Brand new, so many questions

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Verie

Member Since 2022
Hello!

Fluffy was diagnosed last week with diabetes, and has been in the hospital most of the time since then. She finally came home on the 2nd, then regular vet appointment on the 3rd. First couple doses went fine but today I'm cursed by fur shots, so trying to figure out what the best way to proceed would be when that comes up.

7:30am this morning I gave first insulin dose, but it was a fur shot. Because of that I returned home during my lunch today at work and was finally able to get my first bg reading, putting her at 583. Since that's how high her levels have been without insulin, I decided to try again with the insulin, but she pulled away last minute and not all of it went through.

Knowing her levels are so high right now, do I try again? I need to go back to work for another 2 hours, is that a safe amount of time to wait knowing her BG was so high when I got home?
 
Nothing. Like you said, not all of it went in.
The rule is to never ever give a second shot after a fur shot because some usually does go in. Giving a second shot is like double dosing.

Take a reading at 7:30 (keeping food away for 2 hours before if you can so that the reading is not food influenced). Then post here for advice. Since no one knows how much insulin went in during your lunch hour, the risk is double dosing the cat.

Can you answer a few important questions?
1. Did Fluffy test positive for ketones during her stay at the vet? (This will be an important factor.)
2. What insulin were you given?
3. Do you have any other test numbers? We are fairly numbers driven.

I'll tag a few experienced members who may be online whenever your normal shot time is. I'm sorry, I have to go out briefly.

@tiffmaxee
@JanetNJ
@FrostD
@Wendy&Neko
 
Even if you think you gave a fur shot or partial fur shot you must NEVER shoot again for 12 hours with most insulin.

It is safe to leave with high bg, but not if low.
 
I'm curious what you're feeding.


The fur shots... Is it from her pulling away or are you poking through the skin?

Don't reshoot.

Which insulin and what dose?
 
the fur shots were from her pulling away.

Right now I'm feeding her Hill's w/d from the vet's prescription. The insulin is vetsulin, 1 unit.

Home from work again, took her bgl and she's at 576 now.
 
Hill's w/d is horribly high in carbs for a diabetic cat. Was there a reason it was prescribed? 1 unit is a good dose to start for Vetsulin.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hill's w/d is horribly high in carbs for a diabetic cat. Was there a reason it was prescribed? 1 unit is a good dose to start for Vetsulin.
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No reasoning at all, just a "don't let her eat literally anything else other than this" which.. yeah. She doesn't seem to like it much, and her normal food before this was Friskies pate which people on here seem to have an okay time with... She's finally started eating little bits of it, since my first issue was she was refusing to eat and I was advised not to get her injections if she didn't eat anything. She lost a lot of weight prior to finally getting admitted to the emergency hospital, so possibly the w/d is trying to take care of that? But trying to get any extra information has been like getting blood from a stone from any of the vets so far. I've requested copies of her blood work etc. multiple times and haven't received anything, although at least the most recent one went over her bg changes over the course of the day she spent with him.
 
I hate to criticize your vet, but there is no reason in the world to feed W/D. If you haven't seen it already, you might want to read this website written by a vet specializing in feline nutrition. You can always return it to the vet and say she doesn't like it, which is true.
Verie said:
he lost a lot of weight prior to finally getting admitted to the emergency hospital, so possibly the w/d is trying to take care of that?
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The complete opposite of that actually. W/D is advertised as a food that helps cats lose weight. If you want to get her to gain weight, going on insulin will help her process the nutrition. Plus you can look for food that is lower in carbs and higher in fats, like a kitten food.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I hate to criticize your vet, but there is no reason in the world to feed W/D. If you haven't seen it already, you might want to read this website written by a vet specializing in feline nutrition. You can always return it to the vet and say she doesn't like it, which is true.

The complete opposite of that actually. W/D is advertised as a food that helps cats lose weight. If you want to get her to gain weight, going on insulin will help her process the nutrition. Plus you can look for food that is lower in carbs and higher in fats, like a kitten food.
Click to expand...

Haha, feel free actually... it's been a struggle trying to find decent vets right now because all the popular ones are so booked up. I have a regular one that I would usually go to in cases like this who tends to be pretty decent, but when I called him on Dec 27th he couldn't give me an appointment until January 18th... which would be way too late, and then he wouldn't be able to see her often enough to help manage things anyway.

I did mention that she doesn't like the food, and was told to syringe feed it mixed with chicken broth if that was the case. :/
 
I told my vet that what I fed my cat was my decision, and that it would be low carb food. No reason your vet has to know what you are feeding at home.

I'd start insulin, and get that booking with the good vet as a follow up.
 
Thanks so much for the help. We're doing the Vetsulin, so I'll give her her next shot at 7:30, but I'll try giving her some of the Friskies pate that I give my other 2. When she first started losing weight I gave her the shreds which she liked a lot, but I think that probably made the diabetes worse now looking at the chart since it has a much higher carb value. Might try out something else based on the food chart then if she's still reluctant with the Friskies.
 
quick update: omg thank you everyone again for the advice and help. She's eating a lot more with the Friskies and I was able to successfully get another bg reading today during my lunch. 229! That's lower than her last reading from the vet when she went home so it finally feels like we're making progress here!
 
Verie said:
quick update: omg thank you everyone again for the advice and help. She's eating a lot more with the Friskies and I was able to successfully get another bg reading today during my lunch. 229! That's lower than her last reading from the vet when she went home so it finally feels like we're making progress here!
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Wonderful! And good job getting the spreadsheet going! :)
 
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