Shannon and Stella
Member Since 2020
Hello! My name is Shannon, and I am so grateful to be a part of this community. My 10-year-old cat Stella (female) was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this month after a bad UTI in October, and she just started insulin (Lantus) last week.
Things are going pretty well so far. My grandparents had a diabetic cat when I was growing up, so the idea of giving Stella insulin injections wasn't nearly as scary as it might have been. Stella has been eating increasing amounts of low-carb wet food for the last several months; even before her diabetes diagnosis, I was looking for foods that would be easier for her to eat, given her past dental problems (teeth removed for tooth resorption), and she has done very well with TikiCat Velvet Mousse. I am currently in the process of completely transitioning her off of kibble (Instinct).
My biggest worry is home glucose testing. The vet currently has Stella using a Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor to track how her body is responding to insulin, especially in the initial phase. It's a great short-term tool - it keeps a chart of the user's glucose level, and you just hold up your phone to the monitor to get a current reading - but it's not suited for long-term use; even on people, the monitor is only designed to last 2 weeks, and it doesn't seem to last that long on a cat.
I intend to start home testing, but there is a complicating factor: Stella is congenitally deaf, and she does not like having her ears messed with. She lets me clean her ears periodically, and she is in most respects a very tolerant cat, so I am cautiously optimistic that with patience and practice we will both get the hang of home testing. But I wondered if anyone had prior experience doing home testing on a deaf cat or cat who is particularly sensitive to having his/her ears handled? Any advice would be very helpful! Any recommendations on glucose monitors would also be appreciated. It sounds like a lot of people use ReliOn, and that's what I've been looking at.
Thanks in advance!
Things are going pretty well so far. My grandparents had a diabetic cat when I was growing up, so the idea of giving Stella insulin injections wasn't nearly as scary as it might have been. Stella has been eating increasing amounts of low-carb wet food for the last several months; even before her diabetes diagnosis, I was looking for foods that would be easier for her to eat, given her past dental problems (teeth removed for tooth resorption), and she has done very well with TikiCat Velvet Mousse. I am currently in the process of completely transitioning her off of kibble (Instinct).
My biggest worry is home glucose testing. The vet currently has Stella using a Freestyle Libre continuous glucose monitor to track how her body is responding to insulin, especially in the initial phase. It's a great short-term tool - it keeps a chart of the user's glucose level, and you just hold up your phone to the monitor to get a current reading - but it's not suited for long-term use; even on people, the monitor is only designed to last 2 weeks, and it doesn't seem to last that long on a cat.
I intend to start home testing, but there is a complicating factor: Stella is congenitally deaf, and she does not like having her ears messed with. She lets me clean her ears periodically, and she is in most respects a very tolerant cat, so I am cautiously optimistic that with patience and practice we will both get the hang of home testing. But I wondered if anyone had prior experience doing home testing on a deaf cat or cat who is particularly sensitive to having his/her ears handled? Any advice would be very helpful! Any recommendations on glucose monitors would also be appreciated. It sounds like a lot of people use ReliOn, and that's what I've been looking at.
Thanks in advance!
