Need Help Understanding Home Testing

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Margie99

Margie99

Member Since 2023
Hello, I am new to this help group and new to diabetes in general. My cat Lucy, 13 years old, was diagnosed with diabetes in April of this year (2023). She had been given a steroid shot due an inflamed ear and this may have been the cause of her diabetes. The vet did a fructosamine test and said the number was high so that meant it was not the steroid. I suppose that is really neither here nor there at this point. My Lucy is 13 lbs. and needs to lose weight (should be 9 or 10 pounds) she is a small cat.

When I received the diabetes diagnosis, I really didn’t receive much else in the way of instruction. A tech showed me how to give an injection and I was told that if she lost weight, she might not need insulin anymore, and that home blood sugar testing was really difficult, and that glucose curves are very stressful, not much else really.

Lucy is on Lantus 2units 2x’s a day.
I thought I would try and remove her dry food from her diet (1 tbsp Hill’s K/D dry and 3 tbsp Hill’s R/D dry) and replace that with her wet food Hill’s K/D. This is because my other cat Freddy started to lose weight when replaced his dry with wet.

Well, I did not know anything about carbs and insulin and had a very scary hypoglycemic incident that I caught immediately, and Lucy was okay. But this tells me that her diet is definitely affecting her insulin. I want to start regularly testing her blood sugar in order to safely change her diet. I do not know how to do this. I have watched the videos on this forum and I think the mechanics of it will be manageable. What I don’t understand is – When do I check her? What numbers am I looking for? What is the safest way to change her diet and change her insulin accordingly?

I feel lost and a little scared, but I know I need to do this and really believe with a change in her diet her insulin need will decrease and with some weight loss as well, maybe she won’t need insulin anymore. Thank for any guidance.
 
Welcome to the FDMB. I’m sorry you have to be here and that you were not told what to feed. Changing food dues need to be done slowly when on insulin. Which insulin are you using? That will help us to help you figure this all out.

No matter which insulin you use we always suggest you test before every shot to make sure it’s safe to give insulin. Other than that the rest depends on many factors beginning with the insulin you use. If you can eliminate the dry food completely but gradually that will help a lot so you are off to a good start.
 
Hi - thank you - I am using Lantus - but it is the generic Glargine. Okay test before each shot. What numbers am I looking for? Is there some chart or something to help
me understand the numbers? Thank you again for responding.
 
I’m glad you are using Lantus. The genetics work the same. We have lots of information in the stickies at the top of the LLB forum. It’s great that you are willing to do home testing. I’d get a human meter as our two methods were formulated using a human meter. If in the US many use tge ones from Walmart. The added bonus is the test strips are a lot less expensive. We are very much data based too.

Are you tech savvy? I’m not, lol! We have a member that can help you set up a spreadsheet and signature if you need help. I will tag her in case you need her. @Bandit's Mom

Lantus onsets typically around 2 hours after injecting so that’s a good test to get. It teaches nadir, the lowest point in the cycle around mid cycle. So those are good tests to get when possible. If you follow one of our methods it will be SLGS. I’m going to link that sticky. It’s a good place to start reading. All the stickies are helpful but there is a lot to learn and for me at least it was quite intimidating so take your time and ask lots of questions.

Someone will be around to help you with testing help. I’ll check back but look forward to seeing you once you are set up on the LLB forum.
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...-low-go-slow-slgs-tight-regulation-tr.210110/
 
Unfortunately, it’s not a perfect science and to add to that every cat is different. Lantus is a great insulin so that’s the good news. Did she start at 2 units or was the dose raised?

As Elise said, you want to test at least before each shot to make sure the dose is safe to shoot. These are called the preshot tests and for these, you want to withhold the food for at least 2 hours so you know the value you get is not inflated by food. For beginners we say to shoot as usual if the value is over 200. If it’s under 200, you have 2 options. You can stall for 20 minutes without feeding, post here and ask for help, and retest to see if the number is going up on its own. You can also give a token dose which is 15-20% of the regular dose. As a beginner, if you get anything under or close to 100, I’d skip the shot.

we also recommenced that you test at least one more time during each 12-hour cycle to try and see how low the dose is taking your cat, the lowest point is called nadir. We dose here by the nadir not the preshot values that’s why that’s important. With Lantus, that usually happens around +5,+6. A healthy’s cat range is 50-120 and you want your cat to stay at that range as long as possible so the pancreas has a chance to heal.

Sadly most vets do not know a lot about feline diabetes….they have many animals to look after and they all have different diseases and treatments.

With a diabetic cat you need:
  • A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
  • A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
  • We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
  • HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

you want to transition her to lower than 10% carbs foods, but not until you’re home testing as it can drip the bg by quite a lot. I think the wet hills may still be too high. Most of us feed fancy feast or Friskies pate foods. No need for expensive prescription foods, they’re not superior quality just more expensive.
FOOD CHART have a look on this chart and choose foods that are under 10%.

You will also need some higher carb foods for that hypo box..information in the help us help you link.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.


Keep asking lots of questions.
 
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Okay I have a lot of learning to do. I am somewhat tech savvy so a spreadsheet might be helpful for me. I will head over to the LLB forum and start investigating. I need to watch some more videos of taking samples - it is scary but everyone is very encouraging. Thank you again for responding and directing me.
 
If you’re in the US, most of us use Walmart’s ReliOn meter and supplies. It‘s accurate and cost efficient too. When you’re ready to test, post again and ask for tips. There are a lot of tips we can give you to make it easier on you and your cat, but again, don’t want to give you too much info, so just ask first :)
 
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Margie99 said:
Okay I have a lot of learning to do. I am somewhat tech savvy so a spreadsheet might be helpful for me. I will head over to the LLB forum and start investigating. I need to watch some more videos of taking samples - it is scary but everyone is very encouraging. Thank you again for responding and directing me.
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Hi and welcome to FDMB :-)
Let me know if you need help setting up the spreadsheet for you. Won't take me a minute. A diabetes diagnosis can be pretty overwhelming, so I'm happy to take this off your hands so you can focus on other aspects!
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Hi and welcome to FDMB :)
Let me know if you need help setting up the spreadsheet for you. Won't take me a minute. A diabetes diagnosis can be pretty overwhelming, so I'm happy to take this off your hands so you can focus on other aspects!
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oh my goodness thank you so much! I am first going to purchase what I need for Testing - we have a Walmart so I am headed there. I need to watch some more videos, it's a little overwhelming but giving her the injections was intimidating at first and now we have a good routine. I have many more questions but I think I am getting ahead of myself, so first things first get the testing down. And thank you so much for the offer of help - I will reach out when I am ready :-)
 
Hello @Margie99 and welcome. Here is an older thread that I used to point to videos of our second diabetic kitty which shoes the supplies and the testing: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/videos-of-testing-my-cats-bg.223609/#post-2501426

Also, our first diabetic was kicked in to diabetes from repeated depo-medrol steroid injections. I do think that it is important to remember that, because I am suspicious that, when caught early, these kitties have a pretty good chance at remission. That makes testing even more important (not that it isn't for all of our babies) if their insulin needs start to decrease or end.

Good luck to you both!
 
If she was really hypo, BG under 90 or symptomatic the dose is too high. I WOULD REDUCE THE DOSE tonight. If you get the supplies and are able to get a test, post the results and ask for dosing advice. Even if you are not successful in getting a bg reading all the more reason to reduce. It’s going to be hard to figure out how much to reduce. I’d opt for a larger reduction though to be safe. What was the BG when hypo and what are any BG numbers you have? When was that?
 
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Margie99 said:
I thought I would try and remove her dry food from her diet (1 tbsp Hill’s K/D dry
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Welcome to the best site you could have found. Is there any reason you are feeding Hills K/D dry or even the wet K/D
Does Lucy have kidney issues?
I can give you a list of wet food for diabetic cats that have kidney disease if you want to, just let me know :cat:
This group has helped me get Tyler into remission . He's been in remission since 1-24-21 ,he is now food controlled .
Keep asking questions :cat:
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 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with
Here is a video one of our members made testing her kitty
She's using a pet meter that has to be coded ,with a human meter you don't have to code it.
I have always used a human meter
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar
 
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