First Post: Introducing Tabby

[Cjtritsch]

Hello all,

I’ve done the signature and tried to complete the spreadsheet and get ducks in a row before posting. I’ve been grateful for the forums to quietly reference through in starting out this journey.

First, some background if I may..

Tabby is an 8 yr old male who was surrendered to me in November by a family member. I’ve been his cat sitter for years. He is living in a insulated barn on my property. I’m unable to bring him into the house due to my own animals. I am acting as a medical foster and splitting time between the barn and house. My husband has been sleeping on an air mattress every night out there to be with Tabby. We really care for him and would love to see him go to a loving and supportive forever home that he deserves. If there is anyone who has resources or information that could help, it would be greatly appreciated. I’m happy to provide more information on his history or personality upon request either on here or in a private message.

Since he’s been in my care I’ve gotten him off of free feeding kibble. He is now eating Fancy Feast classic pate. At this time he is receiving his shots during main meals at 7am and 6pm. Today I started doing the snack time feedings at 9A and 11a and was planning to do another snack feed at 10p. Snacks are also just smaller amounts of the FF (a can at each shot and a spoon full for a snack) He had a vet visit yesterday and is starting Simplicef and Itraconazole for a deep pyoderma infection that he’s been battling. I have started with Cobalquin with his AM meal. I ordered the urine test strips that should be arriving tomorrow. Also have been monitoring BG with the Alphatrak 3.

I would love to have a set of experienced eyes on his numbers, dosing and the regimen we’re doing. The numbers and trends I still don’t quite understand honestly. I’ve been a little baffled by his numbers seeming to go up? I understand the spike after the vet.. maybe I’m just judging it prematurely after a dose increase though.

I don’t know if this is of any use but his fructosamine was 353.

I do have a behavioral question.. two hours after his shot, Tabby lays at his water bowl and falls asleep on it, intermittently drinks out of it with his chest resting on the bowl. He didn’t do this before getting the shot. Is this something I should be concerned about? I asked the vet, she said she didn’t know why he would do it.

Thank you!

 

[CORKY]

@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. The normal range for fructosamine can vary by lab, so it's best to go by what the range is on your blood work results. I have seen Idexx use 191-349 as normal, so Tabby isn't that far out of normal numbers.

I'm tagging @Chris & China (GA) to see if she knows of any resources for rehoming diabetics. She belongs to DCIN (diabetic cats in need). What part (state) of the country to do you live in? I'm assuming US. That might help us point to where there might be other organizations that can help.

Regarding the insulin shots, ideally it's best to be 12 hours apart, with variation up to 1/2 hour per day. Looks like you are doing it at 11/13 hours. Shots further apart that 12 hours can look a bit like a dose reduction, closer together like an increase. Which could be part of the reason the AM preshots tend to be higher as the insulin was injected 13 hours before and that gives more time for the previous shot to wear off, or loss of duration - resulting in higher preshots.

Does he do the water bowl thing in the PM, or just the AM. I have a theory if it's just the AM. It's looks like his numbers drop quickly in the AM to +2. Probably due to the 13 hours between shots or lost duration. That can result in fast drops for the next shot. It could be he knows that's about to happen and hangs around the water/food section in case he needs food to slow the drop. The food at or maybe even +1.1 (ie. 8:30AM) might help slow down that fast drop. You might want to duplicate the feeding schedule in the PM too.

Side note, your husband is amazing!

 

[Cjtritsch]

Hello and welcome. The normal range for fructosamine can vary by lab, so it's best to go by what the range is on your blood work results. I have seen Idexx use 191-349 as normal, so Tabby isn't that far out of normal numbers.

I'm tagging @Chris & China (GA) to see if she knows of any resources for rehoming diabetics. She belongs to DCIN (diabetic cats in need). What part (state) of the country to do you live in? I'm assuming US. That might help us point to where there might be other organizations that can help.

Regarding the insulin shots, ideally it's best to be 12 hours apart, with variation up to 1/2 hour per day. Looks like you are doing it at 11/13 hours. Shots further apart that 12 hours can look a bit like a dose reduction, closer together like an increase. Which could be part of the reason the AM preshots tend to be higher as the insulin was injected 13 hours before and that gives more time for the previous shot to wear off, or loss of duration - resulting in higher preshots.

Does he do the water bowl thing in the PM, or just the AM. I have a theory if it's just the AM. It's looks like his numbers drop quickly in the AM to +2. Probably due to the 13 hours between shots or lost duration. That can result in fast drops for the next shot. It could be he knows that's about to happen and hangs around the water/food section in case he needs food to slow the drop. The food at or maybe even +1.1 (ie. 8:30AM) might help slow down that fast drop. You might want to duplicate the feeding schedule in the PM too.

Side note, your husband is amazing!

Thank you for your input! We can move his shots and main meals to 6:30a and 6:30p. We also purchased an auto wet feeder that should be arriving today. We're planning to set snacks (1/4 can FF) at 8a and 8p. He does the water sitting and falling asleep at the bowl about 1.5 to 2hrs post shot in both the morning and evening cycles.

I believe the vets top fructosamine range was at 349 and he was just slightly above normal.

It was a little jarring this morning to see a 490 preshot. The highest we've seen yet and this is day four after an increasing his dose to .75U Lantus BID. Previously on the .5U he was mostly in the mid 100's - 300 occasionally hitting 120's and never going out of the 300's preshot. I'm trying to understand if this is part of the adjustment, duration issues, or something I should be doing differently with dosing or routine. I'll update the SS shortly.

We live in Western Maryland, and I sent an email to the DCIN contact for rehoming today as well.

I'll let my husband know you said so

 

[Wendy&Neko]

The higher numbers you are seeing could be the result of a bounce:

Bouncing is simply a natural reaction to what the cat's system perceives as a BG value that is "too low". "Too low" is relative. If a cat is used to BGs in the 200's, 300's, or higher for a long time, then even a BG that drops to 150 can trigger a "bounce". Bouncing can also be triggered if the blood glucose drops too low and/or too fast.The pancreas, then the liver, release glucogon, glycogen and counter-regulatory hormones. The end result is a dumping of "sugar" into the bloodstream to save the cat from going hypoglycemic from a perceived low. The action is often referred to as "liver panic" or "panicky liver". *Usually*, a bounce will clear kitty's system within 3 days (6 cycles).

Completely normal, even more so on recently diagnosed diabetics, though some cats bounce forever.

 

[Cjtritsch]

The higher numbers you are seeing could be the result of a bounce:

Completely normal, even more so on recently diagnosed diabetics, though some cats bounce forever.

Thank you for taking the time to explain bouncing. That helps put the higher numbers into perspective. I’m hoping that with his recent dose increase and a more consistent feeding and shot schedule, things will start to level out as his body adjusts.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I sent an email to the DCIN contact for rehoming today as well.

You should have gotten a reply from Lisa, our adoption manager. She said she replied to you tonight.

While the Alpha Trak is a fine meter, it's quite expensive to use since the strips are $1 each. If you'd like to save some money, most of us use the Relion Premier blood glucose meter from Walmart ($9). Strips are less than $18/100 too. Before somebody "invented" a pet meter in 2006, the only meter anybody could use was a human one so we're very comfortable with them (and you can't beat the price or the fact that if you run low on strips, you don't have to wait for a vet to open or the mail to be delivered). The main difference is the scale. On the pet meter, normal blood glucose is 68-150. On the human meter, it's 50-120, so they're fairly close at low numbers (which are most important for safety). As the numbers get higher, there will be more of a difference, but at higher numbers, it really doesn't matter if they're at 380 or 500. Too high is too high.

 

[Cjtritsch]

I did receive a reply from Lisa. Thank you for reaching out.

I also appreciate the meter recommendation. The cost of the Alphatrak strips is definitely starting to add up with how frequently I’m testing. I will be getting the ReliOn Premier meter you recommended.