Any advice on diabetic cat

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Sorry for the LENGTHY POST!!! It’s been a emotional rollercoaster this week and I’ve been a wreck.

my girl has been having a rough last few days. She’s not been doing well.



Long story short I noticed her food intake started to get a little less (last two weeks) I thought maybe she didn’t like this Purina Dm the vet had put her on anymore. She would get wet ff some days she’d want it some days she would not!



She was still receiving 3 iu and home testing became hard (yes I know that was probably not the best thing) but for me alone I couldn’t handle her she would be fiesty and it became stressful for both.



Based off her food intake and not home testing except at the vet I didn’t think to only give her doses according to how much she was eating. She was still not drinking as much and using her little normal. eating was the only thing that I noticed was little less.



July 8th was official diagnosis with her levels being 26.2. Her Frductosamine levels were +3 when she first started showing signs of extreme urinating eating and drinking!



Switched her to Purina Dm (vet prescribed and said too give her 2 iu everyday twice)

She was good with the food didn’t get sick from it and I started giving her ff with insulin whenever she would want to eat wet. She was showing signs of improvement almost shortly after



Started a new vet shortly after her diagnosis (due to the distance)

July 29th levels were still 18.7 so he said give her 3 iu



Aug 24th dropped to 8.7 (he said continue 3iu)

Did not tell us anything other then keep doing what your doing so during that time she wasn’t being tested (again yes I know that’s not ideal)



Sep 7 she started getting loose bowels out of no where which it continued Sunday and she was excessively grooming herself on her belly and bottom area until we noticed how red her bum area was! It was swollen and looked awful! Monday it continued and I called her vet! They took her in and he sent her home with two antibiotics ( she didn’t get better in fact it just got worse) she’s been lethargic eating less peeing once every 24 hours and poop was still loose! I



Monday Sep - 9.4 level - and that day she had no insulin due to her being unwell and not eating enough!



SEp 11 - took her back to her original her vet because I was not satisfied with the way this new vet was with her. She was still having loose stool and really straining to go! Vomited whatever she could eat that day!



He saw how infected her bottom area was and gave us meds! Ran blood work fecal test and checked her levels. Put her on a long lasting antibiotic and nausea medicine.

Level was 10.1

Fructosamine level 237 (original diagnoses it was +3)

He said that she is in Remission and to no longer give her insulin and monitor level at home or use a dipstick to check her urine. Since her tests came back normal he said I still don’t no what’s causing her too not poop anymore and pees every 20 plus hours once!! I hate seeing her like this and wish I knew what else to do for her!

These last 2 months have been very overwhelming and all Iwant is for my baby to get back into her normal routine

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. You should consider asking your vet for a referral to an internal medicine specialist.
Is your cat overweight?
Has anything been prescribed for the constipation?
How ambulatory is your cat?
Is the litterbox low sided and in easy access to her?
You need to figure out how to check her BG at home. Were you instructed how to do the ear stick? If you put vasoline on the ear first it works better. You just have to approach the cat from the back and be fast and once done, leave her alone.
Is there anyway you can post her bloodwork?
It would be ideal for her to be off the dry food, but more important for her to eat right now.
I do think you need a specialist.
Has your vet suggested SQ fluids?

 

[fionasmom]

I agree that you need a specialist or an internist for your cat. Around here, the use of a CGM like Free Style Libre is very popular with cat veterinarians.

There is a very good support group that you can join; I have had two diabetic cats and was a member at one time.

Feline Diabetes Message Board - FDMB

I don't think that from what you have described, this replaces finding a vet who can help your cat now, but they are a good source of information.

 

[Nav]

Hi. You should consider asking your vet for a referral to an internal medicine specialist.
Is your cat overweight?
Has anything been prescribed for the constipation?
How ambulatory is your cat?
Is the litterbox low sided and in easy access to her?
You need to figure out how to check her BG at home. Were you instructed how to do the ear stick? If you put vasoline on the ear first it works better. You just have to approach the cat from the back and be fast and once done, leave her alone.
Is there anyway you can post her bloodwork?
It would be ideal for her to be off the dry food, but more important for her to eat right now.
I do think you need a specialist.
Has your vet suggested SQ fluids?

I told her vet to send me the copy the blood work fecal results. I’ll attach the file. She’s eating a bit more whenever she feels hungry. but drinking less water of course (she likes her dry kibble but do give her some wet to see if she’ll like it and it if she does she’ll eat it! I started doing hills wet digestion food with some forti flora to maybe help with her soft stools she was having!
Her vet doesn’t seem to know the exact cause and quite frankly I don’t either! Since her diabetes diagnosis I feel like I’m always on alert now and questioning what I’m doing or if this ok or not for her!

From looking back to how she first started out and the last two weeks (food intake started decreasing and still was getting 3iu t twice without checking levels between that time) could be that she was not eating as much as the units she was getting and I feel awful because she wasacting normal except hating getting her insulin at times.

I’m not getting any answers on how to help her and what caused it from her vets. He said take her off insulin and keep the same Purina pro DM (which she doesn’t seem to eat a lot of it) before her sugar levels dropped to a good level she was eating pretty well! So definitely something changed in that time frame.


I would love too take her to one but expense wise it would be alot for me as my vet bills alone are a lot and I feel terrible even saying that! I just want start feeling better using her litter regularly and playing again
he said to try with a appetite stimulant two pills and see if she eats more and then Try any food you want to mix if it gets her bowels going! Again I’m left wondering now what kind of food and will it affect her again!

Hi. You should consider asking your vet for a referral to an internal medicine specialist.
Is your cat overweight?
Has anything been prescribed for the constipation?
How ambulatory is your cat?
Is the litterbox low sided and in easy access to her?
You need to figure out how to check her BG at home. Were you instructed how to do the ear stick? If you put vasoline on the ear first it works better. You just have to approach the cat from the back and be fast and once done, leave her alone.
Is there anyway you can post her bloodwork?
It would be ideal for her to be off the dry food, but more important for her to eat right now.
I do think you need a specialist.
Has your vet suggested SQ fluids?

 

[Nav]

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi. I don’t know if what her symptoms are now, are related to her diabetes. I don’t think your vet would be able to determine without further diagnostics. Is she still having the diarrhea? Is she still only urinating once a day?
For her sake, you really need to be able to check her glucose at home. Watch for signs of hyperglycemia, excessive thirst and urination.
How is she feeling now? How is her appetite?

 

[Nav]

Hi. I don’t know if what her symptoms are now, are related to her diabetes. I don’t think your vet would be able to determine without further diagnostics. Is she still having the diarrhea? Is she still only urinating once a day?
For her sake, you really need to be able to check her glucose at home. Watch for signs of hyperglycemia, excessive thirst and urination.
How is she feeling now? How is her appetite?

Yah that’s where I am lost is it related to her diabetics or is something else going on. Her vet just wants her to take an appetite stimulant for two days and then see from there or give her restorlax 1/4 spoon to help her with bowel! He said you can try giving her some other food but it’s trial and error! I still don’t no what could have caused it but I’m thinking it’s an underlying issue they may not have caught unless further testing is done.

She’s still not her active self but much better then the last few days. She’s eating more when she wants. Today she had wet in the morning if I mix it with probiotic fortiflora and spoon feed her otherwise she just licks it. She would sit in front of her dry food but walk away. She gets half and half. The dry food she will finish if there forti flora on it! She won’t eat it with water.

I went to check her litter in the morning and she did pee pretty good yesterday twice! And this morning I noticed she finally had some stool! It wasn’t much (two hard small turds) which means she may be constipated so I’m wondering if there is anything I can give her to soften her hard stools.

many food recommendations to help her gi tract improve?I just want to make sure she’s hydrated enough and doing everything I can at least at home to help her

also her poop when this started was like mushy soft and light coloured! So that would still be considered diarrhea? It was not water. I did take some pictures buti forgot to show the vet. Not sure if it makes a different.

 

[silent meowlook]

Hi.
I give my cats canned organic pumpkin sometimes. You can try sprinkling forte Flora on it, but you should check with your vet first as the last thing you want to do is upset her system more.
is she overweight?
Can you post a picture of her?
How is her skin doing?

I am not suggesting that you change anything at this time because you want her to eat. But, the dry food, even prescription dry, has a ton of carbohydrates in it. You want to avoid carbohydrates in cats. Especially diabetic cats. But it is most important she eat now.

Did they prescribe you any anti nausea medications for her? Often when a cat walks up to food and doesn’t eat it is due to nausea.

One thing to consider with the constipation is dehydration. You may want to ask your vet about SQ fluids you can do at home.

 

[silent meowlook]

One thing I noticed was that they did not test for pancreatitis. That is always something to consider.