Hi all! Meet my sugar baby Chubbers

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Cat Levos

Cat Levos

Member Since 2021
Hi everyone! My name is Cat and I’m a new sugar (grand)mama. My beautiful 12 yo grandson Chubbers was diagnosed in September. We are using Prozinc 1-1.5u a day. He is a brave 12 and half yo that has had a scary year. We love our boy and I’m happy to be part of this board!
I will have to post a picture when I’m on my laptop.
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Hi Cat and Chubbers and welcome to the forum.
Can you tell us a bit about Chubbers please?
What type of food are you feeding him?
Are you or are you thinking of home testing his blood glucose levels?
How is his weight?
HELP US HELP YOU is a link to lots of useful information.
please let us know how we can help you:)
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Cat and Chubbers and welcome to the forum.
Can you tell us a bit about Chubbers please?
What type of food are you feeding him?
Are you or are you thinking of home testing his blood glucose levels?
How is his weight?
HELP US HELP YOU is a link to lots of useful information.
please let us know how we can help you:)
Click to expand...

So he was born in my bed on may 26 2009! We kept him, his sister and brother and of course his mom. He is a very loving sweet baby, who willingly allows me to home test and give him insulin and medication. He loves everyone he meets and they love him. His year hasn’t been the greatest. He lost his sister on Easter Sunday (April). In May on his 12th birthday, we woke up to him falling out of bed. He had a stroke but bounced back rather quickly from it. In June he was diagnosed with heart failure and lymphedema. His sugar was elevated but they decided it was because of the fact he was stressed out being at the vet and having lymph fluid drained from his abdomen. In September, he was diagnosed with diabetes (BG was 389). It was very scary for us because he was diagnosed while hubby and I had Covid so we got no education. The week of thanksgiving we thought we were going to lose him but noticed he had an abscess on his spine. Monday after thanksgiving he had it drained. His sugar was 148, even with stress and +13 hrs. Currently he is snuggling with me like almost anytime I’m home. We are doing everything to give him the best quality of life while he is with us. He is a very important piece of our hearts.
We feed them Tiki Cat food without pumpkin. We are working on transitioning all our babies to all wet food diet. We have 5 other fur babies that are 2x 14, 13 (his mom), 12 (his brother) and a 4 yo.
We have been home testing with a reilon meter twice a day at least. Depending on how he is acting.
He has always seemed overweight and fluctuates because of his lymphedema sadly. He is about 9 pounds now, but goes up.
 
Thanks for all the information. Poor Chubbers.
You might like to set up your spreadsheet and signature for us. Link to how how to do it are in the link I sent you about called HELP US HELP YOU.
 
Yes the BGs are looking very good. What I would suggest is getting some tests in during all the cycles because we don’t know how low he is going during the cycles. By the look of a couple of the preshots, the BGs could be dropping quite low during the cycle. It might be worth while lowering the dose to 0.75 unit. I’m going to tag @FrostD as she uses Prozinc for advice.

Also could you set up your signature please? Directions are in the link I sent you in post 2. It is quite easy and only takes a couple of minutes but tells us information about Chubbers.
 
I was playing with my signature just a bit ago. I give it to him before I go to work 5 days a week and then about 3 hours after I get home. I can start grabbing them at +9 hours and then +3 or so after pm shoot. I am going to try and be better on my two days off. I have adjusted his dosage a bit when he was low because it seems to be at night. I wish my hubby could do his checks but he is afraid of hurting him and I am the soul medication giver to all our babies. this would be the best I can do with mid-cycle testing sadly.
 
Welcome!

I would lower the dose to 0.75U to start. He isn't bouncing so I suspect he isn't going too terribly low, BUT since you can't be around to keep an eye I'd recommend lowering it a bit.

Can you do a curve once a week? On a day when youre home?
 
FrostD said:
Welcome!

I would lower the dose to 0.75U to start. He isn't bouncing so I suspect he isn't going too terribly low, BUT since you can't be around to keep an eye I'd recommend lowering it a bit.

Can you do a curve once a week? On a day when youre home?
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Not to sound dumb but what is a curve?
Like in my previous comments, I got zero training as I had Covid when he was diagnosed. They put his insulin on bench outside of the office and told me watch YouTube videos for how to administer his insulin. I went to his regular vet two weeks post starting insulin and he was at 190 at +6 hrs. But my vet is super stand off. It’s my choice on how to treat my boy. He isn’t with us all day and only knows how he acts when he is at vet’s office. So ultimately I’m in control of his health. That is what I love, he cares about the animals not the money.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Lovely photo. My husband wouldnt test either but he did eventually and was good at it. It helps a lot to have two people. Just try and get him to do it gradually.
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I will try lol. He’s also agrarian of needles so the lancet scares him. But I have gotten him to sterilize the needle and insulin vial prior to me filling it. So maybe there is hope lol.
 
Cat Levos said:
Not to sound dumb but what is a curve?
Like in my previous comments, I got zero training as I had Covid when he was diagnosed. They put his insulin on bench outside of the office and told me watch YouTube videos for how to administer his insulin. I went to his regular vet two weeks post starting insulin and he was at 190 at +6 hrs. But my vet is super stand off. It’s my choice on how to treat my boy. He isn’t with us all day and only knows how he acts when he is at vet’s office. So ultimately I’m in control of his health. That is what I love, he cares about the animals not the money.
Click to expand...
Gotcha!

A curve is where you test the BG every other hour for 12 hours, or every 3 hours for 18 hours. For caregivers that can't test very often, we recommend getting a curve in once a week. I would not make any changes to dose until you do a curve; but if you ever catch a number below 90 that's an immediate reduction of 0.25U
 
FrostD said:
Gotcha!

A curve is where you test the BG every other hour for 12 hours, or every 3 hours for 18 hours. For caregivers that can't test very often, we recommend getting a curve in once a week. I would not make any changes to dose until you do a curve; but if you ever catch a number below 90 that's an immediate reduction of 0.25U
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It might take me a week to do this as it’s the holidays but I will have a three day weekend next weekend for New Years. I started yesterday with.75 like you suggested and he was 119 this am and 124 a bit ago +12 for both readings. So hope he’s trying hard to give me the best Christmas present ever.
 
Ok, sounds good. Do me a favor and reduce your normal dose to 0.5U please at the next shot, and tag me tomorrow night if you log on
 
I dropped him to .5 and he was at 129 at +14 hrs. We were not home because of Christmas dinner.
I did notice tonight he is walking on his right front ankle. Could this be neuropathy? Most things I read it normally is back limbs. He is favoring right side but I think it’s because of front leg. he does let me massage it or rub it so I don’t think he has pain in it but I know I could be wrong.
 
I wouldn't expect diabetic neuropathy at these numbers or front legs, I'd give the vet a call. Possibly arthritis? Or maybe another issue?
 
FrostD said:
I wouldn't expect diabetic neuropathy at these numbers or front legs, I'd give the vet a call. Possibly arthritis? Or maybe another issue?
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Okies. We are thinking he might have hurt himself jumping off the counter. I will watch him today and see how he is. I’m going to do his bs in just a few. First I have to clean him up. Looks like he accidentally cut his vein in his one ear during the night.
 
FrostD said:
I wouldn't expect diabetic neuropathy at these numbers or front legs, I'd give the vet a call. Possibly arthritis? Or maybe another issue?
Click to expand...
Ok you should have 4 full readings at .5u. FYI his foot was fine last night. We think he just hurt it.
 
Ok I would hold this dose until you can do a curve. If you see preshots coming down towards 120 before then let me know please.

Glad he's ok!
 
Hello Cat and Chubbers. New to caring for a pal with diabetes. Learning every day. The members here are very helpful and I am trying to make the most of the resources and support offered. Wishing you well with Chubbers.
 
Cat Levos said:
Haha as he has a 115 tonight.
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This is great actually!

If he's around there again this morning, I'd consider 0.25U.

Have you checked ketones recently? I wouldn't expect them on these numbers but always like the peace of mind when dose comes down this much this quickly.
 
FrostD said:
This is great actually!

If he's around there again this morning, I'd consider 0.25U.

Have you checked ketones recently? I wouldn't expect them on these numbers but always like the peace of mind when dose comes down this much this quickly.
Click to expand...

I wouldn’t even know how to check those to be honest.
 
You can buy urine ketone strips from any pharmacy-type store, no prescription needed. You would just have to get a urine sample from him and follow the directions on the package
 
FrostD said:
This is great actually!

If he's around there again this morning, I'd consider 0.25U.

Have you checked ketones recently? I wouldn't expect them on these numbers but always like the peace of mind when dose comes down this much this quickly.
Click to expand...
Hey dear!
I started his curve today.
he had tiki cat after an shot and a snack of can tuna at +4. So it’s interesting to see how he bounces.
 
Wow he is beautifully flat! Fantastic for ProZinc, all those numbers are considered within meter variance therefore flat. I think you're good to hold this dose til your next curve,unless of course you start seeing some lower numbers.
 
FrostD said:
Wow he is beautifully flat! Fantastic for ProZinc, all those numbers are considered within meter variance therefore flat. I think you're good to hold this dose til your next curve,unless of course you start seeing some lower numbers.
Click to expand...

so I am hoping his numbers the last day and a half aren’t a fluke. What do you think of them?
 
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