Jackson back from remission

Ms Leslie

Ms Leslie

Member Since 2021
Hi
Jackson is 12 years old and went into remission two years ago August, 2021. The forum helped me get him to remission by eliminating dry food and feeding him the correct wet food. After he went into remission the following month Sept, 2021, he was diagnosed with pancreatitis. The vet put him on a precise amount of steroid so as not to bring his diabetes back. It WORKED! However, lately he's been drinking a lot of water again, and not eating a lot and has lost some weight (2.5 lbs). I blame myself because I started giving him a little bit of veterinary diet dry food and also tiki and dr. Elsey dry food.

I'm so worried about him and have an appt to the vet on Wednesday. Last time it was 1500 dollars before it was all said and done and his diagnosis of diabetes was made. He has slacked off drinking these last few days and I'm waiting until tomorrow morning to test his blood before he has a little breakfast. I have a whole bottle of test strips not opened and one year past the expiry date. Are these okay to use? also I know they are going to tell me to do a curve on him and I forget how to do it and hoping someone on here can give me that information.
When I tested his blood a few days ago in the evening it was 19 and then the next morning before breakfast was 15.
can someone please get back to me as to how I can help him and do the curve tomorrow. I have cut out ALL DRY FOOD and will not allow him to have any. He doesn't seem to miss it except for the evening when he used to get a small portion of it.
Thank you everyone.
Annette WHYNOT
 
I just realized after posting this and doing some reading. I don't do a curve until he starts on insulin again. I have an appointment tomorrow at 12:00 to take him in. We did check his blood tonite and it was 20.1 . Hadn't had anything to eat from 3:00 pm onwards and we did the check at 7:30 pm. We had quite a time getting the prick on his ear to bleed so had to prick him like 3 times. I know that had to stress him out but still the number is too high? He's not drinking much water anymore but is eating good. He grazes so eats a little here and there. I have him on diet food from the Vet as well as fancy feast pate. He also likes the fish wet food with pumpkin from Tiki. He hasn't had any dry food now for 2 days and I don't plan on giving him his diet vet dry food. He seemed to drink so much water after a tiny little handful on it. I also did his urine today for glucose and ketones. It looked completely normal for ketones and the glucose (according to my test strip was at 1/4 on the scale.
I am so disappointed because I blame myself for allowing him to have a little bit of dry food from vet once and awhile and now his diabetes is back. Today he played and ate and was outside in his catio a lot. His peeing is also slowed down due to the fact that he isn't drinking as much as he was days ago. I know this is going to cost me a lot of money by the time the vet does all the tests on him. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I've learned my lesson. The hard way.
 
First of all, what is the expiry date on the bottle of strips? If unopened, they are good until then. To save money, switch to a human BG meter. The Alphatrak 2 is being phased out and you can’t buy new strips for it starting September.

Dry food can take a couple of days to get out of his system. The next couple days without insulin, I would try getting a couple tests per day and see if he is trending down on his own. Please update his spreadsheet as you do so. If you need help creating tabs for 2023, someone can help you with this.

Since you are in Canada, you should be able to get away with one vet visit for blood work (senior or Geri panel) and having the vet look at his teeth. Needing a dental can also throw them out of reemission. You do not need any other tests done by the vet, unless the basic blood work says something else is out.

20.1 is too high, normal is typically under 5(90). Stress from blood testing barely makes any difference if he’s at home.

Remove all vet food (wet or dry) from his diet, if you have not already done so.
 
Answering some of the questions you messaged me.

Yes, stop all food from the vet. Even the “diet” food is high carb, which funnily enough, doesn’t make it a good food for them to lose weight. Fancy pates or the Tiki are low carb.

Keep the vet appointment for tomorrow, get the vet to do basic bloodwork and look at his mouth, infection or inflammation in the mouth is the number one reasons cats fall out of remission.

In Canada, a number of people use the Freestyle Lite. I have seen some drug stores give you a free meter when you buy 100 strips. eBay is also a source of cheaper test strips. Bravo test strips are the cheaper, and exclusively bought on line. I do like the idea of having a meter where you can get strips quickly if you need to.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Answering some of the questions you messaged me.

Yes, stop all food from the vet. Even the “diet” food is high carb, which funnily enough, doesn’t make it a good food for them to lose weight. Fancy pates or the Tiki are low carb.

Keep the vet appointment for tomorrow, get the vet to do basic bloodwork and look at his mouth, infection or inflammation in the mouth is the number one reasons cats fall out of remission.

In Canada, a number of people use the Freestyle Lite. I have seen some drug stores give you a free meter when you buy 100 strips. eBay is also a source of cheaper test strips. Bravo test strips are the cheaper, and exclusively bought on line. I do like the idea of having a meter where you can get strips quickly if you need to.
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Thank you Wendy. I appreciate you taking the time to answer my questions. If I were close, I'd give you a big hug!!!
 
Ms Leslie said:
I will be sure and let you know how I make out tomorrow after his appt. Thanks again!
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Hi Wendy. The Vet did a senior panel on Jackson and checked his urine and blood. He did have glucose in his urine but no infection or blood or ketones. She said it wasn't advanced diabetes. She is wanting me to start Jackson on tiny dose of Lantus after he eats twice a day. I couldn't get him to eat anything this evening. Last time he ate was lunch time when we got home just a little though. He wants to sleep which worries me. I won't start the insulin now until morning with the hope I can get him to eat. She gave him some injections for being dehydrated. He had those before, so I can't see that upsetting his routine. But he certainly not acting himself tonite and seems very sick. I just hope I can get him to eat. I know he would eat and eat the diet dry if I gave it to him but I'm scared to give him that. I know last time he was overnight at the Vet when they couldn't get him to eat anything, they gave him this food and he gobbled it up. We did his blood home it was 19.5 she did it at the vet and it was 22. Going in tomorrow to purchase the Freestyle Lite that you suggested. I'm hoping it's not going to require a lot of blood in order to test. Whereas the alpha Trak only requires 0.3 to read. Again, thank you if you have any other suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing back from you. You were the only one to comment on my post.
 
Ms Leslie said:
Hi Wendy. The Vet did a senior panel on Jackson and checked his urine and blood. He did have glucose in his urine but no infection or blood or ketones. She said it wasn't advanced diabetes. She is wanting me to start Jackson on tiny dose of Lantus after he eats twice a day. I couldn't get him to eat anything this evening. Last time he ate was lunch time when we got home just a little though. He wants to sleep which worries me. I won't start the insulin now until morning with the hope I can get him to eat. She gave him some injections for being dehydrated. He had those before, so I can't see that upsetting his routine. But he certainly not acting himself tonite and seems very sick. I just hope I can get him to eat. I know he would eat and eat the diet dry if I gave it to him but I'm scared to give him that. I know last time he was overnight at the Vet when they couldn't get him to eat anything, they gave him this food and he gobbled it up. We did his blood home it was 19.5 she did it at the vet and it was 22. Going in tomorrow to purchase the Freestyle Lite that you suggested. I'm hoping it's not going to require a lot of blood in order to test. Whereas the alpha Trak only requires 0.3 to read. Again, thank you if you have any other suggestions, I'd appreciate hearing back from you. You were the only one to comment on my post.
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I hope Jackson’s appetite perks up. I’m in Canada but haven’t used the Freestyle Lite. For what it’s worth, I have the Contour Next and I’d say it can be a bit quirky and unreliable especially in the low numbers and if not enough blood.
 
Amy & Herman said:
I hope Jackson’s appetite perks up. I’m in Canada but haven’t used the Freestyle Lite. For what it’s worth, I have the Contour Next and I’d say it can be a bit quirky and unreliable especially in the low numbers and if not enough blood.
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Thank you Amy. I'm so hoping this one won't require a lot of blood.
 
The Freestyle needs the same amount of blood as the AT, one of the reasons I suggested it. I started with it.

You shouldn’t be limiting Jackson to just two meals a day. Especially if on Lantus which is a pretty gentle insulin. Most people here feed multiple small meals, which is what is suggested to human diabetics too.

As for food, try crumbling the high carb “diet” dry onto his regular low carb food, see if that helps. If you have a freeze dried meat treat, that crumbled on top might also work.

Since he is not eating and lethargic, and not getting insulin, please test regularly for ketones. Worst case you give him the higher carb food for now, so you can give insulin. Then wean him off later. What is the dose the vet suggested to start?

Tagging @Bandit's Mom who can help you with adding this year to the spreadsheet. We need that data to be able to help you properly.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
The Freestyle needs the same amount of blood as the AT, one of the reasons I suggested it. I started with it.

You shouldn’t be limiting Jackson to just two meals a day. Especially if on Lantus which is a pretty gentle insulin. Most people here feed multiple small meals, which is what is suggested to human diabetics too.

As for food, try crumbling the high carb “diet” dry onto his regular low carb food, see if that helps. If you have a freeze dried meat treat, that crumbled on top might also work.

Since he is not eating and lethargic, and not getting insulin, please test regularly for ketones. Worst case you give him the higher carb food for now, so you can give insulin. Then wean him off later. What is the dose the vet suggested to start?

Tagging @Bandit's Mom who can help you with adding this year to the spreadsheet. We need that data to be able to help you properly.
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Hi Wendy;
Thank you so much for the advice. I tried about 6 tiny kernels crushed up and mixed it in his food and he ate a good meal tonite. She has started him half of 0 to 1 which is 0.5,
I believe. After he ate his big meal tonite I gave him his nightly insulin. So he has had it twice now. It's a very tiny amount.

I thought the same about only two meals a day. Last time they told me the same, and I just couldn't do it. He would have starved to death! He only eats a little at a time, so I still give him snack middle morn and small snack around 2 (that's all he eats anyway) and then he gets his big meal supper time around 6:30 - 7:00 with his insulin. He did good at breakfast this morning too.
Last night was horrible. I was really scared. I was up through the night to check on him because he was so sick after they gave him the hydration solution under his skin.(Or that's the only thing I could think of because nothing changed here all day) He layed the same way we put him and wouldn't move. It was like he was comatose. I was beginning to think the vet assistant had given him a wrong injection.
He could hardly jump hardly down from his bed and just seemed completely out of it. I prayed so hard and got up through the night to check on him, and he finally came around like 3:00 am this morning. He jumped down from his bed and started to bite my feet lightly which is what he does since he's been a baby, to anyone that has bare feet. (I guess you'd call it a foot fetish lol). Anyway then he sniffed his litter box which we brought upstairs for him and I knew he was alright.
This morning it was like he was a different cat. He even played a bit. I'm so grateful to you for giving me the tip to crush up a little vet dry food (and it was a very small amount) but it did the trick, and he ate enough that I felt comfortable giving him his insulin. He wouldn't eat at all last night after the vet so we couldn't start his insulin last night.

I wasn't exactly comfortable with the vet I had and so wanted to get the older lady who helped Jack go into remission. This vet wants me to do a curve in two weeks and to check his blood EVERY hour. We have such a hard time to get blood to bubble from his ear that we end up doing it two to three times. It's just barbaric. The other vet only had us do the curve around 3 to 4 times a day until his numbers came down. Does that make sense to you Wendy? I might ask to have her back. Thanks again for everything. I so appreciate all your help and especially your knowledge and expertise. Thanks again. As soon as I start taking random checks, do I add to the SS. Bandi't mom has already prepared it for me. She's a God send too. If you're reading THANK YOU!
 
A favour to ask, next day you post, start a new thread. Due to the volume here we ask people to post one thread per day they post, with a link to the previous thread.

Do you have the half unit marked syringes? A half unit dose is an OK start if on all wet food.

Could you start entering data on the spreadsheet? Enter the data on the World tab, and it’ll convert to the US for those who don’t read World numbers. We need that data to give you our best help. You should be testing before the shot, and ideally spot checks each day. Plus a curve once a week, which is testing every two hours for the 12 hours. I would not wait two weeks to do a curve. If he is ever off, I would test, to make sure he’s not going too low.
 
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