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mbeach

mbeach

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Our adopted kitty, Lilly Mae, was diagnosed about 2 weeks ago. She is about 13 pounds, 5 years old, an orange tiger. We noticed her drinking and urinating excessively - so one night we grabbed her and I checked her blood sugar (I'm diabetic, so always on the lookout) - sure enough it was 476! I gave it a couple of days (it was a Friday night) and checked again - yep - still 475... took her to the vet the next day. Fructasamine (sp?) definately showed poor control. She was started on Lantus 2 units 2x/day... We switched over to wet food primarily (I leave about .5 cup of dry out - I'm afraid she'll go low while I'm at work & not have food) prior to seeing the vet. Her blood sugar this morning was 226 - much improved :) I'm going to try and do a curve this weekend... She is improving, no longer symptomatic at least - a good sign.

We are doing well overall, she has no problems with her insulin shots. Biggest issue is trying to get a blood sugar - she does NOT like me messing with her ears.. It takes two of us some time to get it to work - of course by then she is very unhappy :( I'm not sure about trying the paws, seems unsanitary - does anyone do this?

After I do the curve, I'm thinking about calling the vet and asking about potentially going to 1 unit - depends on what I see... interested in opinions once I get this...

I feel blessed to have found this forum.. Thanks for all the help and love :) Michele
 
Welcome, congratulations on already hometesting and you can share supplies :mrgreen:

The ear is the best place in my opinion, I worry about the litterbox stuff with the paw, well, also I worry about claws. Start giving really great treats when you test her ear. She'll learn to associate test time with treat.

My Kiki was terrible at testing and shots when I adopted her, now she will do anything if Temptation treats are in view. I'm working on trying to test my other newbie Ebony, that's been difficult, but trying.

What kind of insulin do you take, also Lantus? Are you familiar with the fact that it likes consistency with dose and time and things like that? Going to 1U might be in order, as you mentioned, but it would be best if you could get some preshot numbers and spot checks at 3, 4, or 6 hours after the shot. Dose is based on nadir (lowest point).
 
You have certainly found the best place for information. The people on this board know what they are doing! They were so helpful when my cat was diagnosed. My cat is off the juice now.

We changed from dry food to wet food so his BG probably went down fast just due to that. We started on 2 units and went up to 4 in a very short time. I think the change in diet really helped to lower his need for insulin and with the higher dose, his shed filled quickly but i did not know that since i did not hometest. So with no symptoms prior, he had a hypo. Be ready for the hypos. The list on this site saved my cat because i was prepared. In hindsight, I would start with a low dose and do only small increments as suggested by this board. I would also hometest from the beginning. After the seizure, I would give him a shot unless i could test.

We had to get a flashlight that is called the headlight so that our arms are free. I quit using the lancets because i could not get any blood with those. We had to get a Relion meter because it used a smaller sample that the AccuCheck Aviva that i bought. We use his ears but they have to be warm to get any blood. I have 4 cats and 1 had MRSA in his bladder so I did not want any pricks to the feet with all of them in the litter boxes. The trick to the testing was when i found free dried chicken treats. They really liked their other treats but the freezedried treats are magic. Everybody wolfs them down like they have not been fed in weeks. So get those. One of mine did not like them at first but when she caught on, she was right there with the others. I give small pieces of treats when we sit down to test, while we test and after we test. Works like a charm.
 
I test my Kitty on his paws. He would never sit still long enough or cooperate for me to even attempt to get blood from his ear. I was worried about sanitary issues, too. It was my first question, and the technician assured me it wasn't something she'd ever see an issue with. I've been home testing with his paws for a week now, and since I am looking at them twice a day, I can keep a good eye on them. No signs of irritation, or infection!
 
It took Maisey & I awhile to get comfortable with ear. Treats help, and practice - I really think the ear has to get the message. I live in a coldish apartment ground/basement level so really warmed her head/ears for awhile to get good blood flow.
Have you switched to low carb wet food. That made a fantastic difference for Maisey, she was only on insulin for a month. I have been testing occassionally since she's been OTJ and have found her ears have already forgotten how to bleed as well.
You'll get plenty of help and information here.
 
Hiya,

Wecome to the board! Like others have said, finding a treat your cat cannot resist will really help when trying to get blood from your kitty. For my cats its bonito flakes and freeze dried chicken liver, they work like magic. There are plenty of low carb treats you can try, here is a link to a list of treats that are great for diabetics:

viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

Hope that helps :-D
 
Thanks so much for all of the information...

We have been doing better today with the ears - someone mentioned scraping the blood off with their fingernail and then grabbing the blood from there... (THANK YOU) This has been a lifesaver today as we were trying to run a curve... I don't have to keep Lilly Mae still as long - she can get to her treats more quickly and I can focus on the test - not trying to keep her head still and trying to get the meter to her ear...

Thanks again - Michele and Lilly Mae...
 
I test on the paws. Willy absolutely will not tolerate ear pricks and it makes him really stressed out and upset and I've never seen him so angry before.

I think you might have success with the ear pricks if you give it some more time. If you're still considering doing pad pricking, I just wrote some tips for another poster here

Good luck!
 
mbeach said:
Thanks so much for all of the information...

We have been doing better today with the ears - someone mentioned scraping the blood off with their fingernail and then grabbing the blood from there... (THANK YOU) This has been a lifesaver today as we were trying to run a curve... I don't have to keep Lilly Mae still as long - she can get to her treats more quickly and I can focus on the test - not trying to keep her head still and trying to get the meter to her ear...

Thanks again - Michele and Lilly Mae...
Click to expand...

Plus if there is a treat she really loves, and you only give it at testing time, you'd be amazed how they will be fine with testing. Also, just as you gain confidence, they seem to get that too and get better. How nice you already knew how to test! That is usually the most overwhelming hurdle for people.
 
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