Introducing Poopy :)

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Teresa and Poopy

Teresa and Poopy

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Hi everyone!

Poopy is an eleven year old black male cat diagnosed with diabetes 12/17/11. He's on ProZinc, currently 1 unit 12/12. Since I'm finally able to get blood to test for glucose, thought I'd join us up for this forum as I do not want to follow the vet's advice on insulin amounts (He's also not home testing friendly and we will be visiting another vet for a "well kitty" visit later this week as the he sounds home testing friendly, or at least open to it).

Took Poopy to the regular vet yesterday for his check up. He gained 1 lb. 3 oz., which is fantastic! He weighed 20 lbs. before this hit and weighed in at 11 pounds when diagnosed. While his initial diagnosed BG was 404, at his check up it was +4-5 233. He was incredibly stressed, however, meowling the whole time we were there. Not a happy camper considering his last stay.

Poopy is a love, but isn't so fond of strangers...especially when they poke and prod him. He tries to return the indignation with his teeth.

The vet didn't think I'd be able to give Poopy his twice daily shots since they have to sedate him to examine him. Ha! Poopy has been a trooper for the shots, quietly draped across my lap while getting his shot.

Back to the shots....the initial amount was 1 unit every 12 hours, a half hour after eating. The vet said to up it to 2 units every 12 hours. Not so sure that's a wise move, doubling the dose, so thought I'd ask your advice. My spreadsheet doesn't have many numbers as I'm just now starting to be successful with the poking for enough blood to test. The syringes I have are U40.

Thanks and it's great to be here! :)
 
Hi Teresa,

Welcome to PZI! (I post here and on Health but most PZIers just post here.) It is a small friendly group that is busiest in the am and pm. You will be able to dose advice and feedback here better than Health because people who don't use PZI generally don't give dose advice. But if you ever have an emergency, be sure to post on Health too for more eyes.

I replied to your thread on Health also. Again, congratulations on testing success. As I said, I would stick with your one unit and see what mid cycle numbers you can get. Then you can fine tune things. (thank goodness you didn't up the dose - your pmps is just about perfect!
 
Thank you, Sue, now and for all your prior help. I really couldn't have done all this without your and the others help. :)

Poor little Poopy. He'll be getting stuck every two hours now for a bit. Watch him gain even more weight this week due to all the extra treats! LOL
 
Hi Teresa and poopy cat_pet_icon :YMHUG:

welcome to pzi its good you are trying a different vet, home testing is a must if your going to help poopy! my vet didn't like home testing either thought it would stress callie out ??? you can't tell me if your cat would hypo it wouldn't stress poopy and you out! this board and the people on it are a God send 1 unit sounds good to me start low go slow give it time to set in and test mid cycle to see what poopys bg is doing , just take it day by day ;-) again welcome from callie an me :YMHUG:
 
Hi Teresa...I want to welcome you and introduce myself. I am Kim and my cat is Kitty. We have been here for about 11 months. Kitty is 16 and very complex, but with the help of this forum, she is doing very well and is close to being regulated. FD is a very complex disease, but it is very manageable. My vet was not fond of home testing either, but I made it very clear in the beginning that I was going to hometest. Kitty now gets dosed TID, three times a day, due to her complex nature...but, when she was on bid (twice a day dosing) she always had high preshots. She was consistently in the mid 300s to high 400s for preshots. Over the 5 months she was dosed bid, she might have had two preshots in the 200s. Sometimes, I found it hard to continue to test her, knowing that her bg was always high enough to give insulin. BUT, thankfully I continued to test...on two occassions, she had preshots below 100. So, you NEVER can assume that giving insulin without testing is safe.

So, GOOD on you for testing and not following your vet's advice.

On the increase from one unit to two. That is a big increase. Even if you determined an increase was warranted, you should not increase by 100 percent. It would be much more responsible to go slow and increase in .2 increments. Small differences in insulin can make a big difference, so at no time would it ever be advisable to increase by a full unit.

Once again, Welcome and I look forward to following Poopy and offering and advice and support that I can!

Kim
 
Hi and welcome to pzi.land. I agree that it's better to.get some at.home numbers (including midcycle) before you increase your dose, and to increase.slowly. Sometimes even .1u can make a difference in how your cat reacts.
 
Hi and welcome to our group!

The home testing will get easier, I promise. Once you get the hang of it you will be able to know exactly how Poopy is doing at any given moment and will be able to keep him safe. Knowledge is power.

You are off to a great start, we look forward to getting to know you and Poopy.

Robin
 
Hi Teresa and Poopy and welcome to the PZI board
I was kinda following your post on Health
Looking forward to getting to know you both better
and wonderful on the home testing!! (and new vet!!)
keep up the good work
and dont forget to breathe!
we are all here for you!

Denise and Shakes
 
Welcome to PZILand! Glad you and Poppy found this board. Alex and I have been at this dance since April and we still struggle, but all in all, Alex feels good and that's what it's all about, right?
 
Hello Teresa and Poopy, welcome to PZI.
I am Angela and my cat is Henry who BTW looks very much like Poopy. We have been here since Oct. 2010 and Henry is a complex kitty too and has a different shooting schedule of 10/14 instead of 12/12 due to high AMPS and lower PMPS which used to consistently be his pattern until recently. We are still trying to get regulated, when we started Henry was 500+ every morning, now he starts out in 300's-400's.
Testing does get easier with time and your kitty will become more used to it; be sure to warm his ear with sock filled with rice heated for < 1 min in microwave or a empty pill bottle filled with warm water held behind the ear. The ear also will start to bleed more easily after you have been testing for awhile.
I would stick with 1 unit a little longer to give it a chance to work, a jump from 1 to 2 units is a pretty big jump.
 
I appreciate all of you being here. It helps ease this struggle quite a bit! :-D

Poopy is doing much better, playing and interacting more than he was prior. I make sure some of his play entices him up on his hind feet as I think he's lost a bit of muscle use...but no ketones! And here I thought he was just becoming an old fuddy duddy when really he was sick and not feeling well. He's gaining weight back and his fur seems to be softer and fluffier. His dandruff has lessened as well, until we go to the vet's then it's all over the place.

When the vet said to double his dose, I knew I wasn't going to be following the vet's directions. Doubling it just doesn't seem right without a history of BGs to base it on.

I do believe the testing will become easier, and more successful, the longer I stick with it. And I do believe Poopy will adjust to it as well...in time. We just have to plug along until we get there. :smile:

Angela, I agree Henry and Poopy look much alike. Is Henry a huge cat as well? Poopy is quite large, and folks often ask me what type of dog he is when we go for walks with Poopy in his halter and on a leash. It's funny when I insist he's a cat and they are in disbelief. :smile:

I'm curious...sometimes it seems Poopy's eyes are a bit cloudy. Am I worrying over nothing or is this something I should pay more attention too? I don't notice it in my other cat...but may not be paying as much attention either.

Thank you again, everyone, for being here and making us, Poopy and me, feel so welcome. :smile:
 
Hi Teresa,

Cloudy eyes require a vet visit, it is a symptom of something I can't remember right now, but it can be serious.

I love Poopy's pic, he is a big handsome guy.
 
Hi Theresa and Poopy!
We’re late to the party, but just wanted to say hi from Asher and I.
Welcome! :YMHUG:
-Donna and Asher
 
Teresa,
Yes, Henry is a big boy. He was always around 17-18 lbs. but before his diagnosis of FD, he was up to just shy of 20 lbs. for a few months, then when he went to vet for something else, he was down to 14 lbs and had some dandruff also. He regained about a pound after I started giving him insulin, and now hes ranges between 15-15.5 lbs. and is maintaining his weight. He has a very large frame, big paws, big long fluffy tail, hes built like a Maine Coon and I suspect he is partially Maine Coon. People used to mistake him for a dog too or ask what kind of cat is that?
Cloudy eyes can be cataracts and also a symptom of Glaucoma, Henry was diagnosed with Glaucoma about a year before the FD diagnosis and his eye pressure was hard to control with 2 kinds of drops, but after he started insulin, his pressure got in the normal range with eye drops. I think FD can contribute to developing Glaucoma or make it worse.
 
The eye cloudiness isn't constant, which is why I was asking. I was thinking perhaps it had to do with his BGs or something. I never noticed it prior to him going on insulin. I'll watch him a bit more carefully.

When he was at the vets on the 17th, they checked him for everything (organ functions, ketones, the whole shebang). Everything was A-OK except the diabetes. I'll have to ask if they checked his eyes as part of the testing.

Another good BG session! Woohoo!
 
Welcome to the board!

With my sugar kitty, Louie, if his sugar is above 350 his eyes look glassy, or extra reflective...don't know if that's what you're describing as cloudy or not...
 
Cloudy, for me, is dullish, not as reflective, misty, almost like there's a thin veil (like in the old movies when they would put a thin sheet of silk over the camera lens to shoot the "glamour" shots of the female stars...softened the edges) over or in his eyes. Not like a cloud formation I'd see in the sky, and not as dense as sky clouds. Perhaps I shouldn't be using the term cloudy. :smile: When it's misting outside, everything looks a bit duller, softer edges, etc., not as crisp or clear. That's more what it looks like. And it's not often I see it, it just catches me off guard when I do see it. It can be gone moments later. Maybe I'm overreacting, being hyper vigilant?
 
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