Jacqui & Thomas
Member Since 2016
Hi everyone,
We are new (signing up) to the boards, but have read many of the posts. I posted an introduction about Thomas on that page. I apologize in advance for the long post, but I wanted anyone who could help to have as much information as possible.
My poor baby was diagnosed about 2 months ago. My vet is very good for many things, but I am now questioning her about a lot of aspects of his treatment, which she has not had a great reaction to (such as, when I tell her I read something online or on a post, she tells me 'fine, those idiots are killing their cats'. It is so disheartening, as otherwise she's been a great vet---comes to my home, is not a 'put them down' vet and always wants to try anything possible to save them, so I feel quite alone right now.
My first reason for calling the vet to see him was he was drinking and urinating a lot, and became a bit scraggly looking and I could feel his spine. When she first examined him, he was stressed beyond belief, as he is very afraid of people. She did get an ear prick and he came in at 407. But after learning more about feline diabetes, I figured he was probably really in the 300s, and the stress of the visit shot him up a bit. But she told me to start him on one unit at night of Lantus, which I did.
I then tried to learn how to home test, which like so many others out here, was not pretty at first. I felt so bad for him that I couldn't do it correctly and his poor ears had some bruising. I thankfully have gotten better at it, and so has he
, but his numbers stayed in the upper 300s and sometimes low 400s for the first week. My vet then said to raise him to 2u at night. Not knowing about this board yet, or about diabetes or Lantus, I blindly followed instructions.
Then came the hind leg weakness; it was heartbreaking. He has trouble jumping and going up and down the stairs, but he is able to do it. I read about methylcobalamin and started him on 3 mg daily. My vet was against it saying it wouldn't help, and kept saying she didn't feel it was neuropathy, but since I found out it couldn't really hurt either, I went ahead with it. She also stated it might be his losing potassium as he was urinating a lot, and advised to give potassium, which I do. So far, no improvement in his legs, and even his front legs now appear to be weaker for him.
As an aside though, he had lost 1 lb during this, but he is back to his weight, back feels solid, and his coat looks nice again (although sometimes I see him plucking at himself and wonder if he's feeling prickly from nerve sensations in his legs.) So clinically speaking, there has been some improvement, even though his numbers are still high and he developed neuropathy (or at least that's what I think it is.) This occurred after I replaced his dry food with Young Again (both Zero and Mature, as he wouldn't eat the Zero alone). My guys have been on Fancy Feast pate's for years, so that stayed the same, although I increased him to 3 feedings per day, about 3/4 can each feeding. However, to keep him still for his shots, he gets 5 'bad' treats.
This pattern continued; every third day or so, she'd have me raise him 1u, until he was up to 6u at night. However, during all these increases, when I'd test pre-shot, or any time during the day, the lowest he ever came in was 240, and that was only one time. All the others he was still in the threes, so she kept saying he needed a higher dose. After about 2 days on the 6u dose, his normal hind leg weakness became sideways, like he was drunk. I tested him and he was 77. I had learned this is a normal BG, but apparently for him it was too low, so I gave him some food and watched him through the night. I then asked if maybe twice a day would be better for him, and she agreed it might.
She instructed me to just start on 3u the next morning. I did not feel comfortable with this after learning a little about Lantus, so I backed him off to .5u AM the next morning, and proceeded the next several days taking a half unit off the night dose and adding half a unit to the day dose. After he was on this for 5 days, I tried a curve (he was then at 3u AM & PM). He was 140 pre-shot AM, so I did not dose. Since then, however, he's been in the 300s consistently.
After learning a little more about Lantus, I started to wonder if he was getting TOO much insulin, and spoke with the vet. She did not agree at all, and said he needed more, and that cats his weight can be on up to 14u daily safely (he is around 14 lbs). But I also wondered why it would take months to get him even somewhat regulated and wondered if his dose was too high already.
So, in the 'killing my cat' theory the vet gave me, I decided to back him off to 2u twice daily. He was on that dose the past two weeks and has had numbers in the low 300s at about 6 hrs after his AM dose. So I raised it .25u in his AM dose for 5 days---same numbers. I raised his PM dose .25u---slightly better numbers, until today, when he came in at 411 6 hrs after AM dose, and his legs seemed worse today.
I am so confused and upset that I can't seem to help him, and am hoping maybe someone else has had a similar experience and could offer some insight. I want to add that I was originally using a CVS meter, but felt it was too inaccurate, so his last three readings (350, 319, 411) were done on a new Relion Micro.
Thanks for any help you can give us; we are both praying for some success.
Jacqui & Thomas
We are new (signing up) to the boards, but have read many of the posts. I posted an introduction about Thomas on that page. I apologize in advance for the long post, but I wanted anyone who could help to have as much information as possible.
My poor baby was diagnosed about 2 months ago. My vet is very good for many things, but I am now questioning her about a lot of aspects of his treatment, which she has not had a great reaction to (such as, when I tell her I read something online or on a post, she tells me 'fine, those idiots are killing their cats'. It is so disheartening, as otherwise she's been a great vet---comes to my home, is not a 'put them down' vet and always wants to try anything possible to save them, so I feel quite alone right now.
My first reason for calling the vet to see him was he was drinking and urinating a lot, and became a bit scraggly looking and I could feel his spine. When she first examined him, he was stressed beyond belief, as he is very afraid of people. She did get an ear prick and he came in at 407. But after learning more about feline diabetes, I figured he was probably really in the 300s, and the stress of the visit shot him up a bit. But she told me to start him on one unit at night of Lantus, which I did.
I then tried to learn how to home test, which like so many others out here, was not pretty at first. I felt so bad for him that I couldn't do it correctly and his poor ears had some bruising. I thankfully have gotten better at it, and so has he
, but his numbers stayed in the upper 300s and sometimes low 400s for the first week. My vet then said to raise him to 2u at night. Not knowing about this board yet, or about diabetes or Lantus, I blindly followed instructions.Then came the hind leg weakness; it was heartbreaking. He has trouble jumping and going up and down the stairs, but he is able to do it. I read about methylcobalamin and started him on 3 mg daily. My vet was against it saying it wouldn't help, and kept saying she didn't feel it was neuropathy, but since I found out it couldn't really hurt either, I went ahead with it. She also stated it might be his losing potassium as he was urinating a lot, and advised to give potassium, which I do. So far, no improvement in his legs, and even his front legs now appear to be weaker for him.
As an aside though, he had lost 1 lb during this, but he is back to his weight, back feels solid, and his coat looks nice again (although sometimes I see him plucking at himself and wonder if he's feeling prickly from nerve sensations in his legs.) So clinically speaking, there has been some improvement, even though his numbers are still high and he developed neuropathy (or at least that's what I think it is.) This occurred after I replaced his dry food with Young Again (both Zero and Mature, as he wouldn't eat the Zero alone). My guys have been on Fancy Feast pate's for years, so that stayed the same, although I increased him to 3 feedings per day, about 3/4 can each feeding. However, to keep him still for his shots, he gets 5 'bad' treats.
This pattern continued; every third day or so, she'd have me raise him 1u, until he was up to 6u at night. However, during all these increases, when I'd test pre-shot, or any time during the day, the lowest he ever came in was 240, and that was only one time. All the others he was still in the threes, so she kept saying he needed a higher dose. After about 2 days on the 6u dose, his normal hind leg weakness became sideways, like he was drunk. I tested him and he was 77. I had learned this is a normal BG, but apparently for him it was too low, so I gave him some food and watched him through the night. I then asked if maybe twice a day would be better for him, and she agreed it might.
She instructed me to just start on 3u the next morning. I did not feel comfortable with this after learning a little about Lantus, so I backed him off to .5u AM the next morning, and proceeded the next several days taking a half unit off the night dose and adding half a unit to the day dose. After he was on this for 5 days, I tried a curve (he was then at 3u AM & PM). He was 140 pre-shot AM, so I did not dose. Since then, however, he's been in the 300s consistently.
After learning a little more about Lantus, I started to wonder if he was getting TOO much insulin, and spoke with the vet. She did not agree at all, and said he needed more, and that cats his weight can be on up to 14u daily safely (he is around 14 lbs). But I also wondered why it would take months to get him even somewhat regulated and wondered if his dose was too high already.
So, in the 'killing my cat' theory the vet gave me, I decided to back him off to 2u twice daily. He was on that dose the past two weeks and has had numbers in the low 300s at about 6 hrs after his AM dose. So I raised it .25u in his AM dose for 5 days---same numbers. I raised his PM dose .25u---slightly better numbers, until today, when he came in at 411 6 hrs after AM dose, and his legs seemed worse today.
I am so confused and upset that I can't seem to help him, and am hoping maybe someone else has had a similar experience and could offer some insight. I want to add that I was originally using a CVS meter, but felt it was too inaccurate, so his last three readings (350, 319, 411) were done on a new Relion Micro.
Thanks for any help you can give us; we are both praying for some success.
Jacqui & Thomas
She definitely has neuropathy, weak back legs, and drinking too much, not eating enough...but this has been the case since before we started insulin. I'm currently using Solid Gold Indigo Moon dry food and add water to make gravy. It has 42% protein and 20% fat...carbs not listed. Only added carbs are potato and peas. No grains. I've looked at a lot of "wet" canned foods and find many are the same ingredients as dry food, even with grain, but just have huge water contents...70-80 %. Protein is 10% highest. If I'm going to go wet, I want a healthy food with no crap that is affordable. She's been on dry all her life. Please help! As far as insulin, please recommend. As far as dosing, say I start her on 1u 2x/day with PZI or Lantus, how long do I leave that dose where it is with BG unregulated (say over 150) until I start increasing the dose? Do I go up by 1/2 u or 1 u 1x or 2x/day? How long do I stay at that dose before going up again? Please post guidelines for that process. Thanks SO much for your help...I don't want to kill my kitty!!! 
.) Thankfully I had learned to home test, caught the low and was able to intervene to bring Saoirse's numbers back up quickly. (The too high dose of Caninsulin dropped her numbers like a rock, triggering the hypo.)