Introducing Wilson

Wilson is a 6 year old rescued kitty who happens to have diabetes. At time of rescue, he was suffering diabetic ketoacidosis and acute pancreatitis -- a combination that can be deadly. He's still in the ICU but doing much better and may be able to come home (his new home!) this weekend.

When he arrived at the animal ER he was dehydrated and miserable

His health took a turn for the worse the next day, with his labwork showing significant kidney and liver problems. His blood pressure was abnormally low and he needed several rapid infusions of fluids to keep it up, and you can only do that a few times (or else they become overloaded) so he was at the point of needing medication to raise his blood pressure which is a very poor prognositic indicator in cases like this. He was also so dull and out of it that the vet was initially worried about hepatic encephalopathy since some of his liver values had gone up. He hadn't been eating and a temporary feeding tube was placed.

His diagnosis sheet went from DKA to DKA, pancreatitis, and ARF (acute renal failure) because his kidney values were also very elevated (BUN=110, creatinine=5.2). His vet thought that, in addition to DKA, he was suffering an acute, severe pancreatitis which can cause a system-wide inflammatory response hence the evidence of liver and kidney disease. Acute pancreatitis can actually cause death, so its occurrence with his DKA was very bad news. After discussing it, I told his vet that if he had worsened by the morning I would let him go. Before I left work, I sat down with him and told him that I was going to take care of him, he had a home with me, and he would get yummy food and toys and I'd try to make him his own kitty bed and everything. I've actually done this twice before with rescues: told them that I would take care of them and help them and they needed to let me know if they wanted to fight or if they needed to move on.

The next day, blood pressure stayed normal, NO KETONES or excessive urination. A complete and total turnaround! His internal medicine vet called me at 8am in the morning to happily tell me the news. He was alert and HUNGRY. Another good sign, he started to become grouchy when handled too much; not aggressive in the least, but just grumbly when his temp was taken and his IVs were re-wrapped and stuff like that. He started eating on his own but still had some small feedings through it because his vet was worried that he was developing hepatic lipidosis because of the jump in liver values and his previous anorexia. Here he is that night, clearly feeling much better despite all of the tubes and bandages:





This morning, he switched from his short-acting insulin to his long-acting every day insulin, Lantus. As of now, he's scheduled to come home Sunday but I hope to snag him sooner, honestly mostly because his bill is rather heartbreaking and if I can avoid any more charges, I'd sure like to. I spoke to his vet today and there is a good chance he can come home tomorrow :)