Recently diagnosed diabetic cat - seeking general advice

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Bobbie And Bubba said:
If you can afford to be off schedule, I think what I would do is feed Oliver and retest in 2 hours. If his number is above 200, I would go ahead a shoot but I don't know if I would shoot 3 units. Do you have 1/2 marks on your syringe? Perhaps 2.5 units? And test tonight to keep him safe.

ETA: Or go with Kris's plan to feed an shot a reduced shot now.
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Bobbie And Bubba said:
Then perhaps Kris's suggestion to feed now and shoot a reduced amount now is a better plan since you can't be up long.
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How about giving 1.5 u which is half of this morning's dose? Feed a full meal first then give the insulin right after.
 
Please do test in a few hours after shooting to make sure Oliver is safe. I am sorry, but I need to sign off now.
ML31 said:
He's been eating right along. His appetite is good. Maybe try to get him to eat a bit more and give him a small dose. I'm just not sure how much. Maybe 1.5U?
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If you can't be up long tonight, that might be best. Test as late as you can as all data is good data.
 
ML31 said:
He still eats it but since I gave him the Friskies canned food with gravy he's been a bit more fussy. I've been trying to give him some of this as well but he mainly eats the Hills W/D.
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Both are high-carb options, pretty much equivalent. I think they're good foods to be giving him in this situation.

I keep re-typing this as suggestions are superceding them, but I agree: some insulin (on the lower side, I was going to suggest 1.5U and that seems to be where we are converging), and a good meal first.

Would it be possible to set an alarm for the middle of the night to check on him and give him some more food? (I'm guessing leaving more food out won't work if he's eating everything in sight immediately).
 
Sorry, I have no experience with NPH. We have a Humulin (includes NPH) primer here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/humulin-n-primer.303/
It doesn't help with dosing suggestions, but I think you need to try to get a test earlier than 8 hours after the shot. 84 is a perfectly fine number, but the low point was likely several hours earlier. I'm a little worried about lowering the dose too much with recent DKA. I think you need to work on on getting a ketone test. You can use something like acquarium gravel or lentils (washed) in the box as they don't absorb liquid. Line the litter box with a plastic bag, then the filler. Try putting Oliver in a room with the litter box before or after dinner as that's when cats often pee.
 
Wendy, since Matt can't do a lot of testing tonight, what do you think of the 1.5U dose? I think he's pretty close to shooting now (if he hasn't already).
 
Nan & Amber said:
what do you think of the 1.5U dose?
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Sorry, I don't have any experience with NPH. Like I said above 84 is and OK number but I'm worried about lowering the insulin dose too much with DKA so recent. 1.5 is half of the current dose, not sure I would lower it that much.

Question, it's been a while since the last test. Have you tested again?
 
Yes I went ahead and fed Oliver some more and gave him his 1.5U shot. He did eat a good amount tonight and I may have given him a little more food than he wanted so there is still more. He usually has no problem getting up to get something to eat if he is hungry but I will try to make sure he eats if I can. I did purchase ketone strips along with all of the other supplies. I did manage to get a test earlier right when he came home but it was a small sample and it wasn't too good of a sample. It looked like it was somewhere between negative and trace amounts but like I said the sample wasn't great so I can't really consider it conclusive. I'm going to relax with Oliver for a bit and try to get to bed.
 
OK. I know it's not easy to stay up late to test more, so if you can't do that I would strongly encourage you to try to set an alarm for a few hours from now and, even if you can't get a test in at that time, check on him and give him some more food to help keep him safe. If there's any food you can leave out for him that he might nibble rather than scarf immediately, do that too. We really don't know how low he's been going-- this is a much smaller dose than the previous ones, but he's also starting at a low pre-shot number.

I'm also going to have to check out now, but hopefully there will be others around later. If you need quick advice you can either edit the subject line to the post or put up another post (include a link to this one for history) and use the "?" in the dropdown menu to get attention (there is also a "911" option, but hopefully you won't be needing that one).

Good night-- you are doing great with all of this!
 
Oliver is doing very well. He slept with me most of the night and ate the remainder of his food. He was up with me this morning, ate his breakfast and received his meds. He's sleeping on my bed now. I'm happy that he is not isolating himself and seems to be doing much better. He hasn't gone out of sight yet today and genuinely seems to be feeling better. I want to try to get a test done at some point. Honestly, I feel awful about testing him so much. I understand it's necessary and very important but it just doesn't feel right because he is so uncooperative and I basically have to subdue him. I will let you know if anything changes. Oliver has his appointment tonight so I will let you know how that goes as well.

Edit: I'm going to try to rest with him as well. I had another bad night and found myself waking up frequently with cold sweats most of the night. I will be back later.
 
ML31 said:
Oliver is doing very well. He slept with me most of the night and ate the remainder of his food. He was up with me this morning, ate his breakfast and received his meds. He's sleeping on my bed now. I'm happy that he is not isolating himself and seems to be doing much better. He hasn't gone out of sight yet today and genuinely seems to be feeling better. I want to try to get a test done at some point. Honestly, I feel awful about testing him so much. I understand it's necessary and very important but it just doesn't feel right because he is so uncooperative and I basically have to subdue him. I will let you know if anything changes. Oliver has his appointment tonight so I will let you know how that goes as well.

Edit: I'm going to try to rest with him as well. I had another bad night and found myself waking up frequently with cold sweats most of the night. I will be back later.
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I'm glad he is doing well.
Could I suggest that when you get a chance you get a spreadsheet up and running ASAP.
The more info you gather the harder it is going to be to follow what's been going on with his blood glucose level and insulin doses, and the harder it becomes for us to help you safely.

Here's the link for setting up the spread sheet http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
Perhaps you could fill in the doses you have given so far, the tests you have gotten, and note in the remarks section any pertinent info like the visit to vets, what you are feeding and when.
If you have trouble setting it up just shout, someone can help you with it.

I like Wendy's suggestion of trying to get a test in earlier in the cycle +4 when NPH is likely to be giving you the biggest drop.
 
Hi everyone. I apologize for the lack of updates. I started work again and have been so busy trying to manage everything. The good news is that Oliver has been doing very well. His personality and behavior is very close to his normal self. He's still eating very well and really seems to be doing better. He saw his vet on Tuesday, which was just a checkup. She didn't really feel comfortable running a series of tests because he had just been released from the hospital the day before and she didn't think the results would differ much from the hospital results. But his BG was high, his potassium was good/normal. I've been checking for ketones and he's also doing well on that front as well. Then he went again yesterday. They checked his BG and did a couple of other tests (geriatric diagnostic profile, cystocentesis) that I am waiting for the results for. His BG was actually low at the vet (~70) and she was concerned the 3U still might be too high so he is now on 2U. He gained half a pound this week and his coat is much cleaner and slicker. He seems a lot more playful and is sleeping with me and greeting me very often. He seems to be heading in the right direction. Hopefully, the results come back positive and we can continue to manage everything. Unfortunately, I am not going to be around as much during the day due to work but Oliver will always have someone that can monitor him during this time. Just thought I would let you guys know we are both doing well. Thanks again for all of the help and advice. I will report back when I have more information to share. Take care.
 
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