? Help for newly diagnosed siamese in TX

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Zukosiamese

Zukosiamese

Member Since 2016
Hello... my siamese has just been diagnosed... he had pancreatitis misdiagnosed as IBD for a while... so I'm gonna have a lot of questions throughout... first I'm wondering the probability that he read high on BG because of pancreatitis or that maybe the diabetes could of help cause the pancreatitis? He's on a rx food now DM intestinal diet now. TIA
 
Yes he has been started on 1 unit insulin H... twice a day. He has been on dry food before. They gave me both wet and dry DM. He's starving right now... gave about a 1/3 a can last night before insulin and the rest this morning with a handful of dry... he ate all... vet is not really helpful on a lot... luckily I'm a vet tech and know some things but never had a diabetic myself... stay at home mom currently... they don't want to check him for a couple of weeks... ugh... going to go get a glucometer... he acts good... I knew it was pancreatitis when I told them I wanted blood work done.... floored me with the diabetes. He's skinny, and had liquid diarrhea but it's starting to firm up
 
DO NOT stop dry food until you are home testing. Get a meter asa
Zukosiamese said:
Humulin
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That is short term insulin. It will act fast, hit hard, and last a short time.

Can you edit your title (drop list to the right under title) pick edit.

Then to the left of your title is a drop list. Pick the ? Then put "need help" in all caps. It will get more eyes on you to help. I am not familiar with humulin except I know it's fast acting. I think you need some help with it.
 
I'm going to
Zukosiamese said:
Ok he's not on Humulin. What about Novolin? How does it work?
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I think it's about the same. You need to get a meter today and start testing. Some kitties do very well on it, but you do need to know when it starts to act, how low it will take and when that low is.. Once you get key readings you will be able to maximize its results.
 
Ok. I heard you can get one at walmart... we used a glucometer calibrated for cats and dogs... will a human one work and what's normal for a cat on one of those?
 
Zukosiamese said:
No Novolin... he's on Novolin went and checked
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What specific Novolin?
Novolin is Novo Nordisk's trade name for a family of Recombinant DNA origin insulins. They include N (sometimes called NPH), and R (very fast actions) and mixture of the two. Only N/NPH is OK, but not that good, for cats.
 
Human is cheaper in the long run. Wal-Mart brand confirm or micro is most popular here. If you already have pet it's fine. The strips is what costs. You need to test before you give insulin to make sure it's safe to give. Then with novalin you need to feed 30 minutes BEFORE injecting.

Also a ss attached to your signature is what we need to see what's happening. Instructions here. It is a Google doc not excel. To get dosing advice most peeps will need this. If you have trouble just say so, there are peeps here to can set it up for you.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/
 
Okay thank you. Will get my 6 month old son ready after nap and go get it. My vet here is a old school country vet... so I asked all the typical questions and felt nervous after I left... no test was done after first initial blood work.. so how do they know 1 unit is doing its job? Asked when to give insulin after feed... he said he wasn't concerned.. Ahhhhh! Lol... so when I've taken care of hospitalized/boarding diabetics we feed 30 min before then give it... so that's what I've been doing last night and then this morning for Zuko... driving me nuts he hasn't had a reading after a BG of 686 on his initial blood work. His BUN was high at 51 with a normal levels high at 36... AMYL was also high at 2325 with 1500 at the high normal... then of course tested positive for pancreatitis on the snap fpl... but eating and drinking through all of this... symptoms were diarrhea and peeing everywhere and then weight loss... I'm not in the city anymore near vets I've worked for so all your help is immensely appreciated
 
Most vets are that way. It's sad. FD is easily treated once you get a routine going. Food for thought here. Would you give your son insulin without knowing what his glucose was?

By all means I apologize if I'm coming over to strong. I always have foot in mouth. But I will lay it on the line if that is what it takes to get through to someone. I myself shot blind. I was lucky enough to know something wasn't right and started googling. Smokey was hypo and I didn't know it. He might have not made it through the night if it wasn't for advice here.

Insulin can and has killed. So please learn how to work with the insulin you are using. Keep with us here for advice and great tips.
 
So I just tested him before I fed him. It was 78... I'll test again... how long after he eats...? 30 min? Or longer?
 
First I would not give insulin with that reading.. let's get some others here that are familiar with what your using.
 
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Ok... I wasn't going to give... I know he was really stressed at vet... that was lower than I expected... I'm not completely convinced he's truly diabetic having only had 1 test and pancreas was inflammed
 
Zukosiamese said:
So I just tested him before I fed him. It was 78... I'll test again... how long after he eats...? 30 min? Or longer?
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Just posted on the FB page:

With that low of a reading and not having any data from on what his numbers do during the day I would skip the shot and get some more tests. Is it Novolin N insulin? If so this insulin tends to drop numbers faster and quickly and it is usually advised not to shoot if the number is under 200 at test time until you have much more testing data.
 
No they didn't send meds home for pancreatitis... just kept him in hospital over night on iv fluids, Pain meds, and antibiotics and nausea meds... okay yes it is Novolin N
 
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Zukosiamese said:
No they didn't send meds home for pancreatitis... just kept him in hospital onerous night on iv fluids, Pain meds, and antibiotics and nausea meds... okay yes it is Novolin N
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Is Zuko eating properly? If not you may need some pain meds and anti-nausea meds for use at home.

With a preshot of 78 with Novolin N you should skip the shot. It is too low a number to shoot because Novolin N is a harsher, faster acting insulin and can bring glucose numbers down rather quickly. Novolin tends to start acting at +1 or +2 hours after shot and "peaks" around +4 or +5 hours after shot. You need to be testing during these time when you do give a shot to see how the insulin and dose is working for your kitty. The more data you get the easier it is to tell how well it is working or whether a dose is too high.
 
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Your in good hands with Mary Ann and Larry. I will be on the sidelines.

If he stops eating or walks away from food, you might want to ask the vet for anti nausea and pain meds.

Post tomorrow with your test results.
 
Pain and nausea meds weren't given to go with him. He has never stopped eating... through all of this... that part has never been a issue... only issues was liquid diarrhea... weight loss... I figured he'd have pancreatitis... he is lovable purring and active... his stool is like mustard now. I will test again in a little while... but will not be giving insulin tonight. Thank you so much all that Novolin info helpful. I'll start documenting
 
You can try pure pumpkin a little in each meal. It might help. Not the pumpkin pie mix. You can divide the can and freeze the portion your not using.
 
Woodsywife said:
You can try pure pumpkin a little in each meal. It might help. Not the pumpkin pie mix. You can divide the can and freeze the portion your not using.
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This is a great suggestion for diarrhea. Pure pumpkin...not pumpkin pie mix can help with strangely enough both diarrhea and constipation. Also a good probiotic may be helpful.
 
Thank you for the suggestion we've tried it before and he didn't much care for it. He's on forti flora powder put on his food for a probiotic. He was leaking everywhere with diarrhea so it is getting better... not water... course he's had forti flora before... he thinks it's candy
 
Well... I checked it again... @ 11:30... it was 70.... then wasn't completely happy with that stick so I got a good one on other ear... it was 84... this is 3 hours after having half a can of his DM wet and a handful of DM dry.... will be testing again before and after his breakfast tomorrow... he had eaten every speck of his food...
 
Zukosiamese said:
Well... I checked it again... @ 11:30... it was 70.... then wasn't completely happy with that stick so I got a good one on other ear... it was 84... this is 3 hours after having half a can of his DM wet and a handful of DM dry.... will be testing again before and after his breakfast tomorrow... he had eaten every speck of his food...
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With that sort of reading at about +5 hours??? (not sure because I am in a different time zone than you) he definitely did not need insulin tonight. If you can avoid giving the dry food all together than would be better for the glucose numbers. Please test before what would be the usual time for the morning shot and post with the numbers before feeding. These sort of number indicate a kitty that is either trying to go into remission or needs small doses to help along the way.

Off to grab 4 hours sleep before my morning test time for my two, :bighug:
 
Hi April! I'm happy to see you made it over here from the Facebook group! As you can see, there's lots of helpful people here who've been in your shoes before!

Tomorrow when you post, it's best for you to go ahead and move over to the Health Forum. This forum is usually just for introductions only so not as many people check in over here. Just put the link to this post into your next one so people can quickly go back and see what's already been said.

It will also help for you to go ahead and fill out your signature so people don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over. Just go to the top right and click on your sign on name and the choice of "signature" will be there. A new box will pop up for you to enter information. We usually suggest:

Your name/Cats name, age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, other health problems? and maybe a general idea of where you live. When you get your spreadsheet going, the link to that would go here too. Then just hit "save" and you're done!

Again, welcome to the FDMB!! Your cats are gorgeous!!
 
Okay thank you I just did signature. He had 1 unit insulin at 8am... so yeah 15 hours from that he was at a 84 with food being in his stomach for 3 hours... I'll check him in morning and post in the Health Forum. Thank you and nite nite :)
 
That is great for a +15. Beautiful kitties. Never saw an all white Siamese cat. Maybe with no dry food insulin won't be needed. It has happened.
 
Thank you. The one that's more white is a kitten named Sparky that we found under my car at month or so ago. He has orange points. Some call it red point others call it flame point... :) I did test this morning and moving out of introduction now.
 
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