Sick Old Diabetic Cat--What do we do?

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SickCatTX

Member Since 2014
Almost midnight here. 7 Hours until regular vet opens. Have a diabetic Cat. Was diagnosed on 7/30 with a bladder infection. Kidney numbers weren't good. He was given a shot of Convenia. Did well on it. We went away for 2 weeks. Great pet sitter. He did well. Went in on wednesday 8/13 for 2nd shot of Convenia. Sugar was low at vet. She cut insulin. Seemed OK yesterday when we arrived home just winey. But, today hasn't been eating or drinking as much. Vomited tonight twice. They aren't his usual sugar problems. Gave him a tiny bit of Karo Syrup. Cant test his sugar. His machine isn't working. Tried neighbors human one but keep getting error message. So torn. Do we wait till morning for regular vet or move him in cage, further away to strange emergency vet.

Maybe a little more Karo syrup.

Any insight. It's such a tough call :(

Thank you!
 
I'm definitely no expert, but I seem to be one of the few people around.

Loss of appetite and vomiting can be side effects of Convenia. If I were in your situation, I might try getting a glucose reading on the neighbor's human meter again and feeding some high carb wet food before making a decision. Look over some of the info about hypos (like this one: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887). If your cat starts to exhibit any of these symptoms, and you should treat with more Karo and take the trip to the emergency vet.

Once someone with more experience comes along it would be really helpful to know what type of insulin your kitty is on and what his current dosage is.
 
We tried 4 times with neighbors meter. One Touch is there a trick? He's on Lantus.

They are all side effects but would they come 18 days in to treatment.

Regular vet that knows him gets in in less then 6 hours.

Thanks for answering!
 
SickCatTX said:
One Touch is there a trick?
Hi,
I use One Touch Ultra meter. What sort of error message are you getting? The most error message I get (error #5 on my meter) is that there's insufficient blood on the strip. The OT may need a tad more blood than your current meter. It needs to sip down the entire length of the line on the strip.

Eliz
 
Just wondering, does his breath smell normal? Any fruity/peardrops sort of smell?
I'm wondering whether he has ketones.
Do you have Ketostix strips or similar to test for ketones in his pee?

Keeping fingers crossed that your kitty feels better soon.

Eliz
 
Thank you! Heading to vet in 3 hours. No better, no worse. Hope he is OK :) My daughter and I are sitting up watching him. :(
 
Does breath smell like urine? fruity? rotten?

Is he dehydrated? (If you pull up the scruff and release, does it stay tented up? Are his gums sticky/tacky to touch? If you press and release on the gums do they pink back up quickly or slowly?)

How is his breathing? Breaths per minute? Deep or shallow?
 
UPDATE: Sick Old Diabetic Cat--What do we do?

UPDATE: Went to our regular vet first thing this morning. It's his kidneys. They are in bad shape. He is in their hospital on fluids and iv antibiotics. Only a 50/50 chance it will work :(

Thanks for all the help last night!
 
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