In process of diagnosis, need advice

Status
Not open for further replies.
Kelsi Rae

Kelsi Rae

Member Since 2019
hi everyone,
My girl Maddie, around 9 years old, went in for a UTI a few weeks ago and they found glucose in her urine. Her blood glucose levels were in the 400s (nonfasting, had eaten around 5-6 hours before appointment). After antibiotics and a few days of switching her food from dry to fancy feast pate, her fasting blood glucose was 236. The vet is recommending to give her a month on the new food and then retest. I’m afraid to wait and put her body under stress of hyperglycemia, but it does seem like she’s doing better with the new food...any advice on how to proceed based on your experiences?

Thank you!
 
Not long, we switched her over last Wednesday I think. Her fasting blood sugar test was Saturday morning.
 
So he was on his new diet maybe two three days, usually a week or 10 days will give you a better idea of how he's doing if it were me I wouldn't wait a whole month before starting insulin if his numbers are still high with the new diet I would start shooting him

Are you home testing? If you are not I will strongly recommend you do then you can see how he's really doing at home ( test at vet are usually a bit high because of stress) and you won't have to wait a whloe month before knowing how he is
 
Do you have any suggestions for how to start home testing? What equipment I would need and how to find out what numbers are healthy?
 
Kelsi Rae said:
Do you have any suggestions for how to start home testing? What equipment I would need and how to find out what numbers are healthy?
Click to expand...

It would be very good that you home test that way you can see if his blood glucose goes down to normal numbers ( that would be under 120 ) and if not you will have already learned how to do it for when you start giving insulin

For home testing you will need:

A Blood glucose monitor (human monitor is ok and the srips are cheaper)
Test strips for the monitor (each monitor has it's own strips)
Lancets; a lancet pen probably came with your meter. You can use this pen or just hold the lancet for a "free hand" stick
OPTIONAL but usually very helpfull a warm washcloth or a rice-filled sock that has been heated in microwave for 15 seconds - CHECK THE TEMPERATURE ON YOUR WRIST
Facial tissue or cotton ball to apply pressure to the puncture site after the test
Some treats to give to him afterwards so that he starts associating the testing with a good thing and eventually like it or at least accept it as the necessary evil for getting a treat
Lots of patience

Janet has a very good video on how to do it

And here's a link with a lot of information about home testing and some other photos and videos http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-test.htm
 
Thank you! I bought the Relion Prime and tested her this morning, she did great. Her numbers are about the same today as they were last week at the vet (210 today, 237 last week). I'm told the human meters can sometimes run a little lower.
 
Congratulations on your tests :)

Good job, try and monitor him for a couple of days, try and test him before he eats and then a couple of hours after he ate to see how his blood sugar behaves
 
I'm so frustrated and upset. We were going to do a curve today but her blood sugar has spiked (379 this morning) and she appears to have a UTI again--peed outside the litterbox, blood visible. Getting a urine sample and taking her to the vet again tomorrow. The vet I spoke to this morning said that they don't always do insulin for kitties who have blood glucose levels consistently under 250. It wasn't Maddie's vet, it was another vet at the practice, so I hope that there's something we can do since the diabetes seems to be causing frequent UTIs :(

I posted this in a new thread but I haven't heard from anyone...maybe continuing this thread is better. Still getting used to the forum, thanks for your patience.
 
I'm sorry you haven't had a timely response. My opinion is that insulin should be started now. I think that frequent UTIs and this morning's BG are indicators that she needs it, even if the dose is small.

We can help you best if you set up your signature and a spreadsheet like the one we use here:
  • click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
  • click on "signature" in the men that drops down
  • type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using /glucose meter you're using/what he eats/any other meds or health issues he has.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
 
Sorry to hear about his UTI, that is probably raising his numbers a bit, but with numbers over 200 even with the low carb food ( I'm assuming you already transition him and he's on wet low carb only) I agree with Kris that you need to start insulin now probably with a small dose.

One more thing UTI, specially with diabetic cats are hard to get rid of, they usually need several rounds of antibiotics, and a close follow up, usually what is done is you give the antibiotics and wait between 10-15 days and make another culture to be sure he's clean, depending on the result you either give another round of antibiotics or wait for a month and again make another culture and so on
 
Thank you. She's on fancy feast pates now. We did another culture right after finishing the antibiotics, and it was clean, but no follow up after. I'll look at creating a spreadsheet and a signature after work. Thank you for your help, I don't mean to over-post and sound the alarms, she's just never had any health problems until last month and I'm not sure how to react when something like this comes up. New territory is hard and it's hard to see her feeling sick.
 
Don't worry is ok to ask or just to comment I think we all been there and we get it, it all comes like an avalanche and is not easy to deal with it
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top