win&coco
Member Since 2026
So I need some help with my cat Coco. I did the signature thing as instructed (if any data is needed pls let me know). This is long and I apologize for that and for my grammar.
He was diagnosed back in July with a Fructosamine test after I noticed some weird symptoms like urinating a lot and drinking a lot of water. I'm gonna be honest I am completely uneducated about feline diabetes and it seems like our vet is also uneducated and Coco is paying the price unfortunaly so I need some guidance pls.
For startes when he got diagnosed we left him on the vet for 24hours as advised on the vet so they could check his glucose in a glucose curve. We picked him up and the vet showed us how to poke his ear however he was poking IN THE MIDDLE of the ear and obviously Coco was crying. Both my dad and me were very hesitant because it did looked like it hurt him however we didn't know anything about feline diabetes so we thought we must do what he told us. We went home, first morning we poked him and we couldn't get a good sample ofc so the glucometer said "error". I looked up how to do the process smoothly and we found to poke the outer edge of the ear was better and it was, we had to TEACH the vet when we went to the vet again for a revision.
Coco has been going to the vet a lot this past four months and every time I feel more hopeless. As I was reading more I noticed the whole dosis thing is most likely wrong and I didn't know. For starters the vet told us to check every 2 days and put 2u every 2 days!! His range was 258 mg/dl (lowest) and 426 mg/dl (highest).
They said to give Coco a change of food so we did, we give him Virbac Weightloss & Diabetes. Now I read and I know dry food is not really good for cats bc of the carbs and I bought some Purina Pro DM and I gave him ½ or ¼ every day bc I can't afford more. I searched for alternatives and found the whole Fancy Feast Classic Paté, I was inclined to buy it but then Coco got a urinary blockage (september 17). So we went to the vet again, they helped him and all, he spent like 3 days there and we picked him up with a lot of meds.
While Coco was there they did another glucose curve and they told us to up the dosis to 4u every 24hours. I asked them why was the dosis so high so they said his glucose was going high and we must prioritize checking his whole urine and etc. They tested him for a lot of things.
Now we adapted to the new routine and I noticed his numbers were more high than before. His lowest was 376mg/dl and his highest was 488mg/dl. I brought that up and they said it was probably the stress of poking him and all those vet visits. Then he got another blockage (01 octuber) and we went again, he got surgery on his bladder on Saturday and stayed 5 days hospitalized there in total. I called and they said he was "stable".
We picked him up on Monday at 11a.m. because you can't go on Sundays and the vet told us he was stable, urinating normally and we should change the food (I asked about change of dosis because the high carbs on the new food and he said to keep it as 4u).
Then I asked about the 488mg/dl that I saw on their chart and he said it was because of the stress of the clinic (they were going to do another curve however cancelled because Coco was already stressed and just got out of surgery). So we left. He was sleepy but the vet told us it was because of the meds so I had to keep him on my bedroom with me to watch him. He ate and peed "normally" aka many times with medium sized clumps (normal according to the vet bc the whole surgery).
But then yesterday I checked his glucose at 9a.m. as usual and the glucometer said HI, I checked after 30mins and it said HI again in another glucometer. I called the vet about the dosis and they said to give him the same dosis as advised so I did...
I checked in at 10:30 a.m. again and it said HI still. Coco did eat that morning but was sleepy, he did pee and drank water but it was clear something was wrong. I called and they said we should bring him again to check his potassium and electrolites and fluid therapy because it was not normal to have that high number. I had to wait for my dad to finish his work so we could go there and meanwhile I investigated a lot about his meds just to see if that could be the cause and one of the meds he was prescribed was PredniPets (prednisolana) so I called again and they said to bring him and they would check, and to also bring a FreeStyle Libre sensor.
He stayed there in the hospital and I called this morning but they said they would give me a call back bc they were busy. Right now they called me back and I asked a lot of things (if we could change lantus to 12hours as advised and deduct the dosis to 1u?) and the vet said that he recommended 4u every 12 hours... so I said that was too much but he said that was what he recommended bc if we lowered the dosis we could make him insulin resistant or we could change insulin to reset the body or they could give us a reference to an endocrinology expert.
I asked about Coco and they said he was eating normally and peeing, etc however his glucose was 480mg/dl. Now I need help with this please, I can't change vets right now and the expert they recommend is in another city. It takes us 1 hour to go to this vet bc we live in a town, we can't be going to another city bc it would be like 8 hours in total. I tried to look for another vet no one knows about diabetes in cats and I feel lost.
Please help me with this. Is it truth that lowering the dose will make him resistant to the insuline? Do we need to change insulin? We don't have much money, my dad spent a lot of money this few months with him but I feel like Coco isn't getting better. Any insight and advise welcome please.
....
UPDATE: 07/Oct. 6:00 p.m.
I didn't know if I should make another post or just here but in any case someone is reading this i guess could be helpful?
We picked Coco from the vet, he's doing okay already drank water and ate a little bit. He had a little bit of high temperature in the clinic but the vet said it was because of the room and it was okay. I asked him if it was okay to go home with Coco because he showed a high reading there too and he said it was okay. If Coco was letargic we should bring him again he said.
The vet said the insulin could be spoiled so we are buying another vial. And also I asked my dad about buying a ketone kit as Corky said below so just in case. Still we are supposed to give Coco 4u at 8p.m. and I'm really hesitant about it. I scanned him a few times with his new sensor and it still says High, and now it says 495mg/dl so it is high. His exams came normal, the vet said his potassium wasn't that high and his clorurox was normal too. I insisted on the whole dosis bc I thought it was still high but he said it was because of Coco's weight (8kg/17lb) and bc well he is overweight so I don't know what to do.
He was diagnosed back in July with a Fructosamine test after I noticed some weird symptoms like urinating a lot and drinking a lot of water. I'm gonna be honest I am completely uneducated about feline diabetes and it seems like our vet is also uneducated and Coco is paying the price unfortunaly so I need some guidance pls.
For startes when he got diagnosed we left him on the vet for 24hours as advised on the vet so they could check his glucose in a glucose curve. We picked him up and the vet showed us how to poke his ear however he was poking IN THE MIDDLE of the ear and obviously Coco was crying. Both my dad and me were very hesitant because it did looked like it hurt him however we didn't know anything about feline diabetes so we thought we must do what he told us. We went home, first morning we poked him and we couldn't get a good sample ofc so the glucometer said "error". I looked up how to do the process smoothly and we found to poke the outer edge of the ear was better and it was, we had to TEACH the vet when we went to the vet again for a revision.
Coco has been going to the vet a lot this past four months and every time I feel more hopeless. As I was reading more I noticed the whole dosis thing is most likely wrong and I didn't know. For starters the vet told us to check every 2 days and put 2u every 2 days!! His range was 258 mg/dl (lowest) and 426 mg/dl (highest).
They said to give Coco a change of food so we did, we give him Virbac Weightloss & Diabetes. Now I read and I know dry food is not really good for cats bc of the carbs and I bought some Purina Pro DM and I gave him ½ or ¼ every day bc I can't afford more. I searched for alternatives and found the whole Fancy Feast Classic Paté, I was inclined to buy it but then Coco got a urinary blockage (september 17). So we went to the vet again, they helped him and all, he spent like 3 days there and we picked him up with a lot of meds.
While Coco was there they did another glucose curve and they told us to up the dosis to 4u every 24hours. I asked them why was the dosis so high so they said his glucose was going high and we must prioritize checking his whole urine and etc. They tested him for a lot of things.
Now we adapted to the new routine and I noticed his numbers were more high than before. His lowest was 376mg/dl and his highest was 488mg/dl. I brought that up and they said it was probably the stress of poking him and all those vet visits. Then he got another blockage (01 octuber) and we went again, he got surgery on his bladder on Saturday and stayed 5 days hospitalized there in total. I called and they said he was "stable".
We picked him up on Monday at 11a.m. because you can't go on Sundays and the vet told us he was stable, urinating normally and we should change the food (I asked about change of dosis because the high carbs on the new food and he said to keep it as 4u).
Then I asked about the 488mg/dl that I saw on their chart and he said it was because of the stress of the clinic (they were going to do another curve however cancelled because Coco was already stressed and just got out of surgery). So we left. He was sleepy but the vet told us it was because of the meds so I had to keep him on my bedroom with me to watch him. He ate and peed "normally" aka many times with medium sized clumps (normal according to the vet bc the whole surgery).
But then yesterday I checked his glucose at 9a.m. as usual and the glucometer said HI, I checked after 30mins and it said HI again in another glucometer. I called the vet about the dosis and they said to give him the same dosis as advised so I did...
I checked in at 10:30 a.m. again and it said HI still. Coco did eat that morning but was sleepy, he did pee and drank water but it was clear something was wrong. I called and they said we should bring him again to check his potassium and electrolites and fluid therapy because it was not normal to have that high number. I had to wait for my dad to finish his work so we could go there and meanwhile I investigated a lot about his meds just to see if that could be the cause and one of the meds he was prescribed was PredniPets (prednisolana) so I called again and they said to bring him and they would check, and to also bring a FreeStyle Libre sensor.
He stayed there in the hospital and I called this morning but they said they would give me a call back bc they were busy. Right now they called me back and I asked a lot of things (if we could change lantus to 12hours as advised and deduct the dosis to 1u?) and the vet said that he recommended 4u every 12 hours... so I said that was too much but he said that was what he recommended bc if we lowered the dosis we could make him insulin resistant or we could change insulin to reset the body or they could give us a reference to an endocrinology expert.
I asked about Coco and they said he was eating normally and peeing, etc however his glucose was 480mg/dl. Now I need help with this please, I can't change vets right now and the expert they recommend is in another city. It takes us 1 hour to go to this vet bc we live in a town, we can't be going to another city bc it would be like 8 hours in total. I tried to look for another vet no one knows about diabetes in cats and I feel lost.
Please help me with this. Is it truth that lowering the dose will make him resistant to the insuline? Do we need to change insulin? We don't have much money, my dad spent a lot of money this few months with him but I feel like Coco isn't getting better. Any insight and advise welcome please.
....
UPDATE: 07/Oct. 6:00 p.m.
I didn't know if I should make another post or just here but in any case someone is reading this i guess could be helpful?
We picked Coco from the vet, he's doing okay already drank water and ate a little bit. He had a little bit of high temperature in the clinic but the vet said it was because of the room and it was okay. I asked him if it was okay to go home with Coco because he showed a high reading there too and he said it was okay. If Coco was letargic we should bring him again he said.
The vet said the insulin could be spoiled so we are buying another vial. And also I asked my dad about buying a ketone kit as Corky said below so just in case. Still we are supposed to give Coco 4u at 8p.m. and I'm really hesitant about it. I scanned him a few times with his new sensor and it still says High, and now it says 495mg/dl so it is high. His exams came normal, the vet said his potassium wasn't that high and his clorurox was normal too. I insisted on the whole dosis bc I thought it was still high but he said it was because of Coco's weight (8kg/17lb) and bc well he is overweight so I don't know what to do.
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