AndreaandFern
Member Since 2015
Hi there, my name is Andrea and my cat is Fern (I also have a cat named Tinky but she is not diabetic!) Fern has been diagnosed with diabetes since January of 2015, so just over 1 year now. She is 14, turning 15 in April.
My vet has been excellent in my opinion and has been very supportive of me doing the things mentioned in this forum (which I have been following silently since her diagnosis!). He supports me home testing and even got me started on it, after mentioning that he feels her numbers would be much more accurate taken at home as she is very stressed at the clinic.
She is on Lantus but her dosages have been varying. In July 2015 she was able to come off insulin, and stayed off of it until January of this year when she got what we believe was an internal infection which made her organ values very wonky. Her amylase was extremely high (but further testing for pancreatitis came back negative). Her kidney and liver values were also mildly high. I should mention that she also battled an infection in October 2015 but was able to remain off insulin. At that time her amylase was normal but her liver values were extremely high and her kidney values were also quite high.
She has been back on the Lantus since the beginning of February. Just signing on here to hopefully get some moral support and maybe some questions answered if any come up. My vet feels this is a normal reaction to the infection and that she may be able to come back off the insulin, although he mentioned that we can't see it as a "failure" if she must now remain on insulin as we were lucky to have her off it for so long but we can't take that for granted. We will just see what happens. He feels she is "very well controlled" now after being on Zeniquin for 20 days and she does appear to be feeling much better. Her blood sugar seems to be slowly going back down into the normal range.
Sorry this was so long, and I look forward to being part of the forum!
Andrea (and Fern!)
My vet has been excellent in my opinion and has been very supportive of me doing the things mentioned in this forum (which I have been following silently since her diagnosis!). He supports me home testing and even got me started on it, after mentioning that he feels her numbers would be much more accurate taken at home as she is very stressed at the clinic.
She is on Lantus but her dosages have been varying. In July 2015 she was able to come off insulin, and stayed off of it until January of this year when she got what we believe was an internal infection which made her organ values very wonky. Her amylase was extremely high (but further testing for pancreatitis came back negative). Her kidney and liver values were also mildly high. I should mention that she also battled an infection in October 2015 but was able to remain off insulin. At that time her amylase was normal but her liver values were extremely high and her kidney values were also quite high.
She has been back on the Lantus since the beginning of February. Just signing on here to hopefully get some moral support and maybe some questions answered if any come up. My vet feels this is a normal reaction to the infection and that she may be able to come back off the insulin, although he mentioned that we can't see it as a "failure" if she must now remain on insulin as we were lucky to have her off it for so long but we can't take that for granted. We will just see what happens. He feels she is "very well controlled" now after being on Zeniquin for 20 days and she does appear to be feeling much better. Her blood sugar seems to be slowly going back down into the normal range.
Sorry this was so long, and I look forward to being part of the forum!
Andrea (and Fern!)
Andrea & Fern! As I understand it, you have been lurking a while, and that's just fine. We're all so glad Fern has been doing, for the most part, well. What a shame she got that one-two punch from infections. 
But you were right on top of it all, and got her the care she needed. You're a great CatNanny!
And we'd love to talk to you, and get your input on what goes on here, too! The more heads, the more wisdom, and the better chance to get all our babies up and running properly!