Can anyone give opinions on Abilene's SS? Please.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Well, I had a glimmer of hope for a quick minute that the dose was finally kicking in and going to do well for her. Things were starting to improve yesterday and I was hopeful the bounce was over---and then... she sky rocketed this afternoon. Had awesome numbers last night and earlier today---then slammed by a 441 reading. :-( I have updated her SS. I really despise this bouncing thing... Grrrr... :mad:
 
I know it is frustrating, but many cats do it. And they do it until they don't. She dropped nicely and had a good nadir and then, yes, bounced up fast. I think I'd hold the dose for a while and see if she gets used to those blues. Then you can push a little and see if she will go down into lower ranges.

Interesting that she is flatter at night. I would guess that is either a difference in food or activity level.
 
Abilene has had some decent numbers today. But I do have a great concern... just a bit ago I took her BG before I was planning to head to bed. I pricked one ear and had to work it a bit to get a drop of blood as my aim was slightly off my ideal area which really allows her to bleed wonderfully on her own. So I milked the prick for a second and was having a bit of trouble but figured Id see if the meter would be happy with what I had gotten before having to prick her again. The meter did not give me error and read the blood sample. It read 267. Well 2 hours prior she was 195. It just felt iffy to me since the blood sample I got seemed a bit watery and lighter in color and not the vibrant red I usually get. So I pricked again and retested. I got 150 this time. This throws me for a loop now. How many other readings could have been off this much if I had retested right away? Is this meter I have accepting blood samples as sufficient that really aren't an accurate sample to read? I guess I need to be much more aware and specific of the blood sample I am going to test and if it doesn't look right, prick again just to be safe... I am just really surprised at the huge difference in the readings...
 
All meters in the US are allowed to read+/- 20% from what a lab would get.
If 1.2 * the low number is greater than 0.8 * the high number, they may be considered the same.
Yours aren't overlapping. I'd go for the best 2 out of 3 and assume that either the sample wasn't sufficient or the strip(s) might have been defective..
 
Sorry to keep bugging you all, but you really give me peace of mind... I noticed Abby is still peeing very large clumps. I do not scoop more than 1-3 large clumps in a 24 hour period, so she isn't going constantly. But I am just wondering if this is okay? Or if her pee clumps should be getting much smaller by now. I give a decent amount of water in her wet food each time, so she is taking in a substantial amount of water---I just want to know if the large clumps are okay?
She is also starting to become very angry at injection time which stresses me out to keep her steady as she tries to jump up (I give injections by myself), and makes me worry I am doing it wrong and hurting her? Any tips or tricks? It seems her skin has become more tense since we first started---I used to get a good tenting...but recently it has been a lot tighter to pull up-maybe its just her tensing up from being nervous?... And just to make me feel better about injections--IF I were to be hitting muscle---would I feel the tough resistance or would it slide in smoothly like it does subcutaneously? I am paranoid I am maybe hitting muscle if she's becoming this unhappy, but I do not feel any resistance which I stick the syringe in? Ay yiyi...this is stressful.
 
It could be that she's starting to gain a little weight now that she's on insulin so there's just less skin to "pull away" from the muscle...You might try just grabbing some fur between your thumb and index finger and then "roll" your wrist a little to gently pull the skin up a little. (I'll see if I can find the picture)

She's still pretty new to the dance, so it may take a little longer before you see a big drop in the pee totals

It's also really important that you stay calm...our kitties can feel what we feel, so if you're all upset and nervous, she's going to be too. Try singing!! As funny as it sounds (and despite the fact you may get some funny looks from Abby), singing makes you use a different part of your brain and can almost force you to relax.

May I suggest The Hokey Pokey song?....LOL

This isn't a very good picture (I'll continue looking for the better one) but it'll give you an idea of what I'm talking about. Grab some fur between your thumb and index finger and then just "roll" your wrist (in this picture, you'd "roll" to the left..towards her head)....where the fur "breaks", there's a little strip of skin to shoot in to

china skin (Custom).jpg
 
Last edited:
It'd be OK to touch base with your vet and ask if renal insufficiency and hyperthyroidism were ruled out (probably, but just checking). Those may cause excess urination too.
 
BJM said:
It'd be OK to touch base with your vet and ask if renal insufficiency and hyperthyroidism were ruled out (probably, but just checking). Those may cause excess urination too.
Click to expand...

Would a typical blood panel have picked that up? If so, they said everything else looked pretty good minus the BG obviously, and her liver enzymes, triglycerides, and cholesterol were slightly elevated-which they chalked up to the uncontrolled diabetes. I'm not sure which vet to ask, lol. I've pretty much abandoned them both.
 
As far as her urination goes---I don't know that I could consider it excessive per se. I am pumping her up with water in her food on top of the water that it already is canned with. So it only makes sense that she has to excrete that water. And since she doesn't head upstairs often and is usually downstairs in the living room with me, she ends up holding it & only urinating a few times a day thus her pee is bigger those few times. I checked for ketones today, and it was negative. But if you think the larger clumps could possibly be an issue still, I'll call the vet to confirm, as well as keep a watch to see if it decreases. Maybe I am adding too much water to her food?
 
There's really no such thing as too much water, especially when it comes to our sugarcats...Keeps their kidney in better shape

I'd call your vet that did the last bloodwork and make sure they checked her renal function (I can't imagine they didn't...BUN and Creatinine are part of most basic bloodwork) and thyroid

If they did, and they were pretty normal, you may just need to give her a little more time on insulin.

You might want to add a litter box to the floor of the house she spends the most time on too...If she has any arthritis or neuropathy in her legs, she may be holding it to keep from going up and down stairs any more than absolutely necessary too
 
She's only had one blood panel done and that was when she was first diagnosed a few weeks ago. I will call to check tomorrow. I am also still waiting for her urine culture results...its been like 2 weeks now.
You know, I have been watching her the past day or two bc her back legs seem kind of sluggish. She's a countertop kitty...and although she makes it up 99% of the time, she's been missing a little more lately and she's even tumbled off once the other day :-(. And just the way she walks--her back legs seem stiff? It isn't extremely obvious, so I've been trying to pay closer attention to it to see if its just in my head or if she really is having slight issues with her back legs... I've also noticed she's extending them out a lot-as if to stretch them, while she's standing. Is this neuropathy something to be extremely concerned about and what should I be watching for, specifically? Or is it just a secondary issue that will dissolve when she becomes more regulated? And does it cause any long term problems?

Good idea, I will go ahead and put another box down here for easier access.
 
What a lot of us have added for diabetic neuropathy is Zobaline for cats, but any B-12 methylcobalamin can help but make sure it doesn't have any sugar or xylitol in it

With the Zobaline, you just crush it and add it to food. It doesn't seem to have much of a taste, so most cats take it willingly
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top