Luckyducky
Member Since 2012
Hi everyone. I've been off the forums for a very long time, and I apologize for that. Part of it was moving to a new apartment, part of it was getting a new (and tiring) job. But I also hate to admit, back when Lucky's (my cat) numbers were all over the place all the time, I had lost faith in the vets (who kept charging me an arm and a leg for each visit) and in trying to keep up with these forums, partially because I'm terrible keeping up with forums, but also because none of the advice seemed to be working. So I wound up trying all sorts of different adjustments on my own to test and see if I couldn't figure out what was wrong with his glucose levels, and eventually I sort of resigned myself to just trying to stay with a more relaxed shot schedule for Lucky (right now it's 1.75u lantus every 12 hours with only slow/minor adjustments, like I'll move from 2 to 2f units if he didn't go below 50 every 5-7 or so days, and only dropping the dose if he gets below 50).
Well, I sort of feel as though recently Lucky's readings have been doing a bit ways better, which you can see in this pic here: http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/w62 ... 95302f.png
Or on his spreadsheet, here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... web#gid=14
With Lucky's numbers seeming to spend a bit more times in the blues and greens, I figured he might finally be doing better --- but after a vet appointment today I'm not so sure, and was hoping I could turn to you all once again for some guidance.
To make a long story short, it looked like Lucky was having some problems peeing in the litterbox a few weeks ago. The vet did a urinalysis and diagnosed UTI, and put him on Zenequin. I went back today for a follow-up urinalysis and Lucky still seemed to have a UTI (not as bad, but still there according to the vet), but the vet also found a lot of glucose in his urine (according to the paperwork I received, the level was 1000 mg/dl). It was my first time talking to this new vet, and when I showed him Lucky's glucose spreadsheet, his opinion was that the numbers on my glucometer were wrong because it's a human glucometer (Arkray Glucocard Vital), and that Lucky's numbers were actually much much higher than the readings I was getting. He explained that Lucky would only get glucose in his urine if he had an excessive amount in his blood, and explained that I should be using a cat-specific glucose monitor instead.
Soon after the vet appointment this morning I went home and took Lucky's reading again to check. I decided to open a brand new glucometer to take his reading, along with the regular glucometer I had been using. The reading for my regular glucometer was 89, and my new glucometer read 72. I also tested with a new control solution: regular was reading 97, new was reading 101, which is in the range for the test strips I use (91-114). I guess I'm scratching my head since I expected Lucky to have a high glucose reading based on the urinalysis. It also seems as though my glucometers are reading properly, though now I'm calling into question their effectiveness to judge Lucky's glucose levels.
My biggest concern, though, is that the vet recommended I increase Lucky's insulin dose (though strangely enough, he didn't recommend a specific value to increase to). I think it's worrisome not just because of the unspecified amount, but also because Lucky's numbers dropped below 50 when he was at a higher dose the past several days. That aside, I was also wondering if the vet's assessment might not have taken other factors into consideration --- I'm not sure about it, but I was wondering if it might have been the stress of being at the vet that could have caused the high glucose in Lucky's urine, since Lucky seemed really alarmed and agitated the entire time I was there. I should also mention, the urinalysis showed that Lucky was negative for ketones.
Any thoughts? Are there any inexpensive vet glucometers I can look into getting? (at least, to test and compare with my current glucometers). And what do you all think about my doctor's assessment and the urinalysis results? It was honestly a pretty awful morning for me (the first vet I talked to actually had a pretty condescending attitude that really drained me a lot). Any second opinions or insight would be wonderful and appreciated.
I should also mention, apparently Lucky's teeth are pretty bad again too. It's a long story, but basically I didn't really realize the severity of Lucky's teeth problems (and hadn't been doing at all an effective job trying to brush his teeth, which I was doing every day but apparently not very good) until a few months ago when I decided to take a look at his teeth myself and saw massive buildup of tartar on the teeth. Checking his teeth was something I'd never done until that point because it was hard to hold him down (until I discovered how useful towels were for doing that). I've been brushing his teeth three times a day after meals for the past few months now, and very specifically going for his back teeth, but that said it's still very bad looking, so I have a dental cleaning scheduled for him again this coming Wednesday. I guess I didn't think very much of his dental problems previously because the last time Lucky had a cleaning (over a year ago) it didn't improve his readings, and I figured maybe it wasn't as bad of a problem as it really is, but it really does look to be a problem.
Well, I sort of feel as though recently Lucky's readings have been doing a bit ways better, which you can see in this pic here: http://i1333.photobucket.com/albums/w62 ... 95302f.png
Or on his spreadsheet, here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... web#gid=14
With Lucky's numbers seeming to spend a bit more times in the blues and greens, I figured he might finally be doing better --- but after a vet appointment today I'm not so sure, and was hoping I could turn to you all once again for some guidance.
To make a long story short, it looked like Lucky was having some problems peeing in the litterbox a few weeks ago. The vet did a urinalysis and diagnosed UTI, and put him on Zenequin. I went back today for a follow-up urinalysis and Lucky still seemed to have a UTI (not as bad, but still there according to the vet), but the vet also found a lot of glucose in his urine (according to the paperwork I received, the level was 1000 mg/dl). It was my first time talking to this new vet, and when I showed him Lucky's glucose spreadsheet, his opinion was that the numbers on my glucometer were wrong because it's a human glucometer (Arkray Glucocard Vital), and that Lucky's numbers were actually much much higher than the readings I was getting. He explained that Lucky would only get glucose in his urine if he had an excessive amount in his blood, and explained that I should be using a cat-specific glucose monitor instead.
Soon after the vet appointment this morning I went home and took Lucky's reading again to check. I decided to open a brand new glucometer to take his reading, along with the regular glucometer I had been using. The reading for my regular glucometer was 89, and my new glucometer read 72. I also tested with a new control solution: regular was reading 97, new was reading 101, which is in the range for the test strips I use (91-114). I guess I'm scratching my head since I expected Lucky to have a high glucose reading based on the urinalysis. It also seems as though my glucometers are reading properly, though now I'm calling into question their effectiveness to judge Lucky's glucose levels.
My biggest concern, though, is that the vet recommended I increase Lucky's insulin dose (though strangely enough, he didn't recommend a specific value to increase to). I think it's worrisome not just because of the unspecified amount, but also because Lucky's numbers dropped below 50 when he was at a higher dose the past several days. That aside, I was also wondering if the vet's assessment might not have taken other factors into consideration --- I'm not sure about it, but I was wondering if it might have been the stress of being at the vet that could have caused the high glucose in Lucky's urine, since Lucky seemed really alarmed and agitated the entire time I was there. I should also mention, the urinalysis showed that Lucky was negative for ketones.
Any thoughts? Are there any inexpensive vet glucometers I can look into getting? (at least, to test and compare with my current glucometers). And what do you all think about my doctor's assessment and the urinalysis results? It was honestly a pretty awful morning for me (the first vet I talked to actually had a pretty condescending attitude that really drained me a lot). Any second opinions or insight would be wonderful and appreciated.
I should also mention, apparently Lucky's teeth are pretty bad again too. It's a long story, but basically I didn't really realize the severity of Lucky's teeth problems (and hadn't been doing at all an effective job trying to brush his teeth, which I was doing every day but apparently not very good) until a few months ago when I decided to take a look at his teeth myself and saw massive buildup of tartar on the teeth. Checking his teeth was something I'd never done until that point because it was hard to hold him down (until I discovered how useful towels were for doing that). I've been brushing his teeth three times a day after meals for the past few months now, and very specifically going for his back teeth, but that said it's still very bad looking, so I have a dental cleaning scheduled for him again this coming Wednesday. I guess I didn't think very much of his dental problems previously because the last time Lucky had a cleaning (over a year ago) it didn't improve his readings, and I figured maybe it wasn't as bad of a problem as it really is, but it really does look to be a problem.