recent diagnosis- advice about eyesight

Status
Not open for further replies.
C

cory817

New Member
My cat Lucky was recently diagnosed this last Thursday. His symptoms came on really fast, he went from seeming healthy to being disoriented and drinking/urinating a lot so we took him in. They treated him in the vet hospital for 2 days giving him a fluid treatment and started him on insulin etc., I've read a lot on this board and I think I'm doing everything I'm supposed to.

My question is: I think he got to a point with his blood sugar/ketones that some damage was done to his eyes or retina and he still seems disoriented. Would this probably be permanent or would getting his blood sugar levels stable maybe help eventually? He's only been on insulin for 3days and home for 2 so I'm hoping it will improve over the next few weeks, his energy is better already but I'm worried about any irreversible damage.
 
Have you talked with the vet?

The disorientation could be from a neurological problem, not necessarily vision impairment.
 
Yes I talked to the Vet, he made it sound like he would bounce back from it but wasn't specific. I'll call tomorrow morning but I was asking here also.
 
Cats can go blind from hypOglycemia, and some can recover their sight from that, others dont. Cats eyes are different than humans and dogs in that theres no glucose/sugar mechanism so they do not have cataract issues from diabetes unlike cats and dogs.

If he is disoriented perhaps there is another reason for it. Cats can get cataracts as they age, and they can go blind from hypertension.

Sending lots of cyber hugs!
 
cory817 said:
My cat Lucky was recently diagnosed this last Thursday. His symptoms came on really fast, he went from seeming healthy to being disoriented and drinking/urinating a lot so we took him in. They treated him in the vet hospital for 2 days giving him a fluid treatment and started him on insulin etc., I've read a lot on this board and I think I'm doing everything I'm supposed to.

My question is: I think he got to a point with his blood sugar/ketones that some damage was done to his eyes or retina and he still seems disoriented. Would this probably be permanent or would getting his blood sugar levels stable maybe help eventually? He's only been on insulin for 3days and home for 2 so I'm hoping it will improve over the next few weeks, his energy is better already but I'm worried about any irreversible damage.
Click to expand...

Just a couple of quick questions.
What insulin are you giving Lucky, and what dose.
What are you feeding
Are you home testing his BG to be sure he is not going too low from the insulin.

To be sure you do not cause any damage, it is best to be home testing so that you can see how well or poorly the insulin shots are working.
 
He's actually doing better today. I'm not happy with my vet it seems like you have to learn everything on the internet and they are stubborn in their ways, no advice about home testing etc.

We're giving 1 small insulin shot in the morning and feeding wet/can Fancy Feast. I think he was having trouble seeing/dizziness because his BG swung too far down after the fluid treatment at the Vet (which was to correct his extremely high levels when he was first diagnosed). I'm hoping things are better now that he's leveling out and we are starting home testing but aren't good at it yet.
 
Home testing is always hard the first week or so, but believe me, it gets so much easier! What difficulty are you having with testing? Everyone here has been in your shoes so we have a ton of advice. Once common problem that people have at first is getting a big enough drop of blood for the meter--usually the reason for this is that they are using too small a lancet. Most testing kits come with the 31-33g lancets, but these aren't good when you're starting out and the cat's ear is "learning" to bleed. They're actually counter productive because cats don't care about the pain from the poke when they first start out--it's being restrained and having something new done to them, so the quicker you can get the test over the easier it gets. 26-28g lancets work much better because you get a big enough drop of blood faster. Also remember to give a low carb cat treat after every test, whether it was successful or not!

What insulin are you using? 1u is a nice, low starting dose, but insulin needs to be given to cats twice a day, not once. Cats' metabolisms are twice as fast as people or dogs, so insulins that last 24 hrs in people and dogs only last 12 hrs in cats. If he has a history of ketones, it's very important that he receive an adequate amount of insulin.
 
The vet initially said he needed 2 shots but changed it to 1, and we're using human insulin from Walgreen's that we got when he was first diagnosed but I think we should change that probably right? And does it make sense that he would only need 1 shot? Like I said I'm a little disappointed with my Vet.
 
Very very few cats can get along with one one shot per day.
What insulin are you using? Lantus? Levemir/ N, sometimes called Humulin N or NPH
 
cory817 said:
The vet initially said he needed 2 shots but changed it to 1, and we're using human insulin from Walgreen's that we got when he was first diagnosed but I think we should change that probably right? And does it make sense that he would only need 1 shot? Like I said I'm a little disappointed with my Vet.
Click to expand...

What is the brand name of the insulin? Is it Lantus, Levemir, or Humulin N? If it's Lantus or Levemir, those are pretty much the best insulins you can use with cats. They are long lasting and if shot twice a day work a full 24 hrs to bring down blood sugar levels. If it's Humulin N, that's not a good insulin for cats. It only works 4-6 hrs for each shot and has crazy highs and lows. You'll want to get a prescription for one of the other two if that's the one you're using. I suspect that you're probably using Lantus (glargine), which is why your vet is having you shoot once a day. Lantus works for 24 hours in dogs and humans, but NOT cats. Some vets don't realize that dosing a cat with insulin is not the same as dosing a dog. My own vet had me doing this with Bandit when he was first diagnosed. After I did some research on my own, I decided to go with the Lantus dosing protocol for cats, which is proven to have an 84% remission rate! Bandit is in remission now, so it definitely worked for us.

I would continue to shoot 1u (which is a very good starting dose), but shoot 1u twice a day (every 12 hours). That way your cat has insulin in his system the entire day instead of just half the day. If you are using Lantus, you should check out the stickies in the Lantus TR Forum. There's a wealth of information there about the insulin and how to dose it. There are also very experienced users there that can answer any questions you have about dosing.
 
Sorry I had to double-check. It is Lantus so I feel better about that, but I will probably switch to 2x a day.

Thank you all so much for your help, feel a lot better about everything now.
 
Are you home testing? That is the best way to make sure it is safe to give insulin and also helps you to determine if your dose is effective. (Vets may not recommend it because they think the owner will give up and euthanize the pet.)

Many of us use the WalMart ReliOn Confirm or the Micro; both are actually branded versions of the Glucocard 01 and Mini, manufactured by Arkray, USA, and available from American Diabetes Wholesale - one of our shopping partners with a link at the top of the board.

When a cat has been on a stable dose of Lantus for 5-7 days, doing a curve - glucose measures every 2 hours beginning with the pre-shot test - will demonstrate how the insulin is working for your cat. Ideally, the lowest glucose level seen will be around 6 hours (+6) after the 1st shot of the day, give or take an hour. theat's called the nadir. Some cats have a nadir earlier or later, but from +5 to +7 hours after the shot is where it often falls. A nadir when the cat is well regulated may be somewhere between 50 to 150.

An additional means of monitoring your cat is urine ketone test strips. These may be obtained from the pharmacy. You dip the end in a fresh specimen (if possible, catch it with a ladle!), wait something like 15 seconds and compare it to the color panel on the side of the container.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top