E-vet again or not

After a harrowing nightat the E vet last night with woden my diabetic he is still acting very listless and grumpy and now were vomiting. My normal vet is closed for the weekend I am woried. His blood suger is fine they checked for fluid in his lungs his bp is good and no issues with urine blockages.

So now I have one very sad looking listless vomiting slightly heavy breathing cat. And no clue on if I should revisit the e vet today only a few hours after comming home from him.

I would definitely call them at the least, esp. since it doesn't seem there's been any improvement.

I second that. Something else could be going on all of a sudden.

Just got back. After posting I called the vet they said bring him in. He is staying over night and haveing new labs done.

Now I have to figure out just how far I want to take this. My husband unsuportave asshole that he is allready thinks I am being foolish by agreeing to the $700 vet tab just for today. The vet says yes he is deffinatley a very sick cat but they really have no clue what is wrong with him. I'm not made of money as I am the only one with a job who btw decides that sometimes I don't need to be payed on time. as of today I will have spent over 1000 on him this month.

I'm in for a very rough night again.

Glad you took him in. I understand your frustration regarding the finances. It's a tough decision, but perhaps they will allow you to pay it off or work out some type of payment plan.

he is my babby I raised him and his brother from kittens when we rescused their mom.
I just got a update from the vet and he is in Kinacidtosis(sp). There keeping him forsure overnight and we will play it day by day.

So sorry things are so tough. Vet bills are just becoming ridiculous.

I will say some prayers and sending many for you and your kitty.

Keep the faith...

Have you talked to the vet today?

Yep just got my status report after work, So far there working on elevating his electrolite levels there allmost back to normal. There working on getting his insulin in check and of course the little bugger is beign stubbern about eating.. well not eating in his case. He is still lethargic though.

At least I warned the vet he would have issues with them giving him caned pate food. Witch is why he is still on the kibble. I can't find a non pate good wet food for him and I still need the abosolute 100% go ahead for a all raw diet.

As of 10:30 am my time Thay called to ask what kind of feeding tube I wanted. He is refuseing to eat still and he is not getting enough when they are seringe feeding him. I hated haveing to make a decision based on money but if he needs more days in there I wanted to make sure we had enough to cover it. We chose the cheeper non sergery tube though the nose. I hope I do not come to regret this decision.

As for his vitals there still improveing though he is still not moveing much but I think thats just due to him being very scared and with being sick.

So I am still trying to figure out just where that leaves my boy heath wise is he getting better or not? I mean how can one improve yet need to be force fed.

This is my first real trial with haveing to make very hard decisions with my life and it's loved ones. I keep second guessing myself and fretting over everything.

I think it's normal to be second-guessing yourself - but remember, you are doing everything possible in the circumstances to give your baby a chance at at a good life with you. You're acting from love - it's just human to wish we had a guarantee of which choice to make, and when.

Many prayers for you.

Update... after he stablised and seemsed to be on the mend his potasium and phosphates droped again. The vets are confused and were now 100% out of funds. There hopeing to at least get him on stuff we can administer at home and hope that we can do the rest ourselves till we save up more cash.

I'm so lost they also told me he might have liver issues as well? Sigh I am at a loss. I did get to see him today and he looks a million times better than he was he is moveing around now and thats a miracle as he was so lifeless when he crashed at home. I allmost lost it though as he had at least 3 tubes in him and a cone on his head I felt horible for him. I told him he needs to get better so he can go back to ruleing the clan here at home. I hope he listens.

I'm glad that you got to see him and that he's looking better. I'm hoping that the vets can figure out what's going on with him and that you'll be able to work out something for the funds.

Hi Xulili,

Just wanted to say that I completely understand what it feels like to have to take a very sick cat home from the vet b/c you're out of funds (went through this recently). It's horrible. Especially when the cat seems to being feeling better but numbers are still way off, and when it's the first time you're having to make these types decisions directly for a loved one.

You're fighting and doing everything you can & he knows that. You and Woden are in my thoughts.

Thanks everyone for the support. I know I am doing everything I can we normaly have a fun for vet bills that sits between 5 and 7 hundred we went though that allready on his diabetes diagnosis three weks ago and have not had time to save more.
Then yesterday some lady had the gaull to say I should not have cats if I can't take care of them. I fired back at her god forbid your kid breaks a arm or gets hospitilised lady I bet you don't have enough saved for those bills. We allways have enough to take care if vacinations and minor vet bills like for his uti's or acedental eating of found objects. She just irritated me to no end I'm on a short fuse as is I never felt like wanting to punch someone as bad as her.

As another note I picked up new food for woden when he comes home( positive thinking here) and made a batch of his fave non carb gravy too, just becuse he hates pate with a passion.

I have to say I am very in love with my E vet. They have been very acomidateing to my budjet and done much more then what I can pay for and done it with reduced or no cost. There also very good at calling and updateing me on his condition even if I am still confuzzled about whats going on, just too much to take in all at once. They even let me visit him and there is allways a vet there to check on him and all the animals there.

I hope I will have good news tomarrow for like it or not he has to come home we hit our $2000 maximum.

You have done so much for this wonderful kitty. I have a diabetic who went through the same thing. He was at vet for a couple of days and I thought all was lost.

But keep the faith, Goofy pulled through. He eats wet Friskies. I got the diet off www.yourdiabeticcat.com. It is not the best food but the carb count is good. Only certain flavors though.

I will keep Woden and you in my prayers.

You really have my sympathy --and empathy. My cat is a survivor of diabetic ketoacidosis -- at the same time as DKA (it was in 2008) he had pancreatitis, liver damage and a urinary tract infection. Someone said he was as sick as a cat can get and still live.

DKA is a very complicated condition, the treatment is like a balancing act It sounds like your e vet is a good one that both knows what they are doing and is really trying to work with your budget. I feel for you so much that you need to bring him home while still ill -- I was fortunate enough to be able to leave him there some more days -- but I know of people who have been in your position and pulled their cat through it.

Do you know how to test for ketones at home? you can get test strips that test for both glucose and ketones. Ketodiastix. They're just the same that humans use, you can get them at a pharmacy without prescription. I used to do the test by putting plastic wrap over the litter and trying to catch it right after he went and dipping the stick into a puddle (if you do it that way you do have to do it soon after he goes for it to be accurate, otherwise the ketones can evaporate). Later i found amazingly i was actually able to hold the stick in the urine stream while he was peeing. i had seen other people say they did it like that but i did not think my cat would put up with it. but it turned out he did not mind.
Anyway this can be very helpful for a cat prone to ketones so you can have some idea what is going on.

Another thing -- have you ever given sub-q fluids? Ask them about that and if they can show you how and you can get a bag and a line and needles to take home, because that can help flush the ketones out if he should become ketotic again. Just as an example, not long ago my cat seemed like he didnt feel so good I tested urine and it showed some ketones -- trace to small. that was still low enough I could try to treat at home. I made sure he ate. and i gave him fluids, and thank God by morning he was showing no ketones.

oh -- here is another thing. For a much more up to the minute picture of what is going on with ketones, there is the Precision Ultra meter which can test either blood glucose or blood ketones (uses 2 different kind of test strips) Maybe it might be something to check out for the future; sometimes you can find meters for almost free or even free with rebates. The ketone test strips are not easy to find in stores though, you need to order them, and it's about $10 per test. So it's not a test I would run all the time but it can be very helpful when deciding if the cat needs to go to the vet.

I also regularly monitor my cat's blood glucose at home. That might sound kinda overwhelming at first but almost every cat and every human can learn to do this. My cat jumps up for his test because he is bribed with dried salmon treats. Home blood glucose testing just makes sense, after all human diabetics are told to do it. Many vets now recommend this because it can give them so much more data and testing cats at home in their normal environment means more reliable numbers -- at the vet, cats' BG numbers can be thrown off by stress. This can both help regulate your cat and can really save you money on getting BG curves done at the vet.

Re feeding your kitty with the tube, on Yahoo Groups there is a Feline assisted feeding group that you might find very helpful.

And for tons of info and support in dealing with your cats diabetes, check out the Feline Diabetes Message Board. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/

To learn more about ketoacidosis, here is a very helpful page including links http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Ketoacidosis

And here is a paper from a vet conference that goes into detail about the treatment of DKA. I found this extremely helpful in understanding what the vet team was doing -- and it reassured me that they were doing what was recommended here. http://www.vin.com/proceedings/Proce...1549&O=Generic

Hang in there, you are absolutely wonderful friends and caretakers of your cat. and you will be so happy the day you see him playing again. I know how I felt!

We give insulin and test for blood suger ourselves. (I'm pre diabetic our family has the gene for it so we were all set for testing anyway.)Allready switched to a low carb diet the week after he got diagnosed with the beeties. Sadly he crashed 3 weeks after his diagnosis even though his blood suger was not too high for a while at the point. An here Ithought we caught it early nough took him in 2 eeks after we noticed him droping weight more then he should be as he was on a diet because he was slightly overweight not obese like his brother.

As far as ketones those were out of his system like in the first day of treatment. He just is refuseing to get back to normal electorlite levels and just yesterday he was testing with wonky liver values. They still think he could have pancretitus(sp) and a possible fatty liver. Like I could catch him peeing anyway, he is a sneeky cat and waits till we are out or sleeping or really buisy to do his thing. I's hard with 3 cats here in a small place to set up a box just for him that I can watch.

Today the vet called at 7 am. Said there keeping him till at least tonight and only chargeing me a $20 boarding fee and $27 for the BS reading. I am a tad miffed at the cost for a blood suger reading but What can I do they want to make sure it's high enough for him to start insulin again before he comes home.

As for sub q's nope never given them but I am a pretty avid reader I have read how to do it from many of the CRF posts around here. I'm not super nervous on if I have to do it. But it seems like as of today we don't have to go that far.

PS: Tanks for putting up with my really bad spelling.

So I had to bring him home today not that he was ready to come home but were just out of money. he still have some ketones in his system, the vet says there low but there still there.

His feeding tube is still in so he has to wear a e-collar. They droped his insulin dose.. go figure the first reading I took is over 200. He does not want to eat but he got all excited when I went to open the can but once he smelled it he just walked away while his brother ate like a starveing child. He will not stop crying and keeps trying to get into the one room we can't let him into because of his cone.

I'm not sure when his next "meal" is due or when to give him his meds it just says tonight. Except for the insulin that I have to give at 3 am at least he can drink with that cone on, I was worried for a moment.

So our big goal is to get him to eat so he can get the tube out. Tomarrow I will call the vet with his overnight numbers and see what we will do next. I can't take him in untill next payday unless we work something out.

oh yeah allmost forgot the other kittys hate him now hisses and swats. Phantom has backed herself into a corner and just stares at him. I know he smells like the vet and looks funney as hell but he was not gone that long.

Though the one good thing so far is he really wants pets and scritches.

I have been following this thread, I hope the sweet boy feels better soon.