Ginny/Barnsley

Status
Not open for further replies.
ginny/barnsley

ginny/barnsley

New Member
I have an 11 year old diabetic cat ( of two years) He is on Lantus. Lately his coat seems to be oily . I brush him but it doesn’t seem to make a difference. Also he occasionally had some slight tremors in his back legs that I can feel when he lays down beside me. They don’t last long just long enough to notice he had one and then it is gone. Any ideas?
 
Have you had him checked out by your vet? He may be fighting off an infection which is the only time I've noted a change in my cat's coat. The other issue may be how well his diabetes is regulated. Are you home testing?
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Have you had him checked out by your vet? He may be fighting off an infection which is the only time I've noted a change in my cat's coat. The other issue may be how well his diabetes is regulated. Are you home testing?
Click to expand...
Thank you. I actually work for a Vet but said they had no idea about the tremors. Had bloodwork done a short while ago , everything seems normal. I keep asking them why his gulose numbers are so high as he is always in the mid 300s. They say it must be normal for him. I do have a monitor at home to test him and for awhile he had a free style Libre monitor. He started to loose the use of his back legs a year ago and if it wasn’t for this forum I would have never known to put him on Zobaline. He has gained the use of his back legs finally. They do not want to change his dosage as he gets 3 1/2 units in am and 2 units in pm. Thanks for your suggestions
 
Would you like to set up a spreadsheet and add some a blood glucose data so we can see what is happening?.
No cats BGs are ‘normally’ in the 300s. This is too high and above the renal threshold. A cat’s normal BG is 50-120 on a human glucose meter.
Also it is better to give the same dose am and pm when using Lantus.

Here is a link to how to set up a spreadsheet and signature.
Help us help you

What sort of diet are you feeding him?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Would you like to set up a spreadsheet and add some a blood glucose data so we can see what is happening?.
No cats BGs are ‘normally’ in the 300s. This is too high and above the renal threshold. A cat’s normal BG is 50-120 on a human glucose meter.
Also it is better to give the same dose am and pm when using Lantus.

Here is a link to how to set up a spreadsheet and signature.
Help us help you

What sort of diet are you feeding him?
Click to expand...
He was on a no carb dry and then I changed him to almost all wet but haven't been able to get him on 100% wet. As soon as I think I have he rebels for his dry so he gets 1/8 cup of dry. I asked last week about changing his dosage and he told me to leave it the same. It's weird when he was on the sensor if I gave him 2 1/2 in pm he would drop into the 50s so we do 2 in pm. He gets 31/2 in am at 730 and by 2pm he is in mid 300s. They say it's because Lantus is slow acting.i don't know..I'm so confused. I see cats coming in the clinic all the time that are free fed or fed multiple times a day and are fed crap food but their numbers are normal???
 
You can give him his 2 main meals and then snacks during the cycles. If the dry food is low carb(what is it called?) that is ok although not ideal. It is better he eats that than nothing. And it sounds as if he’s also eating low carb wet food.
Do you think you could do hometesting with a human meter? You can get a ReliOn Premier meter cheaply. You will also need some test strips, a box of 100 lancets size26 or 28 and some cotton balls to hold behind the ear. If you have not done home testing I can give you a link to how to do it.
If he is dropping low at night and then you are seeing higher numbers the following morning that is from bouncing. I will send you information on that too I’m on my phone atm and will have to put it in a separate post below.
Hometesting will take all the guesswork out of finding the right dose because the BG numbers will tell you what you need to do. We have dosing methods here which have helped many many cats get regulated and often remission.
First up I think you need to either start hometesting or put on another freestyle libre ( although that is only a temporary solution). I also think you need to be giving the same dose am and pm cycles. There is a big difference between 2 units and 3 1/2 units. Lantus is a depot insulin and this difference in dose every time will be stuffing with the depot which needs to stabilise.
More information on that too below
 
The zero carb dry food was Young Again. His stool were very loose the whole time he was on it so now I rotate between Earthborn 23% carb, Orijen 21% carb and Bixbi 30% carb. His wet is from dr pierson's list only. I have an alpha trac 3 home test glucose monitor. It's the same one we use at work. I have only tested him at night and in the morning since my vet said you dont do a glucose curve when you use lantus.? I have only seen the drop when he was wearing the sensor it was still a high number both day and night
And I have only been testing once a month. Sept was 349 at 6:53 before eating and next morning before eating at 703 he was 387. Oct he was 340 at 11pm and had been fed at 7:30 that evening. Next morn before feeding at 7:20am he wasat 380. I think this was all the info/ questions that came thru from you.
 
ginny/barnsley said:
The zero carb dry food was Young Again. His stool were very loose the whole time he was on it so now I rotate between Earthborn 23% carb, Orijen 21% carb and Bixbi 30% carb. His wet is from dr pierson's list only. I have an alpha trac 3 home test glucose monitor. It's the same one we use at work. I have only tested him at night and in the morning since my vet said you dont do a glucose curve when you use lantus.? I have only seen the drop when he was wearing the sensor it was still a high number both day and night
And I have only been testing once a month. Sept was 349 at 6:53 before eating and next morning before eating at 703 he was 387. Oct he was 340 at 11pm and had been fed at 7:30 that evening. Next morn before feeding at 7:20am he wasat 380. I think this was all the info/ questions that came thru from you.
Click to expand...

Oops. Got the rest
 
ginny/barnsley said:
The zero carb dry food was Young Again. His stool were very loose the whole time he was on it so now I rotate between Earthborn 23% carb, Orijen 21% carb and Bixbi 30% carb. His wet is from dr pierson's list only. I have an alpha trac 3 home test glucose monitor. It's the same one we use at work. I have only tested him at night and in the morning since my vet said you dont do a glucose curve when you use lantus.? I have only seen the drop when he was wearing the sensor it was still a high number both day and night
And I have only been testing once a month. Sept was 349 at 6:53 before eating and next morning before eating at 703 he was 387. Oct he was 340 at 11pm and had been fed at 7:30 that evening. Next morn before feeding at 7:20am he wasat 380. I think this was all the info/ questions that came thru from you.
Click to expand...
I did get the rest. Just found it
 
ginny/barnsley said:
have only tested him at night and in the morning since my vet said you dont do a glucose curve when you use lantus.
Click to expand...
This is not correct. Yes you can do a curve with Lantus. Most of us test before every dose and then again during the cycles so there is no need for curves. If you test during the cycles you can see how low the dose is taking your kitty, otherwise it is just guesswork.
If you are doing the SLGS dosing method a curve is done every 7 days before deciding if the dose needs changing.

I have heard others say young again dry food can give loose poops. There are other ones available…I’ll tag @Diane Tyler's Mom GA as she can tell you about the other dry food. The three dry foods you mention you are giving are very high carb. If you can’t find another suitable one, you would be better using Hills M/d which is about 17% carbs. That is still high carb but lower than the rest.
 
Thank you so much. I wish I could get my Vets to read this info. One of them i actually think will be interested. He is now recommending Zobaline. Can't wait to find a lower carb food. I actually have 6 cats and they will all benefit from it. So I should be testing before each meal and then how many hours after feeding? I was told 6 hours. You have been so helpfull.thank you
 
 
Yes test before all doses of insulin. So the routine is test, feed, shoot.
And testing during the cycle can be anytime during the cycle but vary the times between +3and +7
And a test during the pm cycle as well is always a good idea. Even a before bed test is good.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top