Debbie and Scout/Fructosamine level 720

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

DebM

New Member
Hello,
Scout and I are new to this. I adopted Scout as an outdoor cat from my vet after she moved across state and could not take him. She adopted him a few years before (don't know his exact age, maybe 7 yrs.) and he had been de-clawed and neutered. Unfortunately, he did not like being in the house with two special needs dogs so he remained outside there. Over time and after lots of loving , he has become an indoor/outdoor cat. Should I have left him outside? He was diagnosed with diabetes about April. He started losing weight (weighed approx. 16 lbs. at November check-up) and weighed 12.4 in April. He also was drinking tons of water and was very lethargic. His BG level at the primary diagnosis was 529. His vet put him on Lantus and has been checking BG weekly up until this last month. Lowest BG level has been 375. She put him on 3 units twice daily and waited one month run the fructosamine test (720) and has upped his insulin to 4 units twice daily today. He is on canned Purina DM (1/2 can) in am and pm with 1/2 c dry Purina DM during the day. I am frustrated and don't know if I am doing all that I can to bring his BG down. Please any suggestions? Scout is such a sweet boy and brings so much love to me and my husband (who didn't even like cats until we adopted Scout)
 
I am not quite too sure how to answer, but I will give it a try here.

First, are you home testing before his shots? Hopefully, you are testing before giving Scout his shots. You can record your BG test results on a spreadsheet, and post in the Lantus group so that others can give you a hand and some advice.
Spreadsheet Template and Instructions

if you are not home testing, you need to know about possible hypo, if Scout goes too low from too much insulin.
How to treat HYPOS – They can kill! Print this out!

Food is very important; so important that many cats have become diet controlled. Most important, stop feeding any of the dry foods as the dry food may be contributing to the high BG numbers. Here's a list of foods with the carb values. That DM food is not the best quality ingredients, and you can find much better foods in this listing. Aim for foods with carbs under 10% and stay away from the dry foods.
Binky’s Food Lists

i've got another link that's full of info you may find helpful.
New to the Group

it may be an idea if you create a profile and put all the background info you have on Scout adj then you won't have to keep answering the same questions.
Profile Creation
Help with signatures/links/images/avatars
Creating spreadsheets & attaching them to your signature
 
Welcome Scout and Deb,

The thing that jumps out at me is the 3 units. If he was started on 3 units, it may be that he was started over his ideal dose and is rebounding: http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Somogyi_rebound Often vets start cats on a dosage based on weight. That works in dogs, but not cats. We urge newbies to start low and go slow: start at 1 unit twice a day.

If you consider lowering the dose, you must be testing for ketones. You buy ketone strips at the pharmacy and stick them into his urine stream or into a puddle of urine as he moves away. (Don't worry, we have lots of ideas to help this happen.....)

Second what Gayle said. If you are not hometesting, you should start today. Here is some info: http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm and a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8 Human diabetics would never just get a dosage amount and take it for weeks. They test before every shot and so do we.

I know it is weird to consider advice from people over the internet. All I can say is that I did and my cat went into remission. My vet is great but she had not seen very many diabetic cats and she started us on a high dose of 4 units a day. Everyone here has or had a cat with diabetes and successfully treated him/her. We have a lot of collective experience.
 
Welcome!

I agree with Sue.

starting out at 3u may have jumped right over his ideal dose.

My two current diabetics only need a small amount of insulin: (we use Levemir which is similar to Lantus)
Rusty gets 0.5 BID
Tiggy gets 0.25 BID

They both only get 100% low carb canned food (Wellness Chicken or Turkey and Fancy Feast treats)

Paradoxically, when a cat gets too much insulin, his blood sugar numbers can be high because the liver is dumping extra sugar to absorb the overdose -- try doing a "rebound test"

Start over at 1 unit every 12 hours for a few days and test (ear prick) blood sugar before every shot.

While we expect our vets to be experts at everything -- reality is that vets get about 2-3 hours of training on diabetes treatment in multiple species of animals during their 8 years of education. And what works for dogs and cats is different, but many vets treat cats like small dogs.
Dogs are dosed by weight -- cats should not be dosed by weight, but start low and slowly increase to find the right dose.
 
I totally agree that our vets probably don't deal alot with diabetics. I have an appointment next Friday with her to discuss changing the insulin amount and type. I am changing him to an all wet food, also. I have been reading about feline diabetes and what to expect. Thanks so much to all who have responsed to Scout and me. He is such a sweet boy. I just want him to have the best care and I know that I am going to responsible for not only doing that but also researching from everyone who has been there and done that. Lots of knowledge on this sight! Thanks again, Scout and Deb
 
I am concerned, Deb, that he will be going a week with a high insulin dose and a change to wet lo carb. You really need to start hometesting. The food change meant Oliver went down 100 points overnight. If he hadn't been testing him, we would have given him too much insulin and risked a deadly hypo.

Then by next week, you could have a spreadsheet of numbers to show your vet.

We can help you learn how over the internet, or maybe there is someone who lives nearby who could help the first time. If you want to put on your city and state, we may be able to get you some help.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top