? Possible I got a wrong dx due to stress?

Brittann

Brittann

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Got her to eat about 1/4 of a small can of FF around 2pm, has no interest in the dry food, I wonder if she's relating it to feeling poorly. I tested BG an hour later and were at 91. I've yet to give her any insulin because her numbers are low enough according to what I read in the SLGS protocol. She keeps going back to the FF and is moving around more. I've had the privilege of having her in my bedroom the past two days and able to watch her like a hawk. Is it possible that the diet change alone is and will keep her BG stable? Could it be Stress hyperglycemia perhaps? How long should I wait before taking her to be checked at the vet again? I am trying to go as little as possible because it really causes her stress for days after. My vet has told me 3 times now that I should give her a 1/2 unit of insulin and I don't know how they're going to feel when they learn I haven't given her any yet.
If you check my spreadsheet I have not got one high reading..
 
Christie & Maverick said:
If you’ve been recently reducing and or removing the amount of dry food in Zelda’s diet, that can have a marked influence on BG levels. What dry food is it? I wouldn’t be giving any insulin at this point.
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She got sick with what we suspected was a URI and that's when I decided to do full blood work while we were there but her appetite has been a lot less since we returned from the vet last Saturday rather it be the Uri since she is still sneezing and has a stuffy nose or just the sheer amount of stress the hour long ride to vet and being at the vet caused. I was still offering her dry food along with the ff classic line but she's had zero interest in her dry food which is weird because she's been free fed dry food her entire life and usually eats so quick she vomits sometimes. I switched them to the nulo all life stages dry about 4 months ago since I have two seniors, a 5 yo and an under 1 yo. I had always given them wet food once a week as a treat..usally marrick or Tiki cat. Yeah, I don't feel comfortable giving to her with these numbers at all. I told my vet the numbers I'm getting and she wants me to give her a half unit if she's not eating much.
 
Christie & Maverick said:
Without insulin her numbers have been dropping today based on the tests you’ve done. Looks to me like her pancreas is working, and the lack of dry food is making a difference.
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That's my thoughts too, I'm going to give her a break tonight and start testing again in the morning. I've been terrible at getting blood and her poor ears look terrible
 
My cat's glucose at the vet was 430 but I had been home testing and he never went over 120 so when the vet suggested I put him on Senvelgo or insulin, I knew it had to be stress related and I was confident in telling him "No".

If he's also not eating any more kibble, I think you cat may very well not be diabetic at all. Listen to your gut. It's giving you the right answer (no insulin)
 
Brittann said:
I've been terrible at getting blood and her poor ears look terrible
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It's always hard at first but as you continue testing, the ears will grow new capillaries into the area to "heal the wound" so it gets easier and easier. Make sure the ear is warm before poking. Cold ears don't want to bleed for anybody. A small sock with some dry rice in it is an easy way to warm it up. Microwave it for 10-20 seconds, test the temp against your wrist to make sure it's not too hot and hold it on his ear for a few seconds. If you are using lancets from a testing kit, most of them are 31-33 gauge which are very tiny and thin. Getting lancets that are 26-28 gauge will help
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
My cat's glucose at the vet was 430 but I had been home testing and he never went over 120 so when the vet suggested I put him on Senvelgo or insulin, I knew it had to be stress related and I was confident in telling him "No".

If he's also not eating any more kibble, I think you cat may very well not be diabetic at all. Listen to your gut. It's giving you the right answer (no insulin)
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I’ve seriously been doubting the dx since today. I’m so glad I’m an overly anxious person and didn’t take her home and blind shoot her like the vet told me to do. She is having the weakness in her hind legs and I’m wondering what’s causing that. Vet said her kidney levels indicate what could be early signs of kidney disease but now I’m not sure if I should believe anything they’ve told me.
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
It's always hard at first but as you continue testing, the ears will grow new capillaries into the area to "heal the wound" so it gets easier and easier. Make sure the ear is warm before poking. Cold ears don't want to bleed for anybody. A small sock with some dry rice in it is an easy way to warm it up. Microwave it for 10-20 seconds, test the temp against your wrist to make sure it's not too hot and hold it on his ear for a few seconds. If you are using lancets from a testing kit, most of them are 31-33 gauge which are very tiny and thin. Getting lancets that are 26-28 gauge will help
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Unfortunately when I went to Walmart they were sold out of the alternative site ones. I will definitely try the sock trick tomorrow. I’d been using my hands but that’s definitely not doing enough.
 
We had a higher carb ff wet food this morning with extra water added, she mostly drank the juices with a few bites. BG an hour later is at 117. Drinking water normally this morning and acting like her usual self.
 
I had two additional thoughts. The vet may have gotten a bad result on your cat's blood glucose test. It happens. Another way to determine if your cat is diabetic is to get a fructosamine test. It will give you a result that reflects a couple of weeks of blood glucose levels. If the test at the vet was wrong or due to stress, the fructosamine level will fall into a normal range.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I had two additional thoughts. The vet may have gotten a bad result on your cat's blood glucose test. It happens. Another way to determine if your cat is diabetic is to get a fructosamine test. It will give you a result that reflects a couple of weeks of blood glucose levels. If the test at the vet was wrong or due to stress, the fructosamine level will fall into a normal range.
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Thank you, I will ask my vet for that. I actually think I will seek a new vet altogether. I will take her back in in a few weeks when money allows.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I had two additional thoughts. The vet may have gotten a bad result on your cat's blood glucose test. It happens. Another way to determine if your cat is diabetic is to get a fructosamine test. It will give you a result that reflects a couple of weeks of blood glucose levels. If the test at the vet was wrong or due to stress, the fructosamine level will fall into a normal range.
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My thought too. Regular routine blood work includes a blood glucose test but that only tells what the level is at the time of blood draw, just like what you would get if you tested your cat at home with a meter. Cats are super stressed out at the vet's office and stress causes blood glucose levels to skyrocket. A diabetic diagnosis is never, and should never, be based on this one time test. A fructosamine test gives the average blood glucose level over the past few weeks. This is a better indicator of diabetes along with common diabetic symptoms.
 
Brittann said:
Thank you, I will ask my vet for that. I actually think I will seek a new vet altogether. I will take her back in in a few weeks when money allows.
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The fructosamine test would be more helpful now, if you wait a couple weeks, it will give you the average BG for the weeks when her BG appears to have gone back down. This is still good info to have, but you could continue to monitor at home for a couple weeks, get the same info, and save a couple hundred bucks.

Edit: This should be simple to say, but I feel like I'm not doing it right! If you wait, the fructosamine test will be giving you information about a different couple of weeks. If you want to know about the recent couple of weeks, do the fructosamine test now, don't wait. If you want to wait a couple of weeks, you could get the same info the test would give you by monitoring at home. You'd save some money. Hope that was better. :facepalm:
 
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Our old cat tested as if diabetic, I immediately changed him to very low carb wet food only, no more dry food, and his bg stabilized right away and we were able to avoid going onto insulin. However, if he gets fed anything with higher carbs (someone gave us some food, hubby failed to realize some of it was very high carb name brand garbage food) he almost immediately starts showing signs of diabetes, drinking excessively and obsessively, peeing gallons, behavior off. Putting him back on the strict low carb diet straightens him out right away. So it is possible to control the problem with diet IF your cat is only at a low level of dysfunction yet. (and yes, we had him monitored by a vet until we were all confident he was okay.)
Saw the same thing with a young cat we adopted, they had been feeding her a horribly high carb food, she drank constantly, peed, had diarhea, wasn't gaining weight despite having been at the rescue a while. Got her onto our low-carb food, all the scary symptoms stopped, she gained weight and grew and is quite healthy now.
As for how stressed out he gets at the vet, have you looked to see if there is a mobile vet in your area? Yes, it costs a bit more, but the lack of stress for the cat is amazing, if you can afford the extra fee. Our cat pees and poops in his carrier, drools thick gel-like saliva in waterfalls down his front, heart racing so fast the vet can't even listen for problems, etc, when he gets taken to the vet. Found a mobile vet who comes right into our living room, cat is a little nervous about the strangers, but absolutely nothing like the sheer terror of being put in the carrier and driven to a vet. Well worth the money if you can afford it.
 
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