Newly Diagnosed Diabetes & Heart Issues

Status
Not open for further replies.
taylor_hubbard

taylor_hubbard

Member Since 2014
Hi,

I am brand new to this forum so I apologize in advance for my newness. My 9yr black shorthair, Tyrone, was a lively spirited cat until this past Saturday (4/5/2014_ when he was very lethargic. We took him into the ER vet and he was diagnosed with diabetes and an X-ray showed a slightly enlarged heart (has a recently developed heart murmur). He came home with us today (Monday) and will be going in for an ultrasound on his heart tomorrow.

I guess my question for everyone is - has anyone dealt with a cat that has both issues? Heart disease and diabetes? My vet said it's going to be a rough road but seem optimistic if the heart issues can be treated. Looking for some guidance and support. Tyrone is my baby. Thanks :)

Taylor
 
There are a few folks here who have dealt with both. You might browse these posts.

Things that will be important:
Home glucose testing to keep him safe.

Low carb canned or raw food. Cat Info explains why and has a food list here.
 
Hi Taylor and extra sweet kitty Tyrone and welcome to the message board.

No apologies needed as this is exactly where we expect new members to post and introduce themselves and their kitty.

My cat Wink is diabetic and has a heart murmur also, a level one the lowest grade/ranking for heart murmurs.

Did your vet say what grade the heart murmur was?
 
Hi Deb & Wink,

Thank you for your warm welcome! It's been a couple days and I now have more information. His heart murmur was initially a 4 or 5 by my regular vet but upon a referral to a specialty clinic that did a echogram on his heart the murmur is mild and a 1. He has been diagnosed at this point with cardio-myapathy but could possibly be hypothyroidism. We are getting that tested this Monday to rule out. He is on a few heart meds and insulin (glargine). This is such a new world to me but knowing that my little guy is getting stronger and healthy again every day is so worth it!

A week ago he was a happy healthy kitty and then it seemed like he hit a brick wall and was on death's door. I want to ensure I am giving him the best care so at this point I will need to continue to do research. Thanks again for your warm welcome and let me know if there's a special thread or group for fur parents who are dealing with a double diagnosis. Thanks!

Taylor & Tyrone
 
A note about the heart murmur - a murmur suggests the blood flow through the heart may not be flowing smoothly.
If the blood pools and slows down, it can clot. And if a clot forms, it can block blood flow in any number of locations in the body.
It can cause a heart attack, a stroke, a pulmonary embolism, or a saddle thrombus (a blood clot to the arteries supplying the hind legs).

This may be something to discuss with your vet, as there are anti-clotting agents which could be protective against these risks.
 
Hi BJM,

Thanks for the post- I did do some research on the murmur when this initially happened. Unfortunately about a year ago I lost another one of my cats to a saddle thrombus (something I do not wish on any pet parent) so I am extremely aware of the dangers. I did speak of my concerns of the murmur and while my vet said there is always a small risk- the echo showed a mild left atrail enlargement and slightly thickened wall. He prescribed Engalapril, Lasix, and Atenolol to help with his heart condition.
 
It was how I lost Spitzer.

Maybe ask about a touch of fish oil? It has blood thinning properties in humans; might have them in cats, too.
 
Hi Taylor and welcome to you and Tyrone. There are a few kitties here with cardiomyopathy and diabetes. My Neko has a level 2/3 murmur but the cardio vet didn't think the echocardiogram showed myopathy. I also lost a kitty to saddle thrombosis a couple years ago (2 days before his echo was scheduled).

There is no special group for people with a double diagnosis, but there are a couple people in the Lantus TR forum with kitties on the same meds as Tyrone is now.
 
Hi Taylor! Thanks for the update on Tyrone and his heart issues.

The Lantus insulin you are using for Tyrone is one of the 3 best ones for diabetic cats. We have seen many kitties be able to achieve remission with a good insulin like lantus, very low carb canned food and home testing.

How much Lantus is Tyrone getting and how often? Most kitties only need a tiny starting dose, like 1unit and need dosing twice a day.

Are you interested in learning to home test?

We can give you links to the how to's of home testing. It's pretty simply, basically just poking your cats ear to get a teeny tiny drop of blood and using a glucometer with a little test strip to sip up the blood to get a reading of the BG (blood glucose) level. It's a great way to help keep your kitty safe. Most of us here use human glucometers, because of the much less expensive test strips.
 
Hi Deb & WInk,

Tyrone is getting 1 unit of lantus - twice a day. He is going into the vet on Monday to do a blood sugar check as well as a thyroid check. Although, I am very interested in doing in-home testing and I have been doing some research with the help of this forum. I really want to do the tight regulation so that he could possibly go into remission. I am just so happy that my little boy is almost back to his normal self since last Saturday this all hit our family like a brick wall.

I will continue to search out this forum for all my basic questions but he is doing MUCH better since last Sunday. I hope that he continues to improve and I'm so happy to have a great resource site on hand. Thanks for your support!

Taylor
 
Sounds like you are off to a great start! Our Smokey had CHF along with diabetes. Those two played together ok as far as treatment went, it was CRF (renal disease) and the heart disease that did not and eventually took our girl from us. So the one thing I would suggest is to watch the contents of your food and not only pay attention to keeping the carbohydrates lower for the diabetes, but also be mindful of the phosphorus because high phosphorus foods can be hard on the kidneys and you want to keep their renal health good as long as possible when you have heart conditions.

Smokey's heart condition was considered mild when it was first diagnosed in June or July so our vet opted to not treat with meds (she was on so many for other things too). By October when she saw a cardiologist before a CT, it had progressed to moderate-to-severe, and that Christmas we lost her. So keep doing what you are doing by staying on top of things with research and medications. If the heart condition shows to be caused by thyroid problems, its possible it is reversible.
 
Oh good! That 1U starting dose of Lantus is usually a good dose to start with. Hope your kitty Tyrone does well and continues to improve.

Yes, a diagnosis of diabetes for your cat can be very scary. But, you will have lots of support along the way from your vet and folks here on the message board on the day to day management of diabetes. Cats can live long and healthy lives with diabetes. Hoping your Tyrone is one of the lucky kitties like my Wink and able to achieve diet controlled status.

What are you feeding Tyrone?

Since you say you are interested in Tight Regulation (TR), you might want to check out one of our other forums devoted to TR. The Insulin Support Group (ISG) Lantus-glargine Tight Regulation has lots of experienced folks that follow TR. It's on the main menu, down under the Insulin Support Groups.

There are also several posts at the top of that forum called "Stickies" with some great basic information on the protocol we use, what the depot is, new to the group, handling low numbers, etc. Good reading for you to prepare to follow TR (tight regulation).

I wasn't positive from what you replied if you wanted the home testing links or not. Just in case, here they are.
1. How to's of home testing
2. Ear testing Psychology or getting your cat comfortable with the process.
 
Currently Tyrone is eating the Hills M/D food (half a can, twice a day). Although,this past week because of his fragile state he was also eating Turkey & Chicken gerber baby food as mini meals (no carbs, no sugar). I just ran out of the hills m/d so I picked up some classic fancy feast cans. I saw a list of approved grain/veggie free foods on here so I printed it out and took it with me. I didn't select anything with gravy but rather just the classics. I will pick up some more of the hills food from the vet tomorrow.

I'm finding a couple of things- 1. Tyrone is REALLY hungry- not sure if he's just catching up from this week of trauma or the diabetes diagnosis. Before he was diagnosed, I did give him a 1/4-1/2 can of wet food (Fussie Cat) every day for dinner. But he also had dry food to nibble on in the morning and afternoon out to graze. He was also eager for more wet food when we fed him and I'm trying to not over-feed him. But I do want him to be healthy so I'm doing some mini meals.

2. My other cat is getting fat! Because I have two kitties- every time I feed Tyrone, I have to feed my other baby Zoey (she's very demanding). I swear she's gained a pound or two from this past week because she's been enjoying the baby food & all the feedings. I really hope I can get this until control! Plus she's been kind of aggressive with him. I think she's trying to take alpha status away from him now. But that's a whole other post!

I have been doing tons of research into the home testing. I'm so fearful of hypo because I want Tyrone to be safe. It's difficult because we feed him in the morning (7am) give the shot and then get ready to go to work. Then at 7pm- we do it again and I feel like we go to bed. I'm seeing these episodes don't happen until the insulin hits is peak which for lantus is hours later. Am I fearing this for nothing??

Thanks for all of the help, guidance, and support!
 
You might want to watch Tyrone closely for any symptoms of hypoglycemia. This posthas the hypoglycemia symptoms listed.

A switch from a higher carb food like the Hill's M/d to a lower carb food like the Fancy Feast classics can result in significant drops in the BG (blood glucose) levels. The canned Hill's M/d is 14% carbs and most of the Fancy Feast classics are 1/3 of that level of carbs, between 1 and 5% carbs. Believe it or not, a change in the carb level like that can result in a drop in the BG level, up to 100 points.

We usually recommend that you are home testing before you switch to a lower carb food, just so you can be sure the BG levels are not dropping lower than expected with the food change. We want to help you keep Tyrone safe.

One change you might consider for now as you only have the Fancy Feast foods to feed, is to cut the insulin dose in half. That would help to keep Tyrone safer. Or you could even skip the insulin dose for tonight. As we say here "Better too high for a day, than too low for a moment."

If Tyrone likes the Fancy Feast classic pates, you might want to consider switching to them from the Hill's M/d. Many cats here seem to have been regulated faster and even achieve remission on those ultra low carb foods like the Fancy Feast. Please, start home testing first if you want to continue to feed the Fancy Feast classic pates or ask your vet about reducing the dose when you take him in for his appointment this Monday, 4/14/14.

Also, on the food, the 5.5 ounces of food a day may not be enough for Tyrone. I don't know if your vet said he needs to lose weight or not, but that is often the case with newly diagnosed cats. Still, until the insulin dose is balanced, he can't properly process the food he does eat and will be ravenous. Unregulated cats may need to eat up to 50% more food at first. Weight loss often occurs until you get your cat regulated and we don't want Tyrone to lose weight too fast. So I'd say to up his food intake at least 1/2 a can a day (2.75 oz) of the M/d or a full can of the Fancy Feast (3 oz). Maybe more.

How much does Tyrone weigh?

For example, my 12 pound Wink was eating 10-12 ounces of wet food a day. His BG levels were regulated and he started eating less and he slimmed down to 10.5 pounds and now only eats about 6 ounces of food a day.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top