Hello

[Lisa and Twigs]

I'm a newbie. Have been using vetisulin for a couple weeks. Thankfully did not fall into blindly following vet when he told be to double her once a day dose. Went to twice a day halfing initially does of 3. Tolerated it but was still peeing out of box do upped to 2. Which made her more hungry so like an idiot i increased her to 3 this morning. Panicked after reading some posts so i gave her some dry food hoping to avoid her going too low. I have not been monitoring because i haven't located a meter for cats. I thought i read somewhere they register different. If I can use one for humans... any suggestions for which to buy? I got overwhelmed at walgreens.

 

[AliceMeowliss (GA)]

Welcome! It’s the best place you never wanted to be. There is such a great wealth of support and knowledge here and we can all work together to help you get Twigs feeling much better!

Many people use a brand of meter from Walmart that is affordable. ReliOn maybe? Someone else will be able to tell you for sure. The most expensive part of a meter is the strips, and that is one of several reasons on FDMB many of us do not use the pet meters. My understanding is each strip is a dollar, with the AlphaTrak 2 (pet)!

How difficult is it for you to handle your cat, such as when giving medicines or shots? Many cats learn to be completely calm during their ear pokies for their blood glucose testing, but once in awhile some cats are a little extra tricky! Some meters take smaller drops of blood.

You will probably get the most answers about which meter to use if you post over on the main health forum here.

I know peeing outside the box and peeing frequently are clinical signs we look at, but with diabetes you’re not going to get your cat regulated without testing. I tried, too. FDMB was here though to help me figure out everything I needed to keep my Alice alive!

Also, we like to make smaller dose changes than by whole units, except in special high dose conditions. Often, changes are made only in half or quarter unit increments.

Vetsulin may work well for some, but it is often too short-acting for fast kitty metabolism. We won’t know how well it is working until you are able to test though!

It sounds like you have been browsing the board already, which is great! Have you looked at the food chart on catinfo.org?

 

[Sarah&Soph]

Welcome! My Sophie is also on Vetsulin The ReliOn Prime from Walmart is a popular choice for meters. I started with the AlphaTrak which is a pet meter, but the test strips are $50 for 50, whereas for the ReliOn Prime they are $9 for 50! Despite what a lot of vets might say, using a human meter is perfectly fine as long as you know the appropriate range for the blood sugar

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hi and welcome Lisa and Twigs. As Sarah&Soph told you, many members at least start out with the ReliOn Prime meter and strips from Walmart, because of affordability and availability. Pet meters are a relatively new product and are much more expensive. The important thing is to be testing and being able to see the trends and patterns of insulin action throughout the 12 hour cycle between shots.

Since you are using Vetsulin, please visit that insulin support group forum HERE and read the Beginner's Guide to Vetsulin. Unfortunately many vets recommend a higher starting dose than needed. It's easier on the cat if you need to increase the dose by small increments than give them a whopping big doses at first and have to work down. When kitties get those big doses and BG drops drastically in response, the liver releases stored sugars and hormones trying to balance out. Then you have very high to very low cycles that you don't want kitty dealing with. In the Beginner's Guide it is recommended to start with one unit 2X a day.

Please take a little time and create a signature and set up the spreadsheet so that we can see Twigs' information when you post:
1. Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.
2. Another thing that will help us help you when you get started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/
If you have any problems setting up the spreadsheet, let us know, there are members who can help or set it up for you.

We want to help you navigate the path of learning to provide effective diabetic treatment for Twigs and not feel inundated or overwhelmed. We will help with proper diet suggestions and information, as well as how to test the blood sugar so you know exactly how the Vetsulin is affecting her. Very best wishes going forward

 

[Lisa and Twigs]

Wow. This is great. Worked on profile and definitely will try Walmart for a meter. Despite larger 3 unit dose this morning at 7:30am Twiggy seems fine. She is sleeping but is alert when I pet her.