Just Diagnosed

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Susanabc

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Hi - My cat Howard was just diagnosed as diabetic. He's a lovely cat and I'm concerned I'm not going to be able to treat him. My vet instructed me last night on the proper way to give the injection as I have never even held a syringe. He's already traumatized by the visits back and forth to the Vet. Every time I go near him he runs and hides. I don't want to hurt him or stress him out any more. Do the cats get used to the injections? Will he ever be himself again? Luckily it was caught early and he has no kidney or other issues yet. I just want him to feel happy again. Thank you. Susan
 
Well you have found a great place for some help! :smile: I was in your shoes in April and with the help of this site, Cedric went into remission by the end of May (after a month on insulin). My vet was experienced with diabetes, but is surprised that Cedric went into remission so quickly. I think I cught it pretty quickly, as I had been noticing his water intake over the past few weeks prior to his annual visit was up quite a bit. I changed Cedric's diet to grain free, high protein low carb, but I was still giving him canned & dry (I work 7 days a week and am gone each day between 8-10 hours a day). When the gang here finally got me to stop with the dry (note the dry was Blue Buffalo Wilderness, which is grain free, high protein & low carb, but apparently high in calories), his numbers dropped about 100 points and 2 days later they were normal. I do have to update his spreadsheet (see below) and I am trying to check his BG every week or 2. I bought a RElion BG meter at Walmart, as it was $9 and the strips are $20 for 50. Vet said that was great (meaning it was ok to use a human meter). Most of the people here use human meters too. I injected Cedric on the side of his belly, as you see deminstrated on this site, versus in the scruf of his neck. He never gave me a problem with his injections. I do have some issues with testing (getting blood out of his ear), but if I was still doing it twice a day, I probably would have gotten better at it. I heat Cedric's ear with the heating pad from a toy of his, which helps.

You can handle this and your cat will love you for it! We were on lantus - is that the insulin you are using? I have done a couple of curves on Cedric, as fortunately I was able to bring him to work with me (since I work so much). I went on vacation 2 weeks after his dx, and he had to be kenneled at the vet (the other 2 kennels would not administer the insulin) and that was the only time he ever went to the vet for BG testing.

you can do this! Welcome!
 
Susanabc said:
Hi - My cat Howard was just diagnosed as diabetic. He's a lovely cat and I'm concerned I'm not going to be able to treat him. My vet instructed me last night on the proper way to give the injection as I have never even held a syringe. He's already traumatized by the visits back and forth to the Vet. Every time I go near him he runs and hides. I don't want to hurt him or stress him out any more. Do the cats get used to the injections? Will he ever be himself again? Luckily it was caught early and he has no kidney or other issues yet. I just want him to feel happy again. Thank you. Susan
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Hey Susan,
Don't you worry; before you know it, you will be able to test and give shots in your sleep!

I did not even know cats could get diabetes, so you can imagine how dumbstruck I was! I stared at the vet and said she has what??
Within a week, you will be just fine.

if you can give some info about your cat, it will help others help you get all set up.

What insulin you are giving and what dose is important as not everyone knows about all the various insulins and dosing protocols.
What foods you are feeding and what schedule as a diabetic cat needs to be eating low carb wet food.
What other health issues are there, and what brought you to take your cat to the vet, if he had changed or was it just a routine visit.

You are not hurting him and I am betting that he is hiding as he is not feeling well plus your own stress is picked up by him. You won't need to be going back and forth to the vet as you can do all your BG testing at home and give the shots yourself.

And will he get back to how he was? Well, I have to say yes! As soon as the insulin gets him with better BG, you will start to see signs of less pee, a change in appetite, and a return of all his habits.
 
Hi - I want to thank you both for your quick and positive responsives. I have to say that I did not even look at the name on the insulin bottle and am drawing a total blank - but it occurs to me it began with an "H". The Vet had me draw out of a saline bottle the correct dose which is 4 units over and over again and she checked it each time to make sure I was reading the syringe correctly. I have 3 cats and currently feed only dry food which looks like it will have to change although the Vet said there are very good dry food diets for cats with diabetes now. She gave me literature on the two she would recommend. When I get home, I'll look at the name on the bottle. It just caught me by such surprise. It was more his behaviour that made me take him to the Vet - I just knew something wasn't quite right. I'm glad I did. I will get the name of the insulin. I just want to do the right thing by him.

Susan
 
Do you know what Howard's blood glucose (bg) was at the vets? I have a feeling your insulin is Humulin N and with practicing at 4 units of water I also think your vet is recommending starting Howard on 4 units....am I correct? If so, that is a very high starting dose. N is fast acting, short duration, and a kitty must have food in the stomach at least a 1/2 hr. before shooting N insulin.

Please come back on before giving insulin today/tonight and ask opinions on dosing. If you buy a meter and start hometesting, you will then be able to remove all dry food and see what his bg readings will be then.
 
I was giving Cedric some of that so called good dry food (Blue Buffalo Wilderness) but his BGs were still a bit high. I was reducing it to 1/4 cup twice a day to 1/8 cup 2x to 1/8 cup once per day when I forgot to put it out on the 19th of May - see the reducion of his BG from the morning of the 19th to the morning of the 20th. He got 2 injections on 5/21 then no more. Cedric gets only canned food now, which I never wanted to give him, mostly because my last cat midora had a gum disease that she was actually born with, so the canned food she ate didn't bring about the fact that she was missing 1/2 her teeth when she died in 2005. I bought a Cat Mate 20 for Cedric - it's an autofeeder so he now gets 4 small meals a day instead of 2 larger canned & dry. He gets about 6 oz of food per day. The feeder has an ice pack so his schedule is sort of like this: meal at 6am, feeder meal (cold) between 10-11am, feeder meal (frozen, now thawed) between 3-4 pm, meal from me at 8pm. most of the time when I get home at about 5pm, he hasn't eaten his "frozen" portion, so he eats it when I let the new cat out for his meal (that's a whole nother story!).

The Lantus insulin has had great results, which is why my vet gave me the script (I filled it at the local pharmacy, not cheap but you can get pens too). I did not use all my insulin, and ended up giving it to a co-worker who now has 2 diabetic cats.
 
Your insulin may be Humulin, which very few people here use. viewtopic.php?f=19&t=303 It tends to hit hard and fast, dropping the cat rapidly into lower numbers and then not lasting the whole cycle. We prefer longer lasting, milder insulin like Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc. Some cats can be regulated on Humulin, but it is harder on the owner and on the cat.

And I know we are just people on the internet but 4 units is a big dose to start with. We suggest starting at one unit twice daily, testing and then increasing as needed, based on the blood glucose levels you get as you test. It is easy to increase the dose as needed; it is impossible to get the insulin out of the cat once he is dosed. And we would also disagree with your vet about diet. Check out this website by a Feline Diabetes Vet specialist: www.catinfo.org

I know it is hard to hear advice contrary to your vet. Vets are like gps. They treat species from lizards to hamsters and they treat lots of different diseases. They may see a few diabetic cats a year and may have taken a workshop or two in vet school. We see 3-5 new diabetic cats a day and our protocol has been used successfully for 17 years. It works - starting with a low dose of a mild, long lasting insulin with doses determined by home testing and a wet lo carb diet.

Keep reading and asking questions. We don't want to overwhelm you with information but we are passionate about diabetic cats and getting them healthy. Everyone who answers your post is paying it forward for help they received when their kitty was first diagnosed.
 
Hi - His blood sugar was high - 391. The Vet said there is no doubt he's diabetic but it could be reading a little higher due to the stress of having his blood drawn. She said to start him on the 4 units for this week - we have an appointment for next Monday and she will do another blood test and I'm supposed to bring a urine sample (if I can get one). I definitely will check out the diet information. I know that diet is a huge part of the treatment. I think the Vet was trying to ease my fears - Howard is such a creature of habit that changing his diet may not be as easy as switching and she said for right now, it's important that he eat. But I appreciate the advice and will do all the research. Thank you both again foryour help and advice.

Susan
 
390 is not that high - especially if taken at the vet. Stress raises blood glucose levels and most cats are stressed with the strange noises, smells and animals there. That's why we prefer to test at home, to get a reading when the cat is relaxed.

We would not want you to change to wet lo carb food until you are testing. Often kitties can experience a big jump downward in levels with wet lo carb food.

If I were you, I would ask the vet if I could start a low dose like 1 unit until you see how the insulin affects him. 4 units is so high - the vast majority of cats here are under 2 units. Many are on less than one unit.
 
Sue's advice is really the safest way to go. As she has pointed out to many a newbie (me included) you can add more insulin pretty darned easy, but there's no way to get it out once its in his body. Four units to start is a super high dose, and it is logical to be safe now rather than sorry later.
 
I agree, 4u is way too high a starting dose and very dangerous! 1u is the starting dose based on the AAHA guidelines. Humulin N is also a very harsh insulin, and is not appropriate for cats, as you can see at the bottom of p. 4 (218). I would try and switch insulins as soon as you are able. I've attached an article for you to print out and give to your vet. A slow acting insulin like Lantus or Levemir is needed because cats have faster metabolisms than dogs or people, and the faster acting insulins are out of their systems in just a few hours. Cats have an 84% remission rate on Lantus with a canned diet and dose adjustments via home testing. Your chances of even getting your cat regulated on Humulin are very small. It's best to switch insulins sooner than later, because the quicker your cat's blood sugar levels improve, the better his chances of remission.

I know it's hard when your vet is not giving you the correct advice. I know a lady right who is exactly in your shoes--her vet had her cat on 4u of Humulin N and did not have her home testing and told her dry food was fine. Four months later, her cat is doing so much worse (he can barely walk and urinates throughout the day on a puppy pad on her floor) that she had a mutual friend get in touch with me because she was desperate to try something else before he passed away. She was terrified to ask her vet for a different insulin, so I hooked her up with some leftover Lantus I had from when Bandit was on insulin, and showed her how to home test. It's not even been a week yet, and her cat is already doing better. She finally called her vet and said she was hometesting and wanted Lantus instead of Humulin, and to her surprise he said it was great that she was doing her own research and of course he would give her a prescription! Good vets are willing to change if you show them the research. Many simply do not realize how drastically treatment guidelines have changed over the past few years. And if your vet won't change despite all of the studies that are contradicting them--then it's time to find a new vet. In the large majority of cases, though, the vet will get on board with you if you bring them proof.

You don't need to shock your cat by removing all the dry at once. Do it over the course of a week--start out half and half, and gradually remove the dry. Definitely start with 1u of insulin if you are transitioning--most cats will drop 100-200 points automatically, which could lead to a deadly hypoglycemic incident if you are shooting a lot of insulin. If your cat is stubborn and isn't eating the canned food--here's some great advice on how to transition him: http://www.catinfo.org/#Transitioning_D ... nned_Food_
 

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Not a really high bg at the vet.....I had a non-diabetic come in over 300 points from stress alone. Please do not give him those 4 units tonight. Buy a meter at Walmart......ReliOn.....get lancets, test strips and Ketostix for testing urine for ketones......and start testing. Too high a starting dose and if his bg is actually lower at home, no stress involved, 4 units may not sound like much to you but it can kill. In the beginning it is always safer to start lower and work your way up than to risk hypoing kitty .
 
Hi - I was incorrect on the name of the insulin. It is PZI Beef Insulin. The Vet had given me a sheet that listed different types of insulin and why one was used over another and that was the type at the top. I did only give him 2 units and he seemed okay - not acting any different. He is about 10 years old and is a rescue. He has always been a mellow sort of guy - large orange cat. A joy compared to the two females I have who I love but are divas. At his annual physical last year he weight 18 pounds. At that point I stopped free feeding and he did lose a pound by the time his annual physical came around this year (in August). Since then, he has lost another .5 so I'm hoping that we are on the right track weight wise. He doesn't like to be watched when he eats so switching will be challenging given the other two will eat anything. I do have a call into the Vet about the insulin dosing and type - thank you all for your encouragment. The shot last night was not difficult as I thought it would be and hopefully will become easier with a little time.

Susan
 
PZI is a good, mild insulin. We generally like to see new diabetics start with one unit and increase as the numbers suggest. We have a PZI forum with 20 or so cats on your insulin and no one is on 4 units. It is really is a high dose. Sometimes vet prescribe it based on weight; that works for dogs but is not appropriate for cats. Here is a document on PZI: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799 It has a lot of information.

We know you are just feeling your way around, but we will continue to nag about testing at home. :mrgreen: It is the best way to keep your kitty safe.
 
Hi Susan
Thanks for the update on the insulin type. There are people here who use or have used PZI. That's what my cat Bob was treated with. Here's a thread that is located in the PZI forum that gives you lots of information about it:
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799 It's a lot of info, so don't try to soak it all in at once! But you can bookmark it for future reference.

Glad to hear the shot process wasn't as hard as you thought it would be, and yes, I promise, it does get easier.

Carl
 
Hi - Thanks again for your very positve responses. Howard seems okay and I've been doing all the reading and research on different sorts of food I think will appeal to him. I hope he does well - giving the shot hasn't been as difficult as I thought it might be. I haven't been able to test the blood gluocose as yet - still nervous and taking it one step at a time.

susan
 
Hi Susan! My Mikey was also just diagnosed a couple of weeks ago, and I was completely overwhelmed. I did a TON of reading online and doing the research made me feel much better. I still have plenty of questions, but feel like I can cope.

I give Mikey his injections while he eats (but he's on a different insulin, so I don't know if it's appropriate with yours) and he barely notices. I had experience giving shots before, but even so, you will get used to it quickly! Mikey hates having his ears pricked for testing, but I found if I clamp him under my arm, he can't go anywhere. It takes practice to do the ear prick for testing, so don't get discouraged.

I'm glad to have found this board, and also to see that there are so many FD newbies with the same questions and concerns I have. That alone makes me feel so much better about it all.
 
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