Addy's mom

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bwilde

Member Since 2022
Hi, I am mom to a beautiful black tabby named Addy. Addy is sassy and too smart for her own good, also able to cast spells with her large beautiful eyes. She is 10 years old, and for probably 8 of those years she has had IBS, irritable bowel syndrome and because of that she was put on prednisilone as it was the only thing that could manage her diarrhea. Despite that, she was also an overweight cat as well. Eventually this all caught up with her and she developed diabetes in May of 2022.

This week, she came up with a very impacted, abscessed anal gland, which has been so hard to care for. The vet gave her liquid Clavamox and Onsior along with an antibiotic cream that has to be jabbed into the abscess daily. She is now starting to be a bit lethargic, down from her usual pestering energy and I am feeling so sad and worried. My adult son is helping a lot, but boy, is it a lot of work.

Thanks for reading.
 
Is the diabetes being treated with insulin? This
bwilde said:
She is now starting to be a bit lethargic, down from her usual pestering energy
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can indicate that the diabetes haws caused diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) which is live threatening. Can you get a human meter to measure blood sugar or bring the cat to a vet ASP. Also, you can get ketone test strips at a human pharmacy and test the cat's urine for ketones. If ketones measure greater than trace that is a problem.
 
Yes she's being treated with Prozinc at 2u once a day. And I have a tracker, she had 148 yesterday, which the vet didn't think was too bad. Will try her again, sticking her is not fun, poor baby
 
I should add that, keep crossing my fingers, she still has an ok appetite, she is not as persistent as her healthy self about getting her food but she eats it. Not drinking, the cone collar doesn't allow her to 'graze drink' like usual, so we just put a lot of water in every feeding. I think she's stable for now, but the weekend and lack of vet availability scares me. We have emergency vets in town but they always have a 6 hour wait time no matter what the day and they are quite costly. So we're just doing the best we can for our girl
 
Welcome before any members can give you any advice you need to set up your signature and our spreadsheet
To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine

We use the spreadsheet to track our cats BG to see how the insulin is working and how low it's dropping. We don't base the dose on the Pre Shots , we base the dose on how low he's dropping
We incresse or decrease by 0.25 units at a time
If you need help setting up your spreadsheet just ask and we have a member who will be glad to do it for you, until you set up your signature and record the numbers you have already I don't think any members will be able to give you any advice
You also need to withhold feeding 2 hours prior to testing so thevBG is not food influenced
Here is the link to the spreadsheet
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers

Last
 
I don't know what food you are feeding until you fill out your signature
Make sure you have a hypo kit in case Addy drops to low and you need to bring those numbers up to a safe number

Med and High Carb food and some honey



Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs

Or any on the food chart. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-

Between 11% and 17% is medium carbs.

18% and over is high carb.
 
Hi,

welcome and I know how multiple health issues can be overwhelming. The main thing I need to point out is that insulin needs to be given twice a day not once. Prozync is a good insulin for cats and it’s long lasting compared to Vetsulin but it only lasts 12 hours. No insulin lasts 24 hours so by giving it to her once a day only, it means that for the other 12 hours she’s unprotected and has no insulin in her body to regulate her bg. I strongly suggest you start giving her 1 unit every 12 hours so she’s still be getting 2 units total but it’s evenly spread out. I’d also check with your vet to make sure he didn’t miscommunicate when giving you the dosage instructions.
 
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Do you need tips to make testing easier? Are you warming up the ear so it’s easier to get the blood droplet? Are you giving her a treat as a reward after? Here’s the spot in the ear you want to aim for
upload_2022-8-20_8-56-6.jpeg
 

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Lastly, if you’re already home testing, which is great btw, you want to make sure you test before each insulin shot which we call am preshot and pm preshot. In order to get the true bg not influenced by food, you need to make sure she hadn’t had any food for at least 2 hours before testing. Then test, feed and give insulin in that order. You feed before the shot to make sure she has food in her to handle the insulin and her bg wont drop too low. We also recommend doing a few spot checks in the day to see how low the dose is taking her. The 148 was at what time and with food or without? It could be considered on the lower side to shoot and she could be going too low which would also explain the lethargy. Too much insulin looks like that. So please, start giving her 1 unite every 12 hours instead of 2 units once a day
 
@FrostD -- @Ale & Minnie (GA) -- I think the way Diana posted, may have confused how you were looking up Melissa.

I'm providing a few links. The first if on helping us to help you. The link contains basic information that's all in one place -- setting up a signature, spreadsheet, info on hypoglycemia, etc.

You may also want to take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the Prozinc board. There's information about the insulin, dosing, etc.

I do wonder if Addy is experiencing a wide swing in her numbers with the once a day dosing. If then numbers are varying widely, it can make her feel off. I'd also suggest that you get Ketostix to test her urine for ketones. This may be entirely precautionary but given that she has an abscess and her diabetes is not yet controlled, the infection increases the risk for ketones to develop. The recipe for ketones is infection or inflammation + not enough insulin + not enough calories. Between the abscess and her not eating that much, there are risk factors. You can get Ketostix at any pharmacy. You just follow the instructions on the container.
 
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