I am in tears, 13-year old cat diagnosed with diabetes ~3 months ago. Not much progress...

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Hi Ryn,

Thanks for the update. It's very good to hear from you. :)

It's brilliant that you're working from home and running a curve for Grayson. With Grayson on a good food choice and being very underweight, starting with a conservative dose is IMO the way to go.

I've just had a look at Grayson's spreadsheet and you're getting a really nice response to that dose. If you can manage it, it would be really useful to get a +9 or +10 test to see where Grayson's numbers are really starting to rise back to the next preshot level. This will help you start to build a picture of the duration of effectiveness of each dose.

And how is your little patient today apart from the marking? What are his energy levels like?


Mogs
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Ryn said:
I'll aim for a +9 or +10 tonight.

He seems alright - I wish he would drink more on his own, he only drinks from my cupped hand. But he seems to be pretty happy between his cat naps throughout the day.
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New surroundings, new routine, new people...stress. :) He'll adapt.

Cupped hands...first of all, he likely won't drink quite as much on canned food and with the insulin bringing down his numbers.

However...most cats LOVE sinks and glasses/cups of water. You might want to try a cup/glass of water and see what he does. :)
 
Ryn said:
he only drinks from my cupped hand
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Aw, bless! (((Grayson)))

Per Louellen's comment above, as Grayson's blood glucose levels improve glucose will stop spilling over into his urine so he won't be peeing as much and therefore will need less water. He'll probably then get most of that from his wet food.

How well hydrated is Grayson. Try the tent test (skin stays up in tent after you release it) or check to see if his gums are a bit sticky-feeling. Both will let you know if Grayson's dehydrated.

Try adding a tablespoon of water to each of his meals. Also, you could try poaching a few chicken bones in water (no seasoning). Strain the broth off and give Grayson a mix of broth and water. Or maybe add a couple of teaspoons of the spring water from a can of human tuna to his water bowl. (The broth and tuna juice tricks are meant to flavour the water to make it more tempting to the tastebuds.)

I have this lovely picture in my mind of you helping Grayson to drink, and the loving and trusting bond that you share. Ryn, I think what you have achieved in just a few short days is nothing short of amazing, and I am so proud of you. :)

((((Ryn & Grayson)))



Mogs
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Ohhhhhhhh, OK. Jim can have some hugs as well.

(((Manpanion)))


;) :p
 
Hi Ryn,

Just checking in to see how things are going with yourself, Grayson and the manpanion. ;) I hope you are having a good Sunday. :)
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Hi :) Thanks for thinking of us.

I think things are going well so far. Grayson's back to being his love-bug self and is starting to look forward to his annoying ear pricks for some chicken breast. I'm starting to get into a bit of a routine. His marking is becoming a bit overwhelming in the tiny apartment so my whole life is vinegar right now, and I hope it doesn't linger after we move out. He scopes out our bed, and when I do catch him doing that I pop him into his box and he goes there. We cleared out all soft areas last night so he wouldn't mark overnight, and it was a success and he used his box on his own! He's started sleeping on the bed at night so I'm hoping that deters him from that area - but I still can't trust him throughout the day :nailbiting:

I'm suspecting his nadir is between the 2-4 hour mark after dosing. His levels go up pretty high in the PM and overnight and I'm not sure why that is? Any ideas? After a week or two I'm considering upping the dose to 2 units. He's sticking to the higher yellows on the spreadsheet.
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That's pretty much how Caninsulin works...it hits "hard" early and then wears off before the end of the cycle. That's why we don't really like using it in cats as much as we like the longer acting insulins like Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc

I know your budget is stretched to the limit, but if you find some extra money hiding in the couch cushions, I'd really try getting the Lantus....since you're in Canada, it's OTC at any human pharmacy

In the meantime, it does look like Grayson could use a higher dose, but we never go up in whole units....We only increase in .25 unit increments, so when you go up, you'd only want to go to 1.25U

Keep up the great work Ryn!! It's so wonderful to hear Grayson is doing so well in his new home.....You know what they say!! "Home is where the heart is" and it's so very obvious that Grayson is well loved!

Amazing what that chicken breast will convince them to put up with, ain't it?..LOL Happy it's working as well for you as it did for China and me
 
Yeah... there is no way Lantus is happening in the near future, unfortunately :( With my car self-destructing and bills up the wazoo, oy vay. :facepalm: It'll be a goal, but I'm going to stick with the cheapest option for the time being. My partner is from overseas and we are still waiting for his work visa to clear (forever waiting), the past week has been very hard on my wallet!

My vet suggested 2 units initially. Do you all use U-40 syringes? How do you see 0.25 of a unit?!

Also, here's a couple pictures for those that have stuck with us for this long! He may be scrawny, but he's got spirit :)

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Awww....he might be a little scrawny (for now) but his eyes are bright and it looks like there's still lots of love and life in them!!

Yeah, with the U40 syringes, doing .25 unit doses is pretty impossible, so the choices are to go with half unit increases or getting some U100 syringes and using this Conversion Chart.

Have you contacted Diabetic Cats in Need? They MAY be able to help you with some of the costs with Grayson (including maybe some Lantus!)
 
Ryn when your ready to increase Grayson dose post a pic of the syringe your going to use, I'm sure someone here can help you figure out the .25 unit increase and I know that some of the syringes I sent you are pretty fine so you should be able to use those for the increase.

Grayson looks happy & content. Give him some time & he will be a difderent kitty!
 
I loved the photos and although he could use a bit of weight he's looking good. Love those green eyes! Radar needed a few weeks of insulin before he started gaining weight again. In my experience, it's workable to increase by 1/2 a unit. I just "eye-balled" it and hoped I was close enough. Your spreadsheet is looking good. You are doing a lot of great testing!! You are right on track and as he settles into the "poke, eat, shot" routine his body will get used to the dose. If Greyson were my kitty I think I'd consider leaving him at this dose of 1 Unit for a full 10 days and then see where he is with his numbers. Of course, every cat is different and my experience is limited to my only cat... Others with more experience with Vetsulin may have more informed suggestions.
 
Chris & China said:
Yeah...I wasn't sure if we were giving insulin or water from the Fountain of Youth!!
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Ain't that so! Saoirse was in tatters when our current vet first saw her (about 6 weeks after diagnosis - fur falling out in handfuls, the whole nine yards). After a few months of insulin therapy and low carb, species-appropriate food I brought Saoirse in for a check-up and a B12 injection. Our vet actually took a couple of paces back from the examination table to look at her: he was absolutely gobsmacked at the improvement in her. He actually said that if it were not for the fact he had seen her notes he would have taken her for being a much, much younger cat.

You did an amazing job with China, Chris. :)
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Awww!!! Grayson is so cute, Ryn! He'll pick up. :) Thanks for sharing his pics with us all. :)

By the way, looked at your notes about him with his "strangeness" in trying to hit the litter box etc.. It could be that he was "caught short" so to speak and didn't feel he could make it to the litter box? He certainly wasn't hypo so, perhaps....(not sure if you meant a bowel movement) he was just confused for the moment or reacting to his "urge to go"??? Or...he "could" be getting a bit constipated?? Watch his bowel movements and see if he has any issues there. If he seems to be straining...you might want to add a bit of canned pumpkin to his FF. That usually helps. Not expensive either. Those HUGE cans last a LONG time. Just make sure it's the pumpkin canned and not canned pumpkin pie filling. :) Hopefully, he's fine by now.

I also hope Jim gets his work visa soon! That extra income, I'm sure, will help tremendously.

Fingers crossed that you hear back about financial help as well. :bighug::bighug:
 
Ryn....why don't you start a new post tomorrow? This one is getting pretty long!!

You can put the link to this one in your new one so people can quickly go back and read your whole story on everything you've been through with Grayson!

Just make sure to put Grayson's name in the title so we can watch for you! Don't want to lose track of you guys!
 
Louellen said:
Awww!!! Grayson is so cute, Ryn! He'll pick up. :) Thanks for sharing his pics with us all. :)

By the way, looked at your notes about him with his "strangeness" in trying to hit the litter box etc.. It could be that he was "caught short" so to speak and didn't feel he could make it to the litter box? He certainly wasn't hypo so, perhaps....(not sure if you meant a bowel movement) he was just confused for the moment or reacting to his "urge to go"??? Or...he "could" be getting a bit constipated?? Watch his bowel movements and see if he has any issues there. If he seems to be straining...you might want to add a bit of canned pumpkin to his FF. That usually helps. Not expensive either. Those HUGE cans last a LONG time. Just make sure it's the pumpkin canned and not canned pumpkin pie filling. :) Hopefully, he's fine by now.

I also hope Jim gets his work visa soon! That extra income, I'm sure, will help tremendously.

Fingers crossed that you hear back about financial help as well. :bighug::bighug:
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Thanks Lou!

About last night, I think it was a bout of constipation, he was straining really hard. I added water to his food again this morning. I think the added water really helped because he had a much easier bowel movement this AM before his shot. I'll pick up some canned pumpkin next grocery shop.

At night, we move the couch cushions into the washroom so he can't poop on them and he ends up using the box on his own. But I know as soon as we leave them out, the couch is a goner!

Chris & China said:
Ryn....why don't you start a new post tomorrow? This one is getting pretty long!!
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Good idea :) So I'm not gonna break the Longest Thread record? :p
 
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