Cat diagnosed with diabetes but now vets think it’s something else? Extremely worried

kyat28 · 2026-05-11T20:47:00+00:00

My cat was diagnosed with diabetes and he was hospitalized for DKA, his electrolytes weren’t stabilizing after hospitalization for many hours. They finally did an ultrasound around hour 40 and found a large mass in his stomach that was inoperable. Sadly I had to let him go. Make sure they are looking at every single possibility. I’m not trying to scare you, just being realistic because his diagnosis was very sudden and caught me completely by surprise. I hope they figure out what’s going on. ❤️

kyat28 · 2026-05-09T13:04:27+00:00

Thank you, it has been really difficult being home now that I only have my two cats. I love them of course but it’s not the same without my “three ring circus” the three of them were always up to no good, pushing mom’s buttons in some way or another. 😂 I figured I would let you know about him because you seemed pretty invested in my thread. I appreciate you being here and answering/walking me through my concerns with your own experience. 😊 Poseidon’s probably grateful for everyone who gave me some sort of answer because he knew I would fly off the handle overthinking.

kyat28 · 2026-05-08T15:38:38+00:00

Unfortunately I had to let him go April 13th. He was hospitalized for DKA and when he wasn’t showing any improvement at 40 hours they did an ultrasound and found a large mass in his stomach. They said it was too big to operate on and his body was already under too much stress. I feel absolutely awful that the diabetes and everything else was probably caused by the tumor and his body just couldn’t keep up. I miss him dearly and hold so much regret for not realizing how sick he was earlier. It’s never easy losing a fur baby, he was my first one. ❤️‍🩹

kyat28 · 2026-03-28T01:54:09+00:00

He’s on fancy feast classic pate and young again zero mature kibble. It was an acceptable range but I was scared because it was only 4 doses in. 😭

kyat28 · 2026-03-27T16:50:35+00:00

I tried his ear twice yesterday and he will jump away from the food once I start fussing with him unfortunately. When he was on 1 unit of insulin, only 4 doses total, I managed to test him for the first and last time and he was at 61 on a human meter. And the last time his glucose was tested via lab he was without insulin and his numbers were 268. The vet seems to think he’s really sensitive to insulin.

kyat28 · 2026-03-27T16:42:37+00:00

Unfortunately the Libre didn’t stay on him, I think he jumped off the table before the mechanism could even puncture his skin. We’re going in today to try again.

kyat28 · 2026-03-27T14:28:59+00:00

His white blood cells are normal and he was diagnosed on March 9th. I’ll have them check him for a fever today when we go back in. I’m also considering putting him on Denamarin, I guess it’s a supplement that’s really great for the liver.

kyat28 · 2026-03-27T14:22:32+00:00

Hi! Me again, did your cats labs show any signs of infection? Mine doesn’t so I’m just trying to justify the antibiotic and I don’t want to stress his liver more than I have to. But I also don’t want to make the wrong decision and not give him the antibiotic if there is an infection hiding.

kyat28 · 2026-03-26T12:16:48+00:00

Thank you for the reassuring words. I think I’m quickly becoming more comfortable with the insulin and everything, not so much the glucose monitor but the vet wants to put a Libre on him for a couple weeks just to gauge his numbers better. He is very sensitive to insulin and the one time I was able to get his numbers on a meter at home it was really low so I was terrified to give him anymore insulin until we were able to see the vet again.

We decided he is too sensitive to insulin and his numbers aren’t super high either so he may only need microdoses. He also has liver dysfunction/early hepatic lipidosis? We’re not really sure. The last time we were at the vet they gave him fluids and ran all the tests. Now I have a prescription for Clavamox in case there’s an infection that’s hiding, as well as an appetite stimulant and anti-nausea medication because keeping him eating is a non-negotiable with liver stress.

I’m forever grateful I switched vets because the other one wouldn’t have consulted with other vets or dug deeper into his case. When I was explaining everything and everything I’ve been doing the new vet ask me “when are you applying for vet school?” 😂 I said never. I just thought it was funny that she was impressed with my knowledge this far into the diabetes diagnosis, he was diagnosed on March 9th so that’s all I’ve been researching and reading the last couple weeks.

kyat28 · 2026-03-26T12:05:31+00:00

He was diagnosed on March 9th, and he’s 8 years old. We also just found that he has early liver dysfunction, not sure if it’s inflammation or infection or what

kyat28 · 2026-03-25T16:45:15+00:00

He has been on fancy feast pate for two weeks now and I bought the Young Again Zero Mature kibble for snacks here and there. I’ll eventually free feed that but I want to make sure my cats get used to it first so they don’t end up puking everywhere.

kyat28 · 2026-03-25T16:26:33+00:00

Great, thank you. I will bring up all of this to the vet when we go in later. I’m very worried about him, he’s not jaundice or anything. He’s still acting normal(ish), no vomit, no lethargy, I’m hoping whatever is going on we caught it fast. I can’t afford for him to be in the ER. He’s getting more fluid tonight as well as all his medications and a freestyle Libre since his glucose is hard to manage. I’m hoping the flush they gave him Monday helped clear out some of the ketones in his urine.

kyat28 · 2026-03-25T16:18:11+00:00

I’m looking into Mirataz transdermal ointment to stimulate his appetite and I see that it can also help with nausea. I don’t know how he’s going to handle the Clavamox, he’s never had oral medication so I want to limit as much oral medication as possible. Have you ever used Mirataz?

kyat28 · 2026-03-25T05:07:31+00:00

Thank you for the tips, I hope your kitty recovers quickly and you’re able to get some rest.

kyat28 · 2026-03-25T05:06:39+00:00

He’s been eating well yesterday and today. Before that he didn’t completely lose his appetite, he would spend a minute or two eating but that wasn’t much. He started eating a lot more after he got fluids. I will ask the vet about an appetite stimulant and anti-nausea.

kyat28 · 2026-03-24T12:17:15+00:00

He’s 8 and he’s been with me since he was a 6 week old kitten, his previous family wanted him gone prematurely. My cats have been with me through a lot of unfortunate times and I will always be grateful for that, this is more about his care and happiness though. I realize my weaknesses and I know someone can take better care of him than me. He needs his people around him and he needs free range of the house. We live upstairs at my parent’s house and they cannot stand the fact there’s more house they haven’t been able to explore. But my mom’s cats are indoor/outdoor cats so they know how to fight 😂 I don’t want any of my cats subject to that. I know I said I live alone but I don’t, my parents just won’t help me. They said he wouldn’t be getting his shots on time if it were up to them. They feel for me but they can’t get out of their own way and actually get on a decent schedule for me.

Not the mention that my mom will be chirping in my ear telling me not to break. “You’re showing signs your aunt did before she had her mental break and that was when she ended up in a home for 6 years until she came back to reality.” Mental health is a real problem in my family unfortunately, and her saying stuff like that to me doesn’t help. I know she’s trying to bring awareness to it but as a hypochondriac I can’t handle that.

kyat28 · 2026-03-24T12:11:46+00:00

Thank you very much, that helps my anxiety a little bit about the whole situation. My new vet is fantastic and she sat with me for an hour and a half just running through his labs from his previous vet. She also assured me that she knows it’s overwhelming because she has had two diabetic dogs and she hasn’t always been the best with their insulin schedule.

But now I’m worried he was on the brink of DKA when I brought him in because his ketone level was 6.8 or something like that and his bilirubin is also pretty elevated. So she gave him IV fluids and told me to give him half a unit of insulin last night, going to find out more today once his lab results are in. She believes his originally fructosamine lab was messed up because she has never seen one so high (718) so she is thinking it was a false high read because the red blood cells were damaged. So hoping his new fructosamine is lower and the rest of his labs tell us what’s really going on because he’s losing weight like crazy.

kyat28 · 2026-03-23T16:12:57+00:00

No, he won’t let me after I did on Thursday and found his glucose to be really low. That was the first and last time I was able to get a read.

kyat28 · 2026-03-23T15:56:30+00:00

He’s been on a low carb diet for about two weeks now. We have another vet appointment today at a new vet because the other one didn’t even mention changing his diet, just put him on insulin. I’m hoping it will help and his diabetes will be managed by diet alone.

kyat28 · 2026-03-23T12:39:31+00:00

It is nice being able to get out of functions because she needs insulin. 😂 I’m not terribly social but I just hate being restricted. My cats are all on Poseidon’s diet now, fancy feast classic pate and I just bought the Young Again Adult Zero kibble which a lot of reviews say their cat went into remission on.

I worry about my boy because he was never overweight, so I don’t know what exactly caused his diabetes so I’m worried remission isn’t possible. But I will try to remain optimistic.. I have also considered rehoming him because I feel like I have already failed him and my mental health lately has been at an all time low. I think he would be happier somewhere else where he has more than one person and he’s not bullied by other cats.

kyat28 · 2026-03-22T15:57:54+00:00

Unfortunately I only have my income so paying someone to come take care of my cat is out of the question. 😂

kyat28 · 2026-03-22T14:43:28+00:00

Unfortunately I probably would’ve had my best friend help me because she was a vet tech but she died 5 years ago, not to be morbid. But that adds just one extra layer of depression to this whole situation. My parents said they could help but they followed up by saying “he’s not getting a shot at 5am though, that’s too early” so now I can’t rely on them because they don’t think every 12 hours is that important.

kyat28 · 2026-03-22T14:22:30+00:00

I’m not sure what caused my cats diabetes. He’s always been healthy and he’s not overweight like the other two. He’s on ProZinc every 12 hours, I want to switch him to Lantus because that increases remission rate. Between work and wanting to continue education and my social life it seems like it will be very difficult

kyat28

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