Edna

[christine o]

Hi
New to the fdmb and have posted an introduction.

My cat Edna is 14 now. She was diagnosed about 18 months ago initially. I had been trying to control it with diet, with regular trips to vets and blood test at vets. About 10 days ago she wasn't well, off to emergency vets:

Ketones were 20
Kept in overnight and given fluids and insulin, tested every two hours, no ketones now
Next two days at vets during day for same treatment
Started insulin injections Wednesday 14/6, twice daily
Can insulin at 1 unit for 3 days and then upped to 2 units starting 15/6 am
That afternoon she had what I took to be a mild/moderate hypo, back legs all wobbly and shaking her head, gave her some wet food , whiskas and seemed OK, rang vet, they thought it was more to do with the neuropathy,
Have not yet started home testing with meter, at vets tonight , new vet and she talked with me about it
I feed her butchers classic( I'm in the UK) and she free feeds , hope that's the right description
She has had urinary infections, she also gets very itchy legs and the neuropathy on back legs
Tonight vet did blood test, get results tomorrow, said it would give idea of what's been happening over last ten days or so
At the moment am testing her urine every morning
Back to I unit twice a day from this morning

Trying to understand what I should/need to do but am feeling overwhelmed at it all

Thanks
Christine

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Hi
New to the fdmb and have posted an introduction.

My cat Edna is 14 now. She was diagnosed about 18 months ago initially. I had been trying to control it with diet, with regular trips to vets and blood test at vets. About 10 days ago she wasn't well, off to emergency vets:

Ketones were 20
Kept in overnight and given fluids and insulin, tested every two hours, no ketones now
Next two days at vets during day for same treatment
Started insulin injections Wednesday 14/6, twice daily
Can insulin at 1 unit for 3 days and then upped to 2 units starting 15/6 am
That afternoon she had what I took to be a mild/moderate hypo, back legs all wobbly and shaking her head, gave her some wet food , whiskas and seemed OK, rang vet, they thought it was more to do with the neuropathy,
Have not yet started home testing with meter, at vets tonight , new vet and she talked with me about it
I feed her butchers classic( I'm in the UK) and she free feeds , hope that's the right description
She has had urinary infections, she also gets very itchy legs and the neuropathy on back legs
Tonight vet did blood test, get results tomorrow, said it would give idea of what's been happening over last ten days or so
At the moment am testing her urine every morning
Back to I unit twice a day from this morning

Trying to understand what I should/need to do but am feeling overwhelmed at it all

Thanks
Christine

We can help. Could you please tell us what insulin you're using? The symptoms you described seem to be very much like a hypo episode and I'm not surprised given the dose increase after so few days on insulin.

We're big advocates of home testing here. It's the single most valuable tool in keeping your kitty safe. That's why we "nag" people about it relentlessly.

High blood sugar predisposes them to urinary tract infections. This should improve once BG is under better control. It's helpful to add some warm water to every wet food meal to make a sort of "stew". It increases hydration, flushes out ketones and can help prevent bladder infections and, for kitties who are prone, constipation.

Itchy legs sounds like an allergic response. Is she sensitive to certain things in her food, environment, etc.?

Are you testing her urine for ketones or glucose? Yes to ketones given her history but the glucose test strip for urine is too crude an instrument to give good information. Is the test the vet is doing a fructosamine test? That can give an indication of average blood glucose over time but it's not a substitute for home testing.

We all understand the overwhelmed feeling. It DOES get better.

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

Welcome Christine and Edna!
Glad she made it through what sounds like DKA episode!

Can insulin at 1 unit for 3 days and then upped to 2 units starting 15/6 am

We usually recommend increasing doses by 0.25U or 0.5U. A jump from 1-2 is a 100% increase While this works well for big humans, it does not do so well for kitties.

That afternoon she had what I took to be a mild/moderate hypo, back legs all wobbly and shaking her head, gave her some wet food , whiskas and seemed OK, rang vet, they thought it was more to do with the neuropathy

The shaking head tells me it was a form of Hypoglycemia. Glad you got some food in her and symptoms stopped. Read over THIS and print it out so you have it for future.

Have not yet started home testing with meter, at vets tonight , new vet and she talked with me about it

Home testing is the best tool in our FD kitty tool belts. We wouldn't dose human children with insulin without home testing, our fur babies are no different . HERE are some tips for home testing and I'll post two videos at the end of my post to you. Most of us who home test also use Google Sheets, I'll just link the instructions here so everything is in one place: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

I feed her butchers classic( I'm in the UK) and she free feeds , hope that's the right description

We have some veteran UK members like @Diana&Tom and @Elizabeth and Bertie . Eliz has UK food chart links in her Signature. I'll just post them for you here for now.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...-including-link-to-low-carb-food-list.137376/
Setting up your Signature about Edna will be very helpful too as you continue to post.

She has had urinary infections, she also gets very itchy legs and the neuropathy on back legs

Most likely the hind legs are diabetic neuropathy. My boy had it in his front paws a bit too. Best thing is insulin therapy to get BG under better control if diet alone did not work. For UTI prone, most of us add 1-2T warm water to wet food meals. Adds extra hydration and helps flush their systems.

Tonight vet did blood test, get results tomorrow, said it would give idea of what's been happening over last ten days or so

This is probably a fructosomine test, kind of a waste of money. It just tells you the average of her BG over a time. Is not accurate in determining if BG is under control. Another positive point for home testing

At the moment am testing her urine every morning

Good idea if you are testing for ketones but don't rely on it for glucose testing. Glucose spills over into the urine when it's over like 12.5mmol/L, so BG could still be too high and not show in urine. More normal BG range is 3.8 - 8.3 on a pet meter and 2.8 - 6.7 on a human meter.

Back to I unit twice a day from this morning

Would not increase again until you are home testing

Trying to understand what I should/need to do but am feeling overwhelmed at it all

We all know how overwhelming it feels and IT IS A LOT to take in right away. But just take it in baby steps, you are not alone. Take it in strides, the sugar dance is a marathon, not a sprint.

 

[Diana&Tom]

Hi Christine, I'm in the UK. You've got some excellent advice here already and I don't think there's much I can add.
Your food choice is great for a diabetic cat and the link Yong has given you above suggests some alternatives if you meed to vary Edna's diet at any time.
I'll repeat the recommendation to test blood sugar at home, it's not difficult, just a knack, and once you're able to do that you can test at any time and be much more confident about how the insulin is working. Do you have pet insurance? If so you can probably claim the cost of a glucose meter and supplies from your insurer. If not, don't worry, you can pick up a meter relatively cheaply and you can buy ongoing supplies online which are usually much cheaper than buying from the vet.
If you'd like some suggestions for meters let me know and I'll recommend some.
Good luck and keep posting, we are here to help.

Diana

 

[christine o]

Hi thankyou for the welcomes and advice
Edna is on caninsulin . The sore paws she has had for some time . When I first noticed this , before the initial diabetes diagnosis, she was given more than one lot of steroid injections shortly after she became diabetic. The urine strip testing was given to me by vet, I now know it's better to home test with a meter. It was a frucosmine test taken yesterday, no results as yet. On the test strip this morning the blood sugar level according to the strip was not at the highest. I've had to go to work today, she wouldn't eat, so was given a gourmet gold pouch of food in gravy, when a friend fed her,( I keep this for emergencies)instead of a Sheba fine flakes which I only use if she won't eat,Im hoping now this isn't going to make her unwell as the last time she had it she went on to develope ketones. Hope all this makes sense. It's good to know I can come on here and get advice. I'm still trying to find my way through all of this. I'm trying to concentrate on the basics and go from there
Christin

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

I didn't meant overwhelm you more with my first reply, so feel free to look over everything at your own pace . I was trying to address all of your concerns