7/21 Taishi AMPS 394, +3 338, +6 346 (1st day on insulin)

[Taishi_Ci]

Update @ +3: Taishi had about 1/2 can of Fancy Feast as his "2nd breakfast/morning snack". My husband tried to give him his BG "poke" for the first time and, after failing twice, I stepped in to get the blood. His BG was down to 338 (yay!). We have 7 cats and have kept Taishi isolated to his own "diabetes suite" (lol) since diagnosis so we can monitor food, water, and urine, so he is spending most of his time napping under the bed.

Original Post: Here we go. I *think* I gave Taishi his insulin correctly this morning. The 1U is such a tiny amount on the syringe, it almost seems like nothing. We did not schedule a "tech appointment" at the vet to learn to inject (it was going to be an additional $100 on top of the $500 we just spent to have him diagnosed) so I learned to load/inject based on the resources provided here (videos, photos, written directions, etc). Taishi had no reaction to the injection and it was over in a fraction of a second, which is why I find myself doubting whether or not I actually did it correctly.

We are aiming for the Tight Regulation method, so will be testing his BG throughout the day. We are lucky that he's very easy to test. He never has any reaction to the ear prick

Cross your fingers and send us good vibes! I'm very nervous going into all this.

~ Jessie

 

[Bandit's Mom]

Welcome Jessie and Taishi!

I'm super impressed that you've set up your spreadsheet and signature and gotten your thread title per our posting guidelines!

You might want to consider a human meter at some point. The strips are much cheaper!

 

[Taishi_Ci]

Welcome Jessie and Taishi!

I'm super impressed that you've set up your spreadsheet and signature and gotten your thread title per our posting guidelines!

You might want to consider a human meter at some point. The strips are much cheaper!

Thank you for the welcome! I've had a week to drive myself crazy with studying as much info as possible and want to do this "right" (although I know it won't be perfect).

I was *shocked* by the cost of the AlphaTrak strips. I never imagined they would be $1/strip. I've heard that the FreeStyle Lite strips work in the AT monitor, so we may try those before buying a 2nd monitor. I'm also confused about the difference between human monitors and pet ones... why is there a difference in the number? Is there an easy "conversion" I can do? For example, if I use the AT monitor for the next couple weeks, then end up switching to a human one, will my spreadsheet essentially be ruined and I'll have to start over?

 

[Bandit's Mom]

I was *shocked* by the cost of the AlphaTrak strips. I never imagined they would be $1/strip. I've heard that the FreeStyle Lite strips work in the AT monitor, so we may try those before buying a 2nd monitor. I'm also confused about the difference between human monitors and pet ones... why is there a difference in the number? Is there an easy "conversion" I can do? For example, if I use the AT monitor for the next couple weeks, then end up switching to a human one, will my spreadsheet essentially be ruined and I'll have to start over?

Yup. AT strips are pretty pricey and we are all testaholics here. I'm not sure about using the Freestyle Lite strips with the AT. I think some here have tried and gotten wonky readings. I think @Liz & Minnie tried it too. Rather than buying Freestyle strips, just buy the ReliOn meter from Walmart for $9. I think strips are $17.88 for 100.

The human meters read lower than pet meters but there is no formula to convert one to the other. The difference is lower in lower numbers but quite a bit in higher numbers.

You can continue to use the same spreadsheet. You'd just add a line saying you've switched to a human meter.

Here's one spreadsheet for AT to human meter switch:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...xl1l7v10-GMbEw_vskUU_gSO-IOo4gjk0CPg5/pubhtml

 

[Liz & Minnie]

Yup. AT strips are pretty pricey and we are all testaholics here. I'm not sure about using the Freestyle Lite strips with the AT. I think some here have tried and gotten wonky readings. I think @Liz & Minnie tried it too.

Not quite! I tried the Petsure strips which say they are made for the AT but only 1 box then switched.

I haven't used the Freestyle Lite strips with the AT but I switched from the AT to the Freestyle Lite because (1) same size blood drop required 0.3microliter which is the smallest of any, and (2) strips are the same design as the AT with the 2 little 'antenna' tabs either side. They're about half the price of AT strips in the US though you can get better prices if you're willing to camp out on EBay. I didn't get on with the Relion because it needed more blood (0.5 I think) though I think it does have some of the cheapest strips.

I also use the Novamax meter which tests both glucose and ketones, with different strips. It's my backup BG meter (only needs 0.3 for BG, but 0.9 for ketones) but results are quite a bit different from the Freestyle. However the strips are some of the cheapest - I think as cheap as Relion.

Good luck!

 

[Bandit's Mom]

Update @ +3: Taishi had about 1/2 can of Fancy Feast as his "2nd breakfast/morning snack". My husband tried to give him his BG "poke" for the first time and, after failing twice, I stepped in to get the blood. His BG was down to 338 (yay!). We have 7 cats and have kept Taishi isolated to his own "diabetes suite" (lol) since diagnosis so we can monitor food, water, and urine, so he is spending most of his time napping under the bed.

Jessie, better to add the updates as new post in the thread. That will bump the thread up and get people's attention. Editing an existing post does not do that.

Wow! 7 cats! This might take quite a bit of effort, but changing all of them to a low carb diet can save you the worry of Tashi getting into their higher carb food. And LC wet would be good for the other cats as well!

 

[Taishi_Ci]

Jessie, better to add the updates as new post in the thread. That will bump the thread up and get people's attention. Editing an existing post does not do that.

Wow! 7 cats! This might take quite a bit of effort, but changing all of them to a low carb diet can save you the worry of Tashi getting into their higher carb food. And LC wet would be good for the other cats as well!

Thank you for the tip! I didn't want to "spam", but it makes sense that the updates will bump. It's been ages since I've used an old school message board ;-)

Re: the other kitties. We would love to switch them all to a low carb wet food diet, but financially we can't swing it :-( We calculated the cost off of Friskies Pate and it would be over $300/month (we currently pay $60/month for their dry food). Fortunately Taishi doesn't seem to have any interest in the dry food now that he's been switched to wet, and we supervise so he doesn't get into it. I wish there was a cost effective dry food out there that wasn't *horrible* for cats. I know there are low carb options for dry, but I did some researching of those this morning and they're all very pricey as well.