Charlie Bear, Diagnosed in 2021

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Elisha and Charlie

Elisha and Charlie

Member Since 2021
Hi,

I have a nearly 10 year old Siberian boy “Charlie” who was diagnosed with diabetes in July after a dramatic weight loss his average weight was 8-9kilos and dropped to 5 kilos . We live in Australia so my data is based on mmol/L.

We started insulin (Glarine) at 2 units he also had blood, urine and ultra sound within that month and showed more problems renal disease, IBD and stage 1 kidney disease. We are now on 5 units of insulin.


I have done home testing for blood sugars and it is constantly at 20-30mmol/L. There is no curve in the readings so something is stopping the insulin working. I'm using the AccuCheck home test and doing the ear prick, which he will let me do when he is in the mood. I see there are a few spreadsheets and will now track using that but this is a previous sheet I used.

Charlie blood sugar levels
6:15am 24.2 Before breakfast and insulin
7:15am 23.2 1 hour after insulin
8:15am 24.1
9:15am 27.1
10:15am 22.9
11:15am 22.7
12:15pm 21.9
1:15pm 22.9
2:15pm 20.9 Slept
3:15pm 23.4
4:15pm 23.4
5:15pm Wouldn’t let me take it
6:15pm 24.7 Before dinner and insluin
7:15pm 20.6 1 hour after insulin
8:15pm Wouldn’t let me take it
9:15pm Wouldn’t let me take it

He is now on a homemade nutrition plan through a wonderful person 'Veterinary Nutrition Group', who knows Charlie’s problems and worked out a Novel Protein Diet, where we have seen weight gain and improvement within himself, only after 2 weeks of eating only Rabbit and Venison. Mother's intuition


He has been tested for Cushing disease, which is negative and waiting on results for Acromegaly, which I’m hoping it’s not but looking like it might be. My Vet is also contacting Dr Linda Fleeman to see what else might be going on with Charlie.

I’m back to my vets on Friday for our fortnightly visit.

My question is to this group:

- when I return to the vets is there something else we should be testing for?

- has anyone else’s cat had Acromegaly and what was your babies outcome? We live in Tasmania and I know it can be operated on but no one will do it down here. He would have to go to the Mainland Australia and I think the stress of doing that would kill him. I should explain the Charlie isn't the best patient and can be aggressive towards my lovely Vet and myself.

- what is the high blood sugars doing to my baby.

I know that cats are great at hiding their pain and he has so much energy and have seen a big change since we started the diet. However, he does like to spreadout on something cool after having a meal.

I'm also keeping records of diet, water intake which is averaging about 1letre per day, number of poos and wees, weight and attitude. Is there anything else should I record?

I forgot to add he does throw up his food so he is on 1/2 tablet of ondansetron before dinner each day. He doesn't throw up when on this.
 
Welcome to you and Charlie. When you have a moment after filling in the spreadsheet with the last two weeks data(if possible) phase add DX date, meter type, ckd , novel protein diet ondansetron to your signature so people won’t keep asking you.

It sounds like he either has IBD or chronic pancreatitis both of which are common with diabetics my boy had chronic pancreatitis before being diabetic. Ondansetron is usually dusted 2-3 times a day as it lasts about 8 hours. So if you notice any signs of nausea you ought want to give it before breakfast as well. It worked well for my cat too.

As for testing, unless low you don’t need to test hourly unless he’s getting too low. A before shots test every time is a must but after that usually a 2-3 will let you know if more tests are needed as lantus usually onsets then. We suggest pulling food 2 hours before the shots so the bg results won’t be food influenced.

We use two dosing methods here so please look them over and see which one you think will work best for Charlie and your schedule. I’ll supply the link.
 
Hello! I am in in New Zealand, this forum has been fabulous helping me with my cat Benny (15) who was very very poorly with DKA and he has high numbers like your Charlie. He also has Stage 2 CKD and a heart condition too! The Vet fitted a Libre sensor on him and I just scan it with my phone to get BG readings. Is this something you could get hold of? I am glad you have found this group. They will help you!
 
Kindagot said:
Hello! I am in in New Zealand, this forum has been fabulous helping me with my cat Benny (15) who was very very poorly with DKA and he has high numbers like your Charlie. He also has Stage 2 CKD and a heart condition too! The Vet fitted a Libre sensor on him and I just scan it with my phone to get BG readings. Is this something you could get hold of? I am glad you have found this group. They will help you!
Click to expand...

Hi,

Thank you so much for the reply. We tried a Libre Sensor and he broke 3 (as his skin is so thick) and he scratched the last one off. He obviously didn't like it :-)

I'm slowly reading up on some information, but see alot of people stop and start insulin, I thought we had to be consistent with it? eg every 12 hours, or is this certain types?
 
Coombesea said:
Hi,

Thank you so much for the reply. We tried a Libre Sensor and he broke 3 (as his skin is so thick) and he scratched the last one off. He obviously didn't like it :)

I'm slowly reading up on some information, but see alot of people stop and start insulin, I thought we had to be consistent with it? eg every 12 hours, or is this certain types?
Click to expand...
Ideally you want to be consistent with insulin shooting every 12 hours. Sometimes it’s not possible if a cat is too low to shoot or a caregiver won’t be able to monitor. Cats can go into remission and then fall out of remission hence stopping and restarting too.
 
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