new member - meet Bella!

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hannahandbella

hannahandbella

Member Since 2022
Hi everyone! New member here - wanted to introduce myself and Bella and ask a few questions. (I had posted this in the PZI forum, but was told that’s not as active so I’m reposting here)

Bella is about 11 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes in August. We enrolled him in a clinical trial and his vet care was through the trail for the past several months. Now that he's out and we're transitioning back to his regular vet for diabetes management, I'm trying to learn more about taking care of my lil sugarcat. He's currently on 2 units of Prozinc twice a day (and I'm not the best about making sure they are exactly 12 hours apart, so I'm trying to get better at that) - I don't know if that counts as either SLGS or TR?

We just started home testing (using an AlphaTrak 2, per the recommendation of my vet) and Bella is great about the testing most of the time - we're getting better but sometimes it takes a few tries to get enough blood. However, he absolutely will not tolerate testing before feeding. I know the recommendation is to test, feed, then do insulin - but Bella just gets HANGRY and won't let us do an ear prick before his breakfast and dinner. His numbers have been mostly high so I'm not too concerned about giving insulin without the test/think it's unlikely that he'll go into a hypo (and I try to check on him during the day). Could someone help me understand why we test first to decide if we can do insulin instead of after feeding? Should I feed, wait two hours, so I can test and then do insulin?

I'm also thinking about getting a timed feeder and switching him to four meals a day - he loves food and eats his meal(friskies pate) right away. When he was dry food I had an automatic feeder which gave him several small meals a day, which was great because he gets angry and demanding when he's hungry, but obviously that's not working now that we've switched to dry food.

I think I've got his spreadsheet set up correctly and I'm trying to get midday readings whenever I can to try and understand what his day looks like.

much thanks from me and Bella!
 
Hi Hannah and Bella and welcome to the forum. Thanks you for setting up the SS and signature. That is always a help.
I can’t see your spreadsheet. You need to give us permission to see it:)


hannahandbella said:
Could someone help me understand why we test first to decide if we can do insulin instead of after feeding? Should I feed, wait two hours, so I can test and then do insulin?
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You always test first before feeding to see that the BG is high enough to give the dose. If you fed first, the BG would be food influenced. So feed first and if the BG is high enough you feed and then give the dose of Prozinc straight away. There is no need to wait with Prozinc.
if he is resistant to the testing before the shots you could give him a small teaspoon of low carb to eat as you test but no more. That won’t effect the reading at that point.

A timed feeder is a great idea. W recommend feeding snacks during the cycles so you could feed the main meal before the dose then set up the feeder to give 2 snacks during the cycles say at +3 and +5. Give snacks in the pm cycle as well.
Do you have a hypo kit set up
HELP US HELP YOU has the hypo kit link and other useful information in it
Bron
 
Hi Hannah and Bella!

Bella looks a lot like my kitty Gizmo. I’m very new here and don’t know what I’m doing and having meltdowns on a daily basis, but I figured I’d say hi and tell you some tips the other members gave me that have helped.

my cat also won’t let me test her without some food. I run downstairs, and give her a tiny bit. She eats it and walks away and calms down a little bit. That’s when I grab her and test her, the moment she calms down. That has somewhat worked, but sometimes she just won’t tolerate it. She gets nasty particularly in the morning and mean. Sounds like your situation.

second, the cat mate autofeeder with cold packs. This allows me to feed her at 3am and again right when she usually wakes me up. It does help a bit to calm her down about the food.

I hope that helps!
 
Oh, and sometimes when she’s having a meltdown in the morning, I give her a lickable low/no carb thing that she likes spread out on a paper plate so it takes her awhile to lick it up. I test her while she’s doing that. It provides ample distraction with minimal food intake in that first few mins
 
I can see the SS now thank you.
Looking at the SS you have not recorded any doses for the pm cycles but you say you are giving the dose twice a day….maybe an oversight.
Also it is important to get some tests in during the PM cycle as well as that is half the picture.
Try and get into the habit of getting a before bed test in. If that test is the same or lower than the pre shot BG it could mean an active cycle so I would set the alarm and get up later to check the BG.
Here is the link to PROZINC BASICS
 
Thanks everyone! @Bron and Sheba (GA), I have been doing PM doses but just forgot to put them in the SS, sorry about that.

I don't have a full hypo kit yet but I do have honey and syrup on hand - planning to pick up some high carb wet food and maybe some kibble soon.

I was able to get a BG reading this morning before breakfast (258). The only way I could get him to tolerate was letting him have some lickable treat (Hartz Delectable Squeeze-Ups, which I think are pretty okay for diabetics? they are like 90% water so I'm hoping it didn't affect his reading too much).

Can you explain what you mean by an "active cycle"? How is that different from a normal cycle?

Thanks!!
 
hannahandbella said:
Thanks everyone! @Bron and Sheba (GA), I have been doing PM doses but just forgot to put them in the SS, sorry about that.

I don't have a full hypo kit yet but I do have honey and syrup on hand - planning to pick up some high carb wet food and maybe some kibble soon.

I was able to get a BG reading this morning before breakfast (258). The only way I could get him to tolerate was letting him have some lickable treat (Hartz Delectable Squeeze-Ups, which I think are pretty okay for diabetics? they are like 90% water so I'm hoping it didn't affect his reading too much).

Can you explain what you mean by an "active cycle"? How is that different from a normal cycle?

Thanks!!
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Hi Hannah and Bella, and Welcome to the club. As it is now Friday in Sydney (about 4am) I think Bron is most likely snoozing. :)

I am very new to all this as well and one thing that was challenging for me in the early days was long-time members would use terms that I was not familiar with but to them it is very normal everyday language.

Each time you inject insulin it begins a new cycle. Sometimes you don't see much from the insulin at all, numbers don't change much. This is known as an in-active cycle, also usually referred to as flat because the numbers stay close and don't go way up or way down.

An active cycle is one in which the insulin is definitely doing it's thing and maybe the pancreas is kicking in a little bit and you get a lot of activity in the numbers. A test early in the cycle, at around 2 or 3 hours after the insulin dose, can usually predict whether or not there is going to be action or things are just going to stay, as they say, "flat." What Bron is saying is, if your test at +2 or 3 reveals that it is a cycle where the insulin is doing things and lowering the BG, you maybe want to set an alarm and get up and test again to make sure kitty doesn't drop too low.

Does that help?
 
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Bella wouldn't cooperate for a test this morning again. I'll keep trying to get his BG before breakfast and dinner but he just gets so grumpy when he's hungry (I mean, so do I). I'm about to switch to a different glucose meter...the AlphaTrak strips are going to bankrupt me.
 
Good job being persistent about the home testing!

One thing to note is that the action of ProZinc is different than a depot insulin like Lantus. Lantus is usually a flatter insulin, PeoZinc you generally see more of a drop. Some cats do see flatter cycles on ProZinc, especially when they are unregulated, and then again once regulated. The middle ground between can be interesting. Every cat is different, so we'll see!
 
hannahandbella said:
Bella wouldn't cooperate for a test this morning again. I'll keep trying to get his BG before breakfast and dinner but he just gets so grumpy when he's hungry (I mean, so do I). I'm about to switch to a different glucose meter...the AlphaTrak strips are going to bankrupt me.
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You can give him just a small teaspoon of the friskies pate to calm him down and test him while he's eating it if that will help

I know the Alpha Trak strips will bankrupt you. I started with the Alpha Trak and said forget about these.
If you live in the US you can get The Relion Premier Classic Human Meter at Walmarts its 9 dollars
17.88 for 100 test strips
Most of us use human meters , that's what our numbers are based upon on


As Bron mentioned above
if he is resistant to the testing before the shots you could give him a small teaspoon of low carb to eat as you test but no more. That won’t effect the reading at that point.


You mentioned you have some tests you did during the PM cycle, can you add them to your spreadsheet
 
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hannahandbella said:
I don't have a full hypo kit yet but I do have honey and syrup on hand - planning to pick up some high carb wet food and maybe some kibble soon.
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You don't want to start feeding Bella any kibble, they are high in carbs
For your hypo kit you want some
Med and High Carb food



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 in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

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

Or any on the food chart. see what the Friskies are here on the food link
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
 
You can also give her a treat before you test
I'll give you some suggestions about low carb treats that some members posted
Here are some treats also
PureBites Freeze-Dried Cat Treats with Chicken Breast 2.3 oz ()https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071P

Also chewys has freeze dried treats also


The freeze dried treats you can get at petsmart, petco and order from chewy. Purebites is popular (cheaper if you buy the dog food ones). My crew like vital essentials it's dehydrated freeze dried raw comes in flavors

freeze dried minnows, made by Vital Essentials. I also buy the ones made for dogs. They're the same as the freeze dried minnows for cats. just cheaper. They also carry other freeze dried treats. I ordered mine through Amazon.

I think the vital essentials are more of a crunchy texture than the purebites

If you cat likes any of these you can buy the bigger bags for dogs they are the same ,you will get more for your money just break then up into smaller pieces
.

You can Google freeze dried treats and see what other ones there are and different flavors
Just make sure that is the only ingredient in them meaning turkey, chicken, minnows etc

Here is another one , I see you can get these in different flavors also just look
You may have to break any freeze dried treats in half if they are too big
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01B78672I/ref=twister_B08SGXLB53?
 
our cats LOVE the Whole Life One Ingredient chicken or turkey freeze-dried treats

https://www.chewy.com/whole-life-just-one-ingredient-pure/dp/118038

our 12-year-old Blue Point, Roxy, is nuts for them. Completely nuts. We call her the crack head when we get them out because she just fiends for them! They are the treat Hendrick gets when I do the Hendrick Pokey.

Like, we used to feed temptations and we thought the cats were nuts for those. That was nothing.
 
Hannah --

Would Bella be less hangry if you fed a snack at 3 hours prior to shot time? It may take the edge off of his appetite so you can more easily get a pre-shot test. A timed feeder will be very helpful if this works since you won't have to wake up.

One additional observation... Can you get a test every night before you go to bed? It's important to get at least one test during each 12-hour cycle. If you don't get any tests at night, you're missing half of your data and more importantly, you could be missing a point where numbers drop and a dose reduction is warranted.
 
Hi all, thanks for the advice! I picked up some high-carb fancy feast to keep on hand for hypo kit. And we have freeze dried chicken treats, which he loves, so he gets one after each test and hopefully he'll start realizing that test = yummy treat.

I got the ReliOn meter, so I'm going to switch to that this week and set up a new spreadsheet for the human meter. My only concern is that it requires a bit more blood than the AlphaTrak, and we're already having a hard time getting enough blood to test. But practice makes perfect hopefully!

Been having a hard time with pre-meal testing - either he's too grumpy to let us test, or we are able to keep him still long enough to prick his ear, but can't get enough blood to test. I got a test this morning (395) but that did require letting him lick a fair amount of the squeeze treat...so I'm not sure if that affected his reading or not. I need to make him a lil sock to warm up his ear with and see if that helps. Still experimenting with splitting his meals up or using treats to see if he'll let me test, but it hasn't been going well.
 
hannahandbella said:
Hi all, thanks for the advice! I picked up some high-carb fancy feast to keep on hand for hypo kit. And we have freeze dried chicken treats, which he loves, so he gets one after each test and hopefully he'll start realizing that test = yummy treat.

I got the ReliOn meter, so I'm going to switch to that this week and set up a new spreadsheet for the human meter. My only concern is that it requires a bit more blood than the AlphaTrak, and we're already having a hard time getting enough blood to test. But practice makes perfect hopefully!

Been having a hard time with pre-meal testing - either he's too grumpy to let us test, or we are able to keep him still long enough to prick his ear, but can't get enough blood to test. I got a test this morning (395) but that did require letting him lick a fair amount of the squeeze treat...so I'm not sure if that affected his reading or not. I need to make him a lil sock to warm up his ear with and see if that helps. Still experimenting with splitting his meals up or using treats to see if he'll let me test, but it hasn't been going well.
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You can give him just a small teaspoon of the friskies pate to calm him down and test him while he's eating it if that will help calm him down


Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up
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6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
You can also put a thin layer of vaseline on the ear ,to help the blood bead up

Here is a video one of our members did
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar


Did you read post #21 above, the numbers are on the right hand side of each post, it may help what Sienne suggested.
When you read something a member posts can you just hit the like button so we know that you saw it


When you do switch to the Relion please make a blank line above the date you are switching and type Switched To Human Meter and also put that in your signature and the date so members are aware of it :cat:

You don't need to set up a new spreadsheet you just have to change the last 2 set of numbers on the SS. The dark green up top will now be 50-99 and the neon green will be BG < 50

If you need help changing it just ask

The Relion meter sucks the blood up on the test strips so maybe that will help getting enough blood also . I never had a problem, just keep at it :cat:
 
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that is the only thing I miss about the Alpha Trak 2, it could use a super small droplet. However, now that I am used to how much blood I need for the human meter we use, its not really an issue. I just look at the droplet and know -- thats not going to quite do it. Either re-prick or milk a little
 
I’ll update my SS and signature tomorrow to note the ReliOn. No luck with a pre-meal test tonight. I split his breakfast into two meals over the day hoping he wouldn’t be so demanding at dinner time, and I gave him a small bit of friskies to eat before dinner while I tried to test. I was able to get a prick in but not enough blood and he was too fidgety to let me milk his ear or re-prick. I’m getting better at finding the sweet spot but definitely still not consistent.

I’m using the 26 gauge lancets and the relion lancing device. I tried freehand a few times when we started testing but got scared off when I think I stuck too deep and he ran away, but maybe I should try again - seems like it would give me more control.
 
If you take a good look at the lancet
,you will see one side curves up, that's what you want to poke with, on an angle.
I've always tested free hand like you said you have better control
 
The other night I was trying to get Bella to calm down enough to prick his ear and wondering if I should turn him into a cat burrito in a blanket when I remembered...his Thundershirt! Put his lil kitty straightjacket on and he usually gets pretty chill, so we've been trying that. Still hit or miss - this morning I was able to get him to stay still long enough to prick his ear but I didn't get enough blood for a reading.

I have a question - what is considered normal/idea BG levels? I've seen 60-120 in some places and 120-300 in others....what am I hoping for?
 
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