Monique & Spooky
Member Since 2009
Today is Spooky's big anniversary he is 1 year off the juice! This mornings BG was 78 so he is still enjoying his honeymoon 
In general he is doing well, a few bouts of something (probably mild CP attacks) which last a day or two. He was never diagnosed with CP, however due to his very young age and lack of other reasons why he would develop DM it seems likely that a pancreatitis was the initiating factor. He is still doing well on canned food (only took a year to get him to eat it! :roll: ) and he still steals whatever forbidden things he can. Both cats are still using the toilet since they were trained over a year and half ago :thumbup
There are so many new kitties here in Lantus Land, for those who don't know us.....Spooky was just 3 years old when diagnosed. It was Christmas time and I didn't give much thought to the symptoms. When it became clear that something was wrong I suspected diabetes and went to the vet. Being a doctor myself the vet didn't give me much information. A quick exam, a standard blood panel, and a spot check with a OT mini glucometer to confirm the glucose result from the blood panel. He handed me a bottle of Caninsulin (Vetsulin) and a few syringes, asked if I had a meter at home and said to test him that evening once he was settled down at home (to rule out stress) and call with the result. Seemed reasonable to me until I got to the front door....then I had to go back and ask "where do I get the blood?" :lol: He laughed and said from the edge of the ear. At home he was over 400 so the vet said go ahead and give him 0.5U insulin and test his BG 3 hours later. The following day I should give 0.5U in the morning and do a curve then call with the result. We kept doing this and increasing his dose by .5U. Eventually there was some progress but his BG was still allover the place (high then low then really high) the symptom improved somewhat but he was still drinking/peeing and eating to much. The vet sugested a "diabetic diet" which was either Hill's D/M or W/D (dry). I had been reading and was aware that a canned food diet was recommended but Spooky wasn't having any part of that! I was a member of the German Diabetes forum which has developed the Lantus and Levemir protocols and recommends using those insulins. Unfortunatley in Germany a vet cannot (and most will not) prescribe a human insulin unless a reasonable attempt with an animal approved insulins has proven inaffective. My vet was not willing to prescribe Lantus and told me that he had one patient who used it and got very poor results. He said I was free to do whatever I wanted, but he could not prescribe it or advise me in it's use. I choose to use Levemir as the "Levemir study" was being compiled in the German forum. It took some time to find the right dose and then everything fell into place. The biggest challenge was getting Spooky to eat canned food which took over a year of extreme measures and lots of blood, sweat, and tears. Once I got him eating half his meals as canned food I was able to get him OTJ. He has improved ever since and currently eats only canned food. He is still a junk-food freak and will steal french frys, ice creme, cake, christmas cookies, and bread or chips whenever he can. His civie roomate (and half brother) Socks is 1 year older, both have been toilet trained for over a year and half which saves me having to buy cat litter! Spooky also loves to go for walks on the leash.
I visit this forum almost everyday and I used to post frequently in peoples condos. I was AWOL this past week due to internet problems and recently I haven't been able to help out here as much (lots going on in the house!) there are so many new people here it will take me a bit to familarize myself with them when I find the time. But right now I have to get going and mow the lawn!
Here is my Thank-you speech from 1 year ago when we celebrated Spooky's OTJ party.
May you all join us someday here at THE FALLS!!!! cat_pet_icon
In general he is doing well, a few bouts of something (probably mild CP attacks) which last a day or two. He was never diagnosed with CP, however due to his very young age and lack of other reasons why he would develop DM it seems likely that a pancreatitis was the initiating factor. He is still doing well on canned food (only took a year to get him to eat it! :roll: ) and he still steals whatever forbidden things he can. Both cats are still using the toilet since they were trained over a year and half ago :thumbup There are so many new kitties here in Lantus Land, for those who don't know us.....Spooky was just 3 years old when diagnosed. It was Christmas time and I didn't give much thought to the symptoms. When it became clear that something was wrong I suspected diabetes and went to the vet. Being a doctor myself the vet didn't give me much information. A quick exam, a standard blood panel, and a spot check with a OT mini glucometer to confirm the glucose result from the blood panel. He handed me a bottle of Caninsulin (Vetsulin) and a few syringes, asked if I had a meter at home and said to test him that evening once he was settled down at home (to rule out stress) and call with the result. Seemed reasonable to me until I got to the front door....then I had to go back and ask "where do I get the blood?" :lol: He laughed and said from the edge of the ear. At home he was over 400 so the vet said go ahead and give him 0.5U insulin and test his BG 3 hours later. The following day I should give 0.5U in the morning and do a curve then call with the result. We kept doing this and increasing his dose by .5U. Eventually there was some progress but his BG was still allover the place (high then low then really high) the symptom improved somewhat but he was still drinking/peeing and eating to much. The vet sugested a "diabetic diet" which was either Hill's D/M or W/D (dry). I had been reading and was aware that a canned food diet was recommended but Spooky wasn't having any part of that! I was a member of the German Diabetes forum which has developed the Lantus and Levemir protocols and recommends using those insulins. Unfortunatley in Germany a vet cannot (and most will not) prescribe a human insulin unless a reasonable attempt with an animal approved insulins has proven inaffective. My vet was not willing to prescribe Lantus and told me that he had one patient who used it and got very poor results. He said I was free to do whatever I wanted, but he could not prescribe it or advise me in it's use. I choose to use Levemir as the "Levemir study" was being compiled in the German forum. It took some time to find the right dose and then everything fell into place. The biggest challenge was getting Spooky to eat canned food which took over a year of extreme measures and lots of blood, sweat, and tears. Once I got him eating half his meals as canned food I was able to get him OTJ. He has improved ever since and currently eats only canned food. He is still a junk-food freak and will steal french frys, ice creme, cake, christmas cookies, and bread or chips whenever he can. His civie roomate (and half brother) Socks is 1 year older, both have been toilet trained for over a year and half which saves me having to buy cat litter! Spooky also loves to go for walks on the leash.
I visit this forum almost everyday and I used to post frequently in peoples condos. I was AWOL this past week due to internet problems and recently I haven't been able to help out here as much (lots going on in the house!) there are so many new people here it will take me a bit to familarize myself with them when I find the time. But right now I have to get going and mow the lawn!
Here is my Thank-you speech from 1 year ago when we celebrated Spooky's OTJ party.
So here I would like to thank a FEW people who have helped make this possible...........First to all of you here in LL you have made this journey far more interesting
To the German Diabetes-Katzen Forum and Kristen who provided a wonderful Protocol that works and answered endless questions from those trying to follow it.
To my Vet (who still treats his own cat with Caninsulin) for NOT charging me for all that bad advice.
To Novo Nordisk and Levemir insulin, for allowing us to finally achive regulation.
To My own GP who generously donated the Levemir to me.
To Bayer Diabetes, Abbott Laboratories, and LifeScan who supplied us with an assortment of free glucometers, and generously took many Euros from me for thier outrageously priced teststrips- Many thanks.
To the Hill's company for teaching me the hard way how not to feed a cat. Same goes to Purina Foods.
To Socks for NOT being the one to become diabetic, I know I would never have survived one ear prick with you.
And most of all thanks to Spooky who put up with all of this, kept me on my toes, and finally somewhat has found his inner carnivore.
And to the few who said it couldn't be done, or was rediculous, well thanks again for nothing ;-)
I love you all, but I am not ready to do this again.
To anyone I may have forgotten....it's been a long hard journey please forgive us, you know who you are :mrgreen:
May you all join us someday here at THE FALLS!!!! cat_pet_icon
