Just got back from the Vet...

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TLantMagnus

TLantMagnus

Member Since 2016
So a continuation from this thread:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hello-the-diabetus-sucks.158121/

We got Barry to the vet and we are in the car going home. The vet tested his BG and it was 2. This was after we gave him some honey and his regular amount of diabetic food about an hour before.

Vet said to stop the insulin for now and continue blood tests throughout the day.

I'll keep everyone posted. Vet said there was a chance the diabetes went into remission. That would be great.

Oh and the vet gave him some sugar water. He is already better.
 
Had you given him insulin this morning? If so, sugar water wears off pretty quickly, so checking within about 30 minutes of the sugar water will let you know if he needs a bit more.
 
TLantMagnus said:
So a continuation from this thread:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hello-the-diabetus-sucks.158121/

We got Barry to the vet and we are in the car going home. The vet tested his BG and it was 2. This was after we gave him some honey and his regular amount of diabetic food about an hour before.

Vet said to stop the insulin for now and continue blood tests throughout the day.

I'll keep everyone posted. Vet said there was a chance the diabetes went into remission. That would be great.

Oh and the vet gave him some sugar water. He is already better.
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WOW those numbers are still low, but at least they are coming up a bit. What insulin are you using? How many units? How long since you last gave a shot? What type of meter are you using..pet or human?


Sorry but all these bits of information are necessary in order to give some input from our members.

Do you have any high carb wet food at home...something with gravy?? You might want to give some HC food since the homey will wear off fairly quickly.

Setting up a spreadsheet will provide a very useful tool in tracking the numbers and seeing what if any dose of insulin is needed. Instrustion fro setting up a SS are here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

If you have any problems then just ask for help ( I needed help when I first set mine up :) )

You are using the mmol/l measurememt so you could use this spreadsheet:

https://drive.google.com/previewtemplate?id=1JQ136YHkxNhhku9AML_OKGHkrg3Ixe27BWAdWONlnP0&mode=public

You would enter the values on the world tab abd it will automatically convert to US numbers on the other tab which many of the members here use and understand.


ETA What type of food are you feeding...dry or wet prescription or regular store bought? Most of the people on here will use Friskies or Fancy Feast pate style which are lower carb. Dry food of any sort is best not used since it is higher in carbs..even the prescription type
 
Yeah, we need help lol. This is a new thing for us. Sadly he had another seizure on the car ride home, though it didn't last long and he bounced back really quickly. We gave him a 50/50 water/corn syrup, about a syringe and a half as soon as we got home.

The insulin we are using is Lantus. And it's about 2 bars worth on the syringe that we were giving him. Our last shot was last night around 9:00 pm Eastern Time. We were using a meter for humans, since ours was fairly close to the Vet's when we brought it in to test it. However, we ordered one specifically for cats, hope to have it no latter than Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. In the interim the Vet lent us his spare.

We may have some recovery food (wet), if not we can go pick some good balanced stuff today.

The food we are currently feeding him is Purina Pro Plan Diabetic dry food. We also have a few cans of equivalent wet, but we tend to stick to dry. We feed twice a day, 1/4 cup at each serving. Followed by insulin (which we are stopping now) to see what is up.
We also have access to this stuff called "Boreal" which has both wet and dry, and is high protein. We have no problems getting high end food for our cats, so any suggestions are appreciated.
 
TLantMagnus said:
Yeah, we need help lol. This is a new thing for us. Sadly he had another seizure on the car ride home, though it didn't last long and he bounced back really quickly. We gave him a 50/50 water/corn syrup, about a syringe and a half as soon as we got home.

The insulin we are using is Lantus. And it's about 2 bars worth on the syringe that we were giving him. Our last shot was last night around 9:00 pm Eastern Time. We were using a meter for humans, since ours was fairly close to the Vet's when we brought it in to test it. However, we ordered one specifically for cats, hope to have it no latter than Tuesday or Wednesday of next week. In the interim the Vet lent us his spare.

We may have some recovery food (wet), if not we can go pick some good balanced stuff today.

The food we are currently feeding him is Purina Pro Plan Diabetic dry food. We also have a few cans of equivalent wet, but we tend to stick to dry. We feed twice a day, 1/4 cup at each serving. Followed by insulin (which we are stopping now) to see what is up.
We also have access to this stuff called "Boreal" which has both wet and dry, and is high protein. We have no problems getting high end food for our cats, so any suggestions are appreciated.
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Thank you for the information.

This is very concerning. I don't know how long it is since 9PM last night for you since we are all in different time zones. If it has been more than 12 hours since his last shot then he could have gone very low. Usually the effects of Lantus wear off after 12 hours, but every cat is different.

Did your vet nor suggest putting him on a glucose drip??? With numbers that low and having seizures that is the usual treatment to prevent brain damage and electrolyte imbalances.

You REALLY need to be monitoring him closely. Give straight honey..you can rub it on the gums give some high carb wet food with gravy and retest 20 minutes later. If the numbers are not coming up repeat and test again. If you are unable to bring the numbers up to at least 3 you may need to take him to the ER. Hypos can be deadly.
 
I would not change his regular diet at this time. It is possible that the glucose numbers have been in hypo range for awhile and the high carb dry food you are feeding him kept him safe.

How often were you testing at home? You should have been testing before each shot and around the +4 hour time after each shot. Lantus on average with kitties generally will start acting after about 2 hour from shot and will have its strongest effect around 5-7 hours after a shot.
 
Would you please give your cat a whopping amount (a teaspoon) of corn syrup and monitor every 20 - 30 min. These numbers are way too low and your cat is experiencing a symptomatic hypoglycemic episode. Because Lantus is a depot type of insulin, low numbers can last literally for hours. We've seen episodes such as this run for over 16 hours. Frankly, I do not understand your vet. This is a situation where typically a cat is placed on a dextrose drip and monitored continuously since symptomatic hypoglycemia can be life threatening. I don't mean to frighten you but this is serious and a situation where we typically tell members to get their cat to the ER.

I'm linking instructions on how to handle low numbers.
 
Glucose IV drips are done at an animal hospital since constant monitoring is needed Let's get Barry safe and afterwards you might want to look for a new vet.

TLantMagnus said:
Why do they experience hypoglycaemic events?
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This is from the insulin dose being too high or not needed at all. Hypos can be very serious and even deadly, so they are not to be dealt with lightly
 
A hypoglycemic event can also occur due to a food change to a lower carb food or the cat's pancreas beginning to heal. At this point, without knowing more about your kitty, it's anyone's guess as to the reason for the low numbers. Please monitor your cat carefully and continuously using the same meter you started with. A human meter is fine. The animal meter is an issue that can be discussed at a later time.
 
Once a kitty starts having seizure from a hypo the brain is being starved of the glucose it needs to function properly.

I have to go but there are some very experienced people who will continue to help you out until Barry is safe.


@Sienne and Gabby (GA) Thanks so much. I was very worried. I will take down the 911 from my other post
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
A hypoglycemic event can also occur due to a food change to a lower carb food or the cat's pancreas beginning to heal. At this point, without knowing more about your kitty, it's anyone's guess as to the reason for the low numbers. Please monitor your cat carefully and continuously using the same meter you started with. A human meter is fine. The animal meter is an issue that can be discussed at a later time.
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Sienne He had a human meter at home but the vet lent him another meter so I don't know if that one is a pet meter or which one he is using for these tests
 
Originally used the human one, now have the pet one. Just gave him another teaspoon of syrup. Will test in a half hour. He seems a ton better.

Thanks folks!
 
when this episode has passed...
please continue posting and let us help you make Barry better.
The food he is on is higher carb than he needs.... we have lists...
like Sienne said, your vet isn't very good with FD.

We can share lots of tips....help you get a spreadsheet going.... help Barry feel much better.
And after a hypo incident, be warned that he could become oversensitive to his insulin shot....
that's why we need to help you along....
 
Okay. It's 12:40. We tested his BG with both te human and the cat tester. Cat said 8.9, Human was 7.2. After we were done testing him, while he is still acting a bit off....he started playing!!! Like a little kitten. Which we haven't seen ever. We figured he isn't much more than a year old. Oh and he just went pee.
 
I'll check those food lists compared to what you guys have and see what is at our local pet store.

It's wierd, we have never seen him this kitten-ish. And he is our youngest cat.
 
I assume now with his BG where it is we can stop with the syrup? We normally don't feed him until 8 at night. What should we do?
 
I would test again in 30 minutes as the syrup can wear off fast.
Besides him being super sensitive to insulin after a systematic hypo, changing his food to a lower carb food can also bring his numbers down. I'm glad you are home testing, but I would keep posting for advice here, and not doing whatever your vet says to do.
 
The syrup will bring his numbers up but wear off quickly. If Barry has not eaten since this morning, I would give him a little food now. That should help keep his BG up longer but don't give him too much as you may need to continue giving him small amounts for awhile longer to keep his BG up. You need to test every 30 minutes until you get at least 3 readings of safe or rising numbers. He could drop again quickly when the syrup wears off.
 
Normally we wouldn't feed him until the evening, should we maybe give him a small meal now to help keep his BG up? I imagine that would last better than the corn syrup.
Our vet said it's possible he's gone into remission so he suggested that we stop the Lantus for now and see if he can be maintained with diet. Barry's last shot of Lantus was 16 hours ago, from what I've read it can take a while to wear off, could that be why his BG numbers have improved so quickly this afternoon?
Thank you to everyone for helping out, we have been trying to keep Barry healthy and happy, it seems we haven't been great diabetic cat "parents", but we are sure to improve with all this information and support.
 
With diabetes, it's a better idea to give several smaller meals during the early part of the cycle than to give two large meals. It's easier on the tummy and on the pancreas. Plus it helps make sure he will eat if you need him to when his numbers go low.

If you are feeding mostly dry for the convenience, I recommend you get a timed feeder, which will allow you to fill it once a day and let each compartment open at the time you specify. Many of us use the Petsafe 5 meal feeder, which has a place for an ice pack under the food tray. You can put moist food in it and it will stay fresh for hours.
 
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Ok as of 2:22 he is 7.6 on the cat scale. On the human one 5.7. I am more inclined to believe the cat one. This is after a tiny bit of food too. He is acting almost normally. Still having a few episodes of kitten too.
 
I think it's premature to decide if your cat is in remission. Let's see what the numbers tell you.

Between the last two tests, Barry's numbers are dropping again. Please give him some food with a few drops of corn syrup to prevent the numbers from dropping. Please review the link I provided regarding how to manage low numbers. Because this can go on for literally hours and hours, you don't want the numbers to get away from you.

The animal meter numbers typically run a little higher than values on the human meter. This is due to how the meters are calibrated and doesn't effect their reliability.

 
K. My wife is going to read over those links. We just fed him a small amount of wet food with maybe 1/3rd of a teaspoon of corn syrup. We will check his numbers again soon.

Unfortunately we are running out of cat test strips. So we will have to use the human tester and adjust. It's been about 1.2 or so units different.
 
Those test strips for the cat meter are very expensive. It would be easier (and cheaper) to just stick to the human meter.

The difference between the two meters increases exponentially as the readings get higher, as you may have noticed with your comparison earlier. As Sienne said, it doesn't make one better than the other. Vets prefer the vet meter, but they aren't paying for those strips! You can manage just as well with the human meter. Most of the people here use the human ones.
 
Honestly the human test strips are just fine and one good reason to use them is what just happened. You can always get more easily.
 
The BIG disadvantage of the pet meter is that the strips are very expensive and not widely available. You can get strips for a human meter almost anywhere.

The pet meters are also calibrated to run a little higher than a human meter. On a human meter a 50 (2.7) is equivalent to a 68 (3.8) on a pet meter. While many people here use a pet meter, the majority of people will use a human meter due to the cost of the strips.
 
Are his ears cold? If so try warming them up with some hot water in a little pill bottle or a hot wash cloth in a plastic bag held to his ear for a few moments should reap better results.
 
Hi everyone, this is Barry's "mom", I've been following the conversation and wanted to say thanks for everyone's help!
We didn't manage to get enough blood for a sample on this try and Barry was getting upset (us, too) so we thought it best to wait a bit and try again. Hopefully his ears will be warmer then but if not we'll try the recommended tricks. He was much more complacent when his sugar was low but he's feeling feisty this afternoon!
 
TLantMagnus said:
So we are having trouble finding a vein in his ears now. Before it wasn't hard. Any suggestions?
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I am so happy that all our wonderful members were able to step in and help you with Barry.

You don't actually aim for the vein you are aiming for the capillaries beside the vein:

ear_web.jpg




The more you test the more capillaries will develop and the easier the blood drop will show up.


You did a great job today with the help of all the people from FDMB, :bighug:
 
tempstace said:
Hi everyone, this is Barry's "mom", I've been following the conversation and wanted to say thanks for everyone's help!
We didn't manage to get enough blood for a sample on this try and Barry was getting upset (us, too) so we thought it best to wait a bit and try again. Hopefully his ears will be warmer then but if not we'll try the recommended tricks. He was much more complacent when his sugar was low but he's feeling feisty this afternoon!
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We were all so concerned for Barry..and for you two as well. This is an amazing forum where people REALLY care about kitties they have just "met" and will most probably never meet in person. The combined knowledge and experience of the people here is so far past most vets, since we live breathe and eat treating our diabetic kitties.

We love them all and want the best for each and every one :bighug:
 
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