Worried my cat may be acro

[Cyrus]

Hey all. I am worried about my cat, Sufjan. I posted about him here before. He was diagnosed with diabetes on October 2020. We quickly got his BG under control and he went into remission after about two months. Unfortunately in April, he got into some dry food while we were out of town and relapsed. We got him under control again with an average dose of 1.5u, twice a day. That controlled well so I eventually decreased my testing rate to every few days. Eventually, I noticed his BG trending upwards so we have him closer to 2u to keep him below 150. Then, somewhat quickly, he started reading above 200. We thought maybe his insulin had lost its effectiveness. It was 3 months old so we got some new insulin. It wasn't any better. By this time he was measuring BG in the high 300s.
We brought him to the vet and they gave him some antibiotics and fluids in case he was fighting an infection. His levels came down quite a bit that day so I gave him only 1u to be safe in case the built up insulin all kinda hit him at once. Unfortunately, the lower BG was likely just because of the fluids making him more hydrated. I've bumped him up to 3u for a couple days but he's still in the high 300s. He does show some response, hitting low 300s at the nadir, but I can't seem to get any consistent decrease in the overall trend. I know it hasn't been that long, but I had months of handling his BG, so I know how he normally reacts to insulin and it's just totally different. And it all happened pretty fast.

So now I'm concerned he has acromegaly. He's always had some respiratory issues, having coughing fits occasionally and just bring a kinda noisy breather. But recently he's also started making little grunting and chirping type noises when he breathes and purrs which he never did before. I know this is a potential symptom from growth in respiratory tissue. That and the seeming complete resistance to his insulin at doses that used to work is concerning me. His weight has been consistent around 11.5 lbs. His belly is very rotund and compact seeming for lack of a better term, but it's always been like that. He has an appointment with a specialist, but that's not till August 9th.

Can anyone chime in here or just let me know what to expect if he does have acromegaly? How long can I expect him to maintain a happy life? I'm just very stressed about my best friend.


I also backfilled the readings from when he relapsed in April, till his levels increased in early July. As you can see, it was quite rapid.

Historical

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Hi there. I am sorry you are struggling with your kitty. The only way to be sure if your cat has Acromegaly or Insulin Autoantibodies is to have the blood tests. The Michigan State University does these tests on Wednesdays each week and the frozen blood samples can be sent to them.

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

I would like to add that your cat is not at a high dose yet. Before suspecting acromegaly you should keep adjusting the dose based on either the start low go slow (SLGS) or the Tight Regulation protocol.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Sorry to be late responding, but I agree with Suzanne. We'll be able to help you easier with the dosing if you pick one of the dosing methods we use here for Lantus. Check out this Sticky Note: Dosing Methods: Start Low, Go Slow (SLGS) & Tight Regulation (TR)

Lantus is a depot insulin, so you need to be patient about increases, holding each dose at least six cycles. If you increase too fast, you could miss a good dose. And it does happen that the second time on insulin the cat's patterns can look quite different from the first time.

Can anyone chime in here or just let me know what to expect if he does have acromegaly? How long can I expect him to maintain a happy life? I

Each cat is different, even more so if they have acromegaly. The symptoms they show are also all different. My girl never had a noisy breath until over 4 years into acromegaly. Her belly never was that big - but she had lots of bony growths and arthritis. She did get kidney disease and later heart disease and GI issues also later on. There are treatments, and should you pursue one it will help how long they have good quality of life. But even with treatment, other things can happen. Most of our acros are slightly older cat, and prone to other older cat conditions too.

Not all acrocats get to high doses. If you suspect something, or just to ease your mind, I recommend getting the tests done, including for IAA (insulin auto antibodies). There is a kitty here now who fell out of remission and was later found to have IAA. There are many reasons cats fall out of remission. Make sure the vet has a good look at his teeth, dental issues are the most common reason a cat falls out of remission.