First day home, and a little worried

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phedre

Member Since 2012
I just got home with my cat today, he was diagnosed with diabetic acidosis on July 31st, and was free of ketones today. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the same time.

The vet said he was eating well at the hospital, but he has only eaten a few bites of dinner tonight and is now fast asleep. I think he's just worn out from his days in the hospital, but I wanted to check with people who've been there.

He had his insulin injection at 6 PM (12 hours after his last one) and it went fine, but I wasn't able to get a BG reading as his ears wouldn't bleed enough, and I almost passed out after trying half a dozen times. He'll eat treats if I hand feed him, and he did eat a small bit of food, but I can't help being paranoid right now.

Any advice?
 
Welcome to Lantus Land.

There are many cats here who have survived diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). You'll want to have one additional product at home -- Ketostix. These are strips that have a patch of paper on the end that you dip into your cat's urine stream. The paper at the end turns color to let you know if ketones are present. This is the best bit of prevention you can buy. Most of us who have had a cat survive DKA are paranoid about ketones. It's a good thing to stay on top of.

Congrats on getting your spreadsheet (SS) set up. It will be helpful for you and for us. One thing that will help even more. If you look at the bottom of the SS, there are two tabs. One is labeled "US mg/dL" and the other is labeled "World mmol/L." If you could enter your numbers on the World tab, it will convert your numbers automatically to US format. Most of us who are in the US are not famiiar with the mmol/L format and it takes too long to do the conversion manually. (E.g., your AMPS from today would be 488 and the PM +4 yesterday was a 155. BTW, you have 8/1 for both yesterday and today.)

Once Salem has had a chance to get some rest and de-stress, I would see if he'll eat. There is a basic recipe for ketones:
ketones = infection + not eating + not enough insulin​
You'll also want to add water to Salem's food. Water helps to flush out the ketones. I'm assuming you know to feed him low carb, canned food. Please let us know if you are not familiar with the various lists of canned food that have the carb levels listed. Right now, it's important that Salem eat. Even if he's being fussy about food, whatever he'll eat is fine. We can always help you adjust your insulin dose around the food until he's completely out of the woods.

Was Salem treated for an infection or did they diagnose pancreatitis? It's not uncommon for a diabetic cat to start this journey with pancreatitis. Is he taking any medication or getting fluids?

You'll want to read the starred, sticky notes at the top of the board. They will give you a foundation in how to use Lantus and how this board works. Please, let us know if you have questions. The front end of this learning curve is overwhelming. We've all been there and are happy to offer whatever help we can.
 
Hi there!

I'll copy and paste some of my info from my intro post on the main board here:


Here's what I have after my massive shopping trip today:

My list of supplies:

- One Touch glucometer
- 100 lancets
- 100 testing strips
- pack of Lantus SoloStar pens (3 in the pack I believe, should be good for a while!)
- pack of 100 100u 3/10 syringes
- pack of ketostix
- a new litter box that I can use just for keto tests
- aquarium gravel for said testing
- 24 cans of Whiskas wet cat food, the only brand I could find that didn't have corn/rice in them at the store.
- 2 large syringes for emergency sugar injections (I'll be using maple syrup, it's what I have on hand)
- Disposal unit for needles
- Rice Sock
- Polysporin

After my trip from the vet, I have an additional case of Purina MD as he was eating it well at the hospital.

He's on two kinds of medication, one for his pancreas and one for a possible UTI. Both should be done within the next two weeks.

I gave him his first injection at 6PM as scheduled (1u), and then managed to get my first BG done at 8PM, when he measured 10.6 (190.8).

So his BG seems ok for a new diabetic cat. He's definitely tired, but that could be from the stress of the vet visit more than anything else. I'm nervous that he won't eat his food, but he is taking treats from me so that makes me happy. I have freeze dried chicken breast treats for his injection and BG times.
 
Thanks for fixing your SS. And, I'm really glad you're testing for ketones. When you get a test, can you put the results in the Remarks section of your spreadsheet?

Knowing that Salem's on antibiotics helps. When you have a chance, can you list out what he's getting? Also, if he's on antibiotics, you may want to consider ordering some FortiFlora. It's a probiotic and can help to prevent any diarrhea that antibiotics may cause. It also has the added benefit of enticing many cats to eat. It's available through Amazon. There are a few other sites where it's available but they're in the US. I'm assuming you're in Canada?

FWIW, many cats dislike MD. It's also 14% carbs which is what we consider a medium carb (MC) food. It's also a rather poor quality food -- it's mostly by-products. There are any number of other commercially available, non-prescription foods that are better quality and lower in carbs.
 
Welcome to Lantus Land, the greatest place you never wanted to be. You are doing a great job! Learning to test and measure blood glucose is hard and you are figuring it all out. Sienne is giving you excellent advice. Very nice on that 190. Paws crossed for Salem and you.
Liz, Zener's other mom
 
Thanks all. I'm going to do another test in 2 hours before I leave for work. He just got his 6 AM shot, but he's still not eating much. I managed to get him to take in a few treats, but the lack of eating is worrying me.

I'll be coming back home at noon to do another test and try and convince him to eat more. My main concern at this point is him going hypo with how little food he's eating, but the dosage of insulin is quite small so I'm hoping the small bit he's taking in will help.

He's currently taking:

Zentonil (antioxidant) 1x daily
Noroclav (antibiotic) 2x daily

Along with his 2x 1u lantus.

I also picked up a bunch of Friskies pate for him, so maybe that will entice him to eat. I'll try that after his blood check.
 
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