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Post by shadowlark on Aug 19, 2014 23:15:20 GMT
Well, my poor girl is back at the vet's. We took her in Friday and she can hopefully come home tomorrow (Wednesday). I had noticed a couple of weeks ago that she seemed to be drinking more, so my first though was diabetes, but then it was also super hot here at the time. I had planned to take her in (had the appointment booked) when I had to have my surgery to take my appendix out. So, by the time I was well enough to go out and hubby could get time off work (I still can't drive) it was Friday. The last few days before we took her, her appetite was also dwindling, like, she'd eat less than half of each meal, so that was concerning. In the meantime, she also did something to her eye and it was all squinty and runny. Anyway, did bloodwork and her glucose levels were quite high, so yeah, diabetes. Not surprising since it's the pancreas that produces insulin so the pancreatitis might now be affecting that part of the pancreas. Also, the steroid shot she gets every 3 weeks can also cause diabetes with long term use. She was also very dehydrated, despite us giving her sub-cutaneous fluids the night before (she gets 100ml ever 3 days). Oh, and she scratched her eye and it got infected. But not horribly, so that's on the mend. She's been hooked up on IV since Friday. Withing minutes of being hooked up on the IV, they put food in front of her and she just wolfed it down. So we might have to up the amount of the sub-q fluids she gets to keep her hydrated. She's doing much better though. We saw her yesterday and she looked great. Today they were going to do a glucose curve test, which I guess is where they test her glucose levels throughout the day to figure out how much insulin she will need. Can't visit today as hubby's commute is an hour and he couldn't leave early today to rush me over (still can't drive, ugh!). Tomorrow we will go and hopefully she will come home! Our biggest concern was that Winky likes to hide under the bed, particularly when she doesn't feel well, so we were concerned about how we were going to give her insulin twice per day. So we had to go out to IKEA and buy some under bed storage things to put under there. There's about 1 foot of space around the edge of them, so she can still go under the bed, but we'll be able to reach her to give her meds LOL I miss her so much! Here's a pic of her snoozing after our visit on Saturday:  |
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Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466 
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Post by Terry on Aug 19, 2014 23:45:16 GMT
Poor Winky.  I'm sorry she's back at the vet again. I hope she does get to come home tomorrow. I can imagine how much you are missing her. |
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kskatt
Junior Member
Posts: 833
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Post by kskatt on Aug 20, 2014 0:11:53 GMT
You are doing a great job, taking care of Winky!  I don't know if it's because he knows the shots make him feel better (I really think he does) or the little treat (must have food in belly), but Moon is practically underfoot at shot time! Winky might be the same way. It wasn't just the spending huge amounts of time at the water dish, but the copious amount of urine (not always in the box) that first made me think of Diabetes. Moon had been stable for a long time, but now his numbers are up and I'm having to increase his insulin to 4 units twicw a day. Are you using the Lantus? Researching Diabetes was very interesting. You've got to cut carbs. I have yet to find a dry without lots of carbs. It's also easier to find out carb levels in the wet. Pate is lowest. I've just got to figure out how to completely eliminate the dry and switch 14 cats to wet. Most like it, but a few may be trouble!I feed a meal of wet once a day, kibble 24/7; the ex-ferals that were adult Toms when they came to me have some food/resource aggression. Sorry that turned into a book! The basics are just what I've learned and I hope can save you some time and effort. I see you |
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mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749
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Post by mistersmom on Aug 20, 2014 0:22:32 GMT
Oh poor Winky and poor you! Thinking of you both. She is such a pretty kitty.
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hugs
Junior Member
Posts: 2,647
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Post by hugs on Aug 20, 2014 2:11:17 GMT
Poor little Winky but also lucky Winky to have such good care. So sorry about your appendix, that is really rough, I didn't know recovery took so long, must be incredibly frustrating.
Ksatt, feeding 14 cats?! Holy Smokes! You must work 2 jobs to afford to do that, plus the vet care. Yikes. But I'm sure you wouldn't have it any other way.
You guys are the best!
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Post by shadowlark on Aug 20, 2014 2:46:50 GMT
Yeah, we did research on diabetes when we though Marble had it back in January (he didn't, which we found out when he went hypoglycemic and nearly died), so we have a good start on what to do. The hard part will be finding a food that is good for the diabetes AND for the pancreatitis. Our vet is going to call a nutritionist and see what they recommend. But she eats in the bedroom so we don't have to worry about the other cats....Winky gets out room to eat, Luna gets the hallway, Marble gets the second bedroom, and the 3 young ones get the cat room cause they all eat the same food. 6 cats on 4 different foods! Not sure what kind of insulin they are giving, guess we'll find out tomorrow so will update then. Can't wait until tomorrow for her to come home! kskatt - 14 cats?? Wowzers!! @  - recovery from appendectomies can range from 1 -3 weeks. Or course it looks like I'll be closer to the 3 weeks. It will be 2 weeks on Thursday it came out. I'm feeling much better today actually...not sure if I could drive yet (or ride), but haven't had to take pain meds today! |
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Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466
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Post by Terry on Aug 20, 2014 3:11:08 GMT
I wonder how similar it is treating a cat with diabetes compared to treating a human with diabetes? My daughter was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when she was approximately 14 years old. The entire family had to go through training with her to learn how to properly care for a person with diabetes (food, insulin, blood sugar, etc.). Talk about information overload! I do hope it's at least a little easier treating a cat, but you take such good care of Winky, I know that whatever it takes, you will do right by her. You are such a good kitty mommy!  Best of luck, and please do keep us posted. |
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Post by shadowlark on Aug 20, 2014 3:50:09 GMT
I've read that treating cats for diabetes is much easier than treating humans. Apparently cats have far fewer complications and the diabetes can reverse itself, so a cat might be on insulin for a year or two, then their pancreas will just start producing it again. I doubt that will happen with Winky since she has pancreatitis, but who knows, I'll keep my fingers crossed!
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Post by shadowlark on Aug 21, 2014 5:35:02 GMT
Winky is home! She is getting Novolin insulin, 2 units twice/day. Our vet had to leave early today to go to a seminar, so we just missed him so we're not sure if we're switching to a diabetic food, but will find out Thursday. I'm just happy she's home! Here she is when we went to pick her up (notice the special name tag she gets - only her and the resident clinic cat Benny get fancy hand made name tags!):
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mistersmom
Junior Member
Abita Springs, LA
Posts: 3,749
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Post by mistersmom on Aug 21, 2014 12:11:05 GMT
She is just so sweet. SO happy to hear she is home.
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Post by lorddaxter on Aug 21, 2014 21:36:09 GMT
Glad she's home, you can both rest up together now:)
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Post by horselady on Aug 22, 2014 0:21:04 GMT
Glad to read that winky is home and hopefully she will stay home.
have you tried just cooked chicken or beef for a no carb diet. and a diet dry cat food that might have the lower carbs. ?
if humans need to cut out all or most sugars and carbs for diabetics and add more veggies why not cats and dogs. ?
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Terry
Junior Member
Central Illinois, USA
Posts: 1,466
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Post by Terry on Aug 22, 2014 1:23:23 GMT
She is such a little sweetie! I'm so glad she's home.
By the way, as far as worrying about feeding carbs - meat and cheese have no carbs, but fruits and vegetables do have carbs.
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Post by spirithawk06 on Aug 22, 2014 2:35:55 GMT
Hopefully you can keep Winky happy for many years to come! Glad you were able to figure out that it was diabetes quickly.
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Post by shadowlark on Aug 22, 2014 7:35:34 GMT
Vet spoke with a nutritionist who recommended keeping her on the Hills z/d, which is the best for gastrointestinal issues. She does well on it for the pancreatitis, so I guess they are figuring it's best to feed for the main health concern, rather than the diabetes, since the pancreatitis caused the diabetes in the first place. Feeding a diabetic food would help with the diabetes, but may make the pancreatitis worse, which would then make the diabetes worse.
Nutritionist did recommend to add some unflavoured Metamucil or pumpkin to each meal as the fibre will help lower the blood sugar, so we will pick that up tomorrow.
So far she is doing well at home. She has wolfed down each meal and has ventured out into the living room to hang out for a while. Her eye is looking better, but the atropine makes her drool, so she's not happy about that. It's only twice/day though, so we'll manage. She goes back for a recheck in 3 weeks where they will do a fructosamine test again which measures her glucose levels for the past 3 weeks, so we'll be able to see if the insulin has lowered it. If not, we will up the dose of insulin.
She's being such a good girl for her insulin shots and eye drops! I thought she'd be much more of a pain. Really helps that we put the storage things under the bed so she can't hide in the middle! LOL
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kskatt
Junior Member
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Post by kskatt on Aug 22, 2014 13:23:16 GMT
Awesome!!  Pumpkin or Metamucil, I was not aware of the fiber helping. Did the vet say how much to put in the meals? Treatment sounds like the right way to go. The fact that she really likes the food is such a plus! It seems like cats usually don't like what's good for them.  |
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Post by shadowlark on Aug 23, 2014 0:41:42 GMT
Yeah, in the past we've had cats that hated the food that was good for them, so I'm pretty happy she likes this one!
They recommended 1 teaspoon of Metamucil or pumpkin per day, broken up into all her meals, so 1/4 teaspoon each meal. Her glucose reading wasn't SUPER high, so the metamucil or pumpkin might be enough to bring it back into normal range. Fingers crossed it helps!
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Post by shadowlark on Aug 23, 2014 8:03:30 GMT
We gave her 1/4 teaspoon of pumpkin with her midnight meal tonight, and she ate it! I was worried she would turn her nose up at it, but she ate it right up, so Yay!
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Post by shadowlark on Sept 24, 2014 22:52:34 GMT
Update: Winky went for her recheck last Wednesday. We did a fructosamine test which shows the sugar levels for the previous 2-3 weeks. They were still really high, so we scheduled her to go back in on Thursday for them to do a glucose curve (increase the insulin and test her levels throughout the day).
Dropped her off Thursday morning. She was a bit dehydrated so they put her on some fluids. Then, our vet wasn't in, and it was that lady vet I don't like and she gave Winky 2 units of insulin instead of the 4 she was supposed to get (she'd been getting 2 units twice/day for the past month and it wasn't enough as shown on the fructosamine test). So she then had to stay overnight so they could redo the glucose curve on Friday with the proper 4 units. They also did a urinalysis as lady vet was concerned about ketones in her urine since her sugar levels were so high. Luckily she didn't have any (whatever ketones are) which is great cause the prognosis for that is guarded at best.
Friday they did the glucose curve with the 4 units and got her sugar down a little. Our vet wanted to keep her one more night and redo again on Saturday as he wasn't quite happy with the levels they got her down to. So, finally Saturday they got the sugar level from 51 down to 16 so she could come home. ideally it should be around 5 I think, but we don't want to jump up the insulin too much too quickly.
She's lost a bit of weight, so we're also trying to get her to gain a few ounces. It's a fine line between getting more calories in her and not giving her so much food that she gets too much sugar in her blood. But she's still tolerating the twice daily shots of insulin, still eating the pumpkin in her food, and still coming for cuddles. But someone seriously needs to tell her that her lunch is at noon, NOT 10 AM, cause that's when she crawls into bed with me and starts pawing me and meowing in my face. It's cute, but geez Wink, I'm trying to sleep in!
She must be feeling better as when I dropped the end of my laptop charger on the ground, she pounced on it right away! Here's a little video of her being cute:
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Post by diamondgirl on Sept 25, 2014 0:41:12 GMT
Awww, Winky is so pretty, and I loved watching her play. You know she looks a lot like Heidi. You are doing an amazing job with her, and it shows. She looks like she is feeling so much better.  |
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I'm sorry she's back at the vet again. I hope she does get to come home tomorrow. I can imagine how much you are missing her.
- recovery from appendectomies can range from 1 -3 weeks. Or course it looks like I'll be closer to the 3 weeks. It will be 2 weeks on Thursday it came out. I'm feeling much better today actually...not sure if I could drive yet (or ride), but haven't had to take pain meds today!
Best of luck, and please do keep us posted.
