KigerKat
Member Since 2011
Hello, everyone!
Jack and I are new here, but I wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves.
Jack is my "Good Buddy", a Maine Coon mix that has been with me for almost 10 years. He was abandoned in front of a Petco just after Thanksgiving, and I was just getting over being dumped and needed a new friend. We have lived happily ever after ever since!
Our little family has grown over the years. First with a sister (Phoebe - blue & white DSH, 9 years), a husband/stepfather (Brett), and an obnoxious little Bengal brother (Maverick - 5 years).
Jack was diagnosed with feline diabetes on June 24th, just 16 days ago. Our vet started him on 1 unit of Lantus/bid. His original BG test at the vet's office was in the 400's. We took him in to the vet last Monday for his first glucose curve, where he tested mostly in the 300's and 400's, but his lowest reading was 258 at about +6. The vet decided to increase his dosage to 3 units/bid.
The kitties have always eaten Science Diet Oral Care (dry food). After Jack's diagnosis, we began to research the topic online (my husband is the research KING!) and read all about the nutrition content of dry food and the results of having a high carb diet. After a lot of confusion and more research, we decided to switch all 3 kitties to Wellness canned food. Needless to say, the KigerKats did not mind the change at all.
They are now on an all wet food diet!
We had our first semi-scare with Jack Friday and yesterday. My stepsister had a diabetic kitty that had many complications, and she unfortunately had to put her down about a year ago. She was very generous and sent us the glucose meter and all of the supplies she had. It arrived Thursday. We were planning on doing our own curve at home today (Sunday), so I thought we should probably practice before we did. I tested him on Friday and got a reading of 54 about 8 hours after his morning shot. When my husband came home, we tested again before his evening shot and got a reading of 50. We panicked a bit and decided to skip his evening shot.
Then yesterday morning, we tested his AMPS and got a reading of 196. We went ahead and fed him and gave him 3 units. After reading what was posted on his update thread over on the Feline Health board, DH and I discussed it and decided to call the vet. He told us to test him at +6 and then call him back with the number, which ended up being 44. Jack was very lethargic, but still alert and not showing any other signs of hypo. We do have a bottle of Karo syrup with q-tips taped to the side, a suggestion of my stepsister, ready to go!
The vet told us not to give him a shot last night or this morning. His reading at dinnertime last night was 71 and then 164 this morning. We are supposed to call the vet with his evening number tonight and then we'll see if we should give him any insulin.
He does seem MUCH more energetic today! Just now, he was running between the back door and the living room window to see some kind of critter that must be in the backyard. He's acting more "normal" today than he has been in the past few days.
So, that's us and where we are in a nutshell. We have already gotten a lot of great advice from this message board, and I look forward to learning and working with all of you so I can get my Good Buddy OTJ soon!!
Jack and I are new here, but I wanted to take a moment to introduce ourselves.
Jack is my "Good Buddy", a Maine Coon mix that has been with me for almost 10 years. He was abandoned in front of a Petco just after Thanksgiving, and I was just getting over being dumped and needed a new friend. We have lived happily ever after ever since!
Our little family has grown over the years. First with a sister (Phoebe - blue & white DSH, 9 years), a husband/stepfather (Brett), and an obnoxious little Bengal brother (Maverick - 5 years).
Jack was diagnosed with feline diabetes on June 24th, just 16 days ago. Our vet started him on 1 unit of Lantus/bid. His original BG test at the vet's office was in the 400's. We took him in to the vet last Monday for his first glucose curve, where he tested mostly in the 300's and 400's, but his lowest reading was 258 at about +6. The vet decided to increase his dosage to 3 units/bid.
The kitties have always eaten Science Diet Oral Care (dry food). After Jack's diagnosis, we began to research the topic online (my husband is the research KING!) and read all about the nutrition content of dry food and the results of having a high carb diet. After a lot of confusion and more research, we decided to switch all 3 kitties to Wellness canned food. Needless to say, the KigerKats did not mind the change at all.
They are now on an all wet food diet!We had our first semi-scare with Jack Friday and yesterday. My stepsister had a diabetic kitty that had many complications, and she unfortunately had to put her down about a year ago. She was very generous and sent us the glucose meter and all of the supplies she had. It arrived Thursday. We were planning on doing our own curve at home today (Sunday), so I thought we should probably practice before we did. I tested him on Friday and got a reading of 54 about 8 hours after his morning shot. When my husband came home, we tested again before his evening shot and got a reading of 50. We panicked a bit and decided to skip his evening shot.
Then yesterday morning, we tested his AMPS and got a reading of 196. We went ahead and fed him and gave him 3 units. After reading what was posted on his update thread over on the Feline Health board, DH and I discussed it and decided to call the vet. He told us to test him at +6 and then call him back with the number, which ended up being 44. Jack was very lethargic, but still alert and not showing any other signs of hypo. We do have a bottle of Karo syrup with q-tips taped to the side, a suggestion of my stepsister, ready to go!
The vet told us not to give him a shot last night or this morning. His reading at dinnertime last night was 71 and then 164 this morning. We are supposed to call the vet with his evening number tonight and then we'll see if we should give him any insulin.
He does seem MUCH more energetic today! Just now, he was running between the back door and the living room window to see some kind of critter that must be in the backyard. He's acting more "normal" today than he has been in the past few days.
So, that's us and where we are in a nutshell. We have already gotten a lot of great advice from this message board, and I look forward to learning and working with all of you so I can get my Good Buddy OTJ soon!!
