Just Diagnosed - need quick advice please!

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Kritt3r

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Hello. We're parents to a 7-yr old Abyssinian (Louis) who was just diagnosed three days ago. We're new to where we live and had to find a new Vet. Louis hates this Vet like I've never seen! If he so much as saw the guy walking toward him from down the hall he would start hissing and growling. The Vet said he could never treat Louis without gassing him and even recommended I return him to the breeder! I add all this because I've read where a cat can have his blood sugar levels raise substantially from stress.

The Vet sent us home with Lantus (1U, twice a day). However, after reading much here, we decided to switch his diet first to low carb, wet and, after a week or so, begin testing and administering Lantus at that point. The problem is, Louis is barely eating anything. We used to treat him with wet food on special occasions and he always went nuts for it. Now, he'll barely touch it. We've tried a couple of different labels and flavors but not much improvement.

So, to sum:

Very high sugar level at the Vet (560)
A cat who has never been so angry and stressed at any Vet visit - possibly contributing to the high level read?
Attempt to change the diet but he barely eats
Parents who are afraid to start Lantus dosing until we get a baseline with him completely off dry food
A weekend where alternative Vets are closed

Any advice - and quickly - please!

Thanks.
 
hi and welcome

most important is that he eats, not so much as what he eats, this early in the disease. if he doesn't eat enough he can develop other problems, i.e. ketones, hepatic lipidosis, etc.....soooooo, if it means feeding him his old food for the weekend, then do so.

was he diagnosed via a fructosamine test do you know? and what were the symptoms that made you have him checked out?

any chance you could run out and get a glucose meter and start testing Louis yourself at home this weekend? you can use the same meters humans use so if you have a walmart, target, pharmacy, etc....nearby you can get one there. walmart's housebrand, Relion, is one of the more economical meters just in case finances are tight. dozens here use it so don't worry about that. :-)

if you could do that then you'd have a better idea as to if it's ok to give insulin or not. if he is running too high, it is critical that he gets nutrition and insulin otherwise, ketones can set in.

and last but not least, what's your general location? maybe someone on here is close enough to give a vet referral. (don't post street addresses, or phone numbers, just nearest big city is big enough.)
 
Thanks for the quick response.

Fructosamine test resulted in a reading of 737. His symptoms included a sudden increase in water intake and urination.

Yes, I've been reading through this site for several hours now and plan to get a meter tomorrow morning. He is eating but not much - well below normal amounts. We've recently moved to the Bethesda, MD from Illinois.

Thanks again!
 
Let him have some of his old food -- not eating can rapidly turn into a serious condition requiring ER.

When I transitioned all my cats to low carb canned food, I did it over a couple of MONTHS because two of my cats were losing weight from not eating enough.
 
Thanks for the quick response.

Fructosamine test resulted in a reading of 737. His symptoms included a sudden increase in water intake and urination.

Yes, I've been reading through this site for several hours now and plan to get a meter tomorrow morning. He is eating but not much - well below normal amounts. We've recently moved to the Bethesda, MD from Illinois.

Thanks again!
 
Here is a list of things you will need to hometest:


A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 25-26 gauge is good. Any brand will work.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats

And a video that shows you how: Video for hometesting We all have tricks that helped us so be sure to ask for help.

And here are some ideas on getting your kitty to eat: Getting your cat to eat

Keep reading and asking questions. We have a great protocol that works and we would love to help you help your kitty.
 
definitely sounds like diabetes

fwiw, we've got several long time well respected members in your area. I'll send out some messages to them and point them here in case they can help you with hometesting or a vet referral.
 
I would also like to recommend home testing, I use the Relion meter from Walmart - cheap, requires the smallest amount of blood, and easy to use. You should also pick up some ketostix so you can test urine for ketones, it may take you a couple days to get the hang of testing blood sugars so the ketostix can be your safety net.

It's important for your kitty to eat, and transitioning from wet to dry overnight can be hard. It may be easier to give some wet and some dry at meals (maybe give the wet first, then a little dry). You may want to try drizzling a little tuna juice over the wet food to make it more 'stinky'. 1 unit is a good starting dose, and your kittys numbers were quite high. But if you're able to feed at least some wet, and your kitty is eating generally enough, .5 unit would be a good starting dose too (if you're worried about overdosing).
 
Hi Kritt3r !
Looks like we both have cats diagnosed with diabetes this week! Hope you get yours managed soon. :)
 
Hi Kritt3r! I live in Crofton, MD. I have a vet who is pretty good with feline diabetes, but we are about 60 miles from you, so probably not practical. My vet is not open tomorrow, but I will call her Monday to see if she recommends anyone in your area.
 
Honestly? with numbers that high and inappetance, I'd be starting insulin tonight even if I wasn't testing. Not the perfect situation but you really shouldn't delay insulin or he's at risk for developing serious complications like hepatic lipidosis (from metabolizing fat) or ketones.

regarding the vet, is your cat normally that way with vets or just this one? if it is just this one, you might want to look for another and trust your cat

Jen
 
Thanks everyone for your advice and input! I ran out tonight and bought the Walmart reader, strips, Lance, etc. Louis is eating a little more than earlier today (the better part of a 3oz Fancy Feast can and some tuna). Do I test him before I feed him in the morning or do I let him eat first?

Thanks to those who are investigating recommended Vets in Bethesda. Louis has not always been perfect around Vets but he's never gone completely mad like he did with this one. For what it's worth, neither my wife nor I got a good feeling from him either so perhaps Louis was right.

Thanks again to everyone and pls keep the advice coming!
 
You will want to test Louis before you feed. Normal routine for most of us that give insulin ( my guy is in remission) is to test, feed, shoot.

Sorry to be so brief, but it has been a long day and I was just about to turn in for the night. You are in good hands here and "the night shift" should be reporting in soon. :-D

Mel, Max & The Fur gang
 
There is a post on the Community Forum looking for vets for you.

Another member to try is stefani&toonces. Although she is local to you, I don't think she vets her cats locally. But she may have recommendations/warnings for you.
 
OK. Did my first ever BG test and insulin shot! Wife got up early and fed him so, unfortunately, the initial test was after he ate. That said, BG = 361 - andministered 1U of Lantus.

Thanks for all your ongoing support!
 
OK. Did my first ever BG test and insulin shot! Wife got up early and fed him so, unfortunately, the initial test was after he ate. That said, BG = 361 - andministered 1U of Lantus.

Thanks for all your ongoing support!
 
Thats really not too bad of a number for being newly dxed and after eating. You may want to try to get another reading at about +6 ( 6 hours after his shot) to see how far that 1u is taking him.

Lantus is one of those tricky insulins where you base dose raises and decreases not by the preshot number but by the nadir (lowest point). And with Lantus that nadir is usually about +6 to +7, but Every cat is different some its sooner and some it is much later. Oh and while I'm talking about readings and shot timing etc. Since we have members literally all over the world we don't use clock times here. So you will see a lot of folks posting AMPS, PMPS, +1, +2, +3 etc. So to demystify that.

AMPS = Morning preshot
PMPS = Evening preshot
+Number = how many hours past injection.

Not sure if anyone has given you this link yet but this is the chart we use to find foods for our diabetics.
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html The third row is percentage of calories from carbs, you want to stay under 10% carbs. You may have to play around with different foods to find those that Louis likes. I know I have one guy here that hates the "good" stuff...lol. I also have 11 cats so I had to find stuff that everyone could agree on. For us that turned out to be the Friskies Pate flavors.

Some tips for making canned food more tasty and get Louis to try it are:

Warming it in a microwave
Sprinkling it with Parmesan cheese
Mixing in a little tuna juice.
You can also get Fortiflora either from your vet, or online. This is the same stuff that cat food companies use to make dry food taste good. You just sprinkle a little bit of it on the food like you would salt on your own food.

Oh yeah Congrats on joining the Vampire club!!!! And remember we call it a Sugardance for a reason, and for once we humans don't get to lead...That is Louis's job...lol

Your off to a great start and you have landing in the absolutely best spot to help you help Louis. We are all happy to hold your hand and paw through it all. We do it because we all have been right where you are now, over-whelmed, & scared out of minds.

But I will tell you this much, it is one of the easiest dieases to manage at home. In fact I adopted my guy Max from this very board after my first sugarcat Muse (thus the screen name) passed away. I already had 9 other cats so if it hadn't been so easy I wouldn't have volunteered to take on another extra sweet kitty.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang.
 
Hey! Welcome to the Vampire Club :RAHCAT :RAHCAT :RAHCAT

From now on, you want to test and then feed. Food can raise bg levels and artifically raise the number so that you can be dosing a food influenced number, not a "real" number. This time, it doesn't matter. That is a high enough number that it won't be a problem, especially with the safe amount of insulin you gave.

So now, our next nag is to set up a spreadsheet. It is a great color coded tool that will help you see patterns and trends, and will be a great help to us when you come on for advice. We will be able to see your history at a glance. Setting up a spreadsheet If you need help, just ask.

As soon as you get your spreadsheet up, you may want to post on our Lantus support group forum. Everyone there uses your insulin and will be able to give you specific dosing advice: viewforum.php?f=9 Lantus forum The first question they will ask is if you have read the stickies on how Lantus works and dosing information. Read them - they are full of great information.
 
Thx Sue and Oliver. I set up the .xls and I'll start loading data with his AMP+6 numbers this afternoon. This is quite a support group here!
 
Welcome! It is impressive how fast you learned to test, shoot, and even get your spreadsheet going! And you are in good hands and getting great advice. Sorry you have to be here, but glad to have you aboard.
 
Thanks, everyone.

Stupid question time: Before Louis was Dx'd, we would leave his dry food out all day as he tends to eat sporadically and not just twice a day. Now that we're forced to move him to wet, low carb food, how do you deal with leaving food out all day or do I have to change his eating schedule as well?

Thanks again!
 
Not stupid at all--it is something that everyone asks. We have all found that wet food lasts very well all day, especially if mixed with a little water. We also make frozen pucks, (put small amounts of food in ice cube tray), leave them out and they slowly defrost.
 
I do my pucks in a silicone cupcake tray - then pop them out and store in the freezer in a plastic bag. I also use an automatic feeder - the PetSafe5 - which my cats haven't been able to break into and is easy to program. Most of us free feed wet -especially in the beginning when the pancreas can use the support and when the cat's body isn't processing food well.
 
Just wanted to say hello. My cat Max was diagnosed in January and I was right where you are now. I'm sure you're already figuring out that you've come to the best place for help with your diabetic cat. I knew next to nothing at first and was overwhelmed and stressed. This forum and following the great advice/protocol really helped me turn Max's health around. He is a super finicky eater too. We finally landed on one flavor that he'll eat consistently, Fancy Feast Classic - Chicken Feast, but there are many low carb options. Keep trying flavors and you'll find one Louis likes (or tolerates :smile: ). I switched Max to low carb wet over a period of a couple weeks, giving more and more wet versus dry. When we went to only low carb wet, Max's drop in BG levels caught me off guard. Since I had been transitioning over a couple weeks, I thought the difference wouldn't be as great. Anyway,be prepared with your home testing when you go "cold turkey." Good luck!
 
Hey - I just saw this because I'm not on the board so much these days. I live in Kensington and have some vets that I can definitely tell you to avoid and the one that we currently see and can recommend. Please PM me. Laura
 
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