New Member - Mr. Bigs Diagnosed Today

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KellieH

KellieH

Member Since 2020
What I thought was the beginnings of a UTI or obstruction to a dramatic change to worse news.

I took my oldest boy (8yrs) to the emergency vet this morning as I saw a tiny trace of blood in his urine. The vet originally came in to discuss his thoughts on it being FIC. The xray showed no obstruction, sterile, urine sample was all normal limits - until the it got to glucose level.

The vet advised me he wanted an ultrasound (looking for stones) and bloodwork to confirm diabetic or not. Well, he is. And the vet is still a bit concerned he has not urinated, at the time, over 3hrs so they are still observing him in case there is a partial blockage.

In the meantime I have ordered RC Glycobalance, an AlphaTrak monitor and urine test strips while trying not to let the fear and shock settle over me.

Thank you for all of the info.

These are my boys. Monty (7rs) on the left and Mr. Bigs (8yrs) on the right.
 

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Hi Kellie,

Welcome to yourself, Mr. Bigs and Monty. Your boys are absolutely beautiful. :cat:

Getting the diagnosis is indeed scary and overwhelming, and the worry about Mr. Bigs' waterworks on top can't be helping. :bighug:

I'm glad you've found us. FDMB is a great place to learn about feline diabetes and all manner of things cat health-related. We'll do all we can to help you help Mr. Bigs, all served up with a large side of moral support. :)

Sorry for the brevity of this reply; it's late in the UK and I'm about to sign off, but the board's a bit quiet at the moment and I didn't want to see you wait too long for a reply to your message. I'll leave you for now with a couple of handy links to help you get started with the home testing side of things:

Home Testing Links and Tips

Testing and Injection Tips

Fingers and paws crossed that Mr. Bigs will pee soon! ;)


Mogs
.
 
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Hi Kellie, I'm Enid, and that's Lola in the sink to the left.

We've only been members since last weekend, so I'm in no position to give you offer any advice, but I do want to welcome you to the forum. I've learned a ton in a week and, wow, has Lola benefited from it. (If you click on Lola's spreadsheet linked below in my signature, you can see what we've been up to all day.)

The more experienced members will post with more specific information about equipment, preferred foods and links to important information. In the meantime, I encourage you to take a look at the spreadsheet instructions. It's a super useful tool that will provide key data at a glance to anyone responding to questions you will have along the way. Also, be sure to set up your profile, especially your signature. It, too, provides information and links that are important if you're in a situation when time is of the essence.

Welcome!

E
 
WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY :bighug:
What beautiful kitties you have (or have you) :p I'm partial to black kitties. That handsome devil to your left was my Waldo. sigh
Yes in the beginning it is scary but diabetes is NOT a death sentence.

We are dedicated to helping anyone who needs it. We are glad you've found us.
I'm going to send you to yet another link, to help you get acquainted with how things work around here:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Theres a ton of information here with lots of good people, to help you navigate it all.
Welcome to the bast darn site on this planet to help you learn everything you need to know about feline diabetes.
jeanne

One thing I noticed about your post is that RC Glycobalane food. Since you are not yet using insulin, I would take it back to the vet and get your money back, it is packed with carbs . Carbs feed diabetes. Its like throwing gasoline onto a fire.
The best thing you can get for your boy is canned food under 10% carbs. Something like Fancy Feast pates would be a good start
I need to feed my kitty so will brb

Next will be hubby but he can wait. :p

Just wanted to close by saying you have landed in a safe place for your boy. ;):coffee:

I'm off to copy our food list for your convenience ...
 
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KellieH said:
What I thought was the beginnings of a UTI or obstruction to a dramatic change to worse news.

I took my oldest boy (8yrs) to the emergency vet this morning as I saw a tiny trace of blood in his urine. The vet originally came in to discuss his thoughts on it being FIC. The xray showed no obstruction, sterile, urine sample was all normal limits - until the it got to glucose level.

The vet advised me he wanted an ultrasound (looking for stones) and bloodwork to confirm diabetic or not. Well, he is. And the vet is still a bit concerned he has not urinated, at the time, over 3hrs so they are still observing him in case there is a partial blockage.

In the meantime I have ordered RC Glycobalance, an AlphaTrak monitor and urine test strips while trying not to let the fear and shock settle over me.

Thank you for all of the info.

These are my boys. Monty (7rs) on the left and Mr. Bigs (8yrs) on the right.
Click to expand...

What beautiful kitties - as you can see from my avatar I love black kitties.
Just wanted to say welcome to the best help site around - a real family dedicated to helping us all help our sugar kitties. For any practical advice or just moral support you will find it all here.
Gill
 
Thank you all for the warm and encouraging welcome.

Mr. Bigs finally let loose a lot of pee and I've just returned home with him. They brought his levels down to 187 when we left and gave me a 2U injection (and a prescription to fill tomorrow) for the Lantus which we will start at 7am after eating.

Thanks for your concern over the RC food. I did just that, even though another friend thought it was a good one for him. I cancelled my order for it with Chewy and reordered Fancy Feast Classic chicken, liver and chicken and the salmon. They have both eaten that with success before so I'll start there.

I just completed my move in with my fiancé to AZ last week. Of course this would happen before I established a local vet! I will be calling in the morning to get him into and get a plan together. And of course, I will be losing sleep absorbing this forum going forward.

Thanks again all!
Kellie
 
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I'm also, of course, scared about his eating now. They both eat Friskies Gravy Lovers variety pack. Although the vet stated not to just overtly change his/their diets -- I am concerned about "how much."

Since I don't have a meter or anything yet I can only go by the Vets instructions of the shot at 7am, get the prescription fillled, and then what?

My guys were both (since I'm retired) fed 4-5 small meals per day. He recommends twice per day which will create some major howling around here but must be done. Should that start tomorrow? 7am and 7pm and buy earplugs or go on about our daily routine until I get set up with a local vet?

Any thoughts are appreciated.
 
Welcome! Sorry about the diagnosis, but I wanted to reassure you that diabetes is very treatable and they can live long healthy lives with it. We are here to help. Stick with low carb wet food. No perscription food needed. Many people here feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. I feed weruva foods.
 
Hello and welcome!

KellieH said:
I'm also, of course, scared about his eating now. They both eat Friskies Gravy Lovers variety pack. Although the vet stated not to just overtly change his/their diets -- I am concerned about "how much."\
Click to expand...

Stick with the usual routine for now. I'm afraid that this particular Fancy Feast variety (Gravy Lovers) is actually high-carb-- we actually use the gravy when we need to give them a quick carb boost! But there are reasons to stick with it for the moment, and switch to a lower-carb food gradually.

Also stick with their usual multiple meals a day. The two-a-day is something that I think works OK for diabetic dogs, but cats seem to do better with multiple meals. And as a bonus your eardrums will thank you too!

Now, onto the insulin treatment: Lantus is a fantastic insulin for cats, so well done there by this vet! It's expensive in the US, so a lot of us order from Canada. Wherever we buy insulin, we use the pens (you can buy single pens or packs of five) because the smaller amount works better for cats than the vial (by the time you get to the end of the vial with a typical cat, the insulin will have been open for a long time).

As for the dose, 2U is a bit high to start. We usually recommend a starting dose of 0.5 or 1U. This is one reason that I say to stay with the gravy lovers food until you get started with home blood glucose testing-- the extra carbs will help keep him safe with that larger dose.

For home testing: the AT2 is a great meter, but the strips are extremely pricey. For that reason, and general convenience, most of us around here use regular human meters. The Walmart Relion Prime is a popular option, but basically anything that 1) uses a small blood droplet and 2) has cheap and easily available strips is a good choice.

OK, that's a lot to start! Hope this helps answer some of your questions, keep asking them, and welcome again!
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Hello and welcome!



Stick with the usual routine for now. I'm afraid that this particular Fancy Feast variety (Gravy Lovers) is actually high-carb-- we actually use the gravy when we need to give them a quick carb boost! But there are reasons to stick with it for the moment, and switch to a lower-carb food gradually.

Also stick with their usual multiple meals a day. The two-a-day is something that I think works OK for diabetic dogs, but cats seem to do better with multiple meals. And as a bonus your eardrums will thank you too!

Now, onto the insulin treatment: Lantus is a fantastic insulin for cats, so well done there by this vet! It's expensive in the US, so a lot of us order from Canada. Wherever we buy insulin, we use the pens (you can buy single pens or packs of five) because the smaller amount works better for cats than the vial (by the time you get to the end of the vial with a typical cat, the insulin will have been open for a long time).

As for the dose, 2U is a bit high to start. We usually recommend a starting dose of 0.5 or 1U. This is one reason that I say to stay with the gravy lovers food until you get started with home blood glucose testing-- the extra carbs will help keep him safe with that larger dose.

For home testing: the AT2 is a great meter, but the strips are extremely pricey. For that reason, and general convenience, most of us around here use regular human meters. The Walmart Relion Prime is a popular option, but basically anything that 1) uses a small blood droplet and 2) has cheap and easily available strips is a good choice.

OK, that's a lot to start! Hope this helps answer some of your questions, keep asking them, and welcome again!
Click to expand...


Thank you for that. I have bookmarked the Canadian pharmacy for future use.

He presented at 589 is why I believe the vet gave him 2U. He even said he didn't expect him to come down that far on one and one half doses. Of course, he didn't eat while he was there being scared and all. I will continue their normal routine which will not include his shot and watching him like a hawk.
 
Hi Kellie,

Just a quick, very simplified note about how your insulin works. Lantus is what's known as a 'depot' insulin. With each dose you give a little of it goes to build up a 'tank' of insulin in the kitty's body (a bit like a 'chemical pancreas'. With each successive dose, a little more goes into the tank until it reaches a steady state for that particular dose size.

Lantus is given once every 12 hours. Each 12-hour period is called a 'cycle'. After starting treatment with Lantus, during each successive cycle the cat's body will use some of the current dose and also draw from the depot.

It takes several days for the full effect of a given dose to be observed determined because the depot needs to fill, so the BG lowering effect may be modest initially but should become more pronounced with successive doses, hence the reason why the FDMB dosing protocols recommend starting on a conservative dose, holding it for several days to allow the depot to become established - usually a week unless BG readings and/or clinical signs indicate a reduction is needed. The dose is evaluated after holding it for an appropriate period and thereafter modest adjustments can be made over a period of time to gradually move the kitty into better, healthier numbers.


Mogs
.
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Did the vet do a fructosamine test, or just the in-house blood glucose test?
Click to expand...


I'm uncertain honestly. When he thought it was FIC, he took a sterile urine sample where the glucose was 1028. And that's when he said he needed to run "bloodwork" to confirm if he was diabetic.

Since they are an ER hospital they won't reopen today until 5pm but I'll check into which one. I was just overwhelmed with the diagnosis that I didn't even get a copy of his records on the way out.
 
Critter Mom said:
Hi Kellie,

Just a quick, very simplified note about how your insulin works. Lantus is what's known as a 'depot' insulin. With each dose you give a little of it goes to build up a 'tank' of insulin in the kitty's body (a bit like a 'chemical pancreas'. With each successive dose, a little more goes into the tank until it reaches a steady state for that particular dose size.

Lantus is given once every 12 hours. Each 12-hour period is called a 'cycle'. After starting treatment with Lantus, during each successive cycle the cat's body will use some of the current dose and also draw from the depot.

It takes several days for the full effect of a given dose to be observed determined because the depot needs to fill, so the BG lowering effect may be modest initially but should become more pronounced with successive doses, hence the reason why the FDMB dosing protocols recommend starting on a conservative dose, holding it for several days to allow the depot to become established - usually a week unless BG readings and/or clinical signs indicate a reduction is needed. The dose is evaluated after holding it for an appropriate period and thereafter modest adjustments can be made over a period of time to gradually move the kitty into better, healthier numbers.


Mogs
.
Click to expand...

Thank you Mogs. I was just about to delve into that section here. I'm familiar with diabetes in general, just never had it affect me this personally. I fed him this morning, his regular gravy meal, then gave him the 2U shot they sent me home with. He prescribed the vial and syringes so I'll have to chat with them about that later today. I will fill it, but I believe I'd rather have the pens. Understandably, when I can secure a local vet I can review the "plan" and go with 1U or less until my test equipment arrives and I can see it real time.

The ER vet just told me it would be 2U every 12hrs for the rest of his life and that, of course, as we moved into getting it regulated the dosage would go down from there.
 
Well, I can't get in to see the vet until next Monday, the 26th, so I will go fill his prescription this morning and suck it up until then.

I'm concerned over the 2U and am wondering it 1U would be better until the vet it able to see him and do more bloodwork. It does seem that many here are nowhere near that dose, understandably as you are mostly, if not all, doing your own testing.

I just remember the ER vet saying higher was always better when in doubt.
 
KellieH said:
I just remember the ER vet saying higher was always better when in doubt.
Click to expand...
@Nan & Amber (GA) -

While it's true that we've witnessed here many an outlandish dosing recommendation from certain members of the veterinary profession, I'd lay money that on this occasion the vet in question was probably referring to higher blood glucose levels, not higher insulin doses. :)


Mogs
.
 
Critter Mom said:
@Nan & Amber (GA) -

While it's true that we've witnessed here many an outlandish dosing recommendation from certain members of the veterinary profession, I'd lay money that on this occasion the vet in question was probably referring to higher blood glucose levels, not higher insulin doses. :)


Mogs
.
Click to expand...


Oh. Yes. Exactly. Sorry I didn't state that more clearly. That's exactly what he meant - the higher glucose levels were not "as" dangerous as going Hypo.
 
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