Sudden spike in numbers after illness

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Katie and Fuzzy

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Fuzzy was in remission until the Monday before last. I was testing him every week, and yesterday I found his numbers were higher again. He was 200 yesterday then dropped down to 170 in the afternoon. Because yesterday was a holiday, I will be getting him insulin today since he doesn't have anymore at home. He was 180 this morning.

He was sick last Monday. He was having a bit of a constipation problem due to too much Metamucil, (I know that was the problem because his stool was big and bulky and hard to pass and he hasn't had any problems since I cut down on the Metamucil). So last Monday I gave him Lactulose to help him pass the stool. It worked, but I made the mistake of giving him a can of new food his stomach wasn't used to yet. I guess that combined with the Lactulose which has always been a little hard on his stomach caused a reaction. He was throwing up really bad, and at one point he even choked on his vomit and fell over. Of course I rushed him to the vet, and he recovered pretty fast after his stomach ache went away. I thought that would be the end of that since this kind of thing has happened before on Lactulose (but not usually this bad which was caused by the new food). I have not given him any Lactulose since, and he seems to have gotten better. He eats and acts normally, his coat is healthy and shiny. But I think that because of his violet throwing up last week, it was enough to bring him out of remission. But when he was feeling better, I would think his numbers would go back to normal on their own. Has anyone ever had an experience where their cat became ill for a day and went out of remission? I will give him insulin again, but planning to start on a very small dose since I don't know what's going on yet. He's perfectly normal otherwise. Do you think the insulin will push him back into remission? Why aren't his numbers going back to normal now that he's better? Thanks.
 
No I've never had this problem but I havent had a diabetic kitty in a long time. If I remember correctly 180 isnt THAT awful of a number. But this will bump up your post so others will see it easily.
jeanne
 
It could have been all the stress from what happened causing the high BGs. If this were my cat, I might try waiting this out and seeing if Fuzzy is feeling better on his own before trying insulin.

You know how to hometest and if you see the numbers aren't budging, then you could try insulin, a very small dose, but if this is just a stress induced number, insulin may cause a huge drop in the BGs. Going back to his regular food and regime may be all he needs.

Is Fuzzy back to eating his normal food so the belly ache is gone? What are his numbers today?

What day did he get rushed to the vet? Did they give him a check up while there? Check his teeth or do bloodwork?

Has Fuzzy been on Metamucil for a long time or is this something new to his diet that may be contributing to higher BGs?

Sorry, I seem to have more questions than any answers for you.
 
I actually gave him a bit of insulin today, just a tiny amount, even less than half a unit. I would say it's the second smallest dose you can give. It was a week yesterday that he went to the vet, so if his higher numbers are caused by stress, then I'm sure they would have been back to normal on the same day, or even the next day, it wouldn't take a whole week. I think he had just gotten so sick from vomiting that it took him out of remission, and now he needs a bit of insulin to keep the numbers normal.

I tested him about an hour ago and he was at 85 two hours after I gave him insulin. It's a really good number for him, and usually he doesn't drop more than that on Lantus insulin. I'm hoping it'll be enough to push him back into remission.

I didn't give him any more of the new food after he threw it up. He's back on Fancy Feast only again. All the vet did last week was check him over a bit, his heart, his lungs, and I think his teeth too. They were all the same as before. As for blood work, I decided to wait on that because he's so normal in every other way. However, if he does not go back into remission by this time next week, I'm planning to get it done. It was only a few months ago that he had a blood panel done.

As for Metamucil, he's been on that for at least 2 years. He gets a bit in his food every day. It doesn't make his blood glucose any higher, he was on it the whole time he was in remission too and it never hurt him. I just need to be more careful about his dose because if I give too much, it bulks up his stool more than it should and he has trouble passing it. The vet told me unflavored Metamucil was safe to give every day, and it's really helped with constipation issues he gets due to his old age.

That's about all I can tell you. His behavior and eating habits haven't changed at all. But like I said, I'm going to keep an eye on him, and if he's not back in remission by next week, I'll get another blood panel done.
 
Sounds like you have a good plan. Do you have a cut off point for pre shots? If Fuzzy were 125 tonight, will you shoot? Just curious, never know if any of my two remission kitties ever need insulin again, I'm not sure what my cut off number would be.
 
I usually do the tight regulation protocol since that tends to give faster remission results, but I don't know about right now since Fuzzy is having such strange numbers. When he came out of remission before, he immediately would jump to really high numbers like 350, but right now he's only a little higher than the normal numbers and below the renal threshold. So even though a week has passed, it could be he's still not feeling completely better from the incident last week Monday and hence having slightly elevated numbers and just needs a bit of insulin to help him through. Because I can't watch him at night, I'll have to be more careful. Normally when he's having those really high numbers I would make the cut off number 105 (I would give a tiny drop just to keep him in normal numbers). But right now I think I'll go with 130 just to be on the safe side.
 
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