Introducing Julie

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Ashley

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Hi everyone,

Just wanted to introduce myself and our cat Julie. She was diagnosed with diabetes about six weeks ago. So far her treatment seems to be going well.

Julie was always a bit chunky, though we had managed to get her down to about 12 lbs. from 13.5 several years ago. Earlier this year, we noticed that she had lost some weight, but thought that was due to a new dry food that both our cats hated and barely ate.

About four months ago we started to notice a large increase in her urination, less social behavior, and finally her grooming really deteriorated. We finally quit dithering when we noticed one of her claws was so long it was nearly ingrown. The vet ran several million tests and found she had a large amount of glucose in her urine and a blood glucose over 500 mg/dL. On top of that she had lost almost five pounds, which really shocked me! I honestly thought she had lost maybe a pound.

The vet gave us a couple of options of insulins. We chose Lantus and started with 1 unit twice a day plus a low-carb diet. Initially we used Hill m/d dry and wet. We still give her about 1/3 cup per day of the dry but have had to change the canned food several times as she has refused to eat each type. Currently she's eating canned tuna and other meats, but starting today I'm going to mix in some EVO to see if she'll eat that.

We did her first glucose curve at the vet's about a month ago, and her BG dropped to under 30 about four hours after her morning injection. Based on that, the vet had me drop down to only a single unit per day. Since then, I've started doing BG testing at home and did my first curve last Monday. Her BG ranged from 293 in the morning (pre-injection) up to 332 two hours later, then down to 180 and 149. It then stayed right around 150 through 1 AM that night. The next morning it measured 273 at 6 AM.

Since then I've measured her BG every morning and it has been between 185 and 200 each time.

Anyway, I feel like she's had a good start. I guess her BG is not yet ideal, but it's certainly much improved. I hope I can find a canned cat food she's happy with soon, but besides that she's obviously feeling much better. She's much more sociable, is peeing like a normal cat instead of a small horse, and her fur is back to a silky, shiny state as opposed to the unkempt, somewhat oily style she was sporting. Oh, and she's gained about half a pound back.

Thanks for listening, and I welcome any suggestions.
 
Cats need insulin shots twice a day in most cases, so instead of keeping the same dose and giving one shot a day, you can reduce the dose and give 2 shots a day.
Lantus works best when consistent, so a lesser amount every 12 hours, will get you much better numbers.

If you go to the Lantus/Levemir group on this board, there are several stickys at the top of the page with lots of info for you, plus the people using those insulins will see your posts and be able to better help you.

Welcome to the site.
 
while twice a day dosing is the norm, could you clarify how long it took for her to get back to her preshot values? It seems like you have some extra long duration there...

Jen
 
Welcome to the boards! I'm two weeks into my journey with a diagnosed sugar-kitty, and I can say that you have come to right place. I know without question that my Willie wouldn't be doing as well as he is without the support and advice of the wonderful people here.

One suggestion on the moist food... chicken liver powder can work well as an incentive to get a kitty to eat a new food. Feline Instincts sells one, though I'm sure you can find it elsewhere as well. Beef works well too, but many kitties don't tolerate beef. If you are able to transition Julie to entirely wet food, I think you will see some improvement.

Good to see that she is making improvements! Definitely check out the stickies in Lantus Land, and take a look at the spreadsheet template. It is a very helpful tool, and the majority of the work is already done for you!

Best wishes to you and Julie both!

Christie and Willie
 
Gayle and Shadoe said:
Cats need insulin shots twice a day in most cases, so instead of keeping the same dose and giving one shot a day, you can reduce the dose and give 2 shots a day.
Lantus works best when consistent, so a lesser amount every 12 hours, will get you much better numbers.

If you go to the Lantus/Levemir group on this board, there are several stickys at the top of the page with lots of info for you, plus the people using those insulins will see your posts and be able to better help you.

Welcome to the site.
Thanks for the info. I hadn't noticed the insulin-specific groups. Lots of great info I'm digesting now.

I discussed doing a 1/2 unit shot twice a day with my vet when we originally dropped the dose, but she was concerned that it would be difficult to measure that amount accurately using the syringes I have (30 gauge, 1/2 cc). The pharmacy near my home didn't have any syringes with 1/2 unit graduations when I got this box, but I see the Lantus group has directions and pictures on measuring small doses. I think I'll give that a try.

Thanks again.
 
Jen & Squeak said:
while twice a day dosing is the norm, could you clarify how long it took for her to get back to her preshot values? It seems like you have some extra long duration there...

Jen
She measured 293 mg/dL at 07:15 Monday morning. I took the last measurement of the curve at 1 AM that night and it was 157. That morning (Tuesday), about 6 1/2 hours later at 07:25 she measured 273.
 
KCatty said:
Welcome to the boards! I'm two weeks into my journey with a diagnosed sugar-kitty, and I can say that you have come to right place. I know without question that my Willie wouldn't be doing as well as he is without the support and advice of the wonderful people here.

One suggestion on the moist food... chicken liver powder can work well as an incentive to get a kitty to eat a new food. Feline Instincts sells one, though I'm sure you can find it elsewhere as well. Beef works well too, but many kitties don't tolerate beef. If you are able to transition Julie to entirely wet food, I think you will see some improvement.

Good to see that she is making improvements! Definitely check out the stickies in Lantus Land, and take a look at the spreadsheet template. It is a very helpful tool, and the majority of the work is already done for you!

Best wishes to you and Julie both!

Christie and Willie
Thanks for the advice on the liver powder, I hadn't thought of that.

I'm setting up the spreadsheet now :).
 
Most definitely get the syringes with the 1/2 unit markings because increases are often only .25u, so you will have a doozy of a time trying to measure a dose of .25u or .75u or 1.25u ...
It will make a HUGE difference for you, and you can even get a magnifier to help with seeing your measurements better.

it's better on the body to give the same amount of insulin and give every 12 hours.
Think of the heat in your home... turn it up to 95degrees for half the day and then turn it down to 45 degrees for the other half. Way better to have a nice 70 all day long.
 
You should be able to get 31 gauge 3/10cc syringes with 1/2 unit marks from most Pharmacies,
even if they have to order them for you.

INSIST that you see the words '1/2 unit marks' or something similar on the box.

Some pharmacists will insist no such thing exists and will try to sell you 1/2cc capacity
syringes instead.

You can also get syringes with 1/2 unit marks from online sources....Hocks.com is one.
 
Karen & Smokey(GA) said:
You should be able to get 31 gauge 3/10cc syringes with 1/2 unit marks from most Pharmacies,
even if they have to order them for you.

INSIST that you see the words '1/2 unit marks' or something similar on the box.

Some pharmacists will insist no such thing exists and will try to sell you 1/2cc capacity
syringes instead.

You can also get syringes with 1/2 unit marks from online sources....Hocks.com is one.

Heh. Thanks for the flashback to the argument I had with two different pharmacy techs at Walmart a week or so ago. :) I said I needed U100 syringes, short needle, 1/2 unit markings with the highest possible gauge. They repeatedly brought me the wrong ones, yelled at me when I kept repeating I needed short needle ("but you said half! that is long!!). After one of them snootily told me I really needed to be bringing something in with me to get the right thing, I pointed out that if she was so lacking in knowledge of the products she was selling, from what I could see there was a pharmacist on staff who surely could assist me. The pharm was very pleasant and got me what I needed in no time. She let me open the box to confirm the 1/2 unit markings. Got the Relion ones... only $13something with tax for 100.
 
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