FuaFua just diagnosed

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Holly and FuaFua

Holly and FuaFua

Member Since 2015
Hi, just found this site. My kitty FuaFua (Japanese for fluffy) got very sick a few days ago and when I was feeling her over to see if she had an injuries I noticed how thin she had gotten. She is a long hair with very fluffy coat (hence the name) and never weighed a lot but with all the fur I just didn't notice the weight loss. She is 5 years old. The vet did a blood test and told me she has an infection, but more fundamentally, is diabetic. She sent me home with an antibiotic (amoxicillan, two times a day) and ProZinc insulin to give her two times a day (2 units), and some wet food (Hills Urgent Care a/d).

I read carefully through the product insert for the insulin and noticed a that the most common side effect (in 40% of test subjects) was an episode of hypoglycemia (which obviously can be very bad). I also noticed that the initial recommended dose is .1 to .3 IU/pound of body weight, and that translates to just under 1 unit to almost 3 units for a cat of 8.5 pounds. Also noted in instructions to owner that Insulin should not be given if the cat is not eating or vomiting. Internet also informed me that cats under stress will have particularly high glucose readings and both going to the vet and the infection are obviously stressors. So I was concerned that 2 units (the midpoint of initial recommended dose) could potentially be too much, based on an inflated reading (for her) at the vet.

She was too weak to eat (and had no appetite, apparently) so I hand fed her about a quarter can and she promptly threw up. Might have been the antibiotic (which I gave her after the food). Decided not to give her any insulin. Later I fed her a smaller amount of food, which she kept down, and then gave her 1 unit (half the prescribed dose). Have continued to hand feed her several times a day and give her the reduced amount of insulin after morning and evening feeding and she is gradually improving (more alert, purring, moving around, even licked at the food a little on her own at last feeding). No signs of hypoglyclemia. Also no behavioral signs of hyperglycemia (not drinking or urinating much at all). Thoughts? I have not yet gotten a glucose meter but that seems like an obvious next step based what I have read so far... and changing her diet.

Thanks for your input and I'm glad I found this site.
 
Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.
 
Thanks for the suggestions on glucometer and food. I've always changed up the cats diets and mixed different brands so they don't get too attached to any one brand/type....but they have always been on dry food. So I'll start transitioning to canned once I get the glucometer. Looks like I have a good choice for insulin. Thanks again for your fast response.
 
When you have a moment, could you add a few tidbits to your signature? It will help us give you feedback.

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Add any other text, such as
your name | cat's name | date of Dx (diagnosis) | insulin | meter
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You have great instincts! Yes, we suggest starting at 0.5 or one unit and increasing slowly as your home testing suggests. 2 units is not a good starting dose. Not eating also lowers blood glucose levels below what they might be if the cats was eating normally.
One thing we suggest is to home test. Not only can you catch low numbers but you can be sure all the time where your kitty's levels are and whether they are high or low. We urge you to do that before changing to a wet diet because the wet low carb food can lower the levels -100 points or more And we know most cats are stressed at the vet and stress can mean much higher levels at the vet. Doses based on stressed reduced numbers can be too high.

If she were mine, I would start home testing ASAP. Here a thread with lots of tips and videos:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Once you get a handle on what her levels are like, you could consider changing her food. Prescription food tends to be higher carb, certainly more expensive and no better than OTC food. This vet has an excellent website with a food chart: www.catinfo.org. We try to feed under 8% carbs.

As she has an infection and is on antibiotics, you want to be doubly careful getting her to eat (great job hand feeding!) and watching her levels. As the infection clears, that can also cause her levels to drop.

We put together a protocol for ProZinc. It is in my signature in blue.
 
Welcome Holly and FuaFua. Lots of information given to you and to absorb. It may be over whelming but give it a few weeks and you will start understanding it all. Great job on feeling uncomfortable giving 2u. A lot of things that we do here is based on gut. So don't ever put that "gut feeling" aside...you will need it almost every day.

So, so far... you will need to get your 1) home testing supplies i.e. meter, strips and lancets (28 gauge), 2) wet, low carb food (under 8%; preferably 4% or under would be best), and 3) read some great articles; www.catinfo.org & the Prozinc Protocol.

I am going to throw another thing to do on your "to do" list and that is 4) creating a spreadsheet. You will notice that most of us here have a spreadsheet in our signatures. It is imperative to log all your test data into a spreadsheet. This will help you analyze and make decisions on how to dose FuaFua. You will become a whiz in collecting data and it helps so much for those of us that give advice on dosing. It provides wonderful patterns of how that insulin is working. Our spreadsheet instructions are here.

If you have time to read any more, there is also a Prozinc Forum. When I first found this site, I spent quite a bit of time reading all the different posts and other kitties spreadsheets. I learned a lot pretty quickly. As always, you can post here or the "Feline Health-Main Forum" at anytime and someone will be able to help you.
 
FuaFua you are so gorgeous! Holly you are wonderful to be caring for her through this. I'm new at this too so won't give you any advice except to echo what others have said and start home testing as soon as you can. It's not hard at all (I was so scared to learn!) and you will feel much better knowing how FuaFua is reacting to the insulin. Good luck :-)
 
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