Hi everyone. My 14 year old cat Etta has been diagnosed with diabetes for at least four years. She has been on vetsulin, but will be switching to a different insulin as it's no longer available. Her dose has been 4u twice a day.
I took this opportunity to do some research, found a lot of information about switching foods, tight regulation, PZI, home testing, etc. I am going to try move her to tight regulation with PZI, although the vet has suggested Lantus. She's not there yet though. And I need some help trying to figure out/understand what's happening to her right now.
When the vet initially told me I was going to have to give this cat shots, I thought this is a death sentence for either her or me. Suffice it to say she is a temperamental tortie. But, it turned out she had no problem with the shots so we both got to live! The good news is that I received my blood testing kit last week, and after staring at it for a day and watching the videos over and over again I got up the nerve to try to use it. Success!
The bad news is that I was prompted to try and use it yesterday evening around 5 pm because she was acting weird, something I've seen a couple of times in the last 6 months. Although she was purring and not crying, she seemed to start acting sluggish, off balance when she was walking, and not wanting to move around. She had to poop but didn't seem to be totally in control of that. After doing all this research, I'm very sad to say that this was probably tied to poor regulation of her diabetes, either over- or under-dosing her.
I tested her and her number was a 38. (Mine was a 108, by the way.) If I'm understanding what's normal, this is too low. She had her vetsulin shot probably about 7 hours before I tested her. Although I am still learning, I was pretty sure that with a low number like 38, I shouldn't give her any insulin. I called the vet. They weren't able to see her because it was too late, but the vet was going to call me back. In the meantime, I got Etta to eat quite a bit of tuna. After a short time, she seemed a little better, able to jump up on stuff, moving around more normally.
The vet called back and said NOT to give her any more insulin last night. The vet said I should take her to the emergency room if number didn't come back up. After a couple of hours, around 7:30 pm, I retested and she was 99, so it seemed ok to wait to bring her in until the next day (today.)
Approx 4 hours after the 99 (around 11:30 pm) -- more than 12 hours after her a.m. insulin -- her level was 319. This worried me, because the vet said not to give her the p.m. shot. According to everything I had read, it seemed like it would be a good idea to give some insulin, perhaps around 1.75u. I was afraid if I didn't give her any insulin her number would be sky high by morning, but I was afraid if I gave her any, her number might drop too low, or interfere with the vet's instruction to not dose her. In the end I decided not to give her any insulin. She did eat again, a little dish of wet food. Not sure if that was a good idea or not.
Her level this morning (around 7:30 am) on the meter was "HI" which according to the manual means above 500. She seems ok, active, a little thirsty and definitely interested in getting some more of that yummy wet food, which I gave her. I was able to talk to the vet around 8:45 am. The vet said to give her 1u at that time, which would be about 2 hours before she will see the vet. Unfortunately, I mucked that up. I don't know if I actually got the 1 unit in, because it is such a small amount and the plunger was hardly raised. (I hate those 3/10cc needles, too small). I'm not used to that, and I may have accidentally pushed the plunger before the needle was in and given a fur shot. I actually did this stupid thing twice. So she got anything from 0-2 units. Not a great way to start to day.
I think she's mostly been fairly regulated over the past 4 years, but the vet has not been able to do curves consistently because she is so difficult to handle. She had the fructosamine tess more. But, given the few episodes I now recognize as hypos or near hypos in the last half year, it's clear she is not as well regulated now. I also am wondering about whether any of that is due to the damn 3/10 cc needles, which the vet switched to in the past six months, and which I obviously have difficulty with. So I feel guilty. While she's currently letting me hometest her, I don't know how long she will continue to allow me. (She tolerated it a lot better when she had a low number than when she was feeling more normal.) I want to switch her to all wet food, and see if I can get her better regulated. I can do extra testing and dosing, etc. initially. But I work a lot and would not be able to test her or give her more than two shots a day in the long run. So I'm worried.
Looking for encouragement and support. Better understanding of what numbers are really normal -- that's confusing. Advice from people who may have switched an old cat with chronic diabetes to wet food, home testing and tighter regulation, how to manage this when you work alot. Thanks.
I took this opportunity to do some research, found a lot of information about switching foods, tight regulation, PZI, home testing, etc. I am going to try move her to tight regulation with PZI, although the vet has suggested Lantus. She's not there yet though. And I need some help trying to figure out/understand what's happening to her right now.
When the vet initially told me I was going to have to give this cat shots, I thought this is a death sentence for either her or me. Suffice it to say she is a temperamental tortie. But, it turned out she had no problem with the shots so we both got to live! The good news is that I received my blood testing kit last week, and after staring at it for a day and watching the videos over and over again I got up the nerve to try to use it. Success!
The bad news is that I was prompted to try and use it yesterday evening around 5 pm because she was acting weird, something I've seen a couple of times in the last 6 months. Although she was purring and not crying, she seemed to start acting sluggish, off balance when she was walking, and not wanting to move around. She had to poop but didn't seem to be totally in control of that. After doing all this research, I'm very sad to say that this was probably tied to poor regulation of her diabetes, either over- or under-dosing her.
I tested her and her number was a 38. (Mine was a 108, by the way.) If I'm understanding what's normal, this is too low. She had her vetsulin shot probably about 7 hours before I tested her. Although I am still learning, I was pretty sure that with a low number like 38, I shouldn't give her any insulin. I called the vet. They weren't able to see her because it was too late, but the vet was going to call me back. In the meantime, I got Etta to eat quite a bit of tuna. After a short time, she seemed a little better, able to jump up on stuff, moving around more normally.
The vet called back and said NOT to give her any more insulin last night. The vet said I should take her to the emergency room if number didn't come back up. After a couple of hours, around 7:30 pm, I retested and she was 99, so it seemed ok to wait to bring her in until the next day (today.)
Approx 4 hours after the 99 (around 11:30 pm) -- more than 12 hours after her a.m. insulin -- her level was 319. This worried me, because the vet said not to give her the p.m. shot. According to everything I had read, it seemed like it would be a good idea to give some insulin, perhaps around 1.75u. I was afraid if I didn't give her any insulin her number would be sky high by morning, but I was afraid if I gave her any, her number might drop too low, or interfere with the vet's instruction to not dose her. In the end I decided not to give her any insulin. She did eat again, a little dish of wet food. Not sure if that was a good idea or not.
Her level this morning (around 7:30 am) on the meter was "HI" which according to the manual means above 500. She seems ok, active, a little thirsty and definitely interested in getting some more of that yummy wet food, which I gave her. I was able to talk to the vet around 8:45 am. The vet said to give her 1u at that time, which would be about 2 hours before she will see the vet. Unfortunately, I mucked that up. I don't know if I actually got the 1 unit in, because it is such a small amount and the plunger was hardly raised. (I hate those 3/10cc needles, too small). I'm not used to that, and I may have accidentally pushed the plunger before the needle was in and given a fur shot. I actually did this stupid thing twice. So she got anything from 0-2 units. Not a great way to start to day.
I think she's mostly been fairly regulated over the past 4 years, but the vet has not been able to do curves consistently because she is so difficult to handle. She had the fructosamine tess more. But, given the few episodes I now recognize as hypos or near hypos in the last half year, it's clear she is not as well regulated now. I also am wondering about whether any of that is due to the damn 3/10 cc needles, which the vet switched to in the past six months, and which I obviously have difficulty with. So I feel guilty. While she's currently letting me hometest her, I don't know how long she will continue to allow me. (She tolerated it a lot better when she had a low number than when she was feeling more normal.) I want to switch her to all wet food, and see if I can get her better regulated. I can do extra testing and dosing, etc. initially. But I work a lot and would not be able to test her or give her more than two shots a day in the long run. So I'm worried.
Looking for encouragement and support. Better understanding of what numbers are really normal -- that's confusing. Advice from people who may have switched an old cat with chronic diabetes to wet food, home testing and tighter regulation, how to manage this when you work alot. Thanks.
She was kidding, but the point she was making makes sense to me. I know the cat will eat less dry food if she is full on wet food.
