Home Testing

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wubby379

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So Ali cat was diagnosed with diabetes in December-her doctor said her glucose levels were only slightly high (but he did not tell me the number) and he wanted to try and get her levels under control with food. So we overhauled her diet and the symptoms that she was displaying (peeing outside the litter box) have disappeared. However, I was curious about her blood sugar levels. First I bought the diastix and it showed she still had glucose in her urine then I bought a home glucose monitor and got a reading today. Her level was 275- how "bad" is this? I understand that "normal" is around 90-120. I made an appointment to take her into the vet. She however is not displaying any other symptoms (coat is good, eating normal -not too much not too little, weight is fine, water intake is normal).
 
275 is a diabetic number, but not terribly high. Some kitties start in the 400s. If you have changed her food and it is still in the 200s, I would say it is time to put her on insulin. You are correct about the non diabetic levels under 120. Actually non diabetics can run from 40 - 120.. The reason to start insulin is that the pancreas may only have a limited time to heal and you need to insulin to help it heal. You can't diagnose by symptoms; those blood glucose levels are what you need. Congrats on hometesting!

You may however only need insulin for a short time and in mini doses. Once you know the kind of insulin you are starting with, come on and ask for initial dose advice. It may be that you will need to start at .5 units or below.
 
Thanks! I'm debating what to do- we took her to her regular vet to initially get her tested but I wasn't too happy with the way they handled it. Through friends, I got a recommendation for a "traveling vet" who comes in a van outfitted as a lab and could do the testing. I am interested in that "traveling vet" since I feel like it would be less stress on Ali but I am concerned since her last blood test was done by a different vet. I don't know if I should go for less stress or more continuity
 
Either way should be okay. If you do decide to change, you can have your first vet fax all your records to you. Stress at the vet is usually only a big deal for a diabetic if the vet is relying on his numbers to dose. If you have your own numbers at home and he accepts those and bases the doses on those numbers, you're golden.

Might want to make sure the traveling vet is on board with hometesting......
 
Took Ali to the vet last week-they did a fructosamine (sp?) test. Her number was 230. Her regular blood test was 275-nice to know that the home monitor was accurate-since her fructosamine test number was relatively low (still not in the normal range) but better-the vet recommended some more slight changes to her diet to see if we can get the number lower without insulin. Glad to know her number has improved with diet change-her blood test when she first got diagnosed was 340. Gonna keep testing her every week to make sure her number stays within 200-230.
 
This is good news. Is she eating all wet lo carb and all lo carb treats? The 200-300 range are still diabetic numbers. We consider a kitty non diabetic if their numbers are in the 40-120 range off insulin. If you are feeding completely lo carb, you may still need to put her on insulin. If she is getting any higher carb food, I would cut that out and see if you get better numbers.
 
I would actually recommend a very low dose of lantus or levemir twice a day to get those numbers down and really help her pancreas. It may be that you need insulin for only a little bit, whereas if you don't use it, you may find more damage to her pancreas.
 
I asked her vet about the pancreas and he said that damage only really begins when it gets over 300? She eats primarily wet cat food (mostly fancy feast classic) However, I have been leaving out dry cat food (D/M) for her since I am in graduate school, work and have two internships. I tried freezing the food in cubes and leaving those out but she does not eat them. So, I leave the dry cat food out and try and get home as much as possible in between things to feed her. It also has taken a little bit of trial and error to figure out what kind of wet cat food she likes and how she likes it (she doesn't like the fish flavored ones as much, she likes the cat food with a little bit of water in it and she does NOT like it warmed up). She will eat her wet cat food first before going to the dry, if it is 'prepared' how she likes it. Going to try cutting out the dry completely-I also had been giving her small 'treats' to entice her more to the wet cat food (tiny bits of homemade chicken broth (no onion) and such). Now, I am going to try and cut those out since she eats her wet cat food with out complaining now. Gonna try this for a couple of weeks (while home testing her blood sugar) and see what happens. Not against going to insulin at all just hoping to get her numbers down with food first. Very interesting to see that it dropped close to 100 points just by adding wet cat food to her diet
 
well, personally, I think your vet is wrong as do many others here. Most of us wouldn't let our cats go above 150, 200 max, without insulin. Damage can and does occur at least at the renal threshold (point at which glucose shows in urine aka approx 250) or possibly much lower . But by all means see if further diet tweaking works, just don't give it too long. The best approach really is a combo of diet and insulin and home monitoring :)

Jen
 
The only way to test the diet without insulin is to quickly get rid of the dry. Dry food is going to keep her numbers up. You don't have to freeze the wet if it is only out during the day. You could leave her out enough for grazing until you get home, particularly if you add water to it. You might also get an automatic feeder. It would feed her at intervals during the day and has covered compartments so the food is not as likely to dry out. Something else to try is FortiFlora. Sold online or by some vets - it is animal digest - the same thing that seems to make dry food irrestible to cats.
 
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