Cat not reacting to any insulin

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Good to know he's a bit better, not sure if this has been mentioned before but are you warming up his ear before poking it? gettin it warmed helps the blood flow a bit, they do tend to have their ears cold and that doesn't help. I use a piece of wet cloth that I warm in the microwave (just a few seconds) and put in a plastic bag that I put under his ear, it helps also just in case I go through ( it happens sometimes ).
 
Zobaline (methyl cobalamin) is for neuropathy, B12 shots (cyano cobalamin) are for B12 deficiencies and given for several conditions. You can buy Zobaline on line.
 
Specialist said to try with the Zobaline pills once they arrive (I'm afraid they've been lost. Have contacted ilifelink, but they haven't gotten back to me), but I can ask her about B-12 shots when she calls, hopefully with good news.

Regarding the BG measurements. I've read all the articles and watched all the videos I could find online, and I think I'm using every trick in the book:

What I do is that I:
1. Warm up kitty's ear (I either use small Pinewood heat pads or heat up my own hands on the radiator) and massage it. Don't poke until ear is nice and toasty
2. Rub on a bit of Vaseline for droplet to form
3. Switched to 25 G lancets
4. Poke in the sweet spot
5. Try to massage a droplet out
6. Do the double poke thing if the first poke doesn't bring results, which often doesn't bring any results either, same thing also often happens with subsequent pokes - and at some point he's just had enough of all that. Plus I don't want to turn him into a pin cushion.
7. Put pressure on ear afterwards

Today I did all of the above. Four pokes, not a hint of blood, and then he was done. It's always a hit and miss if he bleeds, sometimes if there's a tiny drop of blood I can massage enough out for a measurement, but not always. Once in a blue moon, a poke will produce enough blood for a measurement. I have a feeling that the evening measurements are more likely to fail for some reason.

I'll post in the Lantus section tomorrow. Thank you for all your help and advice.
 
Maymay said:
Specialist said to try with the Zobaline pills once they arrive (I'm afraid they've been lost. Have contacted ilifelink, but they haven't gotten back to me), but I can ask her about B-12 shots when she calls, hopefully with good news
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For neuropathy you need as Wendy mentioned the form of B12 methylcobalamin because this is the form that the nerves use best and the B-12 shoots are usually cyanocobalamin

Keep trying with the poke the more you test the easier becomes for the ears to bleed
 
Sometimes, I've had to poke 6 or so times in practically the same spot. Sometimes, one ear bleeds more readily than the other. Always give a special treat or extra loves and praise after every test whether it worked or not. You'll get this.
 
When you test, are you using a lancet device? When I first started testing Max I thought it would be better to just use the lancets--wrong! I couldn't get any blood that way, and Max hated it. The lancet device is my best friend. One tiny poke and I can almost always get blood. Sometimes it does take more than one try, sometimes about four pokes--poor guy. I feel so bad poking his ears all the time but it's definitely important and I'm less stressed since I started home testing.

All of the stress isn't gone though. I'm stressed out of my mind about him usually, haha. He's developing hind leg neuropathy and I'm hoping so hard we can reverse it. I've been making no progress with his numbers since diagnosis. I work full time and nobody is there to watch him while I'm gone, so I'm terrified of overdosing him. I'm so happy for this forum and all of you guys. I can't say I'm happy others are struggling, but it is good to know I'm not alone!
 
Maymay said:
Specialist said to try with the Zobaline pills once they arrive (I'm afraid they've been lost. Have contacted ilifelink, but they haven't gotten back to me), but I can ask her about B-12 shots when she calls, hopefully with good news.

Regarding the BG measurements. I've read all the articles and watched all the videos I could find online, and I think I'm using every trick in the book:

What I do is that I:
1. Warm up kitty's ear (I either use small Pinewood heat pads or heat up my own hands on the radiator) and massage it. Don't poke until ear is nice and toasty
2. Rub on a bit of Vaseline for droplet to form
3. Switched to 25 G lancets
4. Poke in the sweet spot
5. Try to massage a droplet out
6. Do the double poke thing if the first poke doesn't bring results, which often doesn't bring any results either, same thing also often happens with subsequent pokes - and at some point he's just had enough of all that. Plus I don't want to turn him into a pin cushion.
7. Put pressure on ear afterwards

Today I did all of the above. Four pokes, not a hint of blood, and then he was done. It's always a hit and miss if he bleeds, sometimes if there's a tiny drop of blood I can massage enough out for a measurement, but not always. Once in a blue moon, a poke will produce enough blood for a measurement. I have a feeling that the evening measurements are more likely to fail for some reason.

I'll post in the Lantus section tomorrow. Thank you for all your help and advice.
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Try a different ear or the other side of the ear... Try moving up or down along the side as well.
 
Good morning all. Thank you for all the suggestions and feedback. It is really great to be in here, like Giomax, I find it good to know that I'm not alone.

To answer your questions:

Yes, I have poked multiple times in the same spot. I think our record is seven. I do both ears and I have tried other spots along the edge other than the sweet spot. I know that I'm breaking the skin, have poked through a few times as well (usually without drawing any blood, except my own once). And yes, I've tried using a lancet device, but never managed to draw any blood with that.

I did manage to get three measurements since I last posted, but I'm sorry to say that the two were because he jerked while I was poking him and the third required a double poke. His numbers were horrible as always.
 
Maymay said:
Good morning all. Thank you for all the suggestions and feedback. It is really great to be in here, like Giomax, I find it good to know that I'm not alone.

To answer your questions:

Yes, I have poked multiple times in the same spot. I think our record is seven. I do both ears and I have tried other spots along the edge other than the sweet spot. I know that I'm breaking the skin, have poked through a few times as well (usually without drawing any blood, except my own once). And yes, I've tried using a lancet device, but never managed to draw any blood with that.

I did manage to get three measurements since I last posted, but I'm sorry to say that the two were because he jerked while I was poking him and the third required a double poke. His numbers were horrible as always.
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It took me a couple weeks in the beginning to consistently get readings. Your cat probably just had few capillaries along the edge. The more you try the more that start to grow. Keep at it.
 
I have this one:
25228_fingerprikker_glucoject_dual_plus.jpg
 
Aaaand we seemed to have cracked the blood sampling code! Sheer coincidence. It started this morning where I went through the usual: warm up kitty's ear, massage kitty's ear etc. Did a double poke with no blood whatsoever. Then I thought, "let's just warm his ear a little more before poke three". I put the heating pad back on the inside of his ear, and behold! A droplet formed on the outside from one of the previous pokes. I've done two tests after that and each time was a hole in one with very little fuss from kitty.

I'm so chuffed. Now if only his numbers were good.

I've spoken to the specialist. All his numbers were fine. They found nothing that could explain why he isn't reacting to the insulin. His pancreas levels were slightly elevated, but insignificantly so. There were no signs of infection. She's convinced it's a matter of dosage and told me to go up one unit tonight. Again, he should be completely safe, but if I was worried, I should measure his BG later. I know these rapid increases goes against the Lantus protocols in here, but I have decided to follow her instructions - at least for now. According to her, considering his numbers and weight, we are still going "slow". She couldn't explain why he's less wobbly on his feet, but said neuropathy is often unpredictable. So far it hasn't been the bad news, I was fearing. We'll speak again next week for a follow up on the higher dosage and after she's spoken to her colleague and the physiotherapist.

And the Zobaline I ordered was stopped in customs, hence the delay. They're holding it until I pay duty and handling fees (35 USD), which is almost as much as the Zobaline + shipping, but so be it. Hopefully, I'll have the tablets sometime this week.
 
Congratulations on the successful testing!!

I do suggest you ask about the dosing in the Lantus forum and ask for the group to take a look at your SS, and really do give it a thought about raising the dose in one whole unit, is important that you consider that too much insulin can look as too little especially since you were seeing some pinks (between 300-400) on a 2.25 dose
 
Thank you Veronica. :) Four tests today and all but the first required just one poke. I'll do one right before bedtime to make sure he's not dropping too low, so fingers crossed that it will be as smooth as the others.

I have gotten feedback in the Lantus forum, and they weren't keen on the high increases either. The specialist has been following Orlando's spreadsheet as well, though, and she's also seen the pink numbers. I spoke to her about this today, and she's confident about her approach. I do like the Lantus protocol used here, which is why I decided to follow it initially. And I wish that I'd found this forum earlier so I could have started on the Start Low Go Slow method earlier as well.

But for now, at least, I'm going with the specialist's advice. She's seen him, his spreadsheet, and his lab results. Together with the veterinary university, the AniCura hospitals get the hard-to-crack and complicated cases, so I'm going to trust that she knows what she's doing.

There's of course no guarantee, but she seems pretty confident that she can get him in the 5-15.5 mmol/l (90-280 mg/dl) range. Considering his sky-high numbers the past three months and his neuropathy, I'll take that. Although ideally, Orlando's spreadsheet would look like your Babu-chiri's.
 
Yes, I could see he had some bad numbers a few years ago. Must have been such a relief when you consistently started hitting blues and greens. Right now a yellow would get me pretty excited.

The Zobaline arrived today (it had been stopped in customs and been around the Danish Medicines Agency, which is why it's taken so long). I've given him his first tablet, so fingers crossed that we'll start seeing more progress.
 
I'm really tired and half asleep already, but I just had to share that we hit our first blue number today! :)

Yesterday was the worst day we've had in a week and I went to bed feeling pretty dejected, and then today we've had three breakthroughs:

- a blue number
- a cat who for the first time in weeks (months?) ate all on his own throughout the day without having to be hand fed a single time
- and not only did he get up during play time, he tried to run. The result was a few awkward bunny hops, but it's the fastest distance he's covered in months
 
Maymay said:
I'm really tired and half asleep already, but I just had to share that we hit our first blue number today! :)

Yesterday was the worst day we've had in a week and I went to bed feeling pretty dejected, and then today we've had three breakthroughs:

- a blue number
- a cat who for the first time in weeks (months?) ate all on his own throughout the day without having to be hand fed a single time
- and not only did he get up during play time, he tried to run. The result was a few awkward bunny hops, but it's the fastest distance he's covered in months
Click to expand...
Great news! We celebrate every positive development! :smuggrin:
 
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