New Members Anne & Sugarcat McGee

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Anne & McGee

Anne & McGee

Member Since 2020
Hello, I just wanted to introduce ourselves - I'm Anne and my sugarcat is McGee. He was diagnosed on 7/31/20 during pre-anesthetic blood work for a dental. His BG test was high (more than could be attributed to stress) so they also tested his urine and found sugar, which was the basis for his diagnosis. He was sent home with Lantus to give 1 unit BID. I gave his first dose in the evening of 8/1 (the following night). I joined this group right away and started reading and bought a meter (CVS Advanced human meter) the next day (yesterday) and did his first test PMPS. It was 55, so I fed him and withheld the shot (then found out I should have not fed, waited, and retested). I tested about an hour later and it was 61. At the recommendations of some very helpful people in the FB group, I did not dose him last night. I emailed his vet (his regular vet, not the vet who was doing his dental and made the diagnosis) and gave her McGee's numbers and she advised to not dose until further notice and she is having me take his BG readings throughout the day today to give her some baseline numbers. So far his AM reading was 68 and two hours after breakfast was 75.

I think I have successfully set up his spreadsheet and the link should be at the bottom of my signature. I have made some notes there as well. I will keep it updated and see what that vet says after his tests today. Seems to me his numbers are pretty normal, maybe he isn't a sugarcat after all?

Thank you for this wonderful group and the information and support I have already received just in the 72 hours since his diagnosis!
 
Welcome Anne and McGee!

I think your regular vet did the right thing by asking you not to give insulin with the numbers you are looking at, it would appear he does not need it did he had the dental? you should monitor him though for a few days I would think at least 15 days like we do when we suspect remission and testing him at least twice a day, before giving him food like when you test before giving insulin

Actually with the 55 you got and the 61 even after eating even if you stalled and waited a bit you would not have been able to give insulin
 
Hi Veronica and Babu-chiri (who is gorgeous!) - he didn't have the dental, she said she didn't want to put him under anesthesia until he was regulated. He gets SUPER upset in the car on the way to the vet and I suspect maybe that is what threw his numbers off so bad. I am assuming his regular vet, who I am getting instruction from now, will have me continue to monitor and then let me know how to proceed. It would be so great if he ended up not needing the shots! I just did his mid-day test and it was 65.
 
Hi Anne, and welcome. I like the sound of "Sugar McGee". :)

Well done you for starting to home test so quickly! Quite a save. :)

I see from your intro post that the vet who gave the initial diabetes Dx based it on the pre-dental bloodwork and a urine test. As the vet correctly said, travel and vet stress could have caused a big spike in blood glucose levels but for it to be present in urine that would mean that blood sugars could have been high enough to exceed the renal threshold (the point where excess glucose tips into the urine) for several hours.

A diabetes Dx also takes into consideration a kitty's clinical signs (e.g. food and water consumption, urine output, signs of lethargy and depression, poor hair coat condition) and a fructosamine test is run to confirm the initial Dx. This test gives an indication of average blood glucose levels over the previous fortnight. Typically if a diabetic cat has reached the stage where glucose is tipping into the urine then they would have had elevated blood glucose levels for quite some time beforehand.

McGee's current BG levels as reported above are fine, but for your own peace of mind it might be an idea to ask your vet to do a fructosamine test (if they haven't already done so).

Just out of curiosity, did you reduce the daily amount of dry food McGee gets following the provisional diabetes Dx?


Mogs
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WELCOME Anne and extra sweet McGee (This is not NCIS oriented is it? ;):p)

You're way ahead of the game so I just wanted to say hello and welcome to the best darn site to learn everything there is to know about Feline Diabetes.

McGee is a cutie pie. WAY cuter than the TV McGee:D
jeanne
 
Hi Mogs, there haven't been any clinical signs that I'm aware of - his food and water consumption haven't changed and I haven't noticed any additional urine output. No lethargy or depression, and his weight has been stable and his coat is beautiful! My regular vet who is having me do the home testing today did say that depending on the info she gets she might want to do a fructosamine test, and I guess the stress of another vet visit won't throw that off since it's historical data? It would have been nice if they had run that test when he was there, but they didn't. I haven't really messed with his dry food too much (he doesn't eat a lot of it anyway) but I did switch his wet food. He had actually been on Fancy Feast pate, which is low carb as I understand. I have been ordering my groceries online and the store was out of the pate variety box so they subbed with a gravy lovers this last time around, and he had gone through a box of that when all this happened. I'm not sure if the elevated carbs in the food, along with his stress, was enough to kick him up into the diabetic range, but that is another factor I've been trying to consider. I did buy him some new food yesterday that is supposed to be extremely low carb - Rawz and Hound and Gatos - and so far it is not a huge hit, but he's eating it. I may just go back to the FF pate.
 
Hi Jeanne, thank you for your kind words! He's actually named after an old sitcom character called Fibber McGee. My grandma always says, "it ain't funny, McGee!" which I guess came from that show (I've not seen it myself) and I thought it would be a cute name for him. This is a great group, and I'm so incredibly thankful for it because the vet that was doing his dental and made this diagnosis (not his regular vet) really didn't give me any direction, but I'm a pretty hands-on fur-mom so I did what I had to do! I have one other cat and 3 dogs as well (no human kids - human kids are yucky :p).
 
Anne & McGee said:
I did switch his wet food. He had actually been on Fancy Feast pate, which is low carb as I understand. I have been ordering my groceries online and the store was out of the pate variety box so they subbed with a gravy lovers this last time around, and he had gone through a box of that when all this happened. I'm not sure if the elevated carbs in the food, along with his stress, was enough to kick him up into the diabetic range, but that is another factor I've been trying to consider.
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Gravy lovers defintely has higher carbs than the regular FF patés. I'm wondering whether McGee might be prediabetic and the extra carb load may have been enough to exceed what the pancreas can produce by way of insulin. Be sure to let the vet know how long you were feeding the Gravy Lovers food so they'll know better how to interpret a fructosamine test.

Should it turn out that McGee were to be prediabetic then, given the BG numbers you've been seeing when home testing, it may be possible that all McGee might need is a diet change to strictly low carb wet foods. If caught early enough, some cats who have a confirmed diagnosis of diabetes (including fructosamine test) can go into remission with diet change alone.


Mogs
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Anne & McGee said:
Hi Veronica and Babu-chiri (who is gorgeous!) - he didn't have the dental, she said she didn't want to put him under anesthesia until he was regulated. He gets SUPER upset in the car on the way to the vet and I suspect maybe that is what threw his numbers off so bad. I am assuming his regular vet, who I am getting instruction from now, will have me continue to monitor and then let me know how to proceed. It would be so great if he ended up not needing the shots! I just did his mid-day test and it was 65.
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Hi Anne crossing my fingers here oh McGee has such a Cute face
 
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