11 ounces of weight gained in a week!

[TresGatos]

I just wanted to pop back in here and thank everyone who answered my initial thread about 13 year-old Silver, "freshly diagnosed..."

Thanks to you great people and this amazing resource, I think we are going to be okay over here. I dropped Silver off at the vet this morning for his first doses of insulin and a BG curve. The tech weighed him for me before I left, he's gained 11 ounces in one week. He was 6lbs 3oz this morning. She asked if I was feeding him the prescription diet and I said, "No ma'am. Just low carb wet foods. Mostly Friskies if you can believe that."

This evening I will pick him up and get training on how to do his insulin shots. While he is gone today I am going to poach some chicken breasts so I that I have a lot of treats around for BG testing. We tried the freeze dried chicken from the pet store and Silver is of the opinion that those things are NOT for eating. I've never in 13 years of having this cat seen him turn down something to eat!

A couple more questions:

When you were starting on insulin how many days in a row did you do a curve? How often exactly do you check BG? I know I'll be checking a lot in the first days just to be sure he isn't getting low, but I have a tendency to go overboard when I am worried about something and I don't want him hating me for sticking him constantly.

 

[Deb & Wink]

When first starting insulin, I did not do a curve several days in a row. I still never have done a curve for multiple days.

A curve is testing roughly every 2 hours over a 12 hour period. That's it.

You label the numbers like this
AMPS
+2
+4
+6
+8
+10
PMPS (also your +12)

How often exactly do you check BG?

Always at pre-shot time. To verify that the number was not too low and it was safe to shoot. At random times to gather data. Around +6 is nice to find nadir, maybe an hour on either side of that, +5 or +7 because nadirs are not the same in all cats. A test at bedtime is nice to have. Do what you can.

What is your testing plan?

 

[Deb & Wink]

Our standard format spreadsheet is a very handy way to keep track of the BG numbers. It is a google doc and can be shared and linked into your user control panel, profile, edit signature.

Instructions here on setting up the spreadsheet and putting the link in the signature: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

You might be ready for this if you are going to start to do more testing. It also has a column for tracking the number of units and a remarks column for food given, etc.

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

Do you know what insulin you will be using?

When you learn to test at home, you will not need to spend money on taking the cat to the vet for testing or to do curves. Think about how much you will save on that alone!

Also, don't get hung up on the need to conduct a curve. It honestly is not something that has to be done - seriously it isn't necessary. Yes, you will find people on this board who think it is the only way to know what is going on but if you home test and get a few tests taken during each cycle (a cycle is a 12 hour period - and 2 cycles in a day - as you give insulin every 12 hours), then you really don't need to do a curve.

If you look at Maui's ss (spreadsheet) you will see that I NEVER did a curve on her. Now, I did get several tests in during the cycles, so I had enough information to know how the insulin was working and when it was time to adjust the dose.

Just wanted to throw this out to you, so you don't feel compelled to do a curve.

 

[Amy & Papaya (GA)]

How often exactly do you check BG?

Besides preshot, you may find that a relatively early check (around +3) may prove useful. If the reading you get has dropped a lot compared to the preshot you will know that you need to keep a close eye on things for that cycle, which is better than just finding out midcycle that BG is really low and having to react quickly to keep your cat safe. It's especially good if you are not going to be home for the whole time, because it will give you early warning of a cycle that may go low, or on the other hand let you know that it's probably staying higher and you don't have to worry about leaving.

As you keep testing you will learn what is the most helpful information to have on your cat. In the beginning it's good to try testing at different points in the cycle. The testing doesn't have to be all in the SAME cycle, just vary when you test each time so you can gradually get the whole picture. Always test preshot, but then maybe one cycle at +2, the next cycle at +5, another time at +8, etc. The spreadsheet others have mentioned is a nice way to be able to look at all the information you will be gathering.

Best wishes for you and Silver!