Greetings from Kristal and Loki-new member

Status
Not open for further replies.
LokiMo

LokiMo

Member Since 2021
Hi, I’m Kristal and our almost 9 yr old cat Loki is not officially diagnosed yet but pretty sure he will be the beginning of the week.

backstory: Thought Loki had crystals in his urine again and went to vet to confirm. He was urinating on dog beds, fur rugs, and carpeted floors. He had crystals a couple years ago and rx wet food helped so I ordered more of that and the vet ran a urinalysis. Came back with high glucose readings in his urine, they ran a blood test panel and fructosimine. Glucose was high in both the blood and urine. Fructosimine test was high. Vet sent me home with a loaner glucometer to get some readings and rule out white coat syndrome.

Pretty sure based on the readings we are getting, the vet will be putting him on Insulin. We were given 3 choices: ProZinc, Vetsulin, and Lantis. I can’t afford Lantis but was thinking ProZinc is what we will use based on reading I’ve done since last week. This is all overwhelming and I’ve been taking a couple hours a day since to read all the info in this forum.

Just wanted to introduce ourselves. I set up everything I know and understand so far but will update as we learn more. I entered what I could into the SS, and I think the link in my signature is set up correctly.
 
Hi Crystal and Loki and welcome to the forum.
I am very glad your vet is on board with hometesting the blood glucose.

You might like to set up a spreadsheet to put the data into.
HERE is the link to spreadsheet

How long before the vet is going to start the insulin? Now would be a good time to swap over to a low carb diet (10%carbs or less) before the insulin starts.
It would also be a good idea to test the urine for ketones with Ketostix which can be bought from Walmart or a pharmacy, as diabetic cats not started on insulin can be prone to ketones which can be dangerous.

HERE is a link to low carb foods

HERE is a link to the signature, hypo kit and other useful information
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi Crystal and Loki and welcome to the forum.
I am very glad your vet is on board with hometesting the blood glucose.

You might like to set up a spreadsheet to put the data into.
HERE is the link to spreadsheet

How long before the vet is going to start the insulin? Now would be a good time to swap over to a low carb diet (10%carbs or less) before the insulin starts.
It would also be a good idea to test the urine for ketones with Ketostix which can be bought from Walmart or a pharmacy, as diabetic cats not started on insulin can be prone to ketones which can be dangerous.

HERE is a link to low carb foods

HERE is a link to the signature, hypo kit and other useful information
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
Click to expand...

I did start the spreadsheet. I think it is linked in my signature. I didn’t put much info yet as I think it will change. The vet wanted some weekend numbers before officially diagnosing and giving insulin. I get the impression they are being cautious and want to make sure his numbers weren’t elevated just from stress.

we have managed to test him 3 times so far. The two readings before he ate were pretty high and the one after he ate we just did was 189 on a vet glucogauge the vet loaned us. Still learning and Loki is not enjoying the testing but we are going slow and trying to give him lots of lovin to reinforce a positive environment.
 
LokiMo said:
I did start the spreadsheet. I think it is linked in my signature. I didn’t put much info yet as I think it will change. The vet wanted some weekend numbers before officially diagnosing and giving insulin. I get the impression they are being cautious and want to make sure his numbers weren’t elevated just from stress.

we have managed to test him 3 times so far. The two readings before he ate were pretty high and the one after he ate we just did was 189 on a vet glucogauge the vet loaned us. Still learning and Loki is not enjoying the testing but we are going slow and trying to give him lots of lovin to reinforce a positive environment.
Click to expand...
Thanks for doing the SS. Yes I can see it.
It’s good to get a test before eating and then if you can get a test 3 hours after eating, that gives us an idea if the pancreas is working at all.
If the fructosamine test was high, that isn’t influenced by stress as it is the last few weeks Fructosamine test is a good way of diagnosing FDin cats.
Keep asking questions.
 
Good to know about the 3 hours. Thanks.

I just realized that the Royal Canin Urinary SO calm rx food we’ve had him on for a few weeks is high in carbs. He refused to eat it yesterday. Today we struggled to get him to eat. I had to crush some kibble over it as a topper to get him to eat even half his dinner. I thought he had crystals again and the rx food helped last time. Probably made his sugars way worse.
 
The SO dry food is very high in carbs. Even the wet SO is high carb
Have you thought about a raw diet. What does he normally eat?
It’s important he eats at the moment, even though he has not started the insulin. Being a diabetic means they need to eat well, to discourage those ketones from forming.
 
Prozinc is about 108.00 for a vial from Chewy's

You also might want to order from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada, most of us order LANTUS Solorstar pens ( a five pack) Too expensive in the US
The 5 Pens should last you about a year or longer depending on how many units he will need
With the pens you can only adjust by whole units, that's why we buy U-100 syringes with half unit markings and take the top off the pen, insert the syringe in the small gray runner stopper and draw out the insulin


https://rxcanada4
A lot of us are buying our Lantus from Canada because it's 1/3 to 1/2 the price. You can get 5 pens of Lantus for $190 (including shipping). That's a total of 1500 units which is enough for most cats to last a year and some cats, up to 2 years!

Here's the info on Mark's Marine Pharmacy. They really are fantastic to work with and have saved a lot of kitty lives by making it affordable

It can take 7-10 days for the first order but refills are faster



You could also consider getting Senglee, it is a generic Lantus, and was approved by the FDA last June. The cost is compatible with Lantus from Canada.
https://www.goodrx.com/semglee
 
Last edited:
Which ever insulin you choose to go with Prozinc and Vetsulin require U-40 syringes
Lantus you use U-100 syringes
You would want to get the ones with half unit markings on them, we adjust doses by 0.25 units. Let us know and we can suggest where to buy them when the time comes
 
I don't quite know what to make of Loki's numbers. I would try feeding your kitty a low carb diet -- most folks here feed their cats in the 5% carb range (even though below 10% is considered low carb). The 189 is still outside of normal range numbers (50 - 120 is what we use here and it's based on a human meter vs a pet-specific meter where the numbers are a little higher) but better than the other numbers you found..

Lokii may be more agreeable to testing if you provide a treat with each test. Many people use freeze dried chicken or other treat that's protein only. Some cooked chicken or even raw is fine, as well (just no garlic or onion seasoning).
 
This is all very helpful. Thanks. We stopped giving the Royal Canin SO rx food 2 days ago. His other food is Purina Pro Plan urinary (chicken or turkey) and prime (chicken and beef) which both look to have low carbs.

I think my vet was concerned that stress and the change in diet skewed Loki’s results. We are using a pet meter that the vet loaned us for the weekend so I chose to use the pet meter SS. I’m not sure what meter we will use when we return this one to the vet. I looked the strips up for this vet GlucoGauge and it looks like they have to be ordered through my vet but are about $35 for 50 strips.

I could use some recommendations on a human meter that takes the tiny sample size like the vet ones. I see that the meter most recommended here is discontinued. (Relion micro) I bought a true metrix go with a sample size of 0.5 but I can’t get it to take a reading without an error. We are having much better luck with the vet meter.

Loki’s appetite is very low the last few days. We are struggling to get him to eat and test. Everyone is learning and adjusting.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
The SO dry food is very high in carbs. Even the wet SO is high carb
Have you thought about a raw diet. What does he normally eat?
It’s important he eats at the moment, even though he has not started the insulin. Being a diabetic means they need to eat well, to discourage those ketones from forming.
Click to expand...

I have since stopped giving him the rx food. I looked at everything we have here and the other Purina Pro Plan foods I have are all under 10 in carbs so I am using those. However, his appetite is very low at the moment and I had to crush up some kibble to sprinkle on top to get him to nibble it.

I have a houseful of kids and animals so raw or making my own food is not something I feel I want to undertake. The testing and everything is already kind of overwhelming and we are struggling to get used to the new things we have to do.

I made a list for my next chewy shipment with Tiki Cat pate, Fancy Feast pate, and the Purina Pro Plan urinary foods that all seem low carb and he has eaten the PPP for a long time and liked Tiki Cat in the past.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
Which ever insulin you choose to go with Prozinc and Vetsulin require U-40 syringes
Lantus you use U-100 syringes
You would want to get the ones with half unit markings on them, we adjust doses by 0.25 units. Let us know and we can suggest where to buy them when the time comes
Click to expand...

Is it easier to use the pens over the syringes? What are my options with ProZinc? I have a feeling with the numbers I’ve gotten over the weekend that insulin is going to be the discussion on Monday with the vet.
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
Prozinc is about 108.00 for a vial from Chewy's

You also might want to order from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada, most of us order LANTUS Solorstar pens ( a five pack) Too expensive in the US
The 5 Pens should last you about a year or longer depending on how many units he will need
With the pens you can only adjust by whole units, that's why we buy U-100 syringes with half unit markings and take the top off the pen, insert the syringe in the small gray runner stopper and draw out the insulin


https://rxcanada4
A lot of us are buying our Lantus from Canada because it's 1/3 to 1/2 the price. You can get 5 pens of Lantus for $190 (including shipping). That's a total of 1500 units which is enough for most cats to last a year and some cats, up to 2 years!

Here's the info on Mark's Marine Pharmacy. They really are fantastic to work with and have saved a lot of kitty lives by making it affordable

It can take 7-10 days for the first order but refills are faster



You could also consider getting Senglee, it is a generic Lantus, and was approved by the FDA last June. The cost is compatible with Lantus from Canada.
https://www.goodrx.com/semglee
Click to expand...

I do see that the prices are comparable for the Senglee. I will keep that in mind.
 
We discourage using the pens except as a mini-vial. The pen mechanism doesn't dispense in a small enough dose. However, it has a plug at the end that you can insert a syringe into and draw out the insulin the same way you would do with a vial. Just make sure you get the proper syringe depending on which insulin you end up using. Prozinc requires a U40 syringe; glargine requires a U100 syringe. And, you want to get syringes that are marked in half unit increments.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top