Vet says my cat is okay with glucose at 10 and more...really???

by Joni lyn
(Whittier, ca)

Last Saturday night my 13 year old female tortie stopped eating and developed diarrhea, I had done Monday morning. Her glucose is 10. Her WBC is 16.9. Her neutrophils are 12,844.
Her Eosinophils are 1452.
She is very thin and has terrible diarrhea.
My vet said her blood results were fine and gave me some albon.
I KNOW this can't be fine!!!
Please help...
Rosie's mom

RESPONSE:

You are not alone …I would also be concerned if one of my cats had a glucose level at 10. Glucose is a major source of energy for your cat’s body and the normal range is 75-120mg. This varies a little depending upon the specific lab’s values but that’s a ballpark figure that gives you an idea of “normal”. Critically low levels are called hypoglycemia. Low levels are usually an indication of an underlying problem. This is a dangerous health condition and needs to be treated quickly before it threatens your cat’s life. Some of the symptoms are: loss of appetite, blurred vision, confusion, weakness and low energy, anxiety, shivering and heart palpitations.

Blood sugar levels have to be raised immediately and then you will still have to deal with the underlying condition to prevent it from happening again. Your cat has to be given glucose or sugar in any form and if you can’t get your cat to take sugar through the mouth then you will have to inject glucagon or give intravenous glucose. Karo syrup or honey will do the trick until you can get back to the vet.

I don’t understand why your vet wasn’t concerned…could you have misunderstood the results? Is this vet using a normal range as 7.5-12 whereby 10 is okay? The WBC of 16.9 may be an indication that this might be the case because the normal range is 4,900-20,000 and 16,900 would fit into that range. Different labs use different “normal ranges”. Phone the vet’s office and find out what their normal ranges are. If there was no misunderstanding I’d be thinking about going to another vet.

However, another possibility exists. Hypoglycemia can be due to liver disease, malnutrition, an overdose of insulin to a diabetic cat, or a severe bacterial infection which depletes your cat’s energy supply. Your vet prescribed Albon which is a heavy duty antibiotic to treat bacterial infections and protozoa infections of the intestinal tract. This could be causing weight loss and diarrhea so the vet is already resolving the problem. If the glucose is not 10 but 100, then Albon should do its work. Eosinophil at 1452 falls into the normal range of 0-1500. Neutrophils at 12,844 is a little higher than the normal range of 2,500-12,500.

Torties are hardy critters. Two of mine lived past 20 and I currently have 2 that are 11 years old now. Find out from the vet’s office if the “10” is on the 7.5-12 scale. If it is then just keep giving your baby the Albon and hopefully it will do its work. If not, put honey on your finger and try not to get bit as you get it into her mouth so you can at least start getting the glucose level up.

It’s dangerous for cats not to eat because they can develop hepatic lipidosis. Try to get your cat’s weight up a bit by tempting it with something. When one of my cats go off their food because of some illness I boil a little chicken with some rice and add part of a taurine capsule into it. Usually the aroma of warm, freshly cooked chicken gets them eating a little bit again. Even if they just lick the broth they are getting nutrients into them.

I hope that I have helped you a bit. Remember to phone the vet’s office and find out the ranges they use for blood work results. Good luck to you and Rosie.