? Hometesting, low carb treats, BG cycle, and ketones questions

arthur-kitty

arthur-kitty

Member
I am so incredibly thankful for this forum. I was able to learn how to do BG testing at home today, and I wish I had started a few days ago. It was surprisingly easy - it is still a 2 person operation at this time, but I think that will change as we all (human and cat) get better at this. We made a cute little bin with all his diabetes supplies to stay organized and reduce stress for both of us.

Arthur has an in-office glucose cycle scheduled, and I will update the SS with his numbers after this. I hope to do glucose cycles on my own at home soon, but I've been so busy we are going to go ahead and do this one at the vet and use the opportunity to ask any questions we might have.

I am continuing to read the forum, and I see talk of the importance of testing ketones. How often should I be doing this or is it more if X happens test for ketones? I'm shopping for a ketone blood monitor at this time. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good brand? I saw some outdated threads that stated there was only one blood ketone meter, but that seems to have changed lol

I found this in the info thread this "blood ketone concentration of 2.4 and 2.55 are obtained, DKA is more likely to be present". Does that mean levels below that are safe? Are these number up to date?

My cat is peeing a lot still with the insulin (his sign that prompted us to bring him to the vet), so I'm a little worried.

I can ask the vet tomorrow to test for ketones while I try to get a blood ketone meter...
 
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Hi there. I was worried about you. I posted on your thread. Did you see it? Perhaps you don’t have your notifications set to receive an email when someone writes on your thread?

About ketones, I have a NovaMax Plus Blood Ketone meter. The ketone test strips are a little expensive, but I definitely preferred that to trying to stalk my boy to the litter box and put a urine test strip under him! I bought the Nova Max from ADW Diabetes Supply. Are you familiar with them?
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/218/nova-max-blood-glucose-monitoring-system
 
And you got your spreadsheet set up! Well done. It’s awesome that you got some tests already. I see his numbers were quite high. If the vet curve shows all pinks and reds (300s and 400s) like the tests you got, I would recommend increasing to 1.5 units. If he is getting yellow BG numbers (200s) then I would recommend only increasing to 1.25 units. If he gets stressed out by being at the vet, his numbers could be elevated over what they would be at home (another reason to do curves at home.). Make sure he has some small amounts of low carb food offered in the early portion of the cycle or he may drop lower than he normally would at home just because of the lack of food. They could even put his regular low carb food in with him for him to graze on in the morning. Is it happening today?
 
We just dropped him off at the vet, and he pooped and vomited on the way there so I'm concerned about the affect on his glucose cycle. We couldn't get him to eat his dry food this morning, so we mixed some of the wet food recommended on this forum with his dry (I'll check the name when I get home of the wet food). He was able to eat this morning due to that and ate all of his food instead of grazing.

It's just so many variables for this glucose cycle.
 
Oh poor Arthur. He must have been very stressed out. That will likely raise his BG numbers but if he eats nothing then it could lower his numbers. It also would be good to know what kind of meter they are using (human or pet) for comparison. It will still provide us with some data though — but your own testing data will be even more helpful.

Also, whenever you start the transition to low carb food we will need to carefully consider his dose.
 
Thank you! Yeah it's a bit of a mess.

When I get the results I'll ask what type of meter they are using! Thank you for that because I wouldn't have realized it.

He seems really stressed out, so I might do just AMPS and PMPS for a couple days while he calms down.
 
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I will hopefully update my spreadsheet soon with updated data from this glucose curve!

Suzanne, I know your kitty has some other health issues... But how often should the typical cat with DM be tested for ketones at home? Just when symptomatic? Weekly?

His only thing that could be a sign I guess is urinating a bunch. He's had that since his diagnosis.
 
Have you gotten any at home tests since he went to the vet? Even with bet stress it looks like he can have an increase to 1.25 units or 1.5 units as long as you can get some preshot tests and one mid cycle test for now. If I had an idea of a home test, I would be better able to advise. Also we need to know about ketones. Did the vet test for ketones? In blood? In urine? If he’s not producing ketones I will feel good about it. If he is, you should test daily, unless they are just trace.
 
I just posted a new thread, but she didn't test ketones. I'm not sure if I want to increase the dose because he isn't liking his dry food. He just wants the new wet food. He's really stressed out and his ears are all bruised, so right now I'm trying to give him a break from mid cycle testing while his stress levels go down. (new thread has a million questions haha)

I'm planning on purchasing a ketone meter. I also am getting an AlphaTrack exclusively to do the glucose curves to send to the vet per her request. She seems really supportive of the home testing, diet change, but gave me a weird answer on the ketones. She said healthy cats can have ketones, so she doesn't typically recommend testing for it.
 
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