Introduction, Need Advice

@ThisIsAllForZot

Just remember with SLGS Method

Hold the dose for at least a week:
  • Unless your cat won’t eat or you suspect hypoglycemia
  • Unless your kitty falls below 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L). If kitty falls below 90 mg/dL (5 mmol/L) decrease the dose by 0.25 unit immediately.
After 1 week at a given dose perform a 12 hour curve, testing every 2 hours OR perform an 18 hour curve, testing every 3 hours. Note: Random spot checks are often helpful to "fill in the blanks" on kitty's spreadsheet. The goal is to learn how low the current dose is dropping kitty prior to making dose adjustments.
  • If nadirs are more than 150 mg/dl (8.3 mmol/L), increase the dose by 0.25 unit
  • If nadirs are between 90 (5 mmol/L) and 149 mg/dl (8.2 mmol/L), maintain the same dose
  • If nadirs are below 90 mg/dl (5mmol/L), decrease the dose by 0.25 unit
Hopefully Zot will let you do the curve



Copied the following from one of our experienced members

As long as you are using a human meter then the “take action “ number is when the cat drops below 50, meaning that you want to monitor carefully. Oftentimes you just need to feed regular food and test in 20 minutes, but at first if you don’t know your cat’s patterns you can use medium carb as well or even high carb and test in 20-30 to make sure numbers are stable or rising. Giving high carb food or honey/corn syrup when a cat is in the 60s or higher is really going to shoot them up too high and disrupt the cycle. Having said that, I totally understand the fear of hypo and I had been told that my human meter read more like a pet meter (which was not correct) and when my cat first hit 68 I freaked out and fed him a whole can of Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers food. That was totally the wrong thing to do. We feed small amounts when managing hypos and he wasn’t even hypo. I skyrocketed him up by a couple hundred points.

Anyway, at first the lower numbers can be frightening. After a while you love to see your cat spend as much time as possible in the greens since they are the numbers where the pancreas can heal and hopefully aid the cat toward remission.

normal range is 50-100with a human meter
 
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@ThisIsAllForZot

Stephanie do you have a hypo kit in case you need to bring Zot's numbers up in case he drops too low
Pick up a few cans of each and have karo syrup on hand or honey


Med and high carb wet food is better to feed than dry food
Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods



https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-

10% and under is low carb
11% -15 is medium carbs.

16- 24 is high carb.



Just wanted you to know on Dr Pierson's food chart

the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Beef Feast In Roasted Beef Flavor Gravy (which. Dr Pierson’s list says is 20%
Comes back with 14%

These are correct for med 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

You can even look at the Friskies for high carb and med carbs since you are feeding Friskies
 
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Diane Tyler's Mom GA said:
@ThisIsAllForZot

Stephanie do you have a hypo kit in case you need to bring Zot's numbers up in case he drops too low
Pick up a few cans of each and have karo syrup on hand or honey


Med and high carb wet food is better to feed than dry food
Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods



https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-

10% and under is low carb
11% -15 is medium carbs.

16- 24 is high carb.



Just wanted you to know on Dr Pierson's food chart

the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Beef Feast In Roasted Beef Flavor Gravy (which. Dr Pierson’s list says is 20%
Comes back with 14%

These are correct for med 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

You can even look at the Friskies for high carb and med carbs since you are feeding Friskies
Click to expand...

I have some higher carb food, but it would probably be better for me to pick up some that is even higher just in case. I also have Karo Syrup. Thank you so much, I did read through SLGS, but so much information and I completely spaced this somehow, thank you :)
 
I have a video in my signature below showing how i tested my cat cc at home. You can absolutely do this, and they can live long healthy lives even with diabetes. Some cats even go into remission. My cat was in remission for a year where she didn't need shots. It did eventually come back because of a tumor that grew on her pituitary gland. I always free fed my cats (wet food only for the diabetic) except for no food at least 2 hours prior to the pre-shot test, just to make sure the number was not food influenced. so Test, then feed, then inject.
 
JanetNJ said:
I have a video in my signature below showing how i tested my cat cc at home. You can absolutely do this, and they can live long healthy lives even with diabetes. Some cats even go into remission. My cat was in remission for a year where she didn't need shots. It did eventually come back because of a tumor that grew on her pituitary gland. I always free fed my cats (wet food only for the diabetic) except for no food at least 2 hours prior to the pre-shot test, just to make sure the number was not food influenced. so Test, then feed, then inject.
Click to expand...

I see. Thank you for sharing this with me.
I watched your video a couple of days ago, and he sat really well for 3 of his BG pokes yesterday! Which I was really excited about, but he has stopped sitting good for them again. He lets me rub his ears now, apply vaseline and gives me time to setup. I try to hold him in my lap while I do this, because if I approach him in his own space, he gets excited and starts moving around a lot because he thinks that it's neck scratches time lol. But once he feels the lancet he gets very upset.

I can handle the growling and his little attitude, but my main concern is that he will not stop thrashing his head during this process. Most of the blood I've been able to get from him has been because he has thrashed his head the second I've touched the lancet to his ear, causing a little cut instead of a little poke. I do have the biggest lancet recommended for this process on the forums, I'm wondering if a smaller one would be better for him. He even trashed his head at his AMPS today and managed to flip his head enough that the lancet snagged the inside of his ear instead. The worst part of it is, he thrashed around so much the beads of blood went flying all over his fur and me, so I had to poke again and could not get more blood to come from that poke. He also keeps flattening his ears to keep me from touching them with the lancet, which has made it all the more difficult.

I am worried that his ears are quite sore now, despite my attempt to move around because there are so many more cuts than there are pokes. I'm almost tempted to try his pawpads like the vet-tech recommended, but I have a feeling that would be worse as he hates them touched and will not tolerate me even touching them without a needle.
 
ThisIsAllForZot said:
I am worried that his ears are quite sore now, despite my attempt to move around because there are so many more cuts than there are pokes.
Click to expand...

If his ears look like they are getting sore


I have read that many members use pure coconut oil, I have copied this from one of the members posts
just make sure the only ingredient is coconut oil (mine is solid at room temp and I would take an itty bitty dab and rub on his ears)
It seemed to help with the healing
You might be able to get it at a health food store or just Google pure coconut oil
It's fine if they lick it
@ThisIsAllForZot
 
ThisIsAllForZot said:
I see. Thank you for sharing this with me.
I watched your video a couple of days ago, and he sat really well for 3 of his BG pokes yesterday! Which I was really excited about, but he has stopped sitting good for them again. He lets me rub his ears now, apply vaseline and gives me time to setup. I try to hold him in my lap while I do this, because if I approach him in his own space, he gets excited and starts moving around a lot because he thinks that it's neck scratches time lol. But once he feels the lancet he gets very upset.

I can handle the growling and his little attitude, but my main concern is that he will not stop thrashing his head during this process. Most of the blood I've been able to get from him has been because he has thrashed his head the second I've touched the lancet to his ear, causing a little cut instead of a little poke. I do have the biggest lancet recommended for this process on the forums, I'm wondering if a smaller one would be better for him. He even trashed his head at his AMPS today and managed to flip his head enough that the lancet snagged the inside of his ear instead. The worst part of it is, he thrashed around so much the beads of blood went flying all over his fur and me, so I had to poke again and could not get more blood to come from that poke. He also keeps flattening his ears to keep me from touching them with the lancet, which has made it all the more difficult.

I am worried that his ears are quite sore now, despite my attempt to move around because there are so many more cuts than there are pokes. I'm almost tempted to try his pawpads like the vet-tech recommended, but I have a feeling that would be worse as he hates them touched and will not tolerate me even touching them without a needle.
Click to expand...
Can you bribe him with some thing to eat so he will associate a test with a treat?
 
Long ago on FDMB someone coined the term "Vulcan ear grip" to describe holding the ear and head more or less still for the time you need to warm, poke, get blood onto the test strip. A firm grip of the ear is needed.

Try this during non-testing times: warm up the rice sock or whatever you are using. Make sure it's not too warm. If it is, the cat will flinch and try to get away. Or just hold the non-warmed up sock / whatever to the ear. If using the lancet device, remove the lancet so it's empty. Hold the sock / whatever to the ear. Offer a treat and praise. Place the lancet device firmly against the ear and click to simulate a poke. Offer another treat and praise. Massage the ear a bit to simulate helping a blood bead up. Offer another treat and praise and let the cat go. Total time to test (for me anyways) is about 15 seconds. My rice sock (really just a DIY bag made from scrap fabric) only takes about 7 seconds to warm up. While the ear is warming, I push the test strip into the meter with one hand (with help from a knee) to turn it on which takes about 2 seconds. Then poke and get blood onto the test strip.

Does the lancet device have adjustable settings? Try the lowest setting and adjust from there. If it's set too deep, that might hurt the ear.

Some cats don't like the sound of the lancet device so you may want to try free handing just the lancet very carefully. To avoid poking your fingers, hold the rice sock / whatever under where you plan to poke.

Hold a tissue firmly over the ear to stop the bleeding and minimize bruising.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom GA said:
If his ears look like they are getting sore


I have read that many members use pure coconut oil, I have copied this from one of the members posts
just make sure the only ingredient is coconut oil (mine is solid at room temp and I would take an itty bitty dab and rub on his ears)
It seemed to help with the healing
You might be able to get it at a health food store or just Google pure coconut oil
It's fine if they lick it
@ThisIsAllForZot
Click to expand...

I will try this, I'll make another trip to the store, the draws from the pokes are healing a lot quicker than the cuts from his thrashing. I just don't want him to be sore, and if he is- I want him to be sore for as little time as possible.

@JanetNJ He usually is very food motivated, with two exceptions: paws and ears. He has no care for food, even if it's been a while since he's had a main meal or a snack so long as I'm touching paws, ears, or hindlegs. The places he hates the most. He's a lot better with his ears than he would be with his paws. I've tried little snacks, some of his LC wet food, and such, but no dice.

@squeem3 I don't use a lancet device, just the lancets. But I think this could still work, I could run through all the steps that I usually do and praise with a little bit of a treat after. I will say, even though it's a bit of a struggle right now, it is getting better slowly. It's a 50/50 chance he'll sit good through it. I believe on average for me it's anywhere between 2-3 minutes, has been longer a couple of times on the tests he's been extra spicy for. I've been using the cotton rounds to make sure I stop the bleeding.
 
Once you get the hang of testing and what works for your cat, you'll be testing in under a minute :)

For fake testing, you can use a cotton swab to "poke".

Some people find the lancet device too cumbersome to use so they free hand the lancet. Others only feel comfortable using the device.
 
squeem3 said:
Once you get the hang of testing and what works for your cat, you'll be testing in under a minute :)

For fake testing, you can use a cotton swab to "poke".

Some people find the lancet device too cumbersome to use so they free hand the lancet. Others only feel comfortable using the device.
Click to expand...

Good idea with the cotton swab. I will give this a try! Thank you :)
 
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