Elissa
Member Since 2016
Two months after Buffy was diagnosed, I finally managed to do a glucose curve at home. I didn't get every two hours, but I did get 4 measurements at 2 hours, 5.5 hours, 8 hours, and 11 hours after her morning insulin (currently one unit of ProZinc--she was lowered from two to one unit two weeks ago).
I have little idea how these good these numbers are and I won't talk to my vet until tomorrow--but I DO know that it's much better for all her numbers to be in the 100s rather than in the 300s and 400s as they were when she was first diagnosed!
Here are her results:
Two questions:
1. For the glucose sticks, I have found a needle easier to use than a lancet. The vet gave me some but I ran out. I do know that the ones the vet gave me were relatively large--does anyone use hypodermic needles for blood pricks and if so what gauge? My last cat was CKD and I used 20 gauge Terumo needles for his sub-Qs. Would that work, or a higher gauge like 22 or 25 be better?
2. Other than the insulin, the main treatment has been changing her food to Wellness CORE grain-free. I was contemplating freeze-dried raw, which I've heard can be healthy. Any thoughts re: "this seems to be working so stick with it" vs changing? (And thoughts about which freeze-dried raw if so?) She's still pretty overweight--at the last vet visit, she'd only lost a couple of ounces and I would like to see her lose more (but not too rapidly). I've got very little idea what a reasonable rate of weight loss would be for a cat...maybe losing just two ounces IS a good rate of weight loss for six weeks (which is when the last weight was taken)?
Thanks for any thoughts.
I have little idea how these good these numbers are and I won't talk to my vet until tomorrow--but I DO know that it's much better for all her numbers to be in the 100s rather than in the 300s and 400s as they were when she was first diagnosed!
Here are her results:
- 2 hours: 177
- 5.5 hours: 155
- 8 hours: 163
- 11 hours: 138
Two questions:
1. For the glucose sticks, I have found a needle easier to use than a lancet. The vet gave me some but I ran out. I do know that the ones the vet gave me were relatively large--does anyone use hypodermic needles for blood pricks and if so what gauge? My last cat was CKD and I used 20 gauge Terumo needles for his sub-Qs. Would that work, or a higher gauge like 22 or 25 be better?
2. Other than the insulin, the main treatment has been changing her food to Wellness CORE grain-free. I was contemplating freeze-dried raw, which I've heard can be healthy. Any thoughts re: "this seems to be working so stick with it" vs changing? (And thoughts about which freeze-dried raw if so?) She's still pretty overweight--at the last vet visit, she'd only lost a couple of ounces and I would like to see her lose more (but not too rapidly). I've got very little idea what a reasonable rate of weight loss would be for a cat...maybe losing just two ounces IS a good rate of weight loss for six weeks (which is when the last weight was taken)?
Thanks for any thoughts.
Certainly a big improvement on numbers in the 300s and 400s. I'm not familiar with your insulin so can't really comment on what the data may be telling you. 