Help needed for new diabetic cat Milo

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Cathaven Manor

Member Since 2015
Hi, I am a novice and very stressed dealing with my newly diagnosed cat Milo. I will fill you in on details later, but first I need a BG monitor and strips, and I WILL NOT SHOP AT WALMART.

I understand there are some affordable options available online for a product named ARKRAY, but I don't understand the differences between the types and if I should have the more expensive version or if the less costly one will suffice.

I do have a monitor that I bought at Costco yesterday that I can keep and use as backup later. It is a OneTouch UltraMini, and I have the lancets and test strips designed to go with it.

Thank you!

P.S. This cat is also on 1 ml oral compounded prednisolone (5ml/mg) 2x daily, Cefa drops for an infection of unknown source and Gabapentin for arthritis. And I have urine test strips, but I haven't been able to catch a urine stream, so I have no idea what's going on. He's had two shots of 2 units from me since he came home yesterday.

P.P.S. It also doesn't help that our 5 month old kitten was diagnosed with the wet form of FIP at the same time Milo's diabetes was discovered. Oh, and I have 7 other cats, one is a foster with special needs (completely incontinent due to animal abuse). If someone could help me with what to order in the way of affordable and accurate BG testing devices that would be great - I can expedite shipment and get it here quickly. Then I'll be back for more help with the day to day.
 
Welcome to FDMB!!! Since I was chatting with you on FB, you already know my thoughts in that I've been using the Vital for several years now and am very happy with it. And, ADW is a great company to work with - they are very fast with their shipping!

There are others here who have diabetic kitties on prednisolone, too - a couple of them are regular posters in the Lantus/Lev forum, but they may not see your post here in Main, so if you have any questions about that, feel free to post over there, too.

We'll do whatever we can to help answer your questions and get you feeling comfortable with FD!!

Amy
 
Thanks, Amy. I'm curious about the info under your signature. I don't understand some of the abbreviations used, OTJ? LRS? LL? I see her spreadsheet and there are terms there I don't know either - AMPS and PMPS? I understand the AM/PM but what does PS mean?

Is there a dictionary somewhere that I can use to reference all these new terms?
 
Oh yes, we've got a lot of "terms" here....there used to be a dictionary under the old forum format, but with a quick search I couldn't quite find it just yet. But to answer your immediate questions:

OTJ - "off the juice"... when a kitty is a food-controlled diabeted/in diabetic remission
AMPS/PMPS - morning/evening PreShot number....your kitty's BG value right before you shoot.
AMBG/PMBG - morning/evening BG number...you would use these terms when you don't shoot insulin - ie, when you skip a shot for one reason or another, or if your kitty is OTJ.
LL - In the old forum format (we just changed formats last Christmas), we had a forum that was specific to Lantus, and we called it LantusLand, or LL for short. Now the forum is combined with Levemir (another insulin), so I alway call it L&LL now!
LRS - Trix gets subcutaneous fluids every day. The solution she gets are lactated ringers, or LRS. This is related to her kidney issues, not diabetes.

The spreadsheet will be a very important tool once you start testing Milo. It will allow you to keep track of his numbers, and it will allow people to help you based on the data you gather. It's also a great place for other health-related notes, again to keep everyone informed. We all use the same spreadsheet, but I have to admit, I'm not a guru when it comes to setting it up. I am sure someone who is better at it will help you with that!

It is helpful to include this sort of health info in your signature block, along with a link to your spreadsheet, so people can see at glance what special circumstances your kitty has. That's why I have all of Trix's meds and such listed in our signature block.

And, since the place is such a family to me, I still post about her every day in the Lantus forum even though she is OTJ. And she wouldn't be OTJ if it weren't for this place!
 
Also, we have a special way of telling time here. If you look in the Lantus forum, you'll see subject lines that look like this:

Today's Date, Kitty Name, AMBG = a number, +2 = a number, etc.

Those "+" numbers...+1, +2, etc - that's how long it has been in hours since the kitty's shot. We use this type of format because people who post here are from all over the world, and therefore in different time zones. This allows is to know where in an insulin cycle a kitty is, timewise.
 
Arkray Vital user here...favorite meter...I keep a Contour for backup plus a Relion. If you use the ADW link on this site, FDMB gets a small % of the sale to help with this site. A good deal is the Vital with 4 boxes (200) of strips. I think its about $43 and you can go to retailmenot.com and probably find a promo code.
 
Hi we use the free style lite meter it small and fits easy in my hand and has a port on the side to directly upload your readings to a computer.That's what I like doing the spreadsheet manually was in the beginning stressful for me on top of all the other info to learn. So hang in there I can sympathise that first week I was freaked and have only one cat!
 
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