Tiggy - newly diagnosed

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Dave & Tiggy

Dave & Tiggy

Member Since 2015
Hi all, and Happy New Year.

We were recently thrust in to the world of feline diabetes a few weeks ago. One of our cats started to look quite thin and really wasn't herself and eventually stopped eating - the change was very quick and caught us totally by surprise. She went from 10 lbs to 7lbs in what seemed like a few days.

We took her to the vet on Dec 19 and he did some tests and said he would get back to us the next day. As soon as we got home the vet was on the phone saying we had to take her to a veterinary hospital ASAP. She had severe ketoacidosis brought on by diabetes (both of which were a shock to us).

She spent 3 days & nights in there on an IV drip, getting electrolytes & short acting insulin. It was a pretty scary time, but I must say the staff at the hospital were great.

We eventually got her back home on Dec 22 and started on the Lantus shots & glucose monitoring. During that time in hospital and during the holidays I did a great deal of reading of the articles on here.

We've switched her (in fact both cats) from what I know now was a pretty unhealthy dry diet to exclusively wet food and they've both responded well to that - they chow down quite happily on the meat, so that's a relief.

Tiggy is doing much better, she seems much brighter and getting back to her old habits, although her glucose readings remain quite high in the ~ 20mmol/L range, but we aren't worrying too much yet. We know it takes time to adjust and so it's been just over a week that she's been on the Lantus and I'll likely do a full curve this weekend to get a better idea of whats happening between shots.

So really just saying hi, and introducing Tiggy. It's great to know there is so much information & support out there.

Cheers,
Dave.
 
Welcome, DKA is not a good way to get introduced here. Gland that Tiggy pulled through.
What are you feeding Tiggy? A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food.
 
Hi Larry,

When we picked Tiggy up from hospital they had already added a case of Purina DM to the (already rather large) bill, but we just wanted to get her home so we went with it. As part of my rather obsessive researching over the holidays (using links from this site) I noted that Fancy Feast classics & flaked were all pretty low carb, so I went out and stocked up on them.

So basically I'm alternating between the DM and FF until the DM is used up, and then I'll just stick with the low carb FF varieties which seem to be a hit with both Tiggy and Cleo (non diabetic).
 
Hi Dave, just stopping in to say Hi to you and sweet Tiggy from a fellow Canadian. I'm glad you've got her home now.

Did the vet say that Tiggy had any type of infection? Usually the formula for DKA involves some type of inflammation/infection, maybe even teeth, so it's best to get that dealt with. It's great that she's eating as that's also key to fight DKA. The other thing you might want to pick up is some Ketostix. You can get them at any pharmacy. You can use them to test for ketones, which would be a warning sign for the approach of DKA again. Just dip them in the urine stream - anything above trace means another visit to the vet.

One last thing, the majority of members here are from the US, which doesn't use the same glucose measurement system as us. To switch from mmol/L which we use to the US mg/dl, just multiply by 18. Or if you set up a spreadsheet to track blood glucose tests, the World version will automatically do the conversion for you.
 
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Welcome. you have landed in the right place, and you, and your cat. will be okay. I encourage you to do a spreadsheet for your kitty's tests, it makes it so much easier for others to chime in and help. But really, you are doing great already! Good on ya!
 
Welcome to FDMB.

Can we get you started using our grid to record your glucose tests? It will help us give you better feedback. Instructions are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.
 
Welcome Dave and Tiggy!

I am not a Canadian but want to welcome you! :)

The spread sheet really does help chart numbers as well as gives info for others to help you with dosing questions.

You might want to join one of the Lantus support groups. There is tight regulation and relaxed. My Hank was on Prozinc and I was in the Prozinc support group. I recommend it highly.

Any questions that arise, just ask away. You have come to the right place.

Kimmie
 
Hi, thanks for all the replies.

I have been recording her data in a spreadsheet since we got her home (I'm a bit of a spreadsheet junkie), but started my own before seeing this one. I'll have to figure out if I can write a macro to automate moving the old data to this format - although the data for her first week was pretty erratic (and high).
I'll have a go at setting up the link to Google docs later today. For now I'll just show the results from a curve I did yesterday. I was very pleased with how it started, but then it shot up late afternoon evening, despite being exclusively on wet low carb food. Fortunately she's back down again this morning.

These readings are from an AlphaTrak2. I know the human reading would be ~ 66% of this, so then converting to mg/dl gives the estimates in square brackets (0.66 * 18 = 12 times the AT2 reading)

Yesterday
AMPS 11.4 [137]
+3hr 8.4 [101]
+6hr 9.1 [109]
+9hr 20.8 [250]
PMPS 28.0 [336]

This morning
AMPS 9.9 [119]

I got some Ketostix and of the couple of times I managed to catch her, it indicated trace amounts. I wish it were none, but at least it isn't any higher than 'trace', and probably not surprising given the levels she gets to.

She isn't showing any external signs of diabetes or DKA. She doesn't drink much and only pees once or maybe twice a day (making it difficult to catch her for a keto reading!). She's bright and alert and back to her old self. In fact if it weren't for the home glucose & keto testing I would have thought she was perfectly fine!

She's still a bit thin. She dropped from 10lb to 7lb when she was diagnosed with DKA. Since then she's back up to 8lb. I think I'd like to see her up around 9lb, but slow & steady ...

And to answer Wendy's question - no they couldn't find any reason for what suddenly triggered the DKA. Her teeth are in great shape and they tested for UTI's, pancreatitis etc., but it remains a mystery.

Cheers,
Dave.
 
Yesterday's nadir was in the blue, so that's encouraging.
The trace ketones are worrisome; add a bit of extra water to the food to help flush them out.
It'll be interesting to see what the nadir looks like today; its possible a tiny increase in dose would be helpful to get the glucose down just a bit lower.
 
Pretty happy with Tiggy's numbers today. Looks like she spent a good portion of the day in the 'blue zone', albeit at the high end.
Negative for ketones today :)

BJM - I took your advice and increased the moisture in the food. Mixed half a pack of FortiFlora with some water to make a tasty 'gravy' and poured it over a can of FF classic pate. Both cats lapped it up.
 
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