Vet told me to euthanize my cat but I’m not sure anything is actually wrong

Hi all! I’m Amanda and I have a 14 year old cat named Sophie. I’ve had her since she was a kitten and she’s always been healthy. She’s a sweet cat and my family loves her very much even if she only loves us on her terms. She eats canned cat food. Usually the Rawz brand or Tiki cat.

I could use some advice. Last month I took my cat and dog in for their yearly checkup and I had to see a new yet as ours retired last year. The new vet was very rough with my cat and held her by the scruff of the neck the whole time while examining her. My cat is sweet but she was terrified and shaking. I wasn’t too happy with this but the vet insisted. A few days after my appointment the vet left a message saying the cat had diabetes because her blood sugar was high and I needed another glucose test. I brought Sophie back and they wouldn’t let me come in because of Covid. When they brought her back she was covered in isopropyl alcohol all over her neck back and legs. I had to bath her when we got home it was bad. They called and left another message and confirmed she had diabetes. And I called back about 5 times trying to talk to a vet tech. I finally got called back and was told to start insulin at 1 unity twice a day. So I picked up the insulin and never could get them to schedule an appointment to help me. So my friend who is a vet tech came over and taught me how. We gave Sophie the insulin and she began to get very sick. My friend told me to take her back to the vet after stabilizing her the best she could. So I ended up at an emergency vet. The emergency vet thought the cat didn’t have diabetes based on the two glucose tests which where 220 and 250 according to the lab result paperwork I had. The emergency vet said a glucose test couldn’t confirm diabetes but they didn’t do any other kind of test just the regular blood work. The emergency vet called and got the records. I tried for two weeks more to get the original vet to call me back and finally she did. I explained what happened and that I couldn’t get her to eat the hills prescription diet food and I was still feeding her the canned food she’s always eaten. And Sophie was super stressed and hiding from us. The vet then told me if I wasn’t going to give insulin then I needed to euthanize my cat and told me the cat is suffering. Our cat is not showing any signs of diabetes or stress other than after going to the vet she hides for about 24hours. She pees about twice a day and drinks a normal amount she is about 10 pounds and probably should be closure to 8.5 pounds but we are working on that. I bought at home glucose urine strips and they keep showing up negative. I’ve made another appointment with a different vet but they cannot see me for two weeks. What do I do? How was your cat confirmed with diabetes?

 

There's a test they can run called a fructosamine that gives an average blood glucose over the past 2-3 weeks which takes the variable of "vet stress" out of the picture.

Cats often can have higher blood glucose numbers when they're at the vet. It's kind of like how humans blood pressure is higher at the doctor's office than at home.

Your vet needs a serious attitude adjustment as well as some updated education on diagnosing diabetes in cats.

While you're waiting for your new appointment, you can learn to home test using a regular glucose meter. A non-diabetic cat's blood glucose should be between 40-120 at home. A lot of us use the Relion Prime from WalMart because it's only $9 and 100 strips are $17.88. A box of 25-28 gauge lancets to prick the edge of the ear to get a blood sample and you'll know for sure if she's diabetic or not.

There's lots of videos on YouTube on "how to test a cat's blood glucose". It sounds a lot worse than it is. It just takes some practice, some patience and setting a good routine/reward schedule for her so she gets used to having you fool around with her ears.

 

Hi Amanda , I totally agree with what Chris has said.
I feel so bad for Sophie , that vet holding her by her scruff. Poor baby
She needs more than an attitude adjustment, I'm glad you are taking her to another vet.
I agree with Chris to start home testing with the Relion Prime human meter
Most of us do use a human meter, at least you can see what Sophie's BG is while waiting to get in with the new vet.
One of our members has a video testing her cat, She used a pet meter but that
doesn't matter, with the Relion meter you won't have to put a code in
This is just to show you how to test
I'll post the link for you
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar

 

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Lancets any brand 26 or 28 gauge lancets to poke her ear
If you look closely at them one side is pointing up
Use that side , go in at an angle

 

Start get her used to rubbing her ears.
Even if you fail at the first test ,etc award her with some kind of low carb treat
Most of the members here get any freeze dried treats, or you can boil some chicken
and give her a small piece. Get her used to being tested in the same spit, counter, couch, where ever. Good luck and if you have any other questions ask away

 

The new vet has absolutely no idea what she's talking about. Not only is she not familiar with feline diabetes, but she's extremely unkind and way off on her judgement to euthanize Sophie. I'm so glad (and I bet Sophie is too) that you followed your own common sense and could see that her judgement is off. I hope that you never go back to her and that you find a much kinder vet - one whom actually seems to love animals. When a cat (or dog or human, etc) is stressed, the blood glucose level goes up high. In some cases , it can go very high, and that's not uncommon. Sophie was more than likely very stressed by the way she was being handled. Blood glucose levels also rise after eating. It sounds like there's a good chance that Sophie really isn't diabetic, as stated by the ER vet. Don't worry about waiting 2 weeks to see another vet. Sophie sounds like she's doing well and she's obviously in really good hands. As Chris and Diane said, you can learn to test her BG at home, and you'll have plenty of support here. I'm so glad that you found your way to this message board. Welcome Amanda!

 

Thank you guys so much. I have a blood glucose meter from when I was pregnant. I had horrible morning sickness my whole pregnancy and my blood sugar would drop to low. I just need new test strips. I’ll watch the videos and buy some test strips. I’m hoping the next vet will be better with cats. I’m really angry at the vet for suggesting euthanizing what seems like a perfectly fine cat without any reasoning. I’m happy to give insulin or do whatever is needed but I want to make sure Sophie has diabetes and the vet will actually call me back or answer my questions. I didn’t know cats have high glucose from stress. I looked at her previous vet records and she never was high but my former vet was wonderful and I’m heartbroken he retired. He was in his 80s so I understand but he was so kind. I had no idea how bad a vet could be. Did your cats show signs of diabetes? Or was it just detected by blood work.

 

I have 2 diabetic kitties. One clearly showed signs (heavy urinating, weight loss coupled with constant hunger, and playing in the water bowl), but my newly diagnosed one wasn't obvious to me. But he has other health issues that stole, and are still stealing the show.

My vet is also in his 80s, and I worry about him retiring too.

 

Amanda -- I'm so sorry this vet treated you and Sophie so poorly. I'd go a few steps further than saying the vet needs an attitude adjustment. I think this vet is an idiot and probably has taken zero continuing education credits regarding feline diabetes since graduating vet school. I don't know if I'm more furious over this vet telling you to euthanize an animal for a condition that is highly treatable (if indeed your cat is diabetic) or for her cavalier attitude regarding practice management. By not returning your calls when your cat was having a poor response to what she prescribed is negligence. Once your settled in with a new vet, if it were me, I'd be tempted to write a scathing review on Yelp.

I agree with Chris. Ask the new vet to run a fructosamine test. It's the kitty equivalent of a Hgb A1c that's used to test for diabetes in humans. It's an average of several weeks of blood glucose levels and it will tell you if the tests at the vets office were due to stress and the vet manhandling your kitty or if Sophie is truly diabetic.

If you are going to be looking for a new vet, this is a link to information on interviewing a new vet. I moved a few years ago and had to interview vets. I found a cats only practice and made an appointment to meet one of the vets and tour the facility. Be prepared that some practices will charge for an office visit if you go in since it is taking the vet's time. My vet didn't charge but it is possible. Trust you gut when it comes to finding a new vet. And by all means, pick your vet tech friend's brain for recommendations.

Since you have access to a glucometer and you're likely OK with testing, I would get several tests at home. This is a link to more information, videos, etc. on home testing. The urine glucose test strips are not truly informative. They don't register highs or lows. Blood glucose is the preferred method for testing but if it were me, I'd be reassured that you're getting good readings on the urine test strips.

Please let us know how we can be helpful and/or supportive. There is a great deal of collective knowledge here and we're happy to help in whatever way we can.

 

Well, just to be clear, my first thought was to use a 2x4 to adjust that attitude...or a baseball bat.

 

What meter do you have? I've been testing me abt 4+ times/year. I had a OneTouch ultra mini on hand I got free years ago. I get the GenUltamate generic strips from Amazon 150 strips for $20.
Good luck, you've come to the right place for advice and support! I've done tons of research and people here are very knowledgeable.
Peace

 

You need a new vet. They should NOT have to hold a cat by its scruff the entire time. That's abusive. (We once had a Demon-Cat-From-Hell when at the vet. They would hold her in place with huge gloves, sort of trapping her down with them or let my husband hold her, who had no problem with it. Scruffing an adult cat for any length of time is inappropriate.) They should NOT have doused her in toxic alcohol (only the kind we drink is not toxic. all other kinds can be deadly if overdone, and it doesn't take much.)
From the emergency vet, it sounds like the proper testing was NOT done, and she was misdiagnosed by a very bad vet, quite negligently.
If you can do your own testing to see whether she really needs insulin or not, great. Proper blood test for fructosamine should also be done.
And definitely find a new vet. And definitely put up some bad reviews--just relate what happened and what was said by the vet. Others will easily see that they should stay away.
We once were using a practice where the young vets were great with cats, but the senior partner hated them, quite obviously. Probably why he got new younger partners about every year, they left to get away from the nasty old vet. Is why we changed vets, we couldn't always avoid the old guy, and he just had no business being near any cat.

 

I have a CVS glucose meter. I’m not sure which one. I’ll have to pull it out. I haven’t had to use it in two years. But it should be good until I see another vet in two weeks. When do you test a cats glucose? We feed two times a day but our cat nibbles and doesn’t always finish when we put the food down.

also thanks everyone for the replies. I was so shocked last night when after a month of begging for a phone call the vet finally called me back and didn’t answer any of my questions that I thought were reasonable. Like how do we know how much insulin to give and how do I test her response and are you sure she is diabetic. She then told me if I wasn’t going to give my cat insulin I needed to put the cat down. I never said I wouldn’t give insulin. I just wanted to not make the cat sick again or worse kill her for giving to much insulin. I thought this was reasonable given the cat basically went into shock from the insulin. After processing what the vet said I’m really angry. And I already feel horrible for making her sick when we gave her the insulin the first time. If my friend hadn’t of been there I’m not sure my cat would still be alive. And I just feel horrible about the thought of I could have killed my cat.

 

Where are you located? We may have members who can recommend a good vet near you.

Another option is to see if there is a feline only vet near you. You can search here https://catfriendly.com/find-a-veterinarian/. I think this only lists US vets so if you live elsewhere search on Google for feline vets in your country.

 

Test AMBG when you get up before feeding. Then 12 hours later before feeding.
Sometimes vets give a higher unit of glucose than a cat can handle, at least mine wanted me to start with 2 units. I disagreed and started Ben on 1U. I found Lantus to be a great long acting insulin. Like me with long term meds, I like to start low and find out from there what a good dose would be. Read everything here you can and you will have a much better idea what to do.
I HAD a vet that wanted to put Ben down as she didn't think I could follow what needed to be done or couldn't afford treatment (that's what I concluded anyway). I asked for someone to show me how to give the insulin shots with the pen she just prescribed and I got NO for an answer. We did this alone, with the vet's insulin prescription, and GREAT help from this group.
2 1/2 months later, Ben is in remission. On August 5th we go to a trusted friend and vet, Dr Karma. She is far away and I will have a $40 Lyft ride but it's not too far for me to go for my fur kid
Hope This Helps

 

You want to take food up 2 hours before "shot time".....then you test/feed/shoot (when you're on insulin....and depending on the type of insulin, you sometimes wait between the feed and shoot) so just test in the morning before you feed and then take any food up about 10 hours later and test again

 

I'm with you on that !

 

What an aweful experience. You definitly need a new vet. Your cats numbers are not that bad. I would try switching to low carb wet food first. Glad you have a meter. Get some 26-28 Guage lancets. I have a video in my signature showing how I tested my cat CC at home

 

Most of us have heard this story before, the vet that hasn't kept up their education and therefore knows very little about diabetes. The baseball bat is a nice idea but won't help. Diabetes is not a death sentence, with any luck it will become an inconvenience that takes less time than cleaning a litter box.
You're in the right place now Amanda, you and Sophie are among friends who all want the same thing, a healthy cat and a happy owner. It really is that simple.

 

New vet pronto ! This is very poor treatment. Situations like this you have to advocate for your kitty, even if it feels awkward and difficult , not to mention stressful to find a new vet and go through the process again. you need. Fructosamine test - that’s a gold standard.actually .. that’s just part of a standard diabetes DX!
Once you are set up with a new vet you need to report the previous one to the veterinary body in your country - lodge complaint. I moved vet after several years with mine. Happy with previous treatment for other conditions but after the diabetes DX realised she was out of her depth a bit and the reception made mistake with my syringes.. I moved on, no vet has ever brought up euthanasia at all..

 

I actually can’t believe they sent you away with insulin etc and didn’t even show you how to administer!!!! Covid or not! Mine was DX a few months ago - height of pandemic in uk, but they still let me in to show me what to do!!!!
This is just negligent.

 

Thanks everyone this is so helpful. I’m going to pick up some lancets and test strips for my glucose meter and try to get some numbers to start with before I see my new vet. I’m not really sure based on the two glucose test and what the emergency vet said our cat has diabetes. The emergency yet kept her for 24 hours and didn’t think she had diabetes but I’m not sure what tests she ran. So I’ll call Monday and see if I can get those records. I’m happy to do whatever is needed for my cat I just need a vet that has some idea of what to do and is flexible. I’ve always fed the cat canned food usually Rawz, Weruva, or Nulo. Is there a resource for good food options? I couldn’t get our cat to eat the Hills Prescription food. Our cat is picky and really likes chunky food not pates. I truthfully just feel so horrible about all this and being the reason she had to go to the emergency vet for something I did. Even if I was following the vets information. You guys are making me feel better about this. I guess I thought vets couldn’t be this bad.

 

The ones you mentioned are usually great choices! Here's a food chart we often use but it doesn't have some of the newer brands but I know Weruva puts the nutritional breakdown of all their foods on their website so you just want to make sure the foods you feed are under 10% carbs.

If you look at the ingredient list and see mostly protein sources, water, vitamins and minerals and no grains, starches (like potato, sweet potato, peas, chickpeas) and no fruits or veggies, it's probably going to be in that "under 10%" range.

 

Lisa Pierson, DVM is a vet who has an interest in feline nutrition. She occasionally posts here. This is a link to her website. On the site is a food chart one column of which has the carbohydrate counts for the foods listed. She only includes canned foods. You want to be feeding your cat low carb (less than 10% carb) varieties. Most people here tend to feed their cats around 5%. You'll also want to keep some cans of medium carb (10 - 15%) and high carb (over 15%) food on hand in case you need to steer numbers upward.

 

Weruva is a great choice and almost all of them are low carb. The weruva website is very transparent with the nutrition information. Go on there and look at the ME profile of the foods you feed to make sure they are under 10 percent carb.

 

I am so heart broken and frustrated for you and your baby Sophie, Amanda!! I wish you luck with the new vet. And to add to that, pet health records are similar in manner to people personal health records; it's your right to ask for and obtain them. ( Trust me, I deal in human and pet insurance lol.) There's no reason for then not to give them to you - if you want to avoid conflict, you can even say you keep a file for your kitty in case of an emergency vet trip.

Bless your heart for being proactive and not standing for that kind of treatment! Good luck to you, and remember always trust your gut!