home!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Oh, and the Libre might be a good idea for a little while in the beginning. Long term they may be expensive. Some people will place them on their cats themselves instead of having the vet do it- to save money. I noticed Darcy’s ears got really bruised up when the vets were testing him. It’s like they didn’t take care when poking his ear. I just assumed they didn’t take the time to apply pressure to his ear for a minute after poking. That helps a lot. I almost never bruised him like that. I also rotated ears and moved up and down the ear just a little bit. Also, often they try to hit the marginal vein to make sure they get a lot of blood. The best way is to poke just outside of that marginal vein. Anyway, we can help with all of that after he is home! He IS coming home!
Click to expand...

He has his Libre on now! It's amazing that such technology is available to us. When I visited today the vet showed me how to use it-- had the results immediately sent to his phone! Super cool and convenient. It did sound expensive, though, so I made sure to ask about the normal pinprick method. I'll definitely try it out in the future, maybe after his Libre comes off and his ears look a little nicer.

I was able to watch him eat today, held the bowl up to him and he scoffed down a ton of food, SUPER pleased considering he wouldn't even look at food 2 days ago. He's even getting a bit naughty again and trying to pull out is IVs.
The vet told me he might be able to come home tomorrow if he continues to eat-- they are still working out the correct insulin dose to give him. Last night he was hypoglycemic with only a low dose of insulin so they are going to see how he does on an even lower dose. Still thinking about food considerations with all of this in mind. I was planning to go all in on the low carbs, but that now that seems like a recipe for disaster all things considered. I could start slow and still keep some higher carb foods in his diet while I transition? I can't really say he has a 'current diet' at the moment since he's been fed on a tube and whatever the vets have available for the past week.

That said, I hope this ends up being my last proper update before he comes home! I've seen some sad DKA occurrences on this forum here and there so I'll be happy if this turns out to be a success case. I know the recovery rate isn't awful but it's definitely very scary and you never really know day to day.

Also again, all of the support has been wonderful, thank you so much! The battle obviously isn't over yet, so hopefully things go smoothly once he's back home and comfortable :)
 
MangoPie said:
He has his Libre on now! It's amazing that such technology is available to us. When I visited today the vet showed me how to use it-- had the results immediately sent to his phone! Super cool and convenient. It did sound expensive, though, so I made sure to ask about the normal pinprick method. I'll definitely try it out in the future, maybe after his Libre comes off and his ears look a little nicer.

I was able to watch him eat today, held the bowl up to him and he scoffed down a ton of food, SUPER pleased considering he wouldn't even look at food 2 days ago. He's even getting a bit naughty again and trying to pull out is IVs.
The vet told me he might be able to come home tomorrow if he continues to eat-- they are still working out the correct insulin dose to give him. Last night he was hypoglycemic with only a low dose of insulin so they are going to see how he does on an even lower dose. Still thinking about food considerations with all of this in mind. I was planning to go all in on the low carbs, but that now that seems like a recipe for disaster all things considered. I could start slow and still keep some higher carb foods in his diet while I transition? I can't really say he has a 'current diet' at the moment since he's been fed on a tube and whatever the vets have available for the past week.

That said, I hope this ends up being my last proper update before he comes home! I've seen some sad DKA occurrences on this forum here and there so I'll be happy if this turns out to be a success case. I know the recovery rate isn't awful but it's definitely very scary and you never really know day to day.

Also again, all of the support has been wonderful, thank you so much! The battle obviously isn't over yet, so hopefully things go smoothly once he's back home and comfortable :)
Click to expand...
A fantastic update! Thank you so much.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top