NEW MEMBER- Vetsulin - Desperate for help

mom2CharlesTheMagnificent

mom2CharlesTheMagnificent

Member
Hello! My rescue kitty, Charles, is a senior male cat who was dx’d with DM shortly after he found us in October of 2023 (noticed strange symptoms/immediately scheduled vet appt). I have been following my vets advice for this entire time and I feel that I have failed my beloved cat. He is on 4 units of Vetsulin every 12 hours. I moved and started seeing a new vet here. She said all his numbers look great, but I’m noticing he has increased thirst and urination along with being ravenously hungry. He has been eating very small amounts of his wet food lately but eats a lot more of the dry food throughout the day. He also vomits from time to time which I mentioned to my vet and she said just keep giving him the famotidine that was previously recommended by my other vet. I have been feeding him friskies pates and wellness core gold grain free dry food. I have concluded after reading all the information here and in the fb group that I am not doing the best by him. But my vet insists I shouldn’t rock the boat and that home testing is not necessary and would cause unnecessary stress for my cat, and that I could do a curve test every 3-4 months if I so choose. I love my cat with all of my heart. I’ve called multiple other vets in the area all highly recommended and all agree with my current vet, same as my previous vet back home. Please, is anyone able to help me? I really think his current food and dosage isn’t right and I have no idea how to adjust without my vet being on board to help me. I’ve purchased a contour next human BG monitor online along with 28g lancets and test strips. Grateful for any help -a worried cat mama
 
mom2CharlesTheMagnificent said:
Hello! My rescue kitty, Charles, is a senior male cat who was dx’d with DM shortly after he found us in October of 2023 (noticed strange symptoms/immediately scheduled vet appt). I have been following my vets advice for this entire time and I feel that I have failed my beloved cat. He is on 4 units of Vetsulin every 12 hours. I moved and started seeing a new vet here. She said all his numbers look great, but I’m noticing he has increased thirst and urination along with being ravenously hungry. He has been eating very small amounts of his wet food lately but eats a lot more of the dry food throughout the day. He also vomits from time to time which I mentioned to my vet and she said just keep giving him the famotidine that was previously recommended by my other vet. I have been feeding him friskies pates and wellness core gold grain free dry food. I have concluded after reading all the information here and in the fb group that I am not doing the best by him. But my vet insists I shouldn’t rock the boat and that home testing is not necessary and would cause unnecessary stress for my cat, and that I could do a curve test every 3-4 months if I so choose. I love my cat with all of my heart. I’ve called multiple other vets in the area all highly recommended and all agree with my current vet, same as my previous vet back home. Please, is anyone able to help me? I really think his current food and dosage isn’t right and I have no idea how to adjust without my vet being on board to help me. I’ve purchased a contour next human BG monitor online along with 28g lancets and test strips. Grateful for any help -a worried cat mama
Click to expand...
Tagging a Vetsulin user
@Suzanne & Darcy
 
Welcome to you and Charles!

It's great that you are ready to home test. I will post some information to help you do that!
Members who are trying to help you need some important information available at a glance. Could you please use your signature to tell us about your cat? Edit Signature

When you start home testing blood glucose, you will put Charles' data in a spreadsheet so that our members can guide you to make safe dosing desisions. Make sure to copy the the template that matches your human glucose meter and units.
How to create a Spreadsheet.
 
Here is some great information from @Diane Tyler's Mom GA about testing your cat's BG at home.

"Always aim for the sweet spot and 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. Youcan 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
c2b8079a-b471-4fa6-ac36-9ac1c8d6dcca-jpeg.57072
fec17d29-5ab4-44a8-912b-3a91944c3954-jpeg.57073

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capillaries 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 your 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 any brand
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

Try putting a thin layer of Vaseline on the ear so the blood will bead up

Here is a video one of our members made, just ignore when she has to code it, that's because she is using a pet meter ,with a human meter like the Relion no coding is needed
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar"
 

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Hi and welcome to the forum.
Once you have the spreadsheet set up we will be able to help you a lot more when we can see data.
Regarding the food.
Do not swap over to a low carb diet until you are hometesting and we can see what is happening to the numbers.
A low carb diet could well drop the numbers more than 100 points and with 4 units of vetsulin, you could risk a hypo.
I am going to give you a link to using versulin.
Are you feeding 30 minutes before giving the insulin?
VETSULIN
 
Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO said:
Here is Dr. Pierson's Food Chart. I just grabbed these screenshots from the chart.
I am going to see what I can find out about the kibble.

These Friskies Classic Pates are low carb. :) Are any of these what your cat eats?
View attachment 73344
View attachment 73345
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Yes! This is where I found the food was on this chart! I also allow him to free feed wellness core grain free. I should get my monitor within the next few days so I can start seeing his sugar levels as I start taking the dry food away. I bought some ice cube trays so I can freeze some food with water in them for him to free feed when I’m not home! I just hated to see him so ravenously hungry and my vet told me not to change his diet
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Once you have the spreadsheet set up we will be able to help you a lot more when we can see data.
Regarding the food.
Do not swap over to a low carb diet until you are hometesting and we can see what is happening to the numbers.
A low carb diet could well drop the numbers more than 100 points and with 4 units of vetsulin, you could risk a hypo.
I am going to give you a link to using versulin.
Are you feeding 30 minutes before giving the insulin?
VETSULIN
Click to expand...
I have not been feeding 30 min before but I will start doing that now! My vet said to give his dose at mealtimes. I wish I had done independent research sooner
 
Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO said:
Here is some great information from @Diane Tyler's Mom GA about testing your cat's BG at home.

"Always aim for the sweet spot and 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. Youcan 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
c2b8079a-b471-4fa6-ac36-9ac1c8d6dcca-jpeg.57072
fec17d29-5ab4-44a8-912b-3a91944c3954-jpeg.57073

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capillaries 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 your 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 any brand
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

Try putting a thin layer of Vaseline on the ear so the blood will bead up

Here is a video one of our members made, just ignore when she has to code it, that's because she is using a pet meter ,with a human meter like the Relion no coding is needed
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar"
Click to expand...
I started lowering his dose to 2 units when I noticed his symptoms worsening. He seems to have perked up and started being more active again and less urination/thirst. I’m so grateful for groups like this. I start working tomorrow night and I hope that lowering his dose is the right move. I was advised by a member of the fb group to go ahead and lower to 1 unit and remove the dry food. Would that be ok without having the monitor yet?
 
Vetsulin can drop a cat's BG very quickly. Small meals while your cat's BG is decreasing help to slow that decrease down.

Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Do not swap over to a low carb diet until you are hometesting and we can see what is happening to the numbers.
Click to expand...

Walmart has cost-effective Relion BG Meters for under $20. Strips under $10 for 50. You could go grab one. If you like it, keep it and return the one you ordered. Or use one as a back up. A lot of members use these meters. They are great.
 
Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO said:
Vetsulin can drop a cat's BG very quickly. Small meals while your cat's BG is decreasing help to slow that decrease down.



Walmart has cost-effective Relion BG Meters for under $20. Strips under $10 for 50. You could go grab one. If you like it, keep it and return the one you ordered. Or use one as a back up. A lot of members use these meters. They are great.
Click to expand...
I actually have that one coming today! Then I can have a backup since I already ordered a contour next online. I have a relion platinum being delivered by 10pm. Will post numbers tomorrow once I have a sheet filled out. Thank u so much for this info! At what number should I withhold a dose?
 
Kobe (Dean and Lesley) MO said:
It is typically recommended for new-comers to stall for the BG to go above 200 before giving a shot. Wait to feed your cat, test BG again after 20 min

Beginngers Guide to Vetsulin/Caninsulin Sticky has a more detailed answer to your question. I would read the whole thing, but spotted the explantation under the FAQ's. :):):)
Click to expand...
Ok I read the sheet. I’ve removed his dry food and he’s eating a lot of small meals of wet. He seems to return to the food every hour or so. I will receive my BG monitor tonight at some point before 10pm. I normally give him his dose around 9pm. Should I remove his food at 6:30 and test at 8:30? With a human meter what number would be no shoot? 80?
 
His BG was 553 at 8:30p so I gave him 2u of vetsulin. How often should I test? In this beginning phase of testing, as he’s been on vetsulin forb1.5 yrs, 4u every 12 hrs for over a year?
 
It's recommended to test a couple times between shots. For one cycle, you can get a +2 and a +4, and then another cycle get a +3 and set an alarm to wake up to get a plus +5. You don't need every single hour every day. You can do a 12-hour curve on a day off. Vetsulin is fast acting compared to other insulins, so MOST of the excitment (decreasing BG) will happen in the first 4 or 5 hours. Every cat is different, but when my cat was on Vetsulin he had a Free Style Libre 3, and after 4 hours, his BG was going back up again every cycle. I could actually watch it happen in the app. Point being, most of the important information that you need for Vetsulin is PROBABLY going to happen in the first 4ish hours. Don't neglect the other times, but prioritizing hours 1 - 5 for data collection on days when you work would give you a better idea of how low your cat is going on a dose and how quickly he's getting there.
 

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