Home Testing and Food

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tcmeowmixtc

tcmeowmixtc

Member Since 2017
Hi everyone,

My cat, T.C. is 13 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes about a month and a week ago. The vet prescribed him 2 units twice a day of insulin and a weekly vet visit. Each week we have gone up 1 unit and are now at 5 units twice a day. Today, his blood glucose went back up from ~430 to ~530. He has stopped drinking so much water and I have noticed less urine in the litter box.

He does get VERY anxious about vet visits. He thinks he is going everyday and hides in the morning so we have to find him and give him his shot and it's all very stressful.

We asked the technician about home testing, but she said there's nothing out there that can test the blood glucose like they can at the vet's office and to just come back in next week for another test.

This whole situation is worrying me because of the amount of stress T.C. is under everyday. I'm concerned I'm not doing the right things. The vet never mentioned changing his diet so he is still on Iams indoor weight control and has treats when he gets his shots.

I really want my cat to be healthy and I'm concerned these constant vet visits are causing him too much stress. I'd appreciate ANY advice you have.

Thank you so much!
 
Hello and welcome- you will get lots of help here :)

Vet tests are not accurate nor are curves done at the vets as the bg is always higher due to stress. So the only way to get true numbers are to tests at home. All you are doing is putting extra money in then vets pockets.. plus he's stressing constantly now by the sounds of things, if he's hiding, that will also bring his bg up...

It's pretty dangerous to shoot insulin if you don't test beforehand... because you don't know if it's a safe number, or what he's dropped to at nadir.

Your vets sound greedy and not like they have your kitty's best interests at heart :(

Another factor in getting bg levels down is food. Any dry food is high carb with the exception of two youngs and another one, I'm sure someone will chime in and let you know which ones they are.

Because you are already giving insulin you can't just do a straight change as bg levels can change abruptly when you remove the high carb food. Again to be safe you need to home test. @JanetNJ has a great easy to follow video in her signature that explains it really well and shows you how. Don't expect kitty to be thrilled right from the start but he can be trained. Just get some extra special safe low carb treats and start slowly. :cat:

You have this! :bighug:
 
Wow complete bullshit saying there's nothing to accurately test at home. And once I started testing at home I didn't bring my cat back to the vet until it was time for her yearly checkup.

If you want the SAME METER they use at the vet it's called the Alphatrak 2. You can get it on amazon.

The strips for it are pricy at about 50 for $50...

Most on here take the more economical route of using a human meter. Human meters run lower then pet meters but will still tell you if your cat is high or low. The difference between meters is greater in the higher ranges, but only a bit different at lower ranges.


Either type of meter is fine. I'm a bit anal so I opted for the pet meter, but as I said most here use Walmart's Relion micro or confirm. Strips for that are much more affordable at $36 for 100.


I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.
 
Ok now that I'm on a computer and can write faster let me address some of the other things in your post.

WHICH INSULIN are you using?

First of all, your vet SUCKS at dosing. Here's what you do. Get rid of the dry food. the one you are feeding is around 30% carb. It's like feeding a diabetic person donuts all day, and then giving a ton of insulin to counter it. NO. not good. Go back to 1 unit and get him on a diabetic appropriate diet of less then 10% carb. (perscription food NOT NEEDED) Most of us on here feed fancy feast CLASSIC or Friskies Pate. Here's a food chart http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

Treats should be freeze dried meat treats, chicken, ect. NO MORE PARTY MIX OR TEMPTATIONS. (although they are good for making the bg go up if the cat is in a hypo situation. My cat was low once and I gave her 4-5 temptations and 15 min later she was 100 points higher. At that moment I realized exactly how she became diabetic. ;) )

In addition to being expensive to do all the tests at the vet (sounds like they are money hungry) it's also very stressful on the cat and YOU. Being at the vet can raise their BG 100 points or more. Ugh. My other problem with your vet is that she/he is raising the dose in WHOLE UNITS. Not good. Start at 1, and raise by .25-.5 units at a time. too much insulin often can look like not enough insulin because the cat will release it's own stored glucose to prevent itself from going into hypoglycemia.

Yeah, so Home test, go back to 1 unit and then go on a diabetic appropriate food. DON'T CHANGE FOOD WHILE YOU ARE STILL GIVING SUCH A HIGH DOSE YOU WILL CAUSE HIM TO HYPO.

as you see in my signature we use a link to a live spreadsheet that people can see as you update it. once you start home testing we will set you up with one and help you with dosing.
 
tcmeowmixtc said:
there's nothing out there that can test the blood glucose like they can at the vet's office and to just come back in next week for another test.
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Definitely wrong, many Vet's even use the Alpha Trak 2 pet meter do to a BG test/curve. As Janet stated, you can purchase one but the test strips are expensive, hence why many of us use human glucometers.

1.0U to 5.0U in 5 weeks is too big of increases and his working dose was probably skipped over. We prefer to increase slowly by 0.25U or 0.5U, also previously stated.

Highly recommend a diet change BUT not until you are home testing and lowering the dose. If you're interested in our help let's get your Signature setup and a Spreadsheet going.
Here is how the Spreadsheet works:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

And lastly, read this regardless of what you decide, it's better to be prepared: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

I'm sure you are conflicted about what members here will say compared to your Vet but we all have or have had a sugar kitty, so we're living and breathing it 24/7. :bighug:
 
Hi everyone,

Thank you for your very informative responses. I am going to buy an at home tester and start testing ASAP. I will also switch the type of treats I give him.

Is 5 units twice a day a high dose? Is it safe for my cat to go back to 1 unit? Should I taper down? Once I'm back to 1 unit, is that when I should switch him to wet food?

I will work on my signature and spreadsheet tonight and get it up ASAP.

Again, thank you for all your information. You are all so welcoming and knowledgeable.

He's taking NovalinN U-100
 
tcmeowmixtc said:
Is 5 units twice a day a high dose? Is it safe for my cat to go back to 1 unit? Should I taper down? Once I'm back to 1 unit, is that when I should switch him to wet food?
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Yes, 5U is a very high dose.....most cats on a low carb canned diet never need more than 2-3U

I'd get the dry out of his diet as quickly as possible and transition him to a low carb canned diet that's less than 10% carbs, but you need to do it slowly....Not only to prevent tummy troubles but to learn to home test to keep him safe.....when you drop the carbs, the dose can come down quickly.

Until you're testing regularly at home, I wouldn't switch out more than 10% of the high carb food at a time.

You always test before shooting and with Vetsulin, you want to Test, Feed, wait 20-30 minutes and shoot. Vetsulin isn't one of the better insulins for cats because it tends to hit "hard and fast" and then wear off before the next shot time, so you want to make sure he eats a normal meal before shooting.

Then get another test 2-3 hours after the shot, and 5-7 hours after....and don't forget the PM cycle.....you don't have to stay up all night testing but you do want to always get a "before bed" test to make sure he's going to be safe overnight. Most cats go lower at night so it's important to know he's safe

If you live in the US, WalMart has their Relion Confirm or Micro meters that are favorites around here. The people here understand human meter numbers and our protocols were written with human meters in mind so they're fine. They both take the tiniest sample size and the strips are affordable ($35.88/100)

Here are a couple of good video's on home testing:

 
tcmeowmixtc said:
Hi everyone,

Thank you for your very informative responses. I am going to buy an at home tester and start testing ASAP. I will also switch the type of treats I give him.

Is 5 units twice a day a high dose? Is it safe for my cat to go back to 1 unit? Should I taper down? Once I'm back to 1 unit, is that when I should switch him to wet food?

I will work on my signature and spreadsheet tonight and get it up ASAP.

Again, thank you for all your information. You are all so welcoming and knowledgeable.

He's taking NovalinN U-100
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Extremely high dose. Most never need more than 2-3 units. I am happy to hear you are going to test.
 
I should be receiving my tester in the mail later today (yay Amazon same-day delivery!) so I'll post the results as soon as I do it. Thank you everyone for the videos. I feel A LOT more confident about testing and T.C. even let me rub his ears a bit earlier which I rewarded with some chicken.

I'm also going to look for a new vet that can help me with his diet and testing schedule. I'm very upset that my vet never mentioned a change in diet or at-home testing. Hopefully I can find a vet that will work with me. Is that something common? Or do most vets just do the testing every week/ not mention at-home testing?
 
tcmeowmixtc said:
I should be receiving my tester in the mail later today (yay Amazon same-day delivery!) so I'll post the results as soon as I do it. Thank you everyone for the videos. I feel A LOT more confident about testing and T.C. even let me rub his ears a bit earlier which I rewarded with some chicken.

I'm also going to look for a new vet that can help me with his diet and testing schedule. I'm very upset that my vet never mentioned a change in diet or at-home testing. Hopefully I can find a vet that will work with me. Is that something common? Or do most vets just do the testing every week/ not mention at-home testing?
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Crazy he didn't change the diet...

My vet mentioned home testing but basically said "some home test, but most don't. It's hard to do at home. (NOT TRUE!!!). Here's what to look for in improvement... these are hypo symptoms." It was this forum that got me home testing, and now I'm one of the biggest advocates of it.
 
So I received my meter yesterday and did a test. He missed his morning dose of 5 units so he was at 519. I gave him his 5 unit evening dose and was unable to get a sample that time. Today, I gave him his morning 5 units and tested him 4 hours later and he is now 93.

I'm going to talk to my current vet tomorrow and begin calling around for a new vet as well. Until then, how should I handle these next few days? Is 93 very low? I'm terrified of him going hypo and 5 units twice a day just seems like so much.
 
tcmeowmixtc said:
Today, I gave him his morning 5 units and tested him 4 hours later and he is now 93.
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Did you test him this AM before feeding and giving this 5 u dose? The 93 at +4 doesn't leave much room to drop if his nadir is in the area of +6. We've all expressed concern at the very high dose he's getting. Novolin can drop the BG hard and fast so your dosing level has to be one that leaves a little cushion at nadir.

If it was my kitty, I'd drop to 2 u next dose and make sure to test before feeding and giving insulin - no food at least 2 hours before this test. Then, set up a good testing routine that includes those pre shot tests as well as at least one other test near mid day and one before bed. Please consider using the spreadsheet we have here. I'll make it so much easier to give advice.
 
I'm just getting used to testing so I was unable to get a test in before because he's still hiding because he thinks he's going to the vet. What does nadir mean? Sorry, I'm extremely new at this. I am working on the spreadsheet now. Is it okay to switch from 5u to 2u without talking to my vet?

Edit: Found out what nadir is and got his spreadsheet up.
 
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Hey well done on starting testing! That's great news and will keep kitty safe.

Unfortunately vets seem to treat cats diabetes the same way they do dogs and give insulin by weight a lot. And because kitty's levels are high due to stress being at the vets they don't know what the real bg number is.

Normal starting dosage should be small - this gives you a safer start and lets you see how the insulin works in that particular cat. Had I shot 5U my cat would be dead now as she hypoed on 1U.. (of ProZinc).

I would do as suggested above and drop to 2U to see how kitty does on that. Only when you get more confident at testing and able to get at least the basics amps around nadir and pmps and nadir would I consider going higher, which kitty likely won't need.

:bighug:
 
TempestsMum said:
Hey well done on starting testing! That's great news and will keep kitty safe.
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Thank you. I'm feeling quite stressed about it however. I've watched so many videos on it and was able to get two really good tests, but all the other times no blood or a very small amount of blood comes out. Then he starts growling and I need to let him rest. :( I hope I get the hang of it.
 
It will come in time, be patient with yourself and TC. Remember the more stressed you are the more stressed kitty will be. Some people told me to sing when I was doing it, I did and it helped. It doesn't have to be the latest hits, row row row your boat or nonsense works just as well.

My rule of thumb was to attempt, and even if I didn't get blood, I always left kitty with a good chin scratch and a choice treat, I use thrive treats and she only ever gets those when we are doing bg. In fact as soon as she hears me lifting the test kit and treats she's there right away.
I always test her in the same place so that she associates there with what's happening.
Warming the ear really helps, and every time I petted, played with or stroked her I always touched her ears so she got used to them being handled, I'd just give them a quick rub accidentally on purpose ;)

I wanted Tempest to come to me for testing, she did run off a few times I got growled at and swatted. I cried in frustration more than once! She did mock bite (warning) but I spent time at that spot, (the end of my bed) with her fishing pole (she loves loves loves that!) and toys and we didn't always test there, I wanted her to associate it with good, nice things. And given time she did. Be patient with yourself and kitty.
:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
tcmeowmixtc said:
Thank you. I'm feeling quite stressed about it however. I've watched so many videos on it and was able to get two really good tests, but all the other times no blood or a very small amount of blood comes out. Then he starts growling and I need to let him rest. :( I hope I get the hang of it.
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Hi and welcome!! You really have arrived at a great place.

You are doing great!! , really, you already got some successful tests, is more than what I got at the beginning, so now take a big, big breath, is important that you remain calmed, they can sense your nerves and believe me they take advantage of it (cats after all), the treats are important lets face it we have to bribe them , and also warming his ear, because when the ear is cold the vessels get constricted and you get no blood or just a little bit and when it's warm you get a beautiful drop, I use a wet piece of cloth that I put in the microwave to make it warm (I put it in my wrist like when you test the milk in a baby bottle to make sure is not to hot) and place in a plastic bag so that we don't get all wet and the drop of blood doesn't get absorbed by the cloth
 
Hi everyone,

T.C. had a good visit at a new vet today. She was very knowledgeable and even brought up home testing before I did! We are switching him over to fancy feast classic pates 3 oz. twice a day. She also wants me to check his blood for 3 days and call her with what the results were. He's still on 4 units.

She also mentioned ketones and wanted to do a urine test but that cost $250. Are there ways to measure this and detect UTI's at home?
 
You can used dipsticks to check for ketones at home and depending on the one you use they usually give you a few other results, dipsticks are not as precise as a urianalisis made in the lab, and they won't tell you if there's bacteria that has to be done with a culture ( if there's a chance he may have UTI you may want to do at least one culture )but for regular monitoring of ketones dipsticks work just fine and not very expensive ( not sure about the prices in the US)

In my case I use people dipsticks and it has some other parameters like density, PH, blood presence, glucose, protein as I said not totally precise, but it gives me an idea of how he's doing and if something comes off then I call the vet and we do an urianalisis
 
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