Just Diagnosed

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Jan and Maurice

Jan and Maurice

Member Since 2019
Hi. My cat Maurice is 16 years old and has just been diagnosed with diabetes, cardiomyopathy and poor kidney function. I have treated diabetes before and I was helped by Jacqui in France. Can you help me with the scale? I am not quite confident to do this on my own.
 
Hi Jan!

Welcome! This forum is a great place for you and Maurice to get some support! In order for you to get the best advice possible I recommend that you set up a signature to allow members to quickly see the most important details when it comes to Maurice’s diagnosis. You create one by selecting your name on the very upper right hand side of the page, then select signature.

Within the signature you should include:
  • Cat’s name and age
  • Diabetes diagnosis date
  • Insulin type that has been prescribed by the vet
  • Insulin dosage
  • Blood glucose monitor if you’re testing Maurice’s BG levels at home (recommended for dosing safety)
  • Type of food your cat eats - wet or dry ... for diabetics wet and low carb (less than 10% )is best
  • Any other health issues Maurice suffers from like his cardiomyopathy and poor kidney function.
  • Your time zone so members can provide time specific advice
Once we know what type of insulin Maurice is taking we will be able to point you in the direction of the sub forum here that will give you the best information and support!

I’m not sure if you have considered it, but it is really helpful if you test Maurice’s Blood glucose levels at home. Most of the advice here is based on human glucometers as pet glucometer test strips are so expensive. If you are already testing Maurice’s blood at home you should set up a spreadsheet to track his blood glucose levels. You can find instructions on how to do this here. The spreadsheet allows members to get a good idea of how Maurice has been responding to insulin and provide more relevant feedback.

Another way to help Maurice is to keep him on an all wet food diet, this is really tough to do for kitties that are dry food addicts but some cats go into remission just from the diet switch. There is a lot of information on making the switch to wet food and the importance of the switch in a sticky at the top of this forum.

Everything will seem really overwhelming at first but you’ve found a great resource with really supportive members. Ask as many questions as you need to and someone will answer them as best they can! See you around the forum :D
 
Dear Amanda,

Thanks for your prompt reply. I have posted the info now. So far I have not needed to inject Maurice. At 9am his BG was 9.3.
 
Oh wow 9.3 isn’t bad at all! It’s still higher than you want but I would say Maurice is on a good track! I kind of wonder if maybe 1.5u might be too high of a starting dosage. I think 1u is a typical start dosage. I’m not a dosing expert at all though.

I also am using Lantus with Mowgli. From now on you should post your dosing questions on the Lantus forum, you can find it here.

For Lantus one of the most important things you need to decide is your dosage strategy. There are two: Tight Regulation (TR) and Start Low Go Slow (SLGS). There are stickies at the top of the forum that I linked with info on both to help you choose. When you decide which one is best for you you should include the dosage method in your signature.

The Lantus forum can be really intimidating but once you get used to it it’s really awesome and so supportive! On the Lantus forum members usually post once per day. For the title we include the date, the cats name, the AMPS/PMPS blood glucose values (in imperial [multiply by 18]) and then anything else that we want attention for that day. If you have a question use the question mark prefix in your title, if there is an emergency (ex: extremely low BG values) use the 911 prefix. We only post once per day there ( the daily post is also known as a Condo) so if you have a new question just add it to the title for that day. In the daily post we always include a link to the previous days post so that members can look back into your cats history to give you the best advice.

I’m looking forward to seeing how Maurice progresses! See you on the Lantus forum and Good luck to you and Maurice :)
 
Here is your thread from the intro page
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/just-diagnosed.214781/

If you have had diabetic cats before, you will know the general routine. Did you use Lantus before or was it one of the faster acting insulins?
Maurice is a heavy cat at 8.6 kgs. Is he a big cat or is he over weight?
I'm sorry you have the diagnosis of cardiomyopathy and poor kidney function. Did they say what stage kidney failure he had. Probably best not to give fancy feast canned food as it has a high phosphorus level which Maurice does not need with kidney issues.
I used Weruva 'cats in the kitchen' canned food for Sheba before I transitioned to home made diet. It was lower in phosphorus.
You mentioned you were stopping the beef mince....why was that? It should be fine to give. Is it the mince you buy from the supermarket (human grade) or pet mince?

What type of cats do you breed?
It is possible that the one high number of 40 was from the stress of the untreated cardiomyopathy and from the vet visit. Was that the only high number they recorded before they gave the insulin?
It is possible the extra drinking was from the kidney issues, not FD.
Are you able to get a copy of the blood test results from the vet? If you post them we have someone who can tell you lots about them.
 
I think it has been 2 years since I last treated Calypso and Hemlock. I used Lantus on a sliding scale. I see that that is not recommended now. And I initially dosed every 10 hours so I am very glad that I will not be doing that again.

Maurice may be a little overweight but he is also a big cat.

I will be using Whiskas Jellymeat and Weruva (chicken frick?) and I will buy them when I go shopping next. I was going to stop the raw beef because I was not sure that he is eating it. Daisy (who is overweight and looks like she swallowed a bowling ball!) may have been stealing his food. However, I have now locked Maurice in for the night and so I will be able to see if he is eating it.

The cardiomyopathy came on overnight. It was a shock to see him so ill. Apparently cats hide it until it gets so bad they can't anymore. I too was hoping that the stress on his heart and lungs was causing the high BG. His kidney function is poor but he is not in renal failure. This was not a surprise to me and I thought he was drinking more because of this. He is 16! I will get his test result on Tuesday when I take him back to the vets. He is going to be put on tablets for his heart then.

I breed Australian Mist cats. They are the best! (I probably am a bit biased!)

I tested Maurice at 5pm, an hour ago and his BG was 12.4. Drats. I have just tested him again at 6pm and he is 11.2. I will test him again at 7pm and feed and inject him 0.5u if he is over 11. I will set up the spreadsheet as soon as I can.

Thanks so much for your help. I am feeling a little lost, not quite sure what I am doing. And I am so tired because I have not been able to sleep and I am worried about my babe.
 
Will watch for what the Preshot number is.
I have an Australian Mist ... Harry. Sheba was an Australian Mist too. They are absolutely the best cats. Will send you a PM later about Mists after I feed everyone.
 
You have Australian Mists too...how cool is that! Maurice was the first kitten, from my second litter, from my second queen, Tia. I just could not bear to part with him.

I have just tested Maurice. His BG is 12. 7. Double drats. Injecting and feeding him now.
 
Jan and Maurice said:
You have Australian Mists too...how cool is that! Maurice was the first kitten, from my second litter, from my second queen, Tia. I just could not bear to part with him.

I have just tested Maurice. His BG is 12. 7. Double drats. Injecting and feeding him now.
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I would get a test at +3 to see how he’s going. Post and I’ll watch for it.
You may need to test after that, depends on how far he drops. I’m sure you are feeling overwhelmed at the moment. Such a lot to happen in a short time.
 
I tested Maurice at 9pm and his BG was 7.6. I tested again at 10pm and it was 5.1. I can test again at 1am or will I wait until 5am when I awake? What do you think?

Thank you so much for your help.
 
He’s doing nicely. As we don’t have any data on Maurice at all, do you think you could get up in 2 hours and test again? We just done know when his nadir is. You could give him another teaspoon or two of low carb food now and I will tag @Chris & China (GA) to see if she can look in on you in 2 hours. Chris is in the US so just getting up.
Are you happy to do that?
For the am dose. If you need help, change the subject line on your thread and say HELP WITH DOSING
 
Thank you everyone for your help, especially thank you Bron. You helped me make it through the first day. I have found out that Jacqui in France is still helping people with diabetic cats and as I already know her I have decided to continue under her guidance. Maurice is well today and I did not have inject him this evening because he was 7.2 (129). Yippee!
 
Jan and Maurice said:
Thank you everyone for your help, especially thank you Bron. You helped me make it through the first day. I have found out that Jacqui in France is still helping people with diabetic cats and as I already know her I have decided to continue under her guidance. Maurice is well today and I did not have inject him this evening because he was 7.2 (129). Yippee!
Click to expand...
All the best with Maurice. Please let us know how he gets on. I’ll PM you about Australian Mists.
 
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