New here...diabetes complications for kitty

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Mama Kitty's Mom

Mama Kitty's Mom

Member Since 2017
Hello!
My name is Tina, my kitty's name is Mama. I introduced myself in the introduction board and that led me here...but to quickly introduce us again, Mama kitty was a sweet as honey stray that me and the hubs were feeding outside about 10 years ago and we decided to take him in bc winter was fast approaching... we thought he was a she, hence "Mama," but he hasn't seemed to mind his name :) that was in CT, since then, in the last 5 years, Mama has moved twice with us...to Oregon and now NY! He also goes on vacations with us to see my family, still in CT. Mama also has a human brother who is 6 and a human sister who is 9 months old...Mama was recently diagnosed with diabetes in the end of October/beginning of November and we can't seem to get it under control We are using Lantus and they had me start it at 1 unit in mid-November, in the beginning of December they upped it to 2 units, and today to 3 units!! I dont know exact numbers of glucose screening, but I know when he was at 1 unit he was still in the 500's! I also know they told me to keep his insulin refrigeratorated and when we picked him up from the second screening, the insulin was warm!! Could that have done something to the potency of his insulin?! He's still loosing weight like crazy!! He drinks and urinates a ton!! He's begging for wet food a lot, and I'm feeding him to try to give him the amount they suggested, it's just that he wasn't eating it before so I was giving him a teaspoon to a tablespoon each time and he's up to about 3 small cans of pate a day. I'm starting to wonder if there is something else wrong or if he's not responding to the insulin for some reason...I'm heart sick because Mama was/is my first baby and the thought of him being sick right now when I'm so busy with my kids is making my heart break even more because I want to give him the time and attention he deserves!! He's such a good boy!! I'm nervous he has cancer or something bc he's acting like he's in pain, he cries out a lot and he mopes around and crouches down a lot...my husband thought he was depressed bc we had the new baby, but he was fine when we had our son, so I don't know if that's it...that's what made me notice something was wrong in the first place, he looked like he was in pain and he stopped cleaning himself well...he's a matted mess no matter what I do and he WILL NOT let me brush him, he acts almost like it hurts him for me to brush him ...they also told me in October after doing an x-ray that he has arthritis in his hips...we have been back and forth to the vet so much...the vet said they would suggest next step is ultrasound or changing insulin...I'm thinking ultrasound, but I'm so worried and confused for my poor guy...thanks in advance for any feedback!!
Tina
 
Hi, Tina. Welcome to you both.

Mama Kitty's Mom said:
he's acting like he's in pain, he cries out a lot and he mopes around and crouches down a lot...
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With the crouching and suspected pain as clinical signs I suggest that you ask your vet to check Mama for pancreatitis. (A significant number of diabetic cats also have chronic pancreatitis.) If they offer a SNAP fPL test in-house, it would give a yes/no indication of pancreatic inflammation. A Spec fPL test would need to be sent to a lab but it gives a numeric result indicative of level of severity of inflammation.

Keep a watch out for other signs of nausea:

Nausea symptom checker

If Mama did test positive for pancreatitis, the treatments which help are in this document:

IDEXX pancreatitis treatment guidelines

Another thing to check is kidney function.

There is a very active support group here for users of Lantus. The experienced members in the group may be able to help you both with the insulin side of things. Here's a link directly to the board:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/


Mogs
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Hi Tina:bighug:...You have come to the exact right place for help for Mama and yourself. My guy was diagnosed in July and i finally started home testing in August after joining FDMB and following the experienced , loving , 24/7 help from the precious people on this life saving board. That said, someone far more knowledgable than myself will be around to you soon. Just wanted you to know your post has been read and help is on the way. One thing I did not notice is if you are home testing Mama ?? Getting a meter and testing is part of the reason Elmo is doing so well and gives us peace of mind. BGs taken at vets office are usually very stress influenced so will be higher. My limited advice would be to get a monitor( most people here use a Relion easily purchased from Wal Mart) ...so hang on and one of the veterans will be with you shortly. Can tell what a wonderful kitty momma you are and im sure you will be helped here:bighug::bighug:
 
Hi Tina, you have a lot going on with two little ones and sweet Mamas diagnosis!
What are you feeding Mama? When the diabetes is unregulated, their bodies are not able to process the food properly and they loose weight. You need to feed a little more than normal and it's fine to split into several small meals a day. As Beth says, Learning to home test is the best thing you can do to help Mama. It will tell you how well the insulin is working and help you prevent a hypo. It's easy to learn and we'll be glad to help you. Here's some info to help you get started
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
 
Hi all! Thank You for all the incite! I am so tired! My 9 month old was up on and off all night with a fever...so I'm just getting back here!
I have toyed with home testing however momma cat has cartilage damage in his ears from before we had him (possibly frost bite damage , but that's why we saved him!) so his ears are very "calcified." I've heard that that's where you're supposed to prick them to get the blood from, but I don't think that we would be successful in doing that... any alternate ideas as to how to prick him without having to fight with paws? We actually have a glucose monitor here for my mother-in-law so I could potential he use the same one, is that right? And if I am successful in doing so, what numbers am I looking for?
Concerning the test for pancreatitis, I will call the vet and ask if they already did it, and if not see if it's available!
Thanks again so much for your responses and incite!! This is turning into a longer, scarier journey then I had anticipated!!
Tina
 
Oh! And about the food...we've been using either the fancy feast or friskies pates...he's being extremely picky! He won't even touch dry food if we wanted him to! He also begs for temptations treats...and because he's been so finicky, I give him some each day...usually after giving him his insulin...
 
The temptations are very high carb, so you may want to stop giving those. (I know it's sad, my cat loved them too). Not sure about the ears, hope someone else can give you some insight. Maybe try it and see how it goes. Warm the ear really well and use a larger size lancet, size 26-28. If it doesn't work, the paw pad is another option.
 
Mama Kitty's Mom said:
We actually have a glucose monitor here for my mother-in-law so I could potential he use the same one, is that right?
Click to expand...

You can use a human meter, but what you need to look into is "how much are the replacement strips"?? That's where the big bucks come into the picture. If you call around, you can probably get some prices on how much the strips are for your MIL's meter. The meters a lot of us use here are the WalMart Relion Confirm or Micro because the strips are affordable ($35.88/100) and take the tiniest sample size. If you can get a blood droplet the size of a period, you can get a good test! You can also get strips at all hours of the day and night since most WalMart's are 24 hour (and these kitties of ours tend to drop low at the worst possible times!)

Mama Kitty's Mom said:
what numbers am I looking for?
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Normal blood glucose numbers for a cat are 50-120 on a human meter

Mama Kitty's Mom said:
He won't even touch dry food if we wanted him to!
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This is good!! Dry food is too high in carbs for a diabetic so the Fancy Feast Classics and Friskies pate's are perfect!!

Mama Kitty's Mom said:
He also begs for temptations treats...and because he's been so finicky, I give him some each day...usually after giving him his insulin...
Click to expand...

As others have said, the Temptations are a No-No, but there are some other things you can use!!

Here's a list of low carb treats you can use for his post-injection treats as well as a "pokey treat" when you're testing! A lot of kitties here like Freeze dried chicken (or other protein)

China's favorite is something called Orijen Wild Boar freeze dried treats....they're a different texture than most of the freeze dried treats you can find at places like WalMart that are basically just dehydrated protein of some sort

Mama Kitty's Mom said:
This is turning into a longer, scarier journey then I had anticipated!!
Click to expand...

Don't let it get to you!! We all realize there's a lot to learn at first...it's kind of like trying to learn a college level course in endocrinology in 3 days!! But we'll be here to help you the whole time so just keep asking questions! Eventually you will develop a routine and testing/shooting will be no more intrusive in your life than brushing your teeth is
 
Mama Kitty's Mom said:
Oh! And about the food...we've been using either the fancy feast or friskies pates...he's being extremely picky! He won't even touch dry food if we wanted him to! He also begs for temptations treats...and because he's been so finicky, I give him some each day...usually after giving him his insulin...
Click to expand...
No more temptations. I blame them for my cats diabetes. When my cat was running too low I gave her 2... Raised her numbers like 100 points. While the bg is not regulated they can't utilize food well and burn through it fast, so he will need extra food until he is regulated. Esp since he's loosing weight, if he's hungry, feed him.

You can test really on any edge of the ear... Get a larger gauge lancet...I always use a 28.
 
Chris & China said:
You can use a human meter, but what you need to look into is "how much are the replacement strips"?? That's where the big bucks come into the picture. If you call around, you can probably get some prices on how much the strips are for your MIL's meter. The meters a lot of us use here are the WalMart Relion Confirm or Micro because the strips are affordable ($35.88/100) and take the tiniest sample size. If you can get a blood droplet the size of a period, you can get a good test! You can also get strips at all hours of the day and night since most WalMart's are 24 hour (and these kitties of ours tend to drop low at the worst possible times!)



Normal blood glucose numbers for a cat are 50-120 on a human meter



This is good!! Dry food is too high in carbs for a diabetic so the Fancy Feast Classics and Friskies pate's are perfect!!



As others have said, the Temptations are a No-No, but there are some other things you can use!!

Here's a list of low carb treats you can use for his post-injection treats as well as a "pokey treat" when you're testing! A lot of kitties here like Freeze dried chicken (or other protein)

China's favorite is something called Orijen Wild Boar freeze dried treats....they're a different texture than most of the freeze dried treats you can find at places like WalMart that are basically just dehydrated protein of some sort



Don't let it get to you!! We all realize there's a lot to learn at first...it's kind of like trying to learn a college level course in endocrinology in 3 days!! But we'll be here to help you the whole time so just keep asking questions! Eventually you will develop a routine and testing/shooting will be no more intrusive in your life than brushing your teeth is
Click to expand...
I tried the Orijen lamb flavored freeze dried snacks and Smoky won't touch them. Maybe he will like the wild boar.
 
JanetNJ said:
No more temptations. I blame them for my cats diabetes. When my cat was running too low I gave her 2... Raised her numbers like 100 points. While the bg is not regulated they can't utilize food well and burn through it fast, so he will need extra food until he is regulated. Esp since he's loosing weight, if he's hungry, feed him.

You can test really on any edge of the ear... Get a larger gauge lancet...I always use a 28.
Click to expand...

100 points?! Holy smokes!!
 
Hi Tina,

I am hoping that all of your babies, 2 and 4 legged, are doing better. Please let us know how Mama is doing and if there is anything that we can do to help!

Best,
Sandi.
 
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