Hi All,
I finally have registered on this excellent message board. So here goes!
Darby was diagnosed July 2011. I tried food therapy to lower his BG but no luck and then after a further delay acct I was going out of town and then he had his first bladder infection (which the vet wanted to clear up first ) - he finally started insulin on Oct 25th. Now I regret all the above decisions. I've been told that these delays will likely mean no remission. He started on Glargine and the numbers just kept going up - sometimes lower ( but never below 8 ( well once 7.6 ). These lower numbers were always around 11:30 - midnight so I thought that was his nadir time. But there was no consistency with this theory from week to week. Sometimes at midnight the numbers were around 19 or 20. They were always high when the vet wanted to do a reading, at the office usually about 6 hours after his morning RX, and so she would raise the amount. I wanted a second opinion and found an internal medicine specialist and we decided to switch to Levimir. Same scenario but even stranger.
Jan 6th - 17.4 @ 11:39 PM. on 4 units -- Jan 13th-- 2.6 @ 11:52 PM on 5 units ---Jan 16th 14.2 @ 11:52 P.M on 4.5 units - considered stable after a good glucose curve on Jan 19th - readings every 4 hours on 4.5 units. My specialist vet said I didn't have to test for a month. But on Jan 26th I tested again because of how Darby looked and his numbers were between 16 and 18. I took in a urine sample and there was blood so he was on antibiotics for 14 days and increased to 5 units. His reading went higher than it had ever been on Feb 26th - 23.7 @ 1:12 PM. Today I took him to a different vet because my vet is out of the country until March 6th. A urine sample is being sent away for a culture to be done. It appears that even though there's blood, there's no bacteria detected from a routing urinalysis. I wonder what that means? There's no evidence that his nadir is late in the day. In fact, the nadir to me is unknown. This current vet seems to think it's very soon after the first insulin shot. He has not prescribed any further antibiotics until the results of the culture are back. Darby is on 5.5 units now and to me he doesn't look right. I was feeding Menu Food brands which are Special Kitty from Walmart and Priority from Safeway - same formulas different prices and the carb % were provided by the nutritionist at Menu Foods ( 905-826-3870 x 228 ). I only feed below 5% and choices without fruits and vegetables ( vet's request ). My vet seemed to have a problem with the Special Kitty and suggested the Whiskas flat packs so I phoned for the ME on that too and was told all flavors are around 6 % calories from carbs. I question that but am giving it a try although it appears the food choices are not the problem in Darby's case. He is not a twice a day plus a snack at 9 PM eater but likes several meals and his weight is 14 lbs 14 oz right now. The Priority and Special Kitty labels ( in Canada ) have meat as the first ingredient. I want to return to these brands. More than anything I want Darby to be regulated and happy.
Thanks for listening and any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Darby's caregiver - Vicki
I finally have registered on this excellent message board. So here goes!
Darby was diagnosed July 2011. I tried food therapy to lower his BG but no luck and then after a further delay acct I was going out of town and then he had his first bladder infection (which the vet wanted to clear up first ) - he finally started insulin on Oct 25th. Now I regret all the above decisions. I've been told that these delays will likely mean no remission. He started on Glargine and the numbers just kept going up - sometimes lower ( but never below 8 ( well once 7.6 ). These lower numbers were always around 11:30 - midnight so I thought that was his nadir time. But there was no consistency with this theory from week to week. Sometimes at midnight the numbers were around 19 or 20. They were always high when the vet wanted to do a reading, at the office usually about 6 hours after his morning RX, and so she would raise the amount. I wanted a second opinion and found an internal medicine specialist and we decided to switch to Levimir. Same scenario but even stranger.
Jan 6th - 17.4 @ 11:39 PM. on 4 units -- Jan 13th-- 2.6 @ 11:52 PM on 5 units ---Jan 16th 14.2 @ 11:52 P.M on 4.5 units - considered stable after a good glucose curve on Jan 19th - readings every 4 hours on 4.5 units. My specialist vet said I didn't have to test for a month. But on Jan 26th I tested again because of how Darby looked and his numbers were between 16 and 18. I took in a urine sample and there was blood so he was on antibiotics for 14 days and increased to 5 units. His reading went higher than it had ever been on Feb 26th - 23.7 @ 1:12 PM. Today I took him to a different vet because my vet is out of the country until March 6th. A urine sample is being sent away for a culture to be done. It appears that even though there's blood, there's no bacteria detected from a routing urinalysis. I wonder what that means? There's no evidence that his nadir is late in the day. In fact, the nadir to me is unknown. This current vet seems to think it's very soon after the first insulin shot. He has not prescribed any further antibiotics until the results of the culture are back. Darby is on 5.5 units now and to me he doesn't look right. I was feeding Menu Food brands which are Special Kitty from Walmart and Priority from Safeway - same formulas different prices and the carb % were provided by the nutritionist at Menu Foods ( 905-826-3870 x 228 ). I only feed below 5% and choices without fruits and vegetables ( vet's request ). My vet seemed to have a problem with the Special Kitty and suggested the Whiskas flat packs so I phoned for the ME on that too and was told all flavors are around 6 % calories from carbs. I question that but am giving it a try although it appears the food choices are not the problem in Darby's case. He is not a twice a day plus a snack at 9 PM eater but likes several meals and his weight is 14 lbs 14 oz right now. The Priority and Special Kitty labels ( in Canada ) have meat as the first ingredient. I want to return to these brands. More than anything I want Darby to be regulated and happy.
Thanks for listening and any advice will be greatly appreciated.
Darby's caregiver - Vicki
I love Darby's name. 
