Michelangelo

At a Glance

Michelangelo (aka Angelo, Mikey-Mike, Jo-Jo, Mickey, Little Buddy, Skitty-Kitty) is a neutered gray and brown classic tabby. We think he is part Maine Coon (the suspected dad is part Maine Coon). He's got a lot of the markings including the tufts of hair and webbing between his toes, his fluffy, racoon-like tail, his almost lion-like mane, his fur bloomers, and this fascinating short-hair/long-hair mix across his body.

Medical History

Date of birth: 04-13-2012

Gotcha Date: 06-08-2012

Date of diabetes dx: 10-11-2012 (2 days shy of his 6 month birthday)

Date of diabetes ddx: 10-23-2012 (Most likely Type 1 due to his age and no underlying conditions, but no way to test for it at this time).

Insulin:

• Type: Lantus
• Concentration: U100
• Units per shot: 2.5
• Shots per day: 2

We hometest BG: Yes, Mikey's Chart. Because kitten diabetics are so rare and the information out there is sparse (aka non-existent), I've had to pretty much figure things out as we go along. One major portion of this puzzle is that as Mikey grows, his insulin dose needs to be increased. Because of the weight fluctuations from this growth, his dose needs to be increased s l o w l y to prevent potential hypos as his weight stabilizes. If it weren't for monitoring, he probably wouldn't be alive today. Being a part-feral and a kitten at the time of diagnosis, testing was initially quite difficult for us. I even created a document to help others test "difficult" cats, like Mikey. Many of the ideas and tricks were developed from when my previous cat, Patrick, (who was also part-feral) came down with hepatic lipidosis when he was about 3 years old and had to be tube-fed for a few months.

Meter: ReliOn Micro (love it), Accu-Chek Nano (hate it), One Touch Ultra (meh), and ReliOn Prime (I've grown to love it more than the Micro).

Hx of complications: PU/PD, UTI

Corticosteroid use: None.

Status: It's a bit difficult getting him regulated since he keeps needing his insulin increased as he grows. This means that if he is a Maine Coon, he'll probably continue needing dose increases as he grows over the next five years.

Past health issues: Michelangelo was rescued at 8 weeks after the mama cat moved his two bigger brothers and never came back for him. By the time he was abandoned by his mother, he was half the size of his brothers, was developmentally only 5 weeks, and was extremely malnourished with a severe coccidia infection, requiring two rounds of albon to clear it up. He also lost all his whiskers a couple of weeks after joining me. They did eventually grow back, but some of them would still curl and occasionally break off. Since he's been getting better regulated, this is happening less and less frequently. When Michelangelo was about six months old, my friend who rescued him came by for a visit and was amazed at Michelangelo's progress. When she had first saved him, he was the runt of the litter. Now, he was twice as big as his still-feral brothers that continue to roam about my friend's workplace.

He was a happy kitten until a few days after getting neutered when he started showing signs of PU/PD thought to initially be caused by a UTI. We soon discovered that the UTI was caused by him having too much sugar in his urine, resulting in a week on clavamox to clear that up and the start of insulin to lower his blood sugar. Because he was only 6 months old at the time, the vet hoped it might be transient and clear up on its own, but after two weeks on insulin and a fructosamine test result of 597, his diabetes diagnosis was confirmed. It was at that time I began to research feline diabetes and Michelangelo and I started on this Sugarland Adventure.

In August of 2013, Michelangelo suddenly stopped eating for a few days. I continued to test, gave insulin when his numbers warranted, and took him into the vet's twice to make sure there was nothing else going on (i.e. blockages) and to receive fluids. Because of his diabetes, I was overly cautious and wanted to make sure he wouldn't end up with a diabetic complication, like DKA or hepatic lipidosis. The vet did notice some air pockets in his intestines that pointed to gastrointestinal inflammation. It was eventually ruled that he'd had a bout of colitis and Mikey resumed eating after about 3-4 days and has had no problems since, however, his insulin dosage dropped significantly from an all-time high of 3u BID to (currently) 2u BID.

Food

Brand Name: Anything low carb off Dr. Lisa's list

Formula: Michelangelo's Low Carb, High Protein Food List

Consistency: Wet with extra water added

Amount fed per meal: Because he was diagnosed when he was still a kitten, he needed twice as many calories as an adult cat as well as higher protein content. In the beginning, I had to monitor his food intake because he was unregulated, making it hard for his body to get the proper nutrients a growing kitten needs. Once he started becoming more regulated, his eating decreased and he started gaining weight appropriately.

Number of meals/day: I free feed as much as possible (i.e. timed compartments, extra water, frozen, etc...). This helps make his blood-glucose curve more level.

How is food given in relation to the insulin shots? I pull all food up two hours before shot time and I always feed him while giving a shot.

Other information about Michelangelo's diet: Mikey is a pesce-pollotarian and finds beef, rabbit, and venison vomitous, severely limiting our food choices. I also try to stick with the "pregnant women" rule and feed him fish only once a week on his "Fish Fridays."

Other Information about Michelangelo

Michelangelo's mother is a feral cat that roams around my friend's work (a warehouse, home to a feral cat colony). My friend was unable to TNR her in time so on Friday the 13th in April 2012, she gave birth to a litter of three kittens: two orange tabbys and one very special Michelangelo. After his mom abandoned him when he was only 8 weeks old, my friend did not want to wait and see if the mama cat came back for him sometime over the weekend because he probably wouldn't have survived. I got the phone call that Friday night (June 8th), asking if I wanted a kitten. A few minutes later, she arrived with Michelangelo, whom I named after my most favorite Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle first and the eponymous painter, second. Last year, my sister and her family got a puppy and, continuing on in the tradition, they named him Leo (she didn't even realize the connection till I told her.

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A brief note about young cats with diabetes: Mikey is quite unique being diagnosed at such a young age. I have a suspicion that there would be more Type 1 feline diabetics if they survived the first few weeks of life and I wonder if a lot of those single kittens who are abandoned by their moms are because the momma cat "knows" they're diabetic from the sugar in their urine. Those few kittens who do survive probably don't make it to adulthood because it was purely by chance my vet even thought to check his sugar levels at the time of diagnosis. There is very little research in these areas (Type 1 Felines and diabetic kittens), so if you have more information, please let me know. At the same time, if you need more information, please also let me know since I'm pretty much the only one I've found online that has dealt with this.

With most kittens and young cats (non-senior, usually less than 8 years old) that have a diabetes diagnosis, the majority of the time it is caused by steroid use (both previous or current) and/or an infection (i.e. dental, pancreatitis, UTI, URI, etc....). Once the underlying cause has cleared up and usually with a diet change to low carb, wet food, these young cats and kittens go into remission, sometimes without ever needing any insulin. There are a few younger cats who have more chronic underlying conditions (i.e. EPI or acromegaly or allergies requiring long-term steroid use). In those situations, diabetes is a side-effect and is treated secondarily to the main condition. So far, there is only ONE other cat I've been able to find in the last 8 months of searching that is like Michelangelo: no underlying conditions, no steroids, extremely young age at diagnosis, and still diabetic long after most other young cats would have gone into remission (usually only a couple of weeks). The cat also suffers from chronic fevers of unknown origin. Unfortunately, the owner doesn't test and she frequently leaves her cat at the vet for weeks at a time to get "regulated." So if you or someone you know has or had a kitten diabetic, please contact me!

Civilians and Other FurKids

Finnegan the First DOB: c. 2010, DDx: c. 2014, Gotcha: March 8, 2017

My dear GAs Mr. Henry T. Rockefeller, Patrick, and Little Kat and our pet rabbit, Houdini