Alberta_Girl
Member Since 2023
Hello,
I was in this group many years ago when I had my Diabetic boy Taco.
I have a 17 yr old spayed female indoor kitty who has always been very healthy and spunky, even still for her age. About Oct 18/23 she started throwing up small amounts of clear throw-up mostly with a bit of foamy in it. She seemed a little off, not even interested in treats, so I was able to get her into the Vet. They did abd xrays and full bloodwork including fPL for pancreatitis and thyroid, an urinalysis, too. Spec fPL came back elevated at 22 (range is 0.0 - 4.4, Idexx). Kidneys great (BUN, creat, SDMA), liver great, CBC great, gluclose was a little high at 10.3 (Idexx range 4.0 - 9.7) but that was attributed to her great stress being at the vet and having blood drawn. Urinalysis showed no infection, no glucose, no ketones, specific gravity a little dilute at 1.018. She was obvious diagnosed w/ Pancreatitis and sent home on Cerenia for 3 days. Vet said an abdominal ultrasound would be beneficial but sadly I just don't have $1200 for that (what it costs where I am).
She was fine after that, until Nov 22, vomited once but then fine until Dec 6, started vomiting again (clearish liquid mostly and some digested canned food, small amounts of vomit mostly), seen again, was given an injection of Cerenia and one of Bupronephrine (sp?) as her belly seemed a bit tender they said. Vet Tech thought her gums were not as slippery as they could be and her scruff skin tenting was a bit slow (I disagreed with the first, gums were slippery to me and in older cats their skin tent is a bit sluggish returning to position due to loss of skin elasticity?) so she told me to give 100cc of S/C fluids a day for 3 days. I found that too much so I gave 100 cc that night then 2 nights later. Vet thought maybe chronic pancreatitis or a flare up?
Of course when she vomits, she hangs out at the water dish a lot and makes frequent trips to the water dish which I think is normal w/ nausea/vomiting in cats.
Dec 18 she started vomiting again, so they gave me a shot of Cerenia to give her which I did. Always works like a charm. That evening I decided to start giving her 2.5 mg of Pepcid AC every evening because sometimes I wonder if her throwing up is a gastritis....as there are times she'll throw up clear liquid then head to her food bowl and eat a bunch of canned and keep it down.....
Today, Dec 23, could tell she wasn't as hungry this morning and then she started throwing up. In the event this is chronic pancreatitis, I was doing some reading up on it and read that a course of corticosteroids can help decrease the inflammation, thought maybe I'd talk to Vet about this. But decided to check her BG at home here with my human glucose meter. First time it was 10.5 mmol/l, did it again 15 min later, 10.0 mmol/l. That kind of shocked me. I'm in Canada so our glucose meters measure in mmol/l. I converted that to md/dl, that's about 180.
From what I've read sometimes Pancreatitis can cause a temporary elevation in glucose, also pancreatitis can sometimes damage the beta cells in the pancreas leading to diabetes.
I was able to get her into a much more affordable Vet (plus our main one closed for the holidays).
I show this Vet her full labwork from Oct 20th, give him the above history. I told him that I think she's diabetic as her BG was about 10 (180). He disagreed with me. He said because the range from Idexx (when blood run at the lab) is 4.0 - 9.7, her being only 10 is not a big deal, it could a bit over the high end of the Idexx lab range because of the vomiting she had today (??) and that she's def not diabetic. For the record, she is the most sweet mellow cat so was not the least bit stressed out by me poking her ear flap to get the little drop of blood to test her with the meter.
This confuses me. I even told him that I've had a diabetic cat years ago (he was diabetic for 6 years, ended up getting him very well controlled on Levemir, he passed due to cancer sadly) and from what I've read, normal BG in a non-diabetic cat is like 4.4 -6.6 from what I've read. I told him that 10 mmol/L is 180 mg/dl and that seems high to me, he assured me it was not high enough to be considered diabetic.
He gave her a shot of Cerenia and sent me home with some extra shots as needed. He was very nice and kind but I left there feeling concerned that she IS diabetic...and maybe that's what's causing the ongoing, although intermittent vomiting? I had even asked him about the latter but he said the vomiting was likely due to possible chronic pancreatitis or maybe even IBD.
She eats mostly all canned food......stuff that's lower carb variety (fancy feast, friskies), maybe the odd nibble of dry food (which I will take away now as I'm sure it's very high in carbs) so it's not like a diet change to something lower carb is going to improve anything.
I gotta admit, I was shocked that he was so sure her BG at home of 10 (180) is not considered diabetic. It just goes against everything I remember and even what I still read online now from reputable feline diabetic resources. How could he not know what a BG high enough to indicate diabetes in a cat is? Isn't this basic Vet 101 stuff?
All I can do is try to save up the $500 (Vet care where I live is insanely expensive), which will take time, to take her in for bloodwork again.....perhaps just a blood glucose and urinalysis (run by Idexx)....but I fear then if it's elevated he'll just attribute it to stress at the Vet and still say she's not diabetic.
I will admit, when my old boy Taco was diagnosed, his BG the first time I did it was super super high, like 350 or 380? (can't remember now) so it was a no-brainer.
She has not lost any weight at all in fact she's gained a 1/2 pound in the past 2 months (she's now 10.5 lbs) which, I admit, is a bit odd if she was really diabetic because they generally lose weight. She eats like a little piggy....though frequent small amounts through the day (canned). She'll take your finger off for a cat treat LOL.
I should add, I obviously didn't ask about a course of corticosteroid (prednisilone) because that would be dangerous if she actually IS diabetic.
Sorry this is so long but I'm wanting to give the full picture.
Hugs
Alberta_Girl
I was in this group many years ago when I had my Diabetic boy Taco.
I have a 17 yr old spayed female indoor kitty who has always been very healthy and spunky, even still for her age. About Oct 18/23 she started throwing up small amounts of clear throw-up mostly with a bit of foamy in it. She seemed a little off, not even interested in treats, so I was able to get her into the Vet. They did abd xrays and full bloodwork including fPL for pancreatitis and thyroid, an urinalysis, too. Spec fPL came back elevated at 22 (range is 0.0 - 4.4, Idexx). Kidneys great (BUN, creat, SDMA), liver great, CBC great, gluclose was a little high at 10.3 (Idexx range 4.0 - 9.7) but that was attributed to her great stress being at the vet and having blood drawn. Urinalysis showed no infection, no glucose, no ketones, specific gravity a little dilute at 1.018. She was obvious diagnosed w/ Pancreatitis and sent home on Cerenia for 3 days. Vet said an abdominal ultrasound would be beneficial but sadly I just don't have $1200 for that (what it costs where I am).
She was fine after that, until Nov 22, vomited once but then fine until Dec 6, started vomiting again (clearish liquid mostly and some digested canned food, small amounts of vomit mostly), seen again, was given an injection of Cerenia and one of Bupronephrine (sp?) as her belly seemed a bit tender they said. Vet Tech thought her gums were not as slippery as they could be and her scruff skin tenting was a bit slow (I disagreed with the first, gums were slippery to me and in older cats their skin tent is a bit sluggish returning to position due to loss of skin elasticity?) so she told me to give 100cc of S/C fluids a day for 3 days. I found that too much so I gave 100 cc that night then 2 nights later. Vet thought maybe chronic pancreatitis or a flare up?
Of course when she vomits, she hangs out at the water dish a lot and makes frequent trips to the water dish which I think is normal w/ nausea/vomiting in cats.
Dec 18 she started vomiting again, so they gave me a shot of Cerenia to give her which I did. Always works like a charm. That evening I decided to start giving her 2.5 mg of Pepcid AC every evening because sometimes I wonder if her throwing up is a gastritis....as there are times she'll throw up clear liquid then head to her food bowl and eat a bunch of canned and keep it down.....
Today, Dec 23, could tell she wasn't as hungry this morning and then she started throwing up. In the event this is chronic pancreatitis, I was doing some reading up on it and read that a course of corticosteroids can help decrease the inflammation, thought maybe I'd talk to Vet about this. But decided to check her BG at home here with my human glucose meter. First time it was 10.5 mmol/l, did it again 15 min later, 10.0 mmol/l. That kind of shocked me. I'm in Canada so our glucose meters measure in mmol/l. I converted that to md/dl, that's about 180.
From what I've read sometimes Pancreatitis can cause a temporary elevation in glucose, also pancreatitis can sometimes damage the beta cells in the pancreas leading to diabetes.
I was able to get her into a much more affordable Vet (plus our main one closed for the holidays).
I show this Vet her full labwork from Oct 20th, give him the above history. I told him that I think she's diabetic as her BG was about 10 (180). He disagreed with me. He said because the range from Idexx (when blood run at the lab) is 4.0 - 9.7, her being only 10 is not a big deal, it could a bit over the high end of the Idexx lab range because of the vomiting she had today (??) and that she's def not diabetic. For the record, she is the most sweet mellow cat so was not the least bit stressed out by me poking her ear flap to get the little drop of blood to test her with the meter.
This confuses me. I even told him that I've had a diabetic cat years ago (he was diabetic for 6 years, ended up getting him very well controlled on Levemir, he passed due to cancer sadly) and from what I've read, normal BG in a non-diabetic cat is like 4.4 -6.6 from what I've read. I told him that 10 mmol/L is 180 mg/dl and that seems high to me, he assured me it was not high enough to be considered diabetic.
He gave her a shot of Cerenia and sent me home with some extra shots as needed. He was very nice and kind but I left there feeling concerned that she IS diabetic...and maybe that's what's causing the ongoing, although intermittent vomiting? I had even asked him about the latter but he said the vomiting was likely due to possible chronic pancreatitis or maybe even IBD.
She eats mostly all canned food......stuff that's lower carb variety (fancy feast, friskies), maybe the odd nibble of dry food (which I will take away now as I'm sure it's very high in carbs) so it's not like a diet change to something lower carb is going to improve anything.
I gotta admit, I was shocked that he was so sure her BG at home of 10 (180) is not considered diabetic. It just goes against everything I remember and even what I still read online now from reputable feline diabetic resources. How could he not know what a BG high enough to indicate diabetes in a cat is? Isn't this basic Vet 101 stuff?
All I can do is try to save up the $500 (Vet care where I live is insanely expensive), which will take time, to take her in for bloodwork again.....perhaps just a blood glucose and urinalysis (run by Idexx)....but I fear then if it's elevated he'll just attribute it to stress at the Vet and still say she's not diabetic.
I will admit, when my old boy Taco was diagnosed, his BG the first time I did it was super super high, like 350 or 380? (can't remember now) so it was a no-brainer.
She has not lost any weight at all in fact she's gained a 1/2 pound in the past 2 months (she's now 10.5 lbs) which, I admit, is a bit odd if she was really diabetic because they generally lose weight. She eats like a little piggy....though frequent small amounts through the day (canned). She'll take your finger off for a cat treat LOL.
I should add, I obviously didn't ask about a course of corticosteroid (prednisilone) because that would be dangerous if she actually IS diabetic.
Sorry this is so long but I'm wanting to give the full picture.
Hugs
Alberta_Girl
