Introducing Oreo and his mom.

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puddersmom

Member Since 2013
Hi I am the proud Mom of a black and white kitty named Oreo. His nick name is pudders. That's how I got my screen name. My mom started calling him puddy cat and it would drive me nuts. But than we moved out. And I missed hearing it. So I started calling him pudders. I think it fits him better than puddy cat.

Oreo is 5 years old and was diagnosed last April. Its been a very long road for him and I both. We can't seem to get him regulated. His blood sugar when we test it at the vet is between 300-500. I always feel so bad for him because he HATES the vet. I just got a home tester last week at Walmart. So I am going to start home testing him once I get the lantes pen to test his blood. It will be interesting to see what it is at home. Oreo is currently on 4 units of insulin. So I am hoping we can get that down. Or get him completely off.

He has been on dry food all his life. So tonight we started the transition to wet food. I was a little nervous about this because when he was diagnosed he didn't want anything to do with the wet food. So today I picked up some Fancy Fest and got some flavors I thought he would like. He loves tuna. So I got some fish flavors. And he is always after my chicken when I have it so I got that. To my surprise he licked his bowl clean. And very proudly gave himself a bath when he was done. And looked at me like that was good mom. So I am hoping within the next month he will be on wet food.

I am excited to see what this new journey will bring us. And hoping it will bring back my playful little boy I remember before he started getting sick.
 
Welcome!

Whoa!!! - Good for you to take charge and start testing! BUT - You want to do that before making lots of diet changes, as he may drop 100 points from that alone.

Also, 100% fish isn't optimal due to the contaminents fish retain - ex mercury. You'll want to slowly introduce other foods to expand his choices.

Please check the stickie post on Hypos and be prepared with oral syringe, high carb food, working glucometern and at least 50 test strips in reserve, in case you need to treat him for hypoglycemia - it can kill quickly.
 
Hello and Welcome!
I am sure you are learning a lot here. I love how positive you are. What kind of insulin are you using? 4 units a day seems high., if lantus it's way too much to start with. We start low and go slow, usually 1 u. every 12 hrs. if lantus. Because you are switching to wet food from dry and haven't began testing, hold off on the insulin. It is like shooting blind and it's dangerous. His sugars are going to drop from the food switch alone.

Many people who are this site have had their cats go into remission
and their cat's diabetes is controlled by food alone. The people on this site are committed to seeing you through
healthy success with your kitty.

After you start testing, you will need a spread sheet so the experts on here can advise you on dosage. I am going to post links
for each thing mentioned. Please try not to be overwhelmed. It's a lot of info to take in. You seem though up for the challenge.

Spread sheet link: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopi ... =6&t=18207 (spread sheet)

Testing can be a challenge, at first. Make sure you heat the ear. rice or oatmeal in a sock heated in a microwave will work. I use a neck warmer.
Give a treats before,after , freeze dried chicken or other no carb goodie. They will actually start looking forward to test and shot time.
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=86436&p=925576&hilit=testing+ear#p925576 (testing tips)
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=47485&p=515124&hilit=+Video#p515124 (home testing difficult cats)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8 (ear)

Here is some info on food:
http://felinediabetes.com/diet.htm (Food Info)
http://catinfo.org/docs/Tips for Transitioning PDF 1-14-11.pdf (Food Info)
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Food Chart Public 9-22-12.pdf (wet food carb list)

You are going to do great!
 
Hello to you and to Oreo/Pudders,

I love your positive 'can do' attitude. You're going to do just fine! :-D

I don't want to dampen your enthusiasm here, but do just want you to slow down a tad...
BJM is absolutely right. It is vital that you do not remove the dry food until you are hometesting.

Dry food can really escalate blood glucose levels in some cats. So removing dry food can really reduce blood glucose levels. That means that the insulin dose prescribed before removing dry food could be too high; and that could be dangerous.

Once a cat is on insulin the sequence is; 1. Learn to hometest. 2. Phase out dry food whilst monitoring the effect of that on the blood glucose levels (and being prepared to reduce insulin as necessary).

In fact, it may be that your cat's insulin dose is already too high.
A couple questions for you here:
What insulin is Oreo on?
And how did your vet arrive at that dose of 4 units?

Welcome aboard!
 
Oreo is on Lantus. He started on 2 units I believe this summer in July. Before Sunday he was up to 3. Last Thursday I had taken in some urine to the vet because I thought he had a bladder infection. Sure enough he did. They also said he had a lot of sugar still in his urine. So they wanted him to come in for a recheck. He doesn't go in very often because he hates them. So I had that set up for Tuesday. Well Sunday he was acting goofy. And I couldn't get the pen to shoot him to work right. So I freaked and took him to the ER vet. Had I known about places like this or would of thought to call my friend that has a diabetic cat. I would of done that instead. When he was there they gave him a full work up and his sugar was over 400. So they told me to increase his insulin to 4 units. I talked to his regular vet Monday morning and she felt comfortable with the change. So that's what I been doing. When I contacted DCIN they felt too that Oreo was on to much. But Jennifer suggested getting Oreo tested regularly and on wet food first than tackle the insulin issue. Oreo is kind of like me and is stubborn. So I am doing the wet food thing slow and mixing it with his dry. Going to do that for about a month. That is what his vet suggested.
 
Hi and welcome to the forum!

Please start home testing as soon as possible.. the wet food can make his blood sugar drop rapidly and you dont want a hypo!

Are you still having issues with the lancing device? You could try just using the lancets on their own.
 
I am going to start testing tomorrow. I got the device tonight. The people at Walmart said it was easy to use. And it looked a lot easier than the one my mom gave me. I am going to stay on top of testing. The last thing I want to do is hurt my baby boy. I am doing the transition slowly as that is what my vet suggested. Because Oreo tends to be picky. But so far he seems to like it. I am also excited to see what his sugars are at home verses the vet. He was tested at home once and was 179 or 279. I was very proud of that. Just hope he gets better. And turns back into the lively cat I remember.

Niki and pudders.
 
Yay good job! Their ears don't have a lot of nerve endings and are pretty tough so unless you hit a vein or the same spot over and over again and it gets bruised, it shouldn't hurt. If anything they just don't like you playing too much with the ears.

Let us know how you get on and we can work on a spreadsheet with you!
 
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