Justine & Caesar
Member Since 2012
To give a bit of a background, my boy Caesar was diagnosed with Feline Diabetes several weeks ago. When I did at home testing we determined that his blood glucose was steadily between 500 and 650+ which baffled us all. Please keep in mind that Caesar is elderly; around 16 years old. We knew with his stellar health throughout all of these years that his Feline Diabetes was due to old age and nothing else. I wanted to clarify that for future conversation. I discovered there was something wrong because he developed severe and sudden neuropathy in his hind legs within just a week or so.
Anyways, so we started out on 1 Unit of ProZinc twice daily. This worked for about two weeks in getting him down to around 200. His neuropathy was even improving a lot. Then it stopped working completely. I called the vet again and let her know that his insulin wasn't working anymore and so we brought him in for another checkup. (I was also faithfully logging everything in which I presented her everything I had.) Her recommendation was to up his dose a little. She explained that sometimes insulin works for a little bit but that some pets develop a sort of resistance. So we bumped him up to 2 units.
After 2 units was unresponsive, she bumped him to 3. He was spiking to 600+ and once he even started having spasms after an injection. It seemed from curves and regular testing that the more insulin we gave him, the higher his spikes were becoming. This seemed counter-intuitive to my logic and it worried me greatly. He was at that point wetting himself, pooping himself, letting himself go on grooming, and dragging himself mere inches when he moved. I told the vet at this point that if we couldn't get it under control that I would have no choice but to put him down because I didn't want him to suffer anymore. That's when she decided to go to 4 units. (Which quickly became 4 and 1/2.) Sidebar: He needed Sub-Q fluids twice in a three day span because he was in such poor quality.
With my heart in my throat, I gave it a try. It worked almost instantly. We were back to getting somewhere--on the first day. Even after that first dose he was walking (instead of dragging, but there was still extreme neuropathy) and he devoured the food he was previously neglecting. So for quite awhile, 4 and 1/2 units seemed to do him wonders. I did a curve and figured out that he was peaking a little later (at approximately 10 hours) than he should be considering I was supposed to give him doses every 12 hours. It didn't seem to be a problem though because he was spiking in the very high numbers by the time that came around.
So finally, we get to recent information...
A couple of days ago I noticed his blood glucose readings for the beginning of the day (pre-insulin) were dropping a lot more than they used to be. Pre-insulin he was now around 300-320. Even though I was instructed to give him the full 4 and 1/2 units unless 150 or under, I still called my vet with my concerns. She basically told me that I shouldn't micro-manage numbers at home and that one reading couldn't tell her anything. I explained that I was concerned because when giving him 4 and 1/2 units at 500-600, he would drop down to 200, and that if I gave him that same dose in the 300's he'd crash like crazy--at least that's what my senses and logic were screaming at me. She re-assured me that a blood glucose reading in the 300's was still way too high and that he should manage well. So I compromised with myself and gave him 4, but I was still worried that was too much.
Today, 15 hours after his last insulin injection, he was at 313. This was at 3pm. The vet had called me (but only because I hadn't called her first) to check up on Caesar. I explained that I had just tested him and gave her his number. I said that I was very hesitant to give him 4 units again and reiterated my previous worries. She said that we really needed to continue, and that since she was going to be out for the next three days, that I should continue as prescribed (4 units unless under 150) and to do a glucose curve before Tuesday. So I gave him 4 units at 3pm.
I hadn't intended to give him his curve until tomorrow because I'm seven months pregnant and I had been wiped out taking care of him these last few weeks. I figured we both needed some good sleep and 3pm was a little late to start a 12 hour curve. Well he was just as chipper as could be; chirping away at me, devouring his food like it was Christmas dinner, playing, purring, etc. At 7pm he had just flopped over and passed out. It's really humid here, and you know how cats are, so I didn't think too much of that, but I did think it might be a good idea to give him a quick test, especially since I wanted to try and get some sleep early tonight. I took his Blood Glucose. It was 40.
I freaked out. I showed my husband the glucometer and grabbed the Karo syrup. I rubbed it on his gums and noticed he was not really pulling away or fussing like one might think. He licked his lips a bit and I had my husband hold on to him while I called the clinic. It was of course after hours so I was forwarded to the emergency vet clinic. I quickly explained the situation with some brief background on Caesar and they basically told me to get in to their 24 hour clinic as soon as I possibly could. This took about fifteen minutes on the phone. I tested him again and he was in the low 30's.
We got to the clinic and they rushed him right on in. I gave them permission to test his glucose levels and give him an I.V. drip of Dextrose. They wanted to keep him overnight but they wanted to charge me $600+ for the evening. I told them I couldn't afford it and asked what his (hopefully improved) levels were. They said they hadn't tested him again, and asked if I wanted. I told them no since I brought my own kit with me. I tested him right there at 9pm, and he was 133. So he was improving. My concern was that this was only 6 hours after his insulin and he peaks around 10. I asked if I could help him at home and everything I could do for him. They gave me the general rundown and some syringes in case I needed to syringe feed him.
We quickly swung by the grocery store and I got the juiciest and fattest gravy wet food I could find. We got home finally and he devoured an entire can of giblets in gravy. I took his bandage off and he was swarming the empty dry food bowl (my other cat uses) so I cracked open another can and he ate about a third of it. At 11pm I took his blood glucose and it was 280. It's now 1am and he's sleeping on my chair.
I'm not entirely sure if I should have labeled this as a 911 post, however I'm still extremely nervous even though I know his numbers improved. I just took his 10 hour follow up test and he's now at 535. I know they say it's better too low than too high, but what gives? I'm so confused. I feel like I'm just screwing up every which way.
To make matters worse, the vet at the emergency clinic was dumbfounded that my regular vet would put him on such a high dose or let him continue with such a high dose when he was starting to come down. I'm angry, I'm upset, and I'm worried. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Again, I apologize if this doesn't constitute as a 911 anymore, but I'm afraid to sleep.
Anyways, so we started out on 1 Unit of ProZinc twice daily. This worked for about two weeks in getting him down to around 200. His neuropathy was even improving a lot. Then it stopped working completely. I called the vet again and let her know that his insulin wasn't working anymore and so we brought him in for another checkup. (I was also faithfully logging everything in which I presented her everything I had.) Her recommendation was to up his dose a little. She explained that sometimes insulin works for a little bit but that some pets develop a sort of resistance. So we bumped him up to 2 units.
After 2 units was unresponsive, she bumped him to 3. He was spiking to 600+ and once he even started having spasms after an injection. It seemed from curves and regular testing that the more insulin we gave him, the higher his spikes were becoming. This seemed counter-intuitive to my logic and it worried me greatly. He was at that point wetting himself, pooping himself, letting himself go on grooming, and dragging himself mere inches when he moved. I told the vet at this point that if we couldn't get it under control that I would have no choice but to put him down because I didn't want him to suffer anymore. That's when she decided to go to 4 units. (Which quickly became 4 and 1/2.) Sidebar: He needed Sub-Q fluids twice in a three day span because he was in such poor quality.
With my heart in my throat, I gave it a try. It worked almost instantly. We were back to getting somewhere--on the first day. Even after that first dose he was walking (instead of dragging, but there was still extreme neuropathy) and he devoured the food he was previously neglecting. So for quite awhile, 4 and 1/2 units seemed to do him wonders. I did a curve and figured out that he was peaking a little later (at approximately 10 hours) than he should be considering I was supposed to give him doses every 12 hours. It didn't seem to be a problem though because he was spiking in the very high numbers by the time that came around.
So finally, we get to recent information...
A couple of days ago I noticed his blood glucose readings for the beginning of the day (pre-insulin) were dropping a lot more than they used to be. Pre-insulin he was now around 300-320. Even though I was instructed to give him the full 4 and 1/2 units unless 150 or under, I still called my vet with my concerns. She basically told me that I shouldn't micro-manage numbers at home and that one reading couldn't tell her anything. I explained that I was concerned because when giving him 4 and 1/2 units at 500-600, he would drop down to 200, and that if I gave him that same dose in the 300's he'd crash like crazy--at least that's what my senses and logic were screaming at me. She re-assured me that a blood glucose reading in the 300's was still way too high and that he should manage well. So I compromised with myself and gave him 4, but I was still worried that was too much.
Today, 15 hours after his last insulin injection, he was at 313. This was at 3pm. The vet had called me (but only because I hadn't called her first) to check up on Caesar. I explained that I had just tested him and gave her his number. I said that I was very hesitant to give him 4 units again and reiterated my previous worries. She said that we really needed to continue, and that since she was going to be out for the next three days, that I should continue as prescribed (4 units unless under 150) and to do a glucose curve before Tuesday. So I gave him 4 units at 3pm.
I hadn't intended to give him his curve until tomorrow because I'm seven months pregnant and I had been wiped out taking care of him these last few weeks. I figured we both needed some good sleep and 3pm was a little late to start a 12 hour curve. Well he was just as chipper as could be; chirping away at me, devouring his food like it was Christmas dinner, playing, purring, etc. At 7pm he had just flopped over and passed out. It's really humid here, and you know how cats are, so I didn't think too much of that, but I did think it might be a good idea to give him a quick test, especially since I wanted to try and get some sleep early tonight. I took his Blood Glucose. It was 40.
I freaked out. I showed my husband the glucometer and grabbed the Karo syrup. I rubbed it on his gums and noticed he was not really pulling away or fussing like one might think. He licked his lips a bit and I had my husband hold on to him while I called the clinic. It was of course after hours so I was forwarded to the emergency vet clinic. I quickly explained the situation with some brief background on Caesar and they basically told me to get in to their 24 hour clinic as soon as I possibly could. This took about fifteen minutes on the phone. I tested him again and he was in the low 30's.
We got to the clinic and they rushed him right on in. I gave them permission to test his glucose levels and give him an I.V. drip of Dextrose. They wanted to keep him overnight but they wanted to charge me $600+ for the evening. I told them I couldn't afford it and asked what his (hopefully improved) levels were. They said they hadn't tested him again, and asked if I wanted. I told them no since I brought my own kit with me. I tested him right there at 9pm, and he was 133. So he was improving. My concern was that this was only 6 hours after his insulin and he peaks around 10. I asked if I could help him at home and everything I could do for him. They gave me the general rundown and some syringes in case I needed to syringe feed him.
We quickly swung by the grocery store and I got the juiciest and fattest gravy wet food I could find. We got home finally and he devoured an entire can of giblets in gravy. I took his bandage off and he was swarming the empty dry food bowl (my other cat uses) so I cracked open another can and he ate about a third of it. At 11pm I took his blood glucose and it was 280. It's now 1am and he's sleeping on my chair.
I'm not entirely sure if I should have labeled this as a 911 post, however I'm still extremely nervous even though I know his numbers improved. I just took his 10 hour follow up test and he's now at 535. I know they say it's better too low than too high, but what gives? I'm so confused. I feel like I'm just screwing up every which way.
To make matters worse, the vet at the emergency clinic was dumbfounded that my regular vet would put him on such a high dose or let him continue with such a high dose when he was starting to come down. I'm angry, I'm upset, and I'm worried. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Again, I apologize if this doesn't constitute as a 911 anymore, but I'm afraid to sleep.
How often do you see a majestic wild cat taking down a stalk of corn and chowing down? This food is probably 30-50% carbs, maybe even higher, and EXTREMELY low in moisture!
