New to group.

Hi. My name is Amaris and I have 3 cats 2 males Rico and Dio and a female named Slyvester. Well last week I took my 3 yr old cat Sylvester and my 11 yr old cat Rico to the vet. Sylvester went in for a checkup and I brought Rico in because he lost a lot of weight, was drinking a lot of water, and peeing a lot. He was just to the vet 6 months prior for a checkup. Sylvester checked out fine but Rico got the diagnosis of diabetes and a UTI. his blood glucose was 575. I am freaking out. He was out on 1 unit of vetsulin every 12 hrs. I took him in today an they did his glucose curve. His blood sugar is still in the 400. So the vet increased him to 2 units every 12 hrs. Should I be worried about hypoglycemia. I am clueless about this and just don't want anything to happen to him when I go out to work. Please help

 

Welcome to the FDMB Amaris and sugarcat Rico!

Successful treatment of diabetes has three main steps.

The first is diet. A diabetic cat needs to be eating a low carb canned or raw diet. You don't need any special "prescription" foods either! There's nothing magic about them that treats diabetes. Many of them are too high in carbs (especially the dry ones!), and the ingredients tend to be low quality, too! Most of us feed our own cats Fancy Feast Classics, Friskies pates or 9-Lives ground because they get less than 10% of their calories from carbs. They are also easy to find and affordable. Changing to a low carb canned or raw diet can be enough for some lucky cats to become regulated! If there are no ketones in the picture, it's a good place to start!

Next is insulin. There are some insulins that are much better than others in cats. Lantus, Basaglar, Levemir and ProZinc are the gentlest and most successful at getting them regulated and even possibly into remission! They are pricey, but we know the best places to buy them.

A lot of vets are still using Vetsulin because it's what they're used to but it's really a better insulin for dogs. In cats, it tends to hit hard and fast and then wear off before the next shot is due. Vets see more diabetic dogs than cats and tend to try to treat their feline patients like small dogs and it just doesn't usually work very well.

Last, and not least, is home testing. Many vets don't even discuss this with their clients, for varying reasons, but if you had a diabetic child, you would test their blood sugar before every shot, and we should do the same for our furkids. Also, testing done at the vet's office can be unreliable due to stress, which can significantly raise the BG. By testing at home, you get more accurate results.
Most of us use a human meter from your local pharmacy because it's accurate and affordable to use. A favorite here in the US is the Relion Prime from WalMart. The meter is only $9 and the strips are $17.88 for 100. Testing before every shot, you make sure it's safe to give insulin at all. By testing in between shots, you learn how the blood sugars are responding to treatment.

There are "pet" meters, but the strips for them are about $1.00 EACH which is too much for most of us when we test at least 4 times a day (more if they're running low or dropping fast)

Your vet has increased Rico's dose too much, too quickly. Going from 1U to 2U doesn't sound like much, but it's still a 100% increase in the dose! That's like a human going from 30U to 60U!

If Rico were my cat, I'd stick with the 1U dose and learn to home test so you can get a better idea of what his glucose numbers are like when he's at home and relaxed.

We have a special spreadsheet we all use that really helps us see what's going on and allows us to give you the best advice possible. Here are the Instructions on getting the FDMB spreadsheet If you have any problems, feel free to ask!

Hang in there. We've all been where you are and understand how overwhelming and scary this can be! But we all did it and so can you!!

 

Does it hurt to get another opinion.

 

Welcome Amaris! Another opinion never hurts. This disease is pretty much easily diagnosed, but you know your cat best.

We are dedicated to helping all cats with diabetes, this is a safe place to land and learn how to navigate it. We are here for you!
jeanne

 

And is it normal to keep checking on Rico. Today I got worried because I seen some blood in the plunger when I pulled it back a little. I don't want to overdose him. And also I did get a home meter. Any advice on how to check his sugar

 

Its not only normal its practically a prerequisite! Its what we hoomans do! I wouldnt pull back the plunger while the needle is still under the skin. You probably just got a drop of blood doing that. (just my guess) For home testing I would read here first then come back and ask questions:
Hometesting Links and Tips

We are here for you so hold on for more replies!
j.

 

VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugarsugar
Here is a good video that one of our members posted.

 

If you could set up you signature that would be great and as Chris suggested setting up a spreadsheet

• On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback.
  • There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
  • Add any other text, such as
  • Caregiver & kitty's name (optional)
  • DX: Date
  • Name of Insulin
  • Name of your meter
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
  • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

 

Rico seems more like him self today. He even wanted to go for a walk.