Introduction

Hi! I'm Larissa and my furbaby is an 8 year old male orange tabby named Turner. He was dx as a diabetic in early December. They caught it pretty quick as we were already monitoring his weight pretty closely and my 18 lb cat had dropped to 14 lbs. We've had a bit of a rough go since then. Started out at 2 units of Lantus twice a day. Did a curve (at home with an alpha track) and adjusted to 3 units in the morning and 2 at night. Another curve and we bumped up to 3 units twice a day. In the meantime Turner also started having a recurring eye infection that landed us at a specialty eye doctor and also an emergency vet. We finally figured out what was causing the infections. His teeth. A dental and 4 teeth extracted later and I think we're all fixed up. And, did another curve today with a healthier cat and the numbers seem better

Been doing some reading trying to figure out what all we should really be doing. Right now we're doing curves when the vet requests. We send her the data and she tells us how to adjust the dose. Based on what I'm reading we might be able to regulate better if we did this more often on our own. We're also feeding prescription food, which I'm not sure is necessary (Hills m/d). We haven't been checking glucose outside of the curves requested by our vet.

Anyways! That's our story

 

Hello Larissa Welcome to the FDMB. We're very glad to see you! Lots of people are willing to help, and we're all gathered on the main forum, so come on over and we can talk about food, curves and you and Turner and how you can better care for your sugar cat!

 

Hi Larissa and Turner. Welcome to the FDMB.

Sounds like you have been doing lots of reading about diabetes and you are home testing Turner. That is great.......you have jumped a big hurdle already!
It is really important to test before you give the insulin to make sure Turner is not too low to shoot. And if you test about 4 or 5 hours after insulin, you will be able to see the effect it is having on Turner. The lowest point in the cycle is called the nadir and it is different for different cats. You will get to know where Turner's nadir is. We base our dosing on the nadir.

The Lantus insulin you are giving is a good insulin. We increase the dose by only 0.25 of a unit of insulin at a time. This way we do not go past the optimum dose. Increasing by 1 unit at a time, we think, is too much. It sound like you would like to increase the dose without the vet involved. That is what we do after gaining experience and with our vets onboard about it.. There are some very experienced people here who can advise you....I would not do it on your own at this point as it could be unsafe for Turner. If you would like to join us we can help you set up a spreadsheet to record the blood sugar levels so the experienced people can help you with dosing. Just yell and we will be very happy to help you get set up.

You are right about the Hills M/D. It is not necessary to feed prescription food. It is expensive and there are plenty of OTC canned foods which are better. You need a high protein, Low carbohydrate......10% or less carbs and no dry food, only canned, raw or home prepared. Not sure where you live, but we have lists of suitable foods. You might find something here which is available in your country.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/food-links.133016/

We have a Lantus and Levemir forum for people who use these two insulins and there are people who can advise you there. If you would like to join that page, just post there when you are ready..I will keep an eye out for you.
Here is the forum
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/

Or if you want to you can join the main health forum. Lots of people there with experience too.
Here is the link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

Hope to see you there!

 

Hello and welcome to the FDMB, Larissa and Turner!

This is a support group of cat-loving amateurs; we're not experts, but among us we've accumulated much experience and information about feline diabetes. More than that, over the months and years, we've become a community. Many people have commented that you won't find nicer and more helpful group anywhere.

Take a good look around! Now that you've introduced yourself, please join us in the Feline Health - (The Main Forum). The Health Forum is the place to ask questions, express your concerns, and post for general advice. You'll also have the opportunity to learn about diet, methods for regulating Turner, and the value of using a spreadsheet to track Turner's data/progress... among other things. I have to congratulate you! You're ahead of most since you're already testing blood glucose at home!

The FDMB has been around since 1996. It's an open board subject to peer review. By and large, the FDMB is made up of laypersons with varying levels of knowledge and experience who are free to share their own thoughts by expressing opinions and offering suggestions. It is not our intention to take the place of your veterinarian. In the words of our founder, Rebecca Price, MD, as laypersons, we should note, "We are not licensed medical professionals and veterinary care is crucial." Please discuss dosing, methods, medications, and care for your cat with your veterinarian.

Hope to see you around!

 

Thanks for your responses! I will certainly jump to the other forums as I get more acclimated. My vet had us testing insulin at home right off the bat, so she's to thank for that

I would like to start keeping track of some data. Our vet is awesome and what we've been doing so far is sending her data and then she tells us what to do based on what she sees. I'm an analytical person and like to see and understand data

For now, I think Turner is probably doing pretty well. He seems to be energetic and the vet was very pleased with his last curve. I'd like to be able to look at those numbers and at least know if they are something to be concerned with as a start. I'd also like to switch him to a different food, if possible