Update on Sampson & home testing

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mccat2

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Hi Everyone:
I am continuing to home test Sampson, when I can get blood out of this ear. Sometimes it just doesn't come. He has had 3 tests so far one at night 8:00 and 2 in the a.m. around 8:00 as well. These have all been after he eats. They were 141,120 and 106 today!! I think that the diet of wet food is working. Is it unusual for a cat to be diagnosed and then after a hypogylcemic episode to return to normal levels again? Should I try & do a curve one weekend? He is still a lot thinner than he used to be and has lost muscle mass but he is eating & not losing any more weight at this time. I have made another vet appt for next week.


Thanks,

Vicki & Sampson
 
Can you confirm that you aren't giving insulin? If you aren't, then congrats! Sometimes a episode of hypoglycemia is the trigger for remission and if you are testing you can catch it. So congrats on testing, even if it is difficult. No curve is necessary if you aren't giving insulin (I really hope you aren't!)

Jen
 
Since your vet wanted to try diet alone for a while, I am assuming you are not using insulin. Those are fairly low numbers I would comtinue testing him daily for a while but you certainly don't have to do a curve at this point. Who knows, maybe your cat was never really diabetic in the first pkace. There are a lot of other reasons cats can temporarily have elevated BG. I am glad things have taken a turn for the better!
 
To clarify Sampson has not been on insulin since November 19th. It is interesting that you said that cats can have high sugar levels for a variety of other reasons. I will have to look that up. I won't do the curve but I will continue home testing for the next month just to make sure. I really need to find out why he has lost so much weight over the last year. We thought that is was his high glucose levels. We also had blood work and nothing other than the sugar showed up. His weight is stable now, but he has lost a lot of muscle mass and he is boney now. He weighs 11lbs, 3oz. He used to be 14lbs and has probably dropped all that weight within a year and a half. However he is 16 1/2 and suffers from artheritis. By the way does anyone use cosequin for their cats joints? Can it elevate sugar? I don't want to use it again it if does and you all seem to be very knowledgable about lot of stuff.


Vicki & Sampson
 
Hi :

Sampson began to vomit and had diariah this a.m. at 6:30. He ate a bunch of food last night both bowls of wet & all of the little bit of dry that I put in for both of them. He also drank a lot of water. He is not on insulin any longer due to a hypo episode and the wet food diet is working. Sugar was at 116 this a.m. at 7:30 and he seemed very weak. Took him to the vet at 10:30 and we ran all of his blood work. It was all pretty normal. Sugar was at 188 (but he was stressed), His kidney levels were very slightly elevated at 40 and his thyroid was normal. He lost another ounce despite a very, very health appetite. The vet thinks he may be having irriatable bowel syndrome as he has had in the past but we can't give prednisone any longer due to the effect of increasing his sugar levels. There is another medication that we can try for this but I told him I wanted to wait as I have strong belief that the Vet we were seeing previously may have caused Sampsons blood sugar to sky rocket because she shot him up with a long acting steriod. They gave me some pills for his diariah and injected some fluids with a little potassium (as it showed a little low). Sampson has had this issue with vomiting and diariah the past. I brought him home and he is acting pretty good a little more vocal following me around more. I am having a party with my family this evening and am babysitting my 3 year old niece so I will have to lock both my cats up in my office for the night. Hope this won't bother Sampson too much but have to live my life. Does anyone out there have any ideas of what I can do to get to the bottom of his weight loss and vomiting. What should I watch for. He doesn't do it all of the time but I would say around 3 times a week, sometimes worse than others. He doesn't appear to be suffering but my baby is not himself. He is 16 1/2 years old so maybe it's old age maybe it's something worse = I just dont' know at this point. Perhaps some of you with older kitties can lend some advice.


Thanks,

Vicki & Sampson
 
Hi Vicki,
My cat had IBD/lymphoma, among many other issues. She became a steroid induced diabetic. I attempted weaning her off the steroid to see if that would help her BG's, which it did a bit. She did not do well tho. She stopped eating and vomited regularly. I switched to a chemo drug (leukeran) often used for IBD/lymphoma. That made things worse (for her). I had to choose between steroid and managing diabetes, OR letting her go because she would not had any quality of life with the IBD being untreated. I chose the steroids and insulin. She was with me another year before I lost her due to a combination of many issues.

First, it would be helpful to have an ultra sound to determine if IBD could be an issue.

Consider the diet you are offering (Im not sure what you are giving). Many cats with IBD need a gluten/grain free diet. A few fancy feast varieties, most wellness, Evo, and instinct are popular choices. Its often recommended to do a trial of novel protein (proteins the cat has not been exposed to), such as rabbit, duck, or venison. Evo and Instinct are a few companies who provide these type of canned diets.

If it is IBD, it will likely need to be treated on a daily basis with medications such as prednisolone, budesonide (less systemic- possibly not affecting bg's as much as pred), Metronidazole, leukeran. Other medications such as pepcid, zantac, ondansetron, cerenia may be needed to reduce symptoms. There may be times where few of these medications are needed, if any. And times when you need the full load. IBD can wax and wane.

If vomiting, diahrea are regular occurances you want to make sure you are checking for hydration and speaking to your vet as to when it would be appropriate to supplement sub q fluids at home. A dehydrated cat (or human) is not going to feel well - tired, listless, not hungry, nauseated, etc.

Here is a link with info on IBD, as a starting place to learn more. It outlines diagnostics, symptoms, tx, etc:
http://www.peteducation.com/article.cfm?c=1+2122&aid=304

If it turns out Sampson needs some form of steroid and the FD resurfaces, remember it can be worked around. Your cat can live with diabetes, but cant live w/o food. Some people have little problem managing the FD with steroids. Some will struggle. But you never know until you try.

Hope this helps a little.
 
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