Normal Glucose Curves for Healthy Cats

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Critter Mom

Critter Mom

Member Since 2014
Hi,

Does anyone know where I could find glucose curves for non-diabetic cats? My internet searches are only yielding results for diabetic kitties.
 
Good morning! ~O)

Most people consider roughly 50 to 120 (U.S.) to be the normal range for a non-diabetic cat. Those numbers are based on a human glucometer. (Pet meters read a bit differently.)

Hope that helps!
Shelly
 
Hi Aine,

As I understand it, 'curves' are only used to describe the course of an insulin cycle.
For cats not on insulin (either non-diabetic, or diabetic cats in remission) there aren't actually 'curves' as such. There will be fluctuations throughout the day, mostly influenced by when the cat eats, I expect; but also possibly for the reason that Chris posted about (ie.'dawn phenomenon').

I've always found the chart on this page to be helpful in explaining BG numbers and their significance: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Blood ... guidelines

I see from Saorise's SS that she's had no insulin for 7 days now. If that continues for another 7 days then she could be considered in remission.
I'm really sorry that she still seems to be feeling poorly.
Re your note on the SS about large poo; is the poo pale? (I'm just wondering about exocrine pancreatic insufficiency (insufficient enzymes to digest food)).

Eliz
 
The numbers are painting a very false picture, Eliz. Her pancreatitis is getting worse by the hour without insulin support. Getting food into her is getting harder by the hour. She's hungry but can't eat.

The soft stools could be due to the change to kitten food. The colour and diameter (c.15-20mm) are fine at the moment, although some of it was slightly less dark than the rest. Again this could be due to the kitten formula, but the really soft stool and the slight colour change have raised a warning flag in my mind. I asked the vet about whether it would be beneficial to supplement her food with pancreatic enzymes but he said that they don't normally employ it as a treatment for cats. Thing is, I don't want 'normal practice' for Saoirse, I want 'best practice'. I want her pancreas to have as much support as it can get and I want to use all relevant safe treatments that are available to her.

I'm going to talk to the vet soon.
 
You might try 1/4 of a Pepcid AC about 20 minutes before feeding. If her stomach is upset, that may help her be able to eat.

Check with your vet to make sure it isn't contraindicated by anything.

Some folks find that slippery elm soothes the GI tract. Aloe juice is supposed to be helpful, too.
 
I'm so sorry to hear that Saoirse is still not doing well. I wish I had some words of wisdom to offer because I know how awful (and terrifying) it is to watch your cat suffer with pancreatitis. Is there any chance that she may need a different antibiotic? You're both in my thoughts. I wish I could help. I found a pancreatitis treatment protocol that seems to list several options. I'm sending you the link in case there's something useful in it for you: https://www.idexx.com/pdf/en_us/smallan ... atitis.pdf
 
Hi all!

Thanks for the replies, and apologies for not responding sooner. Been up with my little one all night so am V. tired.

With you on the famotidine, BJM. Our vet prescribed her 2.5mg per day as required a while back but he advised me administer it sparingly. I did give her a dose yesterday, and again this morning (that's only way I managed to get her to eat anything in that 24-hour period). I rang the practice yesterday evening and got the OK to give her another dose this evening. Thankfully, it worked again tonight to break the cycle somewhat and she has resumed eating. (The relief! We were heading for assist-feeding earlier on.) I stayed up to keep coaxing her to eat a little bit at regular intervals. It seems to be helping and she's a bit brighter in herself for getting the bit of food down her. Spooky thing is that her BG dropped to 5.6 after administration of the famotidine. Its the lowest it has been since her last insulin nadir (over a week ago)That was a really valuable result to catch: oh! the benefit of home testing!

i now have a new weapon in my feeding arsenal: the LK Lollipop!* (Read 'Mommy's finger dipped in gloop soup.') That's starting to prove very popular. Liquidising the food and helping her to eat while she's sitting upright has helped Saoirse a great deal. :smile:

Will post more later. Too tired now. Need to make up some more gloop soup for my wee patient before the exhaustion overwhelms me and I pass out. (Hold the Mars Bar ...)




* Pat. Pending
 
Hi Aine,

I'm glad Saorise seems to be feeling a tad better and has eaten a bit more food.

I was going to suggest raising the food dish, but see from the notes on Saorise's SS that you've already tried that. (Raising the dish helped enormously with my very sick kitties last year (I had two who were terminally ill with cancer)).

Another thing that helped my kitties to eat was Liquivite liquid cat food. If you are having to liquidise the LK food then you might consider trying a can of Liquivite. One of my kitties in particular absolutely loved it, especially if it was gently warmed in the microwave. It's a bit like thick gloopy chicken soup, but becomes slightly more liquid when it's warmed. I put in into a narrow oval 'corn on the cob' dish, because I found I could tip that up and he'd drink from one end of it (I alway's wondered when those dishes would come in handy!))

Eliz
 
Aine, one trick I've learned when assist feeding is to use a ringless medicine syringe to express the thoroughly blended food onto your fingertip and let the kitty lap at it that way. The food just rolls down the edge of your finger to where she can lick it up. It's clean, efficient, and once you get the hang of it, you might be able to fool her into eating much more in less time since you're not pausing to dip your finger all the time. You'll want a ringless syringe (one without the black rubber seal on the plunger) like this one: http://www.cvs.com/shop/product-detail/ ... uId=715154

Another tip is to catch her while asleep, gently wake her and immediately offer food. (This is particularly effective when combined with the feeding method described above.) Drowsy cats will often take food this way. Not sure why it works, but it can be a lifesaver.

Are you administering subQ fluids at all? If so, how much/how often? Is she showing indications of dehydration? Her poor coat quality and pulling can be a symptom of dehydration in addition to general sickly catness and stress.

We are dealing with Shadow's pancreatitis and, although he's responding well, I can sympathize with what you're going through. It's frustrating to know that there's so little you can offer other than supportive care. We were fortunate in that our vet, although she's never seen a case of EPI in a cat, she agrees that it's a possibility and we have his TLI test lined up for this Saturday. I'm glad to hear that you are a motivated advocate for Saorise's highest level of care and I'm sure that you'll see her through this as only an attentive mama bean can.
 
ShadowsMom said:
Another tip is to catch her while asleep, gently wake her and immediately offer food... Drowsy cats will often take food this way. Not sure why it works, but it can be a lifesaver.
Click to expand...
Seconding this advice. And I don't know why it works either...
 
Thanks for all your posts, and all the tips! We've had a really rough day. I'm so grateful to have you all to turn to and not be alone with this.

I am very sad to say that my suspicion about Saoirse's odd stool yesterday was proved right. Major pancreatitis symptoms for the first time. Off-coloured soft stools and vomiting this morning, watery beige diarrhoea tonight. It is heartrending seeing my girl so poorly. Spoke to vet (Rx Mirtazepine, famotidine, Pro-Kolin).

Mirtazepine worked but it was another battle to get Saoirse to eat any of her sensitive digestion food, and then not much. Just after midnight I didn't know what to do so I put in another call to the OOH service at our wonderful vet's about what I might feed her and they recommended chicken. Thankfully I had some chicken breast in the freezer, so I tried the chicken with broth. She ate it wish relish. I know it's not a complete food but at least she managed to get some food and fluids onboard. The nausea seems to be subsiding. I can't tell you how relieved I am.

Shadowsmom: I checked her and she is well hydrated at the moment but, like you, I was getting worried that she might not stay that way. No more diarrhoea so far, but I'm very inclined to take her to the vets tomorrow if I can get an appointment.

Saoirse has eaten several small scheduled meals since midnight. Going to hand over to the auto-feeders for a few hours now. Sorry for not answering all posts right now. So tired. Will try to post more tomorrow.

Thank you all for being there for us.

((((Hugs))))
 
See my signature lik Secondary Monitoring Tools for supplemental assessments you can use to monitor her, especially while dealing with this.
 
Thanks for the steer, BJM. I have a confession to make: I actually sneaked a peak at your link before and I've been recording her data for a few weeks.

I agree with you that it's an invaluable tool. It's great to be able to spot things earlier and it's a very useful assist to be able to quantify many clinical signs for our vet. it's also, more importantly, a way for Saoirse's body to try to tell me when there might be something amiss. Sadly I didn't catch this, her only serious pancreatic flare-up to date (and long may it continue to be the only one) in time. But I did have suspicions and that came from what I have learned about my little one from the monitoring. If I see any hint of softening in her stools going forward, I will know better what to do.

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I would see the day when a well-formed, solid stool or a nice, small clump of soiled litter would be major highlights of my day. But now they are ... and I wouldn't have it any other way. (((Saoirse)))

I'd highy recommend secondary monitoring to anyone. Indeed, I think monthly monitoring of healthy cats would be a good idea too.
 
Have you asked your vet about a trial of supplemental pancreatic enzymes? When the stool becomes pale and 'fluffy' or larger, it suggests that there may be a deficiency in enzyme production. This can happen as a result of pancreatitis. The enzyme supplement would assist in digesting the food better, allowing more of the nutrition to enter the body and be used.

I'm glad you're finding the secondary monitoring tools useful. Another great resource is the Merck Manuals Online
The Merck Veterinary Manual - a bit technical, but with medical dictionary in hand, it can be quite useful
The Merck Pet Manual - for home users
 
Thanks for the links BJM: very useful. I like technical. :smile:

I asked the vet a couple of weeks ago about enzyme supplementation but Saoirse had only had a very small number of vomiting bouts at that stage, and only when she had been forced to fast for more than 3½ hours on previous Tx protocol. I sent him an update by email on Friday evening and asked about it again, particularly in light of the fact that her stools doubled in weight and were a bit whiffy on Thursday, and on Friday they were again double the normal weight, less dense & extremely gooey (bit like a wet marshmallowy texture), pale tan colour and decidedly pungent. From what I've read thus far, aren't they hallmark signs of EPI?

I'm taking Saoirse for a check-up with him next week, and I'm going to ask if he can run a serum TLI test. I'm also going to ask if he can run a B12 & folate test, plus testing for a suspected low-grade UTI. I would very much welcome recommendations for any other tests that would be valuable (including speculative ones - forewarned and all that).
 
They can indicate that, Mercola makes an OTC preparation which may be less intense if a trial were OK by your vet and attempted. I found it on Amazon.
 
Can you remember the name of the enzyme supplement, BJM? I like the idea of the gentle approach.

Appropos of your last post, I hopped on over to the Mercola site and the following caught my eye:

The Type of Food That Will Slow Nearly EVERY Inflammatory Disease

From the above:

  • Heating your food above 116 degrees F renders most enzymes inactive.

    This is one of the reasons it's so important to eat your foods raw. Raw foods are enzyme-rich, and consuming them decreases your body's burden to produce its own enzymes. The more food that you can eat raw, the better. Ideally, you should get 75 percent of your digestive enzymes from your food.

    In addition to heat, enzymes are also very sensitive to shifts in pH, which is why different enzymes work in different parts of your digestive tract, based on the pH each enzyme needs in order to function.

    Enzyme deficiency results in poor digestion and poor nutrient absorption. This creates a variety of gastrointestinal symptoms, including:

    Constipation
    Bloating
    Cramping
    Flatulence and belching
    Heartburn and acid reflux

    Chronic malabsorption can lead to a variety of illnesses. Think about it—if your body doesn't have the basic nutritional building blocks it needs, your health and ability to recover from illness will be compromised.

    Besides breaking down food, enzymes (particularly the proteases) can help with gut healing, controlling pathogens, and immune support. Your immune system begins in your gut—and if you have enzyme and digestive issues, chances are your immune system isn't functioning as well as it should be.

[Emphasis mine.]

Is that why IBD kitties can do better eating raw food?
 
Thanks so much, BJM. Very comprehensive product information.

Rest assured, I don't make a move on anything without the vet.
 
Max has had chronic pancreatitis for nearly 5 years and I suggest strongly you get your hands on some cerenia and ondansetron for nausea and see which works best for your cat as this is another ECID situation. Max does well on 2mg ondansetron twice a day when needed. Giving an appetite stimulant to a nauseous cat is setting yourself up for failure as well as leading to food aversions. Mirtazapine isn't strong enough to combat severe nausea. You might also ask your vet about flagyl for the loose stool. I'm so sorry and want your cat to feel better.
 
Hi again Elise,

Max is a beautiful cat! It makes me sad to think he has gone through this as well. :sad: How is he doing now?

I'd prefer not to give Saoirse mirtazepine. I've had the misfortune to have been prescribed the stuff myself and I found it a very unpleasant experience. The urge to eat is unbelievable, and very uncomfortable. Seeing The effect it had on Saoirse on Friday night was not pretty. She is by nature a very serene, gentle creature. The mirtazepine made her aggressive and, at times, frantic with hunger during the first hours of its action. I didn't like the behaviour changes, the dilated puplis, or spaciness/slight sedation the following day. It got her over a hump on Friday night (I was afraid she was heading towards anorexia), but I would prefer to find something better for her going forward.

Thanks again for your help and advice, Elise. And send more fusses to Max for me. :smile:
 
Max says thanks. I just wrote to you about mirt. Poor Tiffany was my cat that got it. I've actually read of a few cats that got seratonin syndrome and died from mirt so I will never again use it for my cats either. I hope anyone that does has cyproheptadine on hand. He fist was diagnose Christmas of 2010. I didn't get him off of the meds until July. I tried several times but failed. He was back on ondansetron in September to November and just a couple of days in January. His next bout was in May. He was okay until August. He was diagnosed with high blood pressure and started amlodipine. The vet trips and med set him off. Stopped the meds in September only to start up again the end of the month. So basically it came and went a lot. The last time I medicated him was around the time he was diagnosed with diabetes last November and stopped in December. I just looked all this up in the book I keep each time he has an episode.
IDEXX has a really good article by Robertson on pancreatitis and its treatment. For Max it seems to be stress induced and vet trips cause him lot of stress. I'll send you the link for it.
 
Just a note: Sometimes you need to adjust a dose up or down based on the individual response to the medication.

It might be possible to reduce the dose so it is not a problem.
 
Elise - Will reply tomorrow on other thread. I need to set up Saoirse's feeders before I pass out with exhaustion. Bless you for all the information and advice. I'm so grateful.

BJM - that's true but I'm just not comfortable with the side effect profile of mirtazepine. After Saoirse's reaction to it on Friday night I checked online and got the drop of my life when I found out it could induce serotonin syndrome in cats. If I had known that in advance I would not have administered it. She has already presented with symptoms of it on one dose. Too risky for my blood.
 
That is exactly why cyproheptadine is my ap stimulant of choice. I'll catch up with you tomorrow hopefully with things improved a litte. If not don't be discouraged. It takes time.
 
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