Hi there!

Hello! My name is Colette, and my 13 year old cat, Noodles, has recently been diagnosed. Feeling pretty overwhelmed, and although the vet has been supportive, we're struggling a little with some aspects, and hoping for some support, reassurance, and generally a kind word!

She's taking her injections like an absolute trooper, no concerns there. But when it comes to the glucose test, she had been so traumatised with it, we can't get it done. The vet had said if it was making her miserable (it was... Total personality change, seemingly depressed and flinching when we came near her when she wasn't completely hiding) we could carry on with her twice a day 1ml shot without checking. Much relief... Until a couple of days ago when she's been orbiting us constantly, asking for food, and being almost frantic when she thinks we're going to the kitchen or have food in our hands. It's awful to see her like this. If she needed more insulin, that would be fine, but we can't check her glucose before upping it, so as a household, we're getting stressed again. I've tried training her with kibble (getting a piece when her ear is touched) but she's so desperate for more food, she's too antsy. I don't want her to be unhappy or unhealthy, and can't have her starving (she's on a diet too, gradually losing weight on target)

Hoping for some advice or pointers throughout this site!

 

WELCOME TO FDMB Colette and extra sweet Noodles. We're glad you found us. Testing is both a blessing and a curse no? To be in absolute control Noodles diabetes, home testing is a must. Fear not! You have found the purrrfect place to learn the best way to test!
We have all kinds of tricks and tips to getting Noodles (cute name btw) more comfy with testing.
First I'm going to direct you here:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
This will help you get acquainted with how this board works.

We are dedicated to helping anyone who finds us. That means you! Youve landed in a safe place for Noodle. We look forward to getting to know you both.

WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY

My Trouble absolutely hated testing. He never really got use to it. But hey know what? We all survived and thrived . In fact he went into remission. We couldnt have done that without testing his blood glucose.
Hometesting Links and Tips

A very effective way of testing is to give a treat with each phase.
Find a place where you will test. A good table, the couch, your bed, some even use the bathroom sink!
Bring kitty to said "table". Give him a treat. let him go.
Take time to fiddle with his ears. hold then rub them. Give treat, let him go. If you are going to use a lancing device. (some just hand hold the lancet.) click it near is ear. Give him a treat, let him go. Get where I'm going here? with every motion he gets a treat. You want testing to be about those treats. Its called conditioning.
Once you are past each motion ( that is to say when you bring him to the table and he STAYS there) go to the next. Once you get your supplies we can go into detail.

Again welcome to the best darn site on this planet to learn everything you need to know about feline diabetes!
jeanne

 

Hi Colette. I'm Enid, and that's Lola in the sink to the left.

I'm too new here to offer anything in the way of advice (we landed here only last weekend, exhausted, overwhelmed, and weeping with frustration), but I wanted to extend a welcome and assurance that you are absolutely in the right place for support, reassurance, kind words, and a LOT of education.

 

Thanks Enid!

 

Hi Colette and welcome!

when was she diagnosed and what’s her weight now? Also, how much are you trying to get her to lose. Frankly, I’m concerned about putting any diabetic cats on a diet since unregulated diabetes causes them to no be able to process the nutrients in food well so they eat but are constantly starving and end up losing a lot of weight fast. A good rule of thumb for daily calorie intake is 20 times ideal weight. So if she should be 12 pounds, she should be eating at least 240 calories a day. What food are you feeding right now? Ideally you want them eating low carb wet food, 10% or less carbs. Most of us feed fancy feast pate or Friskies which are both much lower than 10%. You also want to feed low carb treats. Can you walk us through how you were testing her before? We may have some tips to make it less stressful. I’d start trying to play with her ears and massage them and then follow that with a low carb treat. She can build positive association without fearing the test and then graduate to that

 

Welcome Colette. I, too am brand new here as of yesterday's ER visit with my oldest boy. And like many before me, overwhelmed to hear the diagnosis. I have been so very warmly welcomed here and have been reading my rear-end off. I feel strongly that this is exactly where we newbies need to be for our furbaby's well being throughout this journey.

 

Hi, Colette! Welcome to you and Noodles. I am also new here and just wanted to say that you came to the right place. The people here are so kind and so knowledgeable, and they put in a lot of time and care to help get new people up to speed. Don't be afraid to ask questions and read all the stickies and informative posts you can when you have time. You are overwhelmed right now and probably won't retain a lot of it, but as things ease up a bit you'll go back to them with new perspective and be able to absorb them better. For now, hang in there!

 

Thanks for the link! I've got the Alpha Trak kit. Initially she sat, but the problem was getting the blood out... It just wasn't coming. And the more we tried, the more distressed we all got, resulting in a tearful vet conversation where he said we could give insulin without the test as it's a low dose. I'll try the conditioning part, the problem we had is she's so hungry and desperate to eat whatever she thinks we have. She's smart though, and a quick learner, so I hope it will work. Think the sound of the lancet bothers her, but could try without it

 

Hello! She was 4.9kg at the vet, so he told us to give her the food for an overweight 4kg cat initially. I wasn't happy with this amount as it looked tiny (26g and 1pouch of wet food) so we're now giving her 30g splitting it so she's fed twice, still one pouch. She's 4.6 now after about three weeks. We're not testing at all just now, but will try the treat conditioning. I don't feel she's getting enough food at the moment, but she may need more insulin... Which we can't check. If we can't get it over the next day or two, I'll get her to the vet for a curve. I should say, we're based in Scotland and she's getting Royal Canin Diabetic dry and wet food

 

Thank you so much! Been such an emotional roller coaster, but I'm hoping we can get through it!

 

Thank you for the welcome! I'm glad I'm not the only one in this position! Lookimg forward to getting into a routine with no drama

 

Welcome Colette! I'm Nick, also new to diabetes. It's taken a while to get adjusted and a bit of a mess, but bearing with it has really settled things down. One step at a time, it'll get better as both you and your cat get used to it. Also don't judge yourself harshly for any mistakes you make along the way, just keep trying your best.

I'm still unable to get a BG read off of my Bruce. He's a sensitive boy. I'll be taking him in to get a Freestyle Libre sensor attached which is expensive, but gives readings automatically for (ideally) 2 weeks. If you're worried about not getting a reading, just keep in mind that it's available as a fail-safe. Hopefully that helps with peace of mind. I know how stressful it can be when they behave oddly and you can't find out what's going on.

 

The good thing is the alpha takes aSUPER SMALL amount. Make sure your lancet are big enough. You want 26-28 gauge. Make sure you dip the little protruding point into the drop, don't scoop it onto the drop. Don’t bother With the device. They often don’t like The sound. Don’t aim For the vein, it hurts. Aim for the space between the vein and the very outer ear. There are very few nerve endings there. Give a treat after each attempt so she will associate the feast with something positive. Rub the ears or warn them up first. Spend some time desensitizing the cat to having the ears touched and rubbed. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.

 

Hello and welcome!

Seconding Janet's advice on lancet size:

Sometimes, that can make all the difference! The lancets they include with meters are too small (usually 30 or 31 gauge), they simply don't work on cat's ears at first (later on, after the pokes have stimulated capillary growth, they're fine).

Another thing Janet mentioned that can make a big difference is warming the ears well before trying to poke.

Now for some questions about insulin:

I'm assuming you mean 1 unit? What insulin are you using?

This is concerning... Part of what's going on may be that she's simply not getting enough food for her current needs, as discussed above. Another possibility, however, is that she was experiencing some hypoglycemia (one of the symptoms is ravenous hunger). Does she seem more frantically hungry at particular times, like a few hours after the insulin shot?

I hope we can get you back on track with the testing, it's really critical for keeping your Noodle safe and healthy. Keep asking questions!

 

Your kitty is picking up on your stress. If you fail in an attempt just give the treat and let kitty go...its no worse than shooting blindly right?
Think of it this way "Tension builds it goes right down your arm onto your kitty" sing a silly song incorporate Noodles name into song. (that should be easy with a name like Noodle )
Every attempt is a success even if its a miss. Because its still building conditioning.

YOU GOTZ THIS! We will be here every step of the way!

 

Always aim for the sweet spot

 

Hello! Yes, one unit twice a day. She's getting Pro Zinc. I'm worried that she's not getting enough, though she hasn't actually been that bad today. Not long finished work, so going to see if I can teach her a bit. She's had her food and injection, so is content for the moment