New member - 2/22/20 Just starting out

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GusGus&Nemo

Member Since 2020
Hello,

My resident cat Gus was diagnosed with diabetes last Saturday after bringing him in for blood tests the day before because he was weak, lethargic, had a hoarse meow, and had noticeably lost weight. I was given a prescription for the Lantus pen (1 unit 2x a day) and a box of pentips (4mm 32G). I got the prescription filled and attempted to give Gus a dose after his dinner that evening and it went as well as can be expected.

The problem is that Gus does not like people. He has been an indoor cat for 10 years since I found him as a feral kitten in the parking structure of my work and took him home. But I didn't know about socialization. So, the only person he likes in the world is my cat Nemo. Nemo is like his mom. Gus only tolerates me because I provide the food. So giving him insulin is basically like torture for him no matter what because I have to handle him. He hates it and as he is feeling better it's becoming more difficult to give him the insulin.

The vet called me a few days after I started the insulin and instructed me to start feeding him only wet food with no more than 7% of calories from carbs. This is complicated by the fact that my cat Nemo can't eat anything with chicken or turkey in it. And anything Gus eats will inevitably get eaten in some portion by Nemo. But I have found some foods that will work (I came across the food chart linked on the board while searching, which then led me here) and we're trying them out. I'm also supposed to start measuring his blood glucose with an AlphaTrak. But given the difficulty I'm having with just the insulin, I'm not sure how that's going to work. Are there any methods that require very little handling for a very short period of time?

Also, I'd like to know what additional information I should ask my vet for because I feel like I'm missing a lot of information.

I'm sure I've left a lot out that I meant to mention but I'm sure I'll get to it eventually. This is all just very overwhelming and I'm trying to figure out how I can possibly make it work.

Thank you in advance for any assistance!

Stephanie
 
Hi Stephanie! Welcome. I'm too new to be very much help, but you've come to a great place for help. And congrats on having a vet who actually had good food advice! It seems like a lot of vets don't know best practices re: feeding diabetic kitties.

I just wanted to encourage you about the testing....A lot of folks here use human meters because the strips are so much cheaper. But the good thing about the Alphatrak is that it uses a TINY bit of blood. (I have trouble getting enough blood for my human meter--and my cat is cooperative--but no trouble for my Alphatrak.) So maybe that's a bit of positive news. None of that makes Gus happy with any of this, I realize. Is there some low-carb treat he's crazy for? If you are his food person, maybe you can become is super-beloved food person? My kitty loves shrimp. She's probably getting a little too much of it, but it's the trade-off for now to keep her happy with all the poking. I've also read that some people scrape the little blood drop onto a clean fingernail so they can let the cat go, then deal with the meter. Others will chime in with good advice, I am certain!

Good luck!!
 
Yes, you're going to have some trouble with Gus if he doesn't like to be touched. We used to have a very loved feral cat who lived with us. He loved us in his way but he was two when we got him into the house, and he never let us even pet him.

The shot might be easier than the testing. Someone with more Lantus experience than me might want to advise you though. I always gave my Billy his insulin while he was eating, and it didn't faze him at all. He was too focused on eating. With Lantus though, you might need to feed, wait a bit, then inject. If that's true, I would try feeding a little bit more when it's dose time.

With testing, habit is your friend. Try always testing in the same place. Have the good bribes available, like chicken breast, cheese, or even a little tuna. A first, you might just want to get him used to the idea of it. Maybe you take him to the testing place. Get the meter out. Hold his ear for a second. Then give him a treat. You can do this many times the same day, since you aren't actually testing yet. When he gets used to the testing area being for treats, then you try the test. Kerri had a good plan with the fingernail trick. If you get the blood drop on a fingernail, you don't have to worry about him holding still.

While many people use a lancet by hand, you might want to try a lancing device like I do. The thing is, it's fast. You want a lancing device with adjustable depth, and a clear end-- a device for "alternative sites." (Which just means not only for fingers.) I got a CVS brand one for $10. I don't know if you have CVS, but the best thing about this device is it's fairly quiet. Some cats don't like the clicking sound of a device.

There's lots of testing information here. I'll let you look through it, then ask any questions you have. For now, I just want to tell you how important it is. You're vet is doing great so far, he's got you feeding the right kind of food, and put Gus on a sensible starting dose of a great insulin for cats. You're already ahead of the game. But it can be dangerous to inject insulin without testing first. My vet had my cat on 1 unit if he was eating, and 2 if he wasn't. On day 5, if I hadn't been testing, I would have given my Billy 2 units of insulin when his Blood Glucose Level (BGL) was only 52. If I had done that, Billy very likely would have died. Anything under BGL of 50 (on a human meter) is dangerous by itself. Adding insulin to that would have been insane. Yes, it might take time to get Gus where he can manage the testing, but it will keep him safe. Especially since you are changing his food. A wet low carb diet can drop a cat's BGL over 100 points, even without insulin. Be careful changing his diet if you are not home testing yet. You don't want Gus to have a dangerous hypo event.

Speaking of which, you need to have hypo event information at hand, and have a hypo emergency kit. Print this document to have instructions where you need them. This link tells you what to keep in your hypo kit. Get it together soon. You don't want to be searching for things when Gus is in trouble.

And the last thing I'll mention is signatures and speadsheets. Hopefully I haven't dumped too much info on you at once. Take a look at my signature and see the information I have in it. Now click the link that says Billy's Spreadsheet. You can take a look at Billy's scary day five, and how fast we ended up reducing his dose after the diet change. Because I had my signature filled out, and my spreadsheet up, members here were quickly able to help me when we had our scary hypo event, and also help me know when it was time to reduce dose. Having these two things filled out is invaluable. And it's super easy to do. Just check out New? How you can help us help you!

You are doing great so far. We all know how overwhelming this is at first. Gus has an awesome chance of doing well because you are in here learning all the things! Yes, he's a special guy and I know it won't be easy testing and dosing Gus. With patience and practice, you two will find a way to manage it. Read all the things! Read the sticky posts at the top of the Health Links and FAQs section. The more you know and understand, the less overwhelming it gets, I promise.
 
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Ditto what everyone else has said. I am new myself, so I can't add anything. But I can tell you that patience is definitely needed for testing. I have THE worst cat for testing. He doesn't run to me for testing yet, I have to pick him up. But he doesn't attack and run away anymore. He has yet to get the test then treat connection. This is one pic of how nasty he was at first. Now he "tolerates" it.
48008-d8199a4ac2c6cda5399e22f0c1ba0aac.jpg
 
Also, you do not want to use the pen needle tips. You need to get syringes. Lantus dosing is done in 0.25u increments and the pens will dispense in 1.0u amounts only. You can insert a syringe into the rubber stopper at the top of the pen. Syringe info:

Using syringes with a pen, cartridge, or vial:
  • U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings are the best to use for drawing Lantus, Basaglar, or Levemir from vials, cartridges, and pens.
  • BD Ultra-Fine, CarePoint Vet, Monoject, GNP, UltiCare Vet Rx, Sure Comfort, and ReliOn are just some of the brands available with half unit markings.
  • Syringes come in ½ inch or 5/16 inch needle lengths. Needle gauges are 29, 30 or 31 (31 being the thinnest)
There is a huge volume of information about Lantus and its use in the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board. I'd encourage you to look that information over in order to familiarize yourself. Please let us know if you have more questions.
 
Thank you all for responding! It definitely seems like testing Gus will be very difficult and I'm not looking forward to it. He does not like me to hold him in any way. Pets are only allowed from a distance for a very short time, and he has to be he one who approaches. Just the heating of the ear part will be a challenge.

Juls and Billy said:
While many people use a lancet by hand, you might want to try a lancing device like I do. The thing is, it's fast. You want a lancing device with adjustable depth, and a clear end-- a device for "alternative sites." (Which just means not only for fingers.) I got a CVS brand one for $10. I don't know if you have CVS, but the best thing about this device is it's fairly quiet. Some cats don't like the clicking sound of a device.
Click to expand...

There is a CVS a few blocks away from me. What is the name on the CVS brand device? Or maybe a link to what the packaging looks like? I will certainly check it out but if the Alphatrak requires less blood that really may be the better option. The clicking sound that it's described as making might be a problem though.

I printed the hypo information and saved the spreadsheet to a gmail account. I'll update my signature when I'm back home later today.

I think I want to start with finding the best testing device for our circumstances and budget.

Thank you all again for your guidance, advice and encouragement!

Stephanie
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I almost forgot...

There is a clip you can try that in effect, scruffs your cat. It was developed and tested by a vet as a means of replicating a momma cat grabbing a kitten by the scruff. It's supposed to be calming. I've never used it but I've seen the videos. This is a blog post describing the product. It's called Clipnosis and it's available on Amazon.
Click to expand...
The pegs on the scruff is the only way I can test Betsy! She still doesn’t like it but she doesn’t attack me like she used to! I was amazed at how calmer she became when I tried it
 
Im 'non ut peculiari. *


*(I'm not that special.) :D

What worries me is those words seemed to be links, and I have no idea where they came from or where they were going! Glad you noticed so I could clean the post up. Maybe it came from postimage dot org, since that's where I host my forum pics.

GusGus&Nemo said:
I think I want to start with finding the best testing device for our circumstances and budget.
Click to expand...

You might want to try one of the ReliOn meters and see how it works out. I haven't had much trouble getting enough blood for the ReliOn Premier Blue, for example, even if it does need a little more than the Alphatrak. And those strips are cheap. Believe me, some days you'll be going through them. Case in point, despite my experience, yesterday morning I got an error on 5 strips in a row. Billy was hungry and being a fidgety douche, lol. I finally gave up in disgust. It's time for us to go down to once a week testing anyway, I've just been resisting.

Another thing to keep in mind is that the ears will bleed better the more you test. So it will get easier as you go along.
 
Hello again,

I'm sorry I haven't been able to post but my health has not been great and giving Gus insulin has not been going well. He runs from me constantly and I sometimes I have to give up on giving it to him completely. I have absolutely no confidence I will be able to draw blood from him. But I really want to at least try and get a blood glucose reading so I've decided to get the Alphtrak2 since my vet strongly recommends it and can give me guidance in using it. I was looking at purchasing a kit on amazon but I'm confused as to which one I should buy. I've found these two listings but I can figure out if there is any difference between them:

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B007Z0XULY/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B079Y62RS6/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20

Any advice as to which of these I should purchase would be much appreciated.

Thank you,

Steph, Nemo and Gus
 
Both those links are for the Alphatrak 2 starter kit. I don't see any difference, except perhaps the seller.

The Alphatrak is nice because of the very small blood drop it needs. The meter will last you for years if taken care of.

Do order extra strips for the meter, at least 100 extra. You can go through test strips very quickly.
 
Is there some sort of food that Gus absolutely loves? Maybe some cooked ground beef or some other meat? Egg? Cheese? Anything?

Try using that to train Gus to come to you. Not even when you are giving the shots, but a dozen times a day or more, give him a yummy treat. Soon, he may associate that yummy treat with coming to you. Then you can introduce the next small step, touching him. Take it slow and easy. Little steps at a time.

Treat, touch, treat, touch, treat, touch, treat, shot, treat. Keep working at it.
 
Deb & Wink said:
Both those links are for the Alphatrak 2 starter kit. I don't see any difference, except perhaps the seller.

The Alphatrak is nice because of the very small blood drop it needs. The meter will last you for years if taken care of.

Do order extra strips for the meter, at least 100 extra. You can go through test strips very quickly.
Click to expand...

Thank you., but I'll have to see what I can do with what comes with the kit to start. The extra strips are so expensive. I'll have to wait until next month before I can get more. I've had a lot of unexpected expenses in the last month unfortunately.
 
I can imagine your vet costs must have been pretty dramatic, getting Gus diagnosed as diabetic.

I believe the test kit comes with 50 test strips.
At 4 tests a day, no wasted strips, that will last you 12.5 days of testing

There are human meters out there, need a larger blood drop in almost all cases.
Contour Next One is a good choice for a human meter, test strips are 1/3 the cost of the alphatrak test strips.
I realize it's not the pet specific meter your vet wanted you to get, but it will give you a more reasonable cost.
 
My vet also recommended the pet meter, but quite frankly, we were more interested in having a meter with strips that we could afford than getting something to please the vet. Have you considered getting an inexpensive ReliOn meter for everyday testing and just using the pet meter for curves to show the vet? That was our plan at first, if our vet insisted. Once we showed the vet Billy's spreadsheet, he was okay with the human meter, and we never bought the pet one. One of the other reasons we bought the human meter is that it's what most members here use, and I didn't want to have to try to translate pet meter results to go with the human meter information prevalent on this site.

Vets can be awesome, but one always has to find a common ground between the expensive things recommended and what you can afford. For example, better to test as often as needed with a meter that has inexpensive strips than to never get enough tests to matter because one can't afford the test strips. One hypo event, and you'll find yourself going through that first 50 strips very fast.
 
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