I did it....got blood out of Calley...not good news

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Kris10mo

Kris10mo

Member Since 2014
Hi all,

I talked with the vet this morning, Calley's thyroid is normal. Good to know...however just makes the picture more bleak. I feed Calley and did her shot like the vet said with the reduced insulin. I tried to get blood before the shot but that didn't happen. She got the shot at 7am. By 8am she was vomiting. I tried to get BG again and I was successful this time.....and got a reading of 264. An hour later at 9am she threw up a huge amount and I tested her again and she was down to 114. I called the vet. She said she is happy the numbers are down but now is almost convinced her throwing up is not hypo related since the numbers are down.

I just tested her again at 12:00 noon and got a reading of 74. She wants me to test throughout the day and give her a call at the end of the day with numbers. I will be watching Calley to see if she gets like she was yesterday. I have been feeding her a lot to make sure the number doesn't go too low.

I will test today and test again tomorrow to see if I can get a better idea of her sugar levels. The vet and I talked about insulins and she did say that Humulin causes the up/down....but she says that since the Lantus didn't work for Calley she is unsure that another long acting one will work and to be honest I don't know that I want to keep trying. I spent $500 yesterday in vet bills and the poor cat is suffering. Vomiting everything it eats, eating voraciously and biting and not wanting to be held or cuddled. She is in pain I think. :(

I'm going on vacation this Friday. If Calley is still with me I will have to have her boarded at a cat hospital so they can check BG before giving shots....to the tune of almost $50/night. I can't afford that. I've called pet sitters and none will do shots and BG checks...it's against their insurance policies...which I understand.

When do I admit defeat? If I thought a different insulin would help...I might give it a go a bit longer....but after two insulins.....I'm not optimistic.

SIGH............

Kristin and Calley who is not doing well. Unless she is in a miraculous remission and I don't know it yet?
 
2pm test and the number is 114 again, so it is starting to rise. I am sitting here watching Calley as she is laying by the water bowl. She is grooming herself...which is a good sign since she hasn't had much to do with taking care of herself for a while.

It was a struggle to get blood. She is not happy with me. But I did it after two strips with not enough blood. :(

Kristin
 
I would not give up Calley or on going back to Lantus. Since it sounds like you may have just started hometesting, you may have missed your optimal dose with the Lantus. With many insulins, if the dose is too high, it can cause a condition called Somogyi rebound. In order to protect itself from becoming hypoglycemic when too much insulin is given, a cat's body will produce extra glucose. So if you were only relying on your vet's tests, it looked like the dose was not working and your vet probably increased it. 6 units twice a day is a very high dose unless there are other health issues going on. Most cats only need 1-2 units twice a day.

If you start over with Lantus, I would suggest that you start back at 1 unit twice a day. Stay at that dose for at least one week and test before every shot. If possible, also test a few times between shots. It will take at least one week for Calley's body to adjust to the dose. Then, if the BG readings are still too high, increase by only 1/2 unit. Again, wait at least one week before dose changes before you determine if you need to increase it more.

If you go back to Lantus before you go on vacation, start at the 1 unit, even if you do not have anyone to hometest. That is a low enough dose that probably will be safe for Calley. If you can start her on it today, then at least you can have a couple days worth of data before you leave.
 
Hi Kristin,

I haven't visited your condo before. Awesome job on getting blood from Calley's ear!! Seriously, that is probably the most stressful part of this entire disease - at least in the beginning. It initially took me and my husband holding Cobb down, me straddling him, and my husband basically holding Cobb's head so I could get his ear. And then, most of the time, we didn't draw any blood that was worth anything. It definitely took some practice. I can now get a drop of blood, by myself, without any help, while I'm half asleep. It is possible!!

It is perfectly normal for a curve to look like an inverted bell. That shows the insulin is doing its job. I don't know much about Humulin (Cobb is on Lantus), but the BG will usually start out high, dip, and then start climbing again as it wears off. And until Calley is regulated, she is going to be hungry and thirsty. It's awesome that she is preening again. It took Cobb months to start doing that.

Lantus is a great insulin for cats. Of course, every cat is different. How long were you on Lantus? How high did the dose get? How quickly was the dose raised? I agree with Lisa, it is quite possible (probable, in fact) that the optimal dose was missed. A lot of vets (mine included) are not really versed in feline diabetes and they don't interpret the numbers as well as they could.

High blood sugar can really make a cat feel awful. Cobb had a great day the other day, and then he bounced from the normal numbers, and it was obvious he was feeling crappy. Hey, we don't feel great every day, right?

Going on vacation is definitely more difficult with a diabetic cat. A lot of vet techs will come to your house and give shots if you pay them. Have you asked your vet if she has a tech who might be willing to do that?

Don't give up yet! You're doing awesome, and you're getting the most difficult part down. Don't worry about interpreting the numbers...we can help with that. The people on this site are wonderful. They live and breathe FD. I've found their advice and guidance invaluable in taking care of Cobb.

~Suzanne
 
Thank you Lisa for the info. When Calley first started taking Lantus she was at a dose of 1 unit/2x daily for a few weeks and it did not help. The dose was increased gradually over four months. During that time there was no changes...the drinking and peeing continued to be way high. The only thing I can think of that is different now than before when she was on Lantus...is the diet. She was still on dry kibble then. I didn't start the wet food until after I started the Humulin...I think. I can't remember the exact time I started wet food...but I think it was after I changed insulins. Would that have made a difference?

I will see what Calley's numbers are at 4 and then again at 6 and then I will call the vet and see about changing insulins.

Thanks all for the continued support.
 
Absolutely! That could have made a huge difference. Dry is too high carb.

We had Cobb on dry for the first 7 months after he was diagnosed. A "diabetic" dry cat food. His numbers didn't budge from the 500-600s. Ever. Not until I found this site.

Cobb has a complicating factor to his diabetes, but once we switched him to low carb wet food, his numbers did come down. Slowly, but they definitely came down. When I found FDMB, we had just reached 10units of Lantus. His numbers hadn't budged. We had previously been on ProZinc and switched, like you, because we didn't see any difference in his BGs. When I joined here, I adamantly told everyone that Cobb would not eat wet food. He refused. They told me it was the only way to get his numbers down. So we switched him to wet food, and started over on the dose (in hopes of finding his optimal dose under 10u). We climbed back up, but he was starting to show MUCH better numbers with the food switch. Not normal, but with the complicating factors, DEFINITELY better.
 
Now that you're feeding her more be careful to not feed too much that now she throws up. My non-diabetic will throw up if I give him too much at once, I feed him 1/4 a can (3oz) then about 15 minutes the other 1/4 to complete his meal (1/2 can). If he gets his whole 1/2 can he'll throw up! Like everyone says, this is all a dance; getting the right BG numbers, the right insulin dosage, the right food amount, it's all a dance! :lol:
 
4pm test reads at 237. So it is climbing. How much is normal for BG to climb per hour? Is there such a number?

Kristin and Calley
 
I could not get blood from Calley tonight before her dose, wouldn't you know? :( I called the vet with the BG readings I got all day and she was happy with them and said that her vomiting is not related to being hypoglycemic since the numbers were so good all day. So what is causing the vomiting?

The vet is saying she doesn't know what is causing the vomiting and is very concerned that it is causing her vomiting.

Thoughts?
 
Have you tried a different low carb wet food? Perhaps Calley doesn't like the flavor of is allergic to something in the particular food you're feeding right now.
 
Calley had a can of the vet's Science Hill food(I think that was the brand) while she was at the ER yesterday from the hypo seizure. She ate the whole can in just a few minutes. Then she didn't have any more insulin all afternoon and night. Then this morning I gave her about half can of Friskies...the same flavor she has been eating for months now. An hour later she threw up all the food. An hour after that she threw up a whole bunch more...which I don't think was food related.

But what is it related to?

Vet had me lower the insulin level tonight down to 3 units and she ate another 1/2 can I think. I gave her food through out the day too.

I can't fight her every two hours to draw blood...I just can't. Too upsetting to her and to myself.

I will do my best to get blood from her tomorrow morning before I feed or give insulin to see where she is at +12 hours.
 
PS...the drinking and the peeing is still greatly reduced. It's the eating that is still out of control. and her furr is looking unkempt again. ugh
 
Oh, I am so happy that you got blood. You are now quite the vampire! We all know how hard this process is...congrats!

As for the other issues, the folks who have been here longer than me will be best to provide you with advice. I just wanted to say congrats.

Sleep well!
Lydette and the kids
 
If you get a pre-shot, and when possible, a test around the nadir, that is enough testing to keep Calley reasonably safe.

Do you have a hypo kit ready, just in case? You need Karo syrup, high carb gravied food, an oral syringe, extra test strips, and locations of 24 emergency vets.
 
I have syrup to give Calley if she seizes again. Thing is I am not home that much and was just a fluke that I caught her this time. I am here first thing in the morning and then leave by 7am....and not to return until 6pm. I won't be able to test during the day soon as I return to teaching in a few weeks. After that if she vomits and goes low during the day....no one will be here to help her.

Another reason to think this is just so hard on her.

Kristin
 
Kristin,

There are a lot of people who work full time and get those midday tests every day. That's okay. As long as you get them occasionally, like on the weekend or overnight, you can still see how Calley is responding to the insulin.

It took Cobb a few months before his fur looked nice and felt soft again. The good news is that Calley is starting to preen again. That means she is feeling better, and the fur improvement will come.

Do you have a timed feeder? If not, a lot of people have good suggestions on them. That way, until you get comfortable shooting Calley and leaving, you can leave her a medium carb food if you're afraid she's going to go too low and you won't be there to boost her back up. I know hypo was one of my biggest concerns when Cobb was first diagnosed. My husband and I worked the same hours so there was no one at the house for 8-9 hours a day. There would have been no way to know how low Cobb was going until we got home. I just had to hope he would be okay, and he always was. Once you get to know Calley's patterns on a particular insulin, you can set the timer to offer food around +5, +6, if you're afraid the nadir is going to hit and be too low. I'm sure others will have some excellent suggestions as well.

I know it's hard to leave Calley during the day and worry the whole time. We've all been there! ((hugs)) It will be okay!!

~Suzanne
 
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