Newly diagnosed

wulffreak1221

wulffreak1221

Member Since 2026
My 12 year old cat Jasper was diagnosed yesterday. His vet is having him on 1 unit every 12 hours of vetolin. He got his first does there yesterday. He is still weak and lethargic. Still has no interest in food and refuses to lay on anything but hard floors so I cannot get him warm. He will not stay on anything soft and warm. I was able to get enough blood last night to check his sugar and it was 409, down from the 500s at the vet 4 hours earlier. I'm going to call the vet back today about possibly putting him on an appetite stimulant because he hasn't really eaten in 2 days now. Anyone else have these problems early on? What did you do?
 
Welcome to FDMB..

How did your vet diagonse Jasper? Did the vet run a full blood panel? In addition to a fructosamine level, which is probably the best way to diagnose diabetes, I'd want to know if there was a test for ketones and a full blood panel to rule out an infection. Did the vet take Jasper's temperature? Has there been any change in Jasper's litter box behavior? With diabetes, you'd expect your cat to be drinking more water and using the litter box a lot (i.e., polydipsia and polyuria). Changes in litter box behavior, like straining, could mean a urinary tract infection. You can test for ketones yourself with either urine test strips or a blood ketone meter. The Ketostix are available at any pharmacy.

It does take more than a day for overall blood glucose levels to begin to be lower. Jasper may not be terribly interested in food but what are you feeding him? If you don't have Jasper on a low carb diet, that high carb food will keep his levels higher than you'd like to see.

The other issue is that Vetsulin is not a great insulin for managing feline diabetes. It has a shorter than 12-hour duration and can bring numbers down hard and fast. The American Animal Hospital Assn no longer recommends it and instead, recommends either Prozinc or Lantus for the treatment of diabetic cats.
 
Full blood panel, but she only told me the glucose levels. He is peeing and drinking a lot but all of this come on very suddenly. He was his normal self thursday morning and rushed him after work on friday. They couldn't get an accurate temp on him and he is persistently cold and keeps cooling himself back off everytime he is loose from a carrier I've set up with a warm bed and towels from the dryer. As for feeding, he is uninterested in anything. Wet, dry, treats, churu, chicken. I have pate wet food coming for him in several different flavors but it won't be here till this afternoon. They also said his white blood cells are slightly elevated so he's on clavamox. I don't understand why he is refusing to lay on anything but hard surfaces instead of keeping warm
 
If he's running a fever, he may be trying to cool himself off.

The clavamox may be having an effect on his appetite. Inappetence along with nausea are common side effects. If there is concern for an infection, please test for ketones. You may want to get Jasper checked by your vet to rule out anything medical. If he's nauseous, there are medications (Cerenia or ondansetron) that will help and an appetite stimulant may be needed.
 
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