Introduction

[Carole & Indigo]

I just wanted to pop in and introduce myself, I'm Carole and my newly diagnosed baby is Indigo, better known as Indi. Indi is an 11 year old Siberian. We are in Canada so I may have to figure out how to convert to US numbers.
Indi was taken to the vet on January 20 because he was loosing weight, urinating frequently, drinking alot and pulling hair from the area around his tail. We got the call the next day that he is diabetic and would have to go in the next day for his first dose of insulin and monitoring.
We started administering his insulin, 1 unit every 12 hours at home the next day and it has been an adventure so far. We are doing our best and have switched his food to Pro Plan Veterinary Diets DM Dietetic Management Feline Formula which he gets 1/2 a can with his AM dose and 1/2 a can with his pm dose, he also gets 1/2 a cup of dry as well which he only seems to bother with overnight.
He went back for his second glucose curve on Feb 1 and they found his sugar was still high at 25 so his dose was increased to 2 units. I was concerned about increasing his insulin without keeping an eye on it so I ordered a glucose monitor for him, the Pet Control HQ and plan on doing the first poke tonight when I get home from work. I'm really concerned that he could become hypoglycemic, that seems so frightening.
He has perked up since he started the insulin and has been drinking a bit less as well as using his box a bit less so we are hopeful.
I have started reading through the pages here and there is so much info it is a bit overwhelming but we are determined to do what is best for him and figure this out.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Waving from the Kawarthas. To get US numbers, multiply x 18. If you enter the test numbers in the World mmoL spreadsheet, the numbers should change automatically on the US spreadsheet.

I'm a wee bit under the weather so will leave it to others to respond.

Here is a good place to start. It will become second nature faster than you think. And there is a worldwide group of people to help you.

Sticky New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

 

[Tina Marie (GA) and Jan]

Hi Carole and Indigo

There is so much to learn, but it will be well worth it! Indi is beautiful. You are smart to be concerned about raising Indi's dose, and not being able to test. Home testing is important, and it's great you came here so early in your journey! You need to test before giving insulin, the AMPS and PMPS (PS is pre shot).
Then, what we look for in Lantus dosing, is how low the dose takes the kitty. So it's important to test mid-cycle - cats reach their "nadir" (low point) anywhere from +3 all the way to +6 (and some even later in the cycle). You will want to choose SLGS or TR. Start Low, Go Slow, or Tight Regulation.

Welcome! Don't hesitate to ask specific questions - it will bump your thread to the top too You don't have to spend hours reading all the yellow stickys, without asking questions, but those stickys in the Lantus / Levemir ISG (Insulin support groups) are full of information. I refer back to them a lot.

I believe the food you have is too high in carbs - and the kibble isn't recommended in most cases. Many vets recommend food that isn't ideal for diabetic kitties. Fancy Feast Classics is what many people feed, since it's quite low in carbs. Look at the yellow INFO at the top of this Feline Health section - About dry food, and "Dr. Lisa's" food chart.

Relax, you'll get this. I think we all feel quite overwhelmed at the beginning. And it's definitely the beginning for you.

First things first is an ear prick and BG value!

 

[FrostD]

Welcome!

Great start with getting ready to home test and reading around the forum.

First, a couple of additional links for you:
- Hypo toolkit. It's great that you already know about hypoglycemia, that link will provide all the info you need.

- There's a bit more info we need in the signature, the link Red and Rover posted above explains it.

- Cat food carb content. You definitely made the right move switching to a canned low carb food, but you're likely spending more than you have to for a specialty food. Any low carb canned food will do, most of us feed Friskies or Fancy Feast pates. You want to keep it under 10% carbs, ideally around 5-6%...and not too much seafood. For your hypo kit, medium carb is around 15%, and high carb is roughly 20-25%.

Have you administered the first 2U dose yet? That's a very big dose jump, and without any data right now I'd advise against it.

Will you be able to get him completely off the dry? That's going to be keeping his BG numbers up despite everything else. We have to be careful when transitioning off the dry food, as his numbers may drop. So for now keep the dry until you get some tests in, but we'll want to phase it out sooner rather than later.

The recommendation for Lantus testing is an AMPS reading, a +2/+3, +6, PMPS, and a "before bed" (ideally 2 hrs after the PM shot). If you can swing all those, it would be tremendously helpful. It will tell us where he starts, when the insulin starts working, and how low he goes...and from there we can figure out dosing. At minimum, AMPS and PMPS. If you don't understand this notation let me know and I'll be happy to explain!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Carole and Indigo, he is beautiful!
Welcome to the forum

I would not change the food around at all until you are home testing. This is because changing to a low carb diet can drop the BGs up to 5.5 (100) points. So you need to be monitoring the BGs well before doing the swap.
It’s a good idea to also give a couple of snacks during each of the cycles as well as the preshot meal as this is better for the pancreas and it also helps stop the drops in BG. Give the snacks in the first half of the cycle.


It is great you are going to home test, it’s one of the most important things you can do to keep Indigo safe.
We recommend increasing the dose in 1/4 unit increments not 1 unit increments as you will not go past the best dose and it is safer for the cat.

Thank you for setting up the spreadsheet. That will be very helpful.
As you have got a pet meter, you will need to have the pet meter SS so I will ask @Bandit's Mom to help you change over.

keep asking questions...we are very happy to help.