Glad to Find Support

[kiyaissick]

My poor girl was diagnosed about a year ago and her sugar is still not controlled.
We are up to 4units twice a day of Lantus yet she is thin, vomiting, and now pooping
outside her litter box. She is quite thirsty although not as hungry as she was before.

Her sugar was up to almost 500 on a curve at the vet's office. I bought a glucometer but
can't use it.

I am feeding her high quality canned food twice a day and then giving her the insulin. The vet
says it is okay to give her Greenies and a high quality, grain free dry food to supplement and help her
gain some weight. Not sure what to do as my girl is just not doing well.

Thanks,

Lisa

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Hi Lisa and Welcome to the FDMB!!

What brand of food are you feeding? "High quality" and "Grain Free" don't necessarily mean low carb and that's what's important with a diabetic. We want our cats eating less than 10% carbs. A lot of us feed Fancy Feast classics or Friskies pates...cheap, but low carb!! Here's a chart of most foods available along with their nutritional breakdown. Column C is carbs

The kibble and the Greenies are both too high carb. The only kibble that is below 10% is Young Again Zero Carb (about 5%) and Evo Kitten & Cat (about 8%) but there's lots of good reasons to get rid of dry altogether. Dr. Lisa Pierson has a lot of great info on her "Feeding Your Cat: Know the Basics of Feline Nutrition" site

Lantus is an excellent insulin for cats, so you've got a good insulin, but most vets raise the dose too quickly. We raise doses in only .25 unit increments and only when we're testing to make sure they need the increase. Lantus dosing is based on how LOW it takes them, not how high they are at the vets office (which is usually unreliable anyway due to stress) 4U is a pretty high dose and may be too much. Too much insulin can look like not enough! (strange as it sounds!)

It'll be really important for you to learn to home test. It really is the only way to keep your kitty safe, as well as figure out what the "best dose" will be for her.

It can be really helpful to establish a routine with testing. Pick one spot that you want your "testing spot" to be (I like the kitchen counter because it's got good light and it's at a good height....it also already blocked 2 escape routes due to the wall and the backsplash) It can be anywhere though...a rug on the floor, a table, a particular spot on the couch...wherever is good for you. Take him there as many times a day as you can and just give his ears a quick rub and then he gets a yummy (low carb) treat. Most cats aren't objecting so much with the poking..it's the fooling with their ears they don't like, but once they're desensitized to it and learn to associate a certain place with the treats, they usually start to come when they're called! Or even when they hear us opening the test kit!

You also have to remember...you're not poking him to hurt him...you're testing him to keep him safe and understand what's going on inside his body. There's just nothing better than truly understanding what's going on inside your kitty's body and with this disease, the more knowledge you have, the more power you have against it. The edges of the ears have very few pain receptors, so it really doesn't hurt them. Also, if you're nervous and tense, it's going to make your kitty nervous and tense too. As silly as it might seem, try singing! It forces you to use a different part of your brain!

It's also important to make sure his ear is warm. A small sock filled with a little rice and microwaved or a small pill bottle filled with warm water (check temp against your wrist like you would a baby bottle) works well

Finding the right "treat" will be a great help too! Freeze dried chicken, bonito flakes, little pieces of baked chicken...whatever low carb treat you can find that he really enjoys will help him to associate the testing with the treat! China's Achilles heel was baked chicken, so I'd bake a piece, chop it into bite sized pieces, put some in the refrigerator and freeze the rest to use as needed. It didn't take long for her to come any time I picked up the meter!

We look forward to helping you any way we can and will do all we can to help you learn all the steps to the "sugardance"!

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

hi Lisa! You sound pretty discouraged - I can't imagine doing this for a year without the support I found here on FDMB.

Before you make significant diet changes, let's help you get hometesting. You can totally do this! It's not hard at all once you get the hang of it. An important thing for you to know is that a cat's ears will grow more capillaries when the poking (testing) happens. It stimulates the growth of new capillaries. People starting out often get discouraged because they don't get blood at first, and they think they're doing something wrong, but in about 2 weeks of poking you'll get blood to test pretty much every time. In the meantime the poking is helping to grow capillaries, so it's not worthless. Don't give up on it!! I always gave punkin a bite of cooked chicken breast after his tests and it wasn't long until he accepted it. I confess that at first I had to burrito-wrap him in a big towel, pinning his front legs to his chest like a little shrimp, to test him. But he gave up, I got better, and that phase passed. His bite of chicken made it all worthwhile for him.

Here are 2 posts that people have contributed to with their best testing & shooting tips. As Chris said, a warm ear bleeds better and a treat afterwards soothes hurt feelings, whether or not you got blood.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/testing-and-shooting-tips.85113/

Once you're testing at home and have a spreadsheet going, then I think Chris' ideas about switching to a low carb food is great. The reason I'm suggesting getting testing first is because that 4u is a significant dose - although I had a kitty with a high dose condition who needed more insulin, as some cats do. The thing is there is a relationship between the carbs the kitty eats and the amount of insulin they need, and if she's ok with 4u right now, we wouldn't want to signicantly reduce her carbs without reducing the insulin if she needs that. Tests will tell us what's going on in her body with her blood sugar, so the dose can be adjusted accordingly. That's why it's important to start testing first before changing her food.

One more important point I want to mention - not all high numbers mean that a cat needs more insulin. That's why it's possible that even though you're seeing high numbers at the vet's, it may not mean she needed dose increases. It is possible she needs 4u with the dry food. we don't know yet. Blood sugar doesn't stay constant. One test of 300 means pretty much nothing - a cat can be at 300 and 4 hours later test at 30. We've seen it many times. That's why we're so pro-home testing here. It's the only way to know what the insulin is doing in the cat's body.

We all use a spreadsheet to track blood sugar. It's an essential tool for seeing what's going on. Here are directions on setting one up - if you have trouble, just holler because people will help you if you need it.

I don't want to overwhelm you with too much info, but just know that people will help you here. You're not alone anymore. Hopefully we can help you help your sweet girl (what's her name?) feel better.

Ask as many questions as you have. The more the better.

julie

 

[julie & punkin (ga)]

Just checking in on you to see how you're doing today.

Fyi, you can set your notifications so you get an email if there is a response to your thread.