Introducing Garlic (and me, her mama, Trina)

[katymae16]

Howdy! I'm not technically NEW here, but I joined a while ago and apparently my old login info isn't good anymore. And since I (obviously) wasn't active, why not start over?

My sugar kitty is Garlic Junior. She is 11 years old (+/-: not 100% sure her DOB) and has been diabetic since March 2007. She is a little insulin resistant, but currently doing well on Lantus with my own home-grown protocol. I developed it as a result of having to deal with the fact that she has 4 feline siblings and is a giant pig (in addition to the insulin resistance) who cleans up every crumb of food left behind by her siblings. I attended pharmacy school, so I'm very familiar with human physiology and pharmacokinetics; translating my knowledge to this brat has been a challenge, and I think/hope I have done right by her.

I've used the Binky's food list(s) - we switched to all wet when Garlic lost enough weight and gained enough energy to jump up and pig out on the EVO I thought was safe from her - since she was diagnosed, and I test her sugar at least twice a day. It occurs to me that it's been a while since we ran a curve.We did try to convert to Vetsulin in late 2008, but she was more resistant to that than she is to Lantus.

I came back to see if I could get some updated food info, and also to start doing vet research. My husband and I are planning to move to the Roswell, Georgia area in the next year or so, and I want to get a head start on finding a good vet who is serious about feline diabetes. Our current vet is good, but they think of home testing as a sort of "nice bonus" rather than something they *actively* encourage for their patients. I'd rather find a more proactive vet once we relocate, and I want to be on top of nutrition in the meantime.

So that's us!

 

[janelle and Nomad]

Hi and welcome back! Some humans patients, as you probably know better than me, also have idiopathic reactions to certain insulins. There are several DNA test available to help identify which meds. Would be better for individual patients. There is a facility member at NovaSouthern University that has been doing research on this. Too bad we don't have that technology available for cats yet. They have the technical knowlege available to manufacture cat insulin but the economics is the barrier. I once even exchanged e-mails with one of the pharm. Research departments and the barrier against making feline specific insulin was more economics more than anything else. Maybe we can find a rich person who could fund feline diabstes research.

No human health care provider would ever prescribe insulin without educating the patient about BG testiing. The mind set of some vets still bewilders me. I hope you get some feedback for finding a new vet in GA. There is a association of vets that do feline only practices. I can try to get you that info.

 

[judy and squamee(GA)]

Hi and welcome! You are obviously well informed and taking great care of your lucky cat. I was never able to find a good vet for my cat, it was most frustrating. But other people here have, so maybe you will be able to as well. Good luck and keep posting! Ask us anything. If you want to share your BG results with us, you could put up a spread sheet.