OTJ for a little over a year, getting higher numbers now

Riyah

Riyah

Member
Hi all, been a while since we've posted. Lily has been doing well numbers wise and I haven't been testing as much aside from spot checks. Her numbers have always been a little under 100 on an Alphatrak3 and if they're higher, generally maybe 106-110. Those recent spot checks unfortunately aren't on her spreadsheet but I'll try and add them in soon. She technically belongs to my parents so I'm not here with her all of the time.

In the past week I've noticed she's looked a little off. Behavior wise, she's still playing and friendly. She's actually eating a little less and hasn't been drinking excess water, so she doesn't have those two diabetes symptoms back yet. And she hasn't been losing weight, if anything she's a few ounces too heavy right now (11 lbs). However, her coat's been looking a little greasy and I feel like I can kinda see her hip bones? Which is odd given that she's not underweight. And she's had a clear runny nose here and there but she's had that for a while and seems to be generally sensitive to allergens. She does have CKD that is somewhere between Stage 2/3.

I tested her last night and she was at 120 and this morning 1 hour after eating and she was at 134. I might need a refresher but what could the possible causes be? I think dental issues could be it but is there anything else?

She was supposed to have a dental about a year ago but our vet ended up finding a mediastinal cyst and opted to postpone, saying that her teeth weren't of too much concern yet. We could technically have the cyst removed and tested but he thinks it's most likely benign and the risks of anesthesia and general complications for that process make it so that it's potentially fine to just monitor.

Anyways, all that being said, our vets soonest appointment is on the 17th of this month. Hopefully there's a sooner opening. What can I do in the mean time? Should I do a full day curve on her to see what's happening? What other things could be happening that could elevate her numbers? I'm really worried we might be coming out of remission but I'd like to catch and address anything before the numbers get even higher.

Thank you for reading!
 
I would definitely get the teeth sorted out as that is often a major reason why kitties fall out of remission or have higher numbers.
And I'd get a urine test done just to check there is no UTI.
In saying all that, the 120 and the 134 are not high for an alphatrak meter.
I would try testing and feeding Lily, then testing again 3 hours later to see if the BG has fallen which will tell you if the pancreas is working and producing insulin.
Do you still have her on a low carb diet?
If you think she's a bit off I would test for ketones in the urine using a bottle of ketostix.
 
I'd agree. I was really scared of the dental because she's never been under anesthesia since her spay and she's 13 so it took a looooot of resolve to get it scheduled on my part, only for it to be canceled because of finding the cyst during her pre-op x-ray/bloodwork. Our vet is also very, very cautious which is good in some ways but he also says things like 'well if something went wrong, we wouldn't want to regret having done a procedure' :( But it's something I'll bring up again when I see him.

I'll try doing a few tests tomorrow. It's hard since her appetite has been lower - or it might not even be her appetite but starting to be picky about foods because she still goes crazy for and chows down on any treats I give her. But yes, she's on a low carb diet still, only low carb wet food and only low/no carb freeze dried treats or the Savory Cravings treats from Fancy Feast.
 
Hi all!

So we went to a new vet yesterday because her usual vet was busy. She's been eating a lot less and now is grooming her butt area constantly. They ran bloodwork and just called me with the results but said they're unremarkable. They also ran a fructosamine test which I agreed to since I haven't been testing daily and that came out to 238.

She has Stage 2 CKD but her numbers this time are better than usual. In case anyone's curious, the main kidney numbers were 21 BUN, 10 SDMA, 3.6 Phosphorus, and 2.3 Creatinine. These values are actually so much lower than her last test which was 36 BUN, 17 SDMA, 4.4 Phosphorus, and 2.7 Creatinine.

The only value of note was protein in her urine but we're sending the urine sample out for a more detailed test because the vet said the general test looks for molecules that look like protein but it could be wrong. So the extra test should specify what's actually in there. There wasn't any bacteria found so no UTI.

We're going back today for an overall x-ray just to see if anything is going on visually but we don't have much else to diagnosis at the moment.

She's only eating some food when prompted by me placing a place in front of her and I really can't figure out why she won't stop grooming her butt. She's peeing and pooping small amounts. I thought maybe she's constipated but the vet said she's probably pooping less because there's less food to digest.

Any theories or thoughts on what else we should be looking out for? I know her fructosamine level was fine and she tested at 136 yesterday but I'm still concerned something might be happening that's causing these numbers.
 
My 10 year old kitty I've noticed him licking his butt a lot and that's okay but since I work from home, at my lunch time he likes to lick my food UG!
My last two kitties when older needed their anal glands expressed. Maybe you could ask about that? Just a thought.
 
So it's been a long day and we unfortunately found out that she actually has some sort of lump on her left gland that is either an abscess or mass. Here's the photo if you're not squeamish: https://imgur.com/a/ZgSNO7a

This new vet didn't treat or lance it but instead said to go to a specialized clinic that has oncology staff in house, which has of course really worried me. In case it is an infection/abscess, she prescribed Augmentin as an antibiotic, Gabapentin, and topical Animax for inflammation. She's aware of her remission and said that since it's topical it shouldn't raise the blood sugar levels too much, but that also worries me. Lily was on Animax ear drops 2 months before she got diagnosed with diabetes.

But this whole lump situation might be why her numbers are higher and why she isn't eating as much. I know this isn't directly related to diabetes specifically at this point, but if anyone has experience with anal masses, I would love to hear from you. We have an appointment Tuesday (I could potentially move it up to Monday but I have to call tomorrow morning), at a clinic but I'm not sure if it's okay to wait? I'm worried it might burst and lead to an infection, but maybe the medicine she's on is helping to prevent that. She's also wearing a plastic cone 24/7 but I feel like she can still bend enough to reach that area so I've ordered a bigger soft cone from Amazon that should get here tomorrow.
 
We've had several kitties who have had impacted anal glands. I'm wondering if that's what's going on. The condition can be painful and there can be inflammation/infection. Any source of inflammation or infection can cause a rise in blood glucose levels.
 
Hi all!

So it did end up being an abscess filled with pus that was infected. Crazy because she showed no signs (eating normally, playing, etc) two weeks ago and then we had a few signs with the blood sugar and eating less, but the overgrooming and growth of the abscess happened within 2-3 days. We went to urgent care yesterday morning and it was drained and stitched. Stitched partially because I think it's supposed to be open to heal but she had necrosed skin on the outside so the vet said it would be better to remove that skin too, making the wound larger than ideal.

I told her about the higher numbers and we both think maybe I should hold off on looking too deeply into her BG numbers til the healing settles. I think I'll still spot check a few times in the next two weeks but I'm really hoping that her numbers stabilize now that the abscess is removed.
 
I'm glad you figured it out! One of the take away messages is if your cat's blood glucose numbers are higher than expected, a vet visit to make sure there's no infection or inflammation is a good option. I hope that Lily is feeling better.
 
I had been meaning to follow up on this! Lots of travel and work has happened since this issue but I was home with Lily three weeks ago before again leaving for a work trip. She finished up her antibiotics and the gland issue seems to be fine for now. I was avoiding testing her blood sugar because I was worried it'd still be high but I did it the day I flew out and it was 99! So at least for this case, those higher numbers were most likely correlated to the stress her body was going through with the anal gland abscess. Hopefully the numbers stay low like that.

Just wanted to follow up in case anyone runs into a similar situation!
 
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