Newly diagnosed kitty cat named Phaedra

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Lewis Bottas

Lewis Bottas

Member Since 2021
Hello everyone. My name is "Lewis" and my cat Phaedra has been recently diagnosed.

She spent four days in the hospital and has been home with us for over a week now. She is almost back to normal (except for her weight loss) but it is very difficult for us to regulate her BG. The swings are wild (from over 300 to 50mg in five to six hours from about a 0.4 insulin shot) and it is extremely difficult to give her two doses of insulin due to her BG going so low from each individual shot. We're scared to give her a shot in the morning as we both work and there is no one home to make sure she doesn't go hypoglycemic.

We are using a digital glucose reader (LibreLink) that is attached to her and connects to our phones through an app but it falls off in three days. I'm going to buy a human glucose monitor (as recommended by this forum) this evening and see how it compares to the one that's currently attached to her.

I've recently purchased the 0.3 needles which helps with the smaller dose (we try and give her the smallest dose we can) but she still drops way too low for our comfort (below 80mg) and we won't take the chance of administering her a shot before we go to work.

She loved to overeat since she was a little kitten and regularly ate her brother's leftover food as an adult. She ate a ton of carby crunchies and gravy-covered wet foods, but since getting her home from the vet we've switched her to FF pate/flakes only. I realize now that this wasn't a good idea and should have been done gradually over time but we've been doing this for over a week now and I'm reluctant to revert back to feeding her carbs.

I will try and fill in her spread sheet either today or tomorrow to provide you lovely people the information you need to help me and my sweet cat.

Thank you to all the people that contribute and make this place such an excellent source of information.
 
Lewis Bottas said:
Hello everyone. My name is "Lewis" and my cat Phaedra has been recently diagnosed.

She spent four days in the hospital and has been home with us for over a week now. She is almost back to normal (except for her weight loss) but it is very difficult for us to regulate her BG. The swings are wild (from over 300 to 50mg in five to six hours from about a 0.4 insulin shot) and it is extremely difficult to give her two doses of insulin due to her BG going so low from each individual shot. We're scared to give her a shot in the morning as we both work and there is no one home to make sure she doesn't go hypoglycemic.

We are using a digital glucose reader (LibreLink) that is attached to her and connects to our phones through an app but it falls off in three days. I'm going to buy a human glucose monitor (as recommended by this forum) this evening and see how it compares to the one that's currently attached to her.

I've recently purchased the 0.3 needles which helps with the smaller dose (we try and give her the smallest dose we can) but she still drops way too low for our comfort (below 80mg) and we won't take the chance of administering her a shot before we go to work.

She loved to overeat since she was a little kitten and regularly ate her brother's leftover food as an adult. She ate a ton of carby crunchies and gravy-covered wet foods, but since getting her home from the vet we've switched her to FF pate/flakes only. I realize now that this wasn't a good idea and should have been done gradually over time but we've been doing this for over a week now and I'm reluctant to revert back to feeding her carbs.

I will try and fill in her spread sheet either today or tomorrow to provide you lovely people the information you need to help me and my sweet cat.

Thank you to all the people that contribute and make this place such an excellent source of information.
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Wishing you and phaedra great success lewis! She is a beauty. My guy Lando is a newbie as well and just wanted to +1 on the big BG drop when eliminating dry food cold turkey. Lando had the same scary drops. I hope you and your girl have successful journey ahead.
 
Welcome Lewis can you please add to your signature what you are feeding Phaedra
Wet only or wet and dry, and the meter you are using. Thank you
Once you get your SS set up I'm sure the members can help you out
Do you have syringes with half unit markings. We incresse or decrease by 0.25 units at a time .Why was she hospitalized?:cat:
Good idea getting a human meter,are you from the US?

Here is the link for all the info about Lantus and about the dosing methods to choose from
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-basaglar-glargine-and-levemir-detemir.9/
 
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Diane Tyler's Mom said:
Welcome Lewis can you please add to your signature what you are feeding Phaedra
Wet only or wet and dry, and the meter you are using. Thank you
Once you get your SS set up I'm sure the members can help you out Are you from the US?
Do you have syringes with half unit markings. We incresse or decrease by 0.25 units at a time :cat:
Click to expand...

We ignorantly made her go cold turkey and she hasn't had a single piece of dry food since coming home from the kitty hospital 8 days ago. She gets fed Fancy Feast pate/flaked. We've fed her some shitty wet cat food mixed with sugar water a couple of times in a complete panic due to her BG tanking from her insulin shots (44mg/dl).

In regards to the syringes, we purchased the smallest dose we can find at 0.3.

I'm writing to you from Canada.
 
Welcome, Lewis. Waving from Ontario. Phaedra is a great name for a cat.

I'm a bit confused by your 0.4 units and want to make sure we are all on the same page. Below is a syringe scale. Syringes showing half units is on the left. Syringes showing only full units is on the right.
On the left, half unit syringe, 0.4 units would be between the green 0.5 unit mark and the zero line. Can you confirm please?

SYRINGE SCALES1.jpg
 

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What is the best glucose meter?

I came back from the pharmacy and I couldn't decide. One was newer tech but need 0.6 blood sample. The other one was older tech but only needed half the blood sample at 0.3.

Currently we are using LibreLink which falls off in three days.
 
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A number of Canadians use the FreeStyle Lite. It needs a 0.3 blood sample. Strips are expensive in Canada. FreeStyle Lite strips run about $80/100 and since Phaedra tends to drop quickly into low numbers, you will go through more than you think you will. You can use your PC points and grab a senior for Seniors Day at Shoppers.

More about other meters in a minute.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Welcome, Lewis. Waving from Ontario. Phaedra is a great name for a cat.

I'm a bit confused by your 0.4 units and want to make sure we are all on the same page. Below is a syringe scale. Syringes showing half units is on the left. Syringes showing only full units is on the right.
On the left, half unit syringe, 0.4 units would be between the green 0.5 unit mark and the zero line. Can you confirm please?

View attachment 62598
Click to expand...

Yes it's the syringe on the left. We are trying to give her about 0.25 and find it impossible. Her BG went from 22.7mmol to 9.2 in 2hrs and was dropping fast from about a 0.4 insulin dose.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
A number of Canadians use the FreeStyle Lite. It needs a 0.3 blood sample. Strips are expensive in Canada. FreeStyle Lite strips run about $80/100 and since Phaedra tends to drop quickly into low numbers, you will go through more than you think you will. You can use your PC points and grab a senior for Seniors Day at Shoppers.

More about other meters in a minute.
Click to expand...
Thank you for the info I will go back to London Drugs tomorrow and purchase the FreeStyle Lite meter and strips.
 
Lewis Bottas said:
Yes it's the syringe on the left. We are trying to give her about 0.25 and find it impossible. Her BG went from 22.7mmol to 9.2 in 2hrs and was dropping fast from about a 0.4 insulin dose.
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Thanks for confirming. That's a big drop.

Does Phaedra have any other underlying health problems?

Use a magnifying glass or a pair of dollar store reading glasses and a bright light.

It's very late at night for me. I'm tagging @Wendy&Neko who lives on the west coast about the dosing.
 

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Do you have medium and high carb wet food in case she drops very low and also honey or karo
Food chart
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
For your hypo kit you can get the following and also look at the food chart

Have some honey on hand also


med and high carb food on hand in case he drops too low and you need to bring his BG up to safe numbers

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs



Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy. 15% Med Carbs




Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy. 15% Med Carbs


Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Or any other ones from the food chart, I gave the link above

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Here is the link for the spreadsheet in case you did not find it
If you have a problem setting it up we have a member here you will set it up for you just ask


https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
 
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Lewis Bottas said:
Diabetic ketoacidosis and pancreatitis:(
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Ouch. That's a double whammy, and a painful one at that.

Basically, DKA = not enough insulin + not enough food + something else going on such as infection or inflammation.

To combat ketones, it's important that Phaedra eats 1 1/2 times what she normally eats. Also important to add water to the food to help flush out the ketones. You can get ketone measuring sticks at a local pharmacy. It is also important that Phaedra have some insulin, even if it is a miniscule amount.

Information on DKA here:
Pancreatitis. If she is showing signs of pancreatitis (meatloafing, nausea, inappetence), it is important to continue the meds given by the vet. Cerenia and ondansetron for nausea and vomiting, buprenorphine for pain. Possibly an appetite stimulant. It is also a good idea to have these drugs on hand for any future pancreatitis attack. Ask your vet.
 
Red & Rover (GA) said:
Ouch. That's a double whammy, and a painful one at that.

Basically, DKA = not enough insulin + not enough food + something else going on such as infection or inflammation.

To combat ketones, it's important that Phaedra eats 1 1/2 times what she normally eats. Also important to add water to the food to help flush out the ketones. You can get ketone measuring sticks at a local pharmacy. It is also important that Phaedra have some insulin, even if it is a miniscule amount.

Information on DKA here:
Pancreatitis. If she is showing signs of pancreatitis (meatloafing, nausea, inappetence), it is important to continue the meds given by the vet. Cerenia and ondansetron for nausea and vomiting, buprenorphine for pain. Possibly an appetite stimulant. It is also a good idea to have these drugs on hand for any future pancreatitis attack. Ask your vet.
Click to expand...
We failed her completely. She lost weight about a month and a half ago but her mood, energy, and eating habits didn't change much. We chalked it up to the crazy heat wave that we went through this summer. She got very sick all of the sudden on Sept. 2nd, 2021 and we got her in the hospital on the 3rd. A couple of vets told us that her prognosis is good and that there is a good chance she could go into remission due to her age and that we caught it early. They think she had an infection due to a high white blood cell count and a low fever.
 
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Now that Diane and I have overloaded you with information (sorry), I'm going to have to leave for the night. It's hours past my bedtime.
Holler if you need to. You can change the title of this thread by going up to the upper right hand corner where you should see "Thread Tools." Click and you should get a drop down menu to "Edit." Click on the red 911.

Tagging a few people who are sometimes on at this time.
@Wendy&Neko
@Bandit's Mom
@Chris & China (GA)
 
Lewis Bottas said:
We failed her completely. She lost weight about a month and a half ago but her mood, energy, and eating habits didn't change much. We chalked it up to the crazy heat wave that we went through this summer. She got very sick all of the sudden on Sept. 2nd, 2021 and we got her in the hospital on the 3rd. A couple of vets told us the her prognosis is good and that there is a good chance she could go into remission due to her age and that we caught it early. They think she had an infection do to a high white blood cell count and a low fever.
Click to expand...

Glad you got her the help. And now you know what to look for. We've all been where you are now. :bighug:

This forum has helped almost 500 lantus cats go into remission since 2008.
 
Lewis Bottas said:
I will try and fill in her spread sheet either today or tomorrow to provide you lovely people the information you need to help me and my sweet cat.
Click to expand...
Hello @Lewis Bottas, welcome to FDMB :-)
I can help you with setting up your spreadsheet so you can enter the BG data in it for us to see.

The Bravo is another meter used in Canada. Bought online and very cheap strips.
https://diabetesexpress.ca/products/bravo-meter?_pos=1&_sid=d89269f96&_ss=r

These are the syringes you want:
https://diabetesexpress.ca/collections/syringes/products/bd-ultrafine-ii-syringe-3-10cc-6mm-31g
 
Some people in Canada buy their test strips on eBay for considerable savings.

Once we see some data in a spreadsheet, we can help you with dosing. It may be if Phaedra needs just tiny amount of insulin, that a somewhat higher carb food may help. Something in the 7-9% carb range is still considered low carb and may help with the fast drops. Surprisingly, a number of cats do better with slightly higher, but still low carb food.
 
Firstly don't feel badly about cutting off the high carb dry foods suddenly - I did the exact same thing! As soon as I found out that the dry foods and all those Temptations I was feeding Luci were bad for her, I sent them all out of the house! She went on an 'all wet diet' from that day forward. She survived.

The subscriptions service that Lyla and I use is https://onedrop.today/?gclid=Cj0KCQ...gBWK7_tfzrVbCnykVJv4Zn5moAeYDSLMaAoNNEALw_wcB

I love it because I pay a flat fee monthly for all the strips I want. I usually order 300 at a time and I always order when I open the 'last box'. There are 6 boxes of 50 strips each in each box - I never want to run out of strips. I have heard that the subscription price has gone up since we started a long time ago...and it's also different for Canada.

You've gotten a lot of great advice here already so I won't overload. Please add your SS soon so we can see where kitty is.

Have a great day!
 
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