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Christie & Willie (GA)

Christie & Willie (GA)

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Greetings all! After getting a diabetes diagnosis on my 15 year old Willie this week, I am immensely thankful to everyone who has taken the time to post on this board... it has been so helpful!

For years, I haven't had the money to give Willie adequate vet care. I'm just getting to where I'm financially stable, and my guy developed a pretty icky skin condition that we are working to get to the bottom of. A few years ago, he lost considerable weight (at his heaviest, he was 23 lbs, he's now at 11). A vet had told me that it was a consequence of renal disease, and apparently, he was wrong. Willie's labs came back on Saturday with a blood sugar level well over 400. I had previously been feeding him the feline instincts kidney support diet, which is basically raw meat, canned pumpkin, and supplements. Still using the same food, but cut out the pumpkin and added in a little fiber(at the advice of feline instincts).

We started insulin yesterday. Lantus u-100, 1 unit, twice daily. He was in the 380s last night, the 280s this morning, and was at 211 tonight before insulin/dinner. Even though I'm exhausted, I'm hoping I can make it awake a couple more hours so I can test him again before bed. It is hard doing this alone... I really can't take off from work this week having been home sick myself two days last week. but it's hard to leave him alone without worrying.

It has been a bit nervewracking figuring everything out, especially with conflicting opinions from the two vets I've seen (same clinic), differing advice on how to handle insulin, decisions on treatment options, the effects of a sudden diet change, etc. I'm renting an Alphatrak from the vet for $5/day through the weekend, and I went and picked up a Relion meter today. The rental allows me to use the strips liberally for practice, which is good. Also allows me to compare the meter to the relion so I can see how their results compare. My vet wants me to do a nutritional consult with petdiets.com, but to be honest, I didn't get a good vibe from their site and I'm not sure I can justify the $250 expense.

I have a couple insulin questions... what are the advantages/disadvantages to lantus in relation to levemir, and has anyone filled their pets' levemir at Costco? I filled the Lantus there, and they enrolled willie in their prescription discount program. Apparently, levemir is in the program, but lantis is not. I am curious to know what kind of discount is offered on the levemir in the program...

The injection thing isn't bothering me, but the ear pricks have both of our nerves a bit raw (me figuratively, him both figuratively and i suspect literally!). I know it takes practice, but he isn't an easier bleeder (unlike my 13 year old miss jezebelle, who I tested for practice and curiosity last night!). He hates doing it. I'm getting by okay with the alphatrak lancet pen, but the relion was an epic fail. I have a novamax one from a monitor i meant to donate and never did (kicking myself... had 10 strips in it, but they expired!).. going to try the lancet pen in that when we test next.

One more question...does anyone have any experience with the standard process supplements? someone has recommended a couple of their products... Pancreatrophin PMNG and feline immune support. trying to figure out if they are worth trying.

Thanks again for everyone's contributions. This site has helped me keep my sanity over the past couple days!!
 
Welcome! It sounds like you have already done a lot of homework.

The insulin support forums will give you the basics for Levemir and Lantus : viewforum.php?f=5. On the Lantus page, you'll get dosing info.

My favorite nutrition site is by Dr. Lisa Pierson. She has recipes for home made food. Http://www.cat info.org (no space between cat and info - my iPad won't let me put them together.....)

For the hometesting, are you sure warming the ear? A drop of Vaseline will also help the blood bead up.
 
Dear Kcatty, and, of course, you too, sweet Willie,

I confess. It took me 1 month and 28 days, and halfway into a second glass of chardonney before I got up the nerve to actually prick Gizzie's ear, who was diagnosed shortly after her 14th Birthday.

Tested myself first (to see how it felt...) and discovered the meter read 21. Figured I was dead, so had nothing left to lose...

Saw the Little Darling and suddenly heard the theme music from Jaws in my head...

Grabbed all the equipment, nuked the rice sock, and casually sauntered towards her...

Plopped all the stuff on the floor and swooped her up before copping a squat and doing the vampire deed... Surprise was truly my friend that night!

Meter read 189. This was probably as improbable as my 21 reading at the time for Giz... But, it was such a huge start.

We danced for four more years!

Welcome to the place you never wanted to be, but will be blessed for having found, kind of hugs,
Deb and Nikki, my extra-sweet rescue -- and Giz, forever whispering in my heart...

PS: Has anyone called you Wonder Woman today? Well, I just did! Information is power, and, you are most powerful...
 
The biggest differenece that I've seen is that lantus needs stricter scheduling than levemir does, so if that is a concern (sticking to a 12-12 or needing flexibility) then this might be a consideration. both are great insulins and both have a chance to really help your boy :)

Jen
 
Good Morning and welcome to the FDMB family.

You are WAY ahead of most of us when we first got here, so congrats on that. Your doing great. I also hate the lancet pen that came with the Relion meter, the only way I could get it to work for me was to take the cap off. With that solid cap I couldn't see where I was aiming.

As crazy as it sounds their ears do learn to bleed. Max was difficult to get blood from in the beginning but now I have to barely touch his ears to get a nice blood drop. You may want to try a couple of things, warming the ear, or trying different spots. Max has one ear that bleeds better than the other one. Personally I think the ear pokes are far worse than the actual shots. Shots are easy, just tent, stick and shoot. But finding that perfect spot to get a good blood sample is tough.

But soon it will be as easy as brushing your teeth and is the best thing you can do for your darling Willie, to make sure he stays safe.

Mel
 
Thank you all so much for the kind words! I'm not feeling much like Superwoman these days, but I'm working on it! Thanks for all the tips! I am using the rice sock, but I will definitely try the vaseline. After posting last night, our bedtime test was a disaster. Got a measurement on the relion (that i'm 99% sure was wrong), and then 4 tries but no go on the alphatrak. thank god for unlimited (within reason) strips on the rental. I wanted to cry, willie was pissed that he was clawless and toothless and therefore couldn't punish me... yeah, we were quite the pair. This morning did go a bit smoother.

Thanks for the direction on the insulin... will be my homework for tonight! Honestly, I think what has helped for me is that I got his diagnosis in a voicemail on Saturday, but then couldn't do anything until I talked to the vet on Monday. I think having those couple days were I was unable to take any action gave me a chance to just start reading and familiarize myself with the basics and where I could go to find good information.

Looking forward to the weekend... I've been getting up early to make sure I have time to take care of willie, get ready for work, and love on Miss Jezebelle, my 13 year old kitty who is a bit green from envy at all the attention Mr. Willie has been getting. (I think she was actually purring when I practiced sticking her ear the other day!!). Then, staying up late to get one more blood test out of willie. will be nice to catch up on sleep this weekend! Thinking I'm going to try to get a curve on Willie on Sunday. Guessing I won't be too popular come Monday!

Thanks again all... May not love the circumstances, but I am nonetheless very glad to be a new member of the community!
 
Eight years ago I found this place, and I was a mess. Fast forward to now...I have a happy, healthy, fat and sassy boy who hasn't needed insulin for almost 8 years. You may or may not always need to give insulin, but chances are you will get a handle on this pretty darn quick and will feel much better about everything. Meanwhile, we'll be here to help.

Jen
 
One thing to think about in choosing between Lantus and Levemir is more people here use Lantus, thus if you run short or someone is donating or selling at a discount price a GAs insulin your chances of finding Lantus is a bit better. Have you checked out the Supply Closet postings?
 
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