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Well, he has been feeling better...small signs of normal behavior coming back a bit at a time every day. But still sleeping a ton, and his blood sugar is still elevated. But at least he isn't in pain and he is eating.
They say that if he isn't better by his vet appointment on Friday they want to get an abdominal ultrasound to see if there is damage or inflammation to the pancreas or anything. It feels like we are worlds away from the cat who, last week, wanted to crawl under my bed and die...if only we could get the blood sugar down.
Which, unfortunately, might end up being a matter of insulin shots. /sigh. Really not thrilled about the idea of a long term program of cat-poking here.
Well, he has been feeling better...small signs of normal behavior coming back a bit at a time every day. But still sleeping a ton, and his blood sugar is still elevated. But at least he isn't in pain and he is eating.
They say that if he isn't better by his vet appointment on Friday they want to get an abdominal ultrasound to see if there is damage or inflammation to the pancreas or anything. It feels like we are worlds away from the cat who, last week, wanted to crawl under my bed and die...if only we could get the blood sugar down.
Which, unfortunately, might end up being a matter of insulin shots. /sigh. Really not thrilled about the idea of a long term program of cat-poking here.
What's the alternative?
My cat's blood sugar went up every time we went to a particular vet because the waiting room was small and there were dogs - little whining dogs. Gypsy looked distressed for them and I knew that meant the sugar would be high and I would have to come back for a re-test.
I really hope Nimbus will be OK and not diabetic, too. Let us know.
What's the alternative?
My cat's blood sugar went up every time we went to a particular vet because the waiting room was small and there were dogs - little whining dogs. Gypsy looked distressed for them and I knew that meant the sugar would be high and I would have to come back for a re-test.
I really hope Nimbus will be OK and not diabetic, too. Let us know.
Oh believe me, if it's what I have to do, I will do it...just hope that it is not. And the vet thinks that the blood sugar problems are just symptomatic of a pancreatitis flare, because this was all very sudden and he'd never had abnormal blood sugar before this time. Though I have read that acute pancreatitis in cats can cause diabetes to show up, which sometimes later does go into remission.
Most sites I've read are saying that you really want to try and manage this with diet if you can, because if you get into having to do insulin injections, you've got to monitor blood sugar carefully. While high blood sugar over time can EVENTUALLY cause damage and death, a low blood sugar crash from too much insulin can kill your cat fast.
The readings we've had in the last week have been 183-256...so higher than optimal but not in "definitely diabetic" range. This kind of spike can happen with stress. And I have not fasted him either because I was also told that getting him to eat is the most important thing I can do. So the best I can get is knowing he hasn't eaten in some 5-6 hours, if I'm really doing what I can to encourage intake. This stuff is complicated!
He is feeling a lot better today. I got him to play a bit yesterday and he's back to talking to us, which he had stopped doing when he was feeling sick. And I'm encouraged by the fact that a common sign of diabetes and persistent high blood sugar, which is increased thirst and urination, is not present. I'm thinking about buying a scale to keep an eye on his weight. That was another manifestation of this illness, he went from 14.1 to 13.5 lbs in 5 days.
Cats are small, at least compared to us, and a few days without eating can make a big difference. The sugar/stress thing is real - I paid for a lot of re-tests, so I know.
One thing I've found with cats who won't eat is that hand feeding can make a big difference. I'm not sure why, but I have a cat who leaves dry food in his dish and makes let me cover this ***** up motions to it. But get a little handful at bedtime and offer it up one piece at a time and he would go on eating till he popped.
I'm so glad to hear Nimbus seems better. I hope he continues.
So we went to the vet yesterday for his appointment, I wanted blood checks. They were going to do a fructosamine and a multi-panel to check liver, pancreas, etc.
Well last week when he was truly sick, he just laid there and let them take his blood. Didn't even open his eyes, though he did groan a bit.
Yesterday he fought off two vet techs. Didn't bite anyone, but was thrashing and growling and hissing and snarling like a wee ferocious tiger! They managed to draw enough blood for the fructosamine before he kicked and dislodged the needle. Even trying to burrito him up in a towel did no good. So we go back today, and I'm supposed to give him gabapentin. I hate doing that, but I guess it's the only way we're going to get the blood needed for this. And you know, as much as it sucks that we could not accomplish the objective and all...I was actually pleased to see so much "fight" in him. He is a good boy, but even a good boy has his limits and he's HAD IT with humans poking at him and giving him ouches. He is feeling strong enough to fight, and that's not nothing.
I also feel slightly vindicated in being able to say to the vet that I was not able to get a blood sugar poke on him the other day...I mean...when he's not cooperating, he is really not cooperating. And there are limits to how much I want to stress him out, especially if it's looking like doing so messes with his blood sugar reads anyways. Complicated little fuzzbucket.
I agree about letting them be if the solution causes more problems. At some point you have to err on the side of less harm overall. I hope, after his ferocious outburst, that you can get one good reading with the gabapentin and not have to continue stressing him. Fingers crossed. I also feel that those more "out there" tests are better for humans where you can put them through all kinds of treatments and meds. Not so much with cats.
I agree about letting them be if the solution causes more problems. At some point you have to err on the side of less harm overall. I hope, after his ferocious outburst, that you can get one good reading with the gabapentin and not have to continue stressing him. Fingers crossed. I also feel that those more "out there" tests are better for humans where you can put them through all kinds of treatments and meds. Not so much with cats.
Even giving him gabapentin was a chore last week. I've done it before, by putting the powder from the capsule into a very small amount of a favorite food. But he's just super suspicious now, so although he'd been fasted and was very hungry, he ate some but then tried to nope out. I had to get really persuasive with the rest and he never did get all of it into him. But it was enough. He was chill enough to let them draw blood on Friday. They had trouble getting it and had to try multiple sites, but eventually they got what they needed.
And so far, so good! The fructosamine came out "on the higher end of normal range" so the vet says that while she thinks I should occasionally test his glucose, and definitely watch for signs of him feeling unwell, or increased thirst/urination...he does not need constant checks or insulin at this time. Whew! That is a big relief.
He seems to be back to his old self, doing cat stuff, feeling better.
The only thing that I worry about now, is if it was the anesthetic for his dental that crashed his pancreas, and if so, is that a risk we want to take every year to keep his teeth clean...? But he needs it, he does not let me brush his teeth. Maybe I should try harder. I dunno. I've just never seen him as sick as he was. Prior to the dental he was fine...a couple days after, boom...that happened. But most cases are considered to be "idiopathic" (meaning no idea what causes it) and the vet feels sure it had nothing to do with the dental.
We adopted a cat with periodontal disease and a heart murmur. We were never able to treat her periodontal disease because no one would give her anesthesia with a heart murmur. And yes, these things are related to each other, but there was nothing I could do except let her be a sweet cat with bad breath. She lost an upper fang and had a Jimmy Cagney kind of sneer a lot, which was cute. Her heart got her in the end, but aside from shots, she didn't have much vet stress. I think we made the right decision to just let her be because we knew going in her lifespan wouldn't be as long as we would have liked, but it was a happy life and she was a happy, loved, and loving, little cat.
If I had a sense that a dental put my cat through something negative, and would again, I would make a judgment call based on age and overall health, etc. You could try that water additive that kills bacteria. Not as good as a dental but maybe better for both of your peace of mind.
My cat demands SHRIMP. She thinks the freezer is FULL of them (which it is not) and so if I give her only one in addition to her dry and canned food, she attacks me when I'm walking out of the kitchen.
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