A Gardeners Forum Forums Members History Forum Life 2004 So sad right now... cat problem

Patunia, l have said so many times "No more pets"
Then l think of all the pets that need a good home, and there l go again
doreen

Me too, Jogger.
Patunia- I'm sorry for your kitty-cat. It definitely hurts when you have to let one go.

I have a bad habit of picking up strays to care for them,it drives my hubby NUTS! Both of the dogs we have now were abused strays. I even have a handicapped parakeet. Most of my pets over the years have been either abused or handicapped in some way. I love the animals that noone alse will.

G-Mom

I have a diabetic cat also and his name is Mow. For the longest time he wasn't doing well at all and was afraid I was going to loose him. So, I started reading anything and everything I could find on feline diabetes (FD). What I learned has been invaluable to his quality of life. He's going on 2.5 years of being diabetic and he's now doing great.

A couple of things:
When you said; "he walks around and around in circles and howls for no reason" this sounds very much like a hypoglycemic episode and is very dangerous and can even be fatal. If this happens again rub at least half a teaspoon of Karo syrup (actually anything loaded with sugar) on your kitty's gums. If the symptoms subside within 5-15 minutes that's probably what's happening. This fix is only good for less than a half hour until the sugar starts to wear off and the blood glucose begins to drop back down again. To avoid this your cat needs to eat, preferably something fairly high in carbs. Most any dry cat food will do. If your kitty is experiencing hypoglycemia, a serious look at insulin dosing and blood glucose values throughout the day need to be evaluated. Home glucose monitoring is your best tool, as vet stress can severely elevate blood glucose and not give you an accurate account of what is really happening.

Mow also suffered from neuropathy (usually exibited as hind leg weakness), walked on his hocks for months until he got regulated. It's very common and usually not nearly as serious as is it looks. It may not go away completly but it is reversable in most cases. This could account for why your kitty isn't using his litter box.

PLEASE feel free to contact me. I know how much you love your liittle guy and would hate to see him put down for something such as diabetes. It's a very treatable disease, even though sometimes you ( and possibly your vet as well) may feel at your wits end with it.

The protocol for treating FD has changed a lot in the last 5 or so years and so many vets (mine included) just aren't able to stay current on one specific disease that may comprise of only a very small fraction of thier clientel.

Another thing you could do is go to http://www.felinediabetes.com There's tons of info there, as well as a very busy message board with some pretty educated folks to help you. Mow problably wouldn't be around today had I not found this site.
Sorry this got so long! I hope your kitty has many more happy and healthy years with you.
Barb~~

Barb!
Thank you very much for your information! When I described that exact symptom to my vet in pretty much those exact words, he said nothing about hypoglycemia! (Tho he did mention that if Jim seemed to be having a seizure, to give him honey.)

It wasn't so much the diabetic sypmtoms that had me upset, as, well, just EVERYTHING combined-- he just seemed miserable. (He's been diabetic for eight years, and always been a happy, fairly active cat.) Now that his infection is FINALLY gone, we're seeing improvement in him most every day. Just this morning, I noticed that he seems to be walking normally again on ONE hind leg, so I'm hopeful that the other will follow. We're still experimanting with ways to make things easier for him. We go in again next week for another glucos screening. And next time I go to the grocery, I'm getting a flat like Jiffy suggested to try that for his litter box.

I wasn't aware that there were home monitoring systems for cat's glucose, but will DEFINITELY look into that. And I will definitely try out the website you mentioned! (Our previous, wonderful vet moved away about a year ago, and he was quite knowledgable about diabetes, and always willing to pass on any and all info and tips. This new vet- I dunno.)

Anyway, thanks for all the excellent info! I hope your kitty enjoys many more happy years as well!

Hi again!
I'm glad to hear Jim is doing better. Hope he continues to improve. 8 years diabetic, that's awsome! You've done a great job! A low stepping litter box is great idea.

I wouldn't be surprised if most of the problems Jim has been having isn't somehow related to FD. DB kitties are more subceptable to infection, and if his regulation has been off lately and/or on antibiotics he's likely to be feeling pretty punky.

The vets response or lack thereof when you told him about Jims strange behavior is scary. That should have been a glaring red flag. The part about just give him some honey if he's having a siezure is awful. He left out the part about ...and get him to the vet or an ER clinic immediatly. Here's a link about hypoglycemia: http://www.felinediabetes.com/hypogly.htm

I don't know how close you are to Yorba Linda, but there's a vet there by the name of Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins @ All About Cats Health and Wellness Cntr ( http://www.all-about-cats.com/ ) Dr. Hodgkin's specialty is FD. I'm a bit sceptical still about her newest treatment for FD which have claims of *curing* a certain percentage of her patients. (that's a whole other can of worms though!) But if you want someone up to date (not your vet I'm guessing!) and that really seems to know her stuff I'd highly recommend at least giving her a call.
Lastly, the part about home glucose testing. In case there was a question, I'm not talking about urine glucose test strips. (Though ketone urine test strips would be a good idea) What I check Mow's glucose with is a glucometer made for human diabetics. I've done this for 2 years and it's quite easy once you get it down. It only takes a few seconds and Mow sits quite content purring the whole time while I get the blood sample.
Hometesting info;
http://www.dvmnewsmagazine.com/dvm/article/articleDetail.jsp?id=5336
http://tlb.best.vwh.net/bg_punkin/test_bg.html

Certain meters are easier to use than others and you can usually find deals on them where they end up costing $0. (the companies make thier money on the strips used in thier meters) If you're interested, I can give you more info on this.


Best of luck with your kitty

Barb~~

Dear GeeGeeBurr,

I am so happy that your kitty friend is getting better!!! I think that's why they say a cat has 9 lives. We have 5 cat friends & 4 dog friends living with us. Give your kitty a kiss & neck scratching for me, ok?

Juli

oops. never mind.