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So vet called and will release her today but said i should only get accucheck meter for pets,not a human meter. now im confused lol
 
Some people use a human meter day to day at home and a pet meter on the days when they're doing a curve for the vet. Would that work for you?
 
Id prefer to have one today,so i can start today. so it would have to be human meter. where would a buy a pet meter? petco? also said i should buy a certain litter that turns colors for ketones,not strips
 
Lots of vets say that-- it's hard to compare numbers between human and pet meters, so they really prefer you use the ones with numbers they understand.

Problem is, the strips for pet meters are expensive! And usually you can only buy supplies through a vet or online, which makes them inconvenient. That's why a lot of us use human meters-- the numbers don't have a one-to-one correspondence with the pet meters, but as long as you know the normal cat range as well as the very important cutoff for "too low", you're fine. As Kris says, some people compromise by having both on hand, one meter for everyday use, and one for communication with the vet.

I don't know anything about the litter-- sounds convenient for the short term, but might be expensive.
 
Initially after DKA you want to keep the blood sugar around 150-220 on a human meter. This is a little higher than what we like to see when a cat is well or about 70-120. It's very important that while she is recovering that insulin is not skipped or reduced too much. It's better to increase food or even add honey to food every time you syringe if she starts going below 150 consistently. If she's going under 150 at this point it probably means she not getting enough calories.

I've never heard of ketone testing cat litter, I think that your vet is confusing a different product. There is cat litter that detects blood and changes color in the case of UTI. This has nothing to do with ketones though. Most vets only get a day or two of training regarding diabetes, so if they don't treat a lot of diabetic cats, they may not really be up to speed on current treatments.
 
Well she is back,lots better. they told me not to feed her friskies or ff. just purina dm dry or wet food
 
racn1320 said:
Well she is back,lots better. they told me not to feed her friskies or ff. just purina dm dry or wet food
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I beg to differ! The DM wet is low carb if it's the pate version. The dry is low-ish as dry food goes but too high for a diabetic cat. I choose to feed DM pate to Teasel but mix it with Friskies or Fancy Feast to vary the flavour and keep the average carb level down a bit (DM is lower in carbs than some of the Friskies/FF pates I feed him).

The prescription food is $$ and not really better. Many cats tire of eating the same flavour day in and day out too.
 
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Ill try it for a day or two then go back to my ff classic and friskies pates and see where the numbers are.
 
If she'll eat the dry thats ok for now. You might have to adjust the insulin up if blood sugars go up. Also, you'll have to monitor her water intake closely. Have you attempted to get a blood sugar yet?
 
Yea she wont touch wet yet,hope she changes. i did our first test when we got home,numbers were high bc insulin wore off and she was still excited from car ride,ill do it again tomorrow in the prime of her shot around 6 or 7 hrs into it. the hardest part is the pricking.
 
Also try to get a ketone test when you can. Try at least daily. DKA can reoccur when they are recovering.
 
She may be "off" her regular food for a while, since she might associate it with when she was feeling really yucky. I agree, for right now, if it's dry she'll eat, let her eat dry. Hopefully eventually you'll be able to get her back on the old wet food, or at least something similarly low-carb.
 
How often do you have to clean the meters,with a solution. im not sure where to buy this solution,i didnt see it at walmart
 
Still getting some high numbers,should their be any adjustments with this being a human meter. as it not being a pet meter or are the numbers exactly the same as if it would be a pet monitor
 
racn1320 said:
How often do you have to clean the meters,with a solution. im not sure where to buy this solution,i didnt see it at walmart
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If you're referring to the control solution as it's called, it isn't for cleaning the meter. It's used to check that the test strips are reading in the correct range that 's printed on the strip bottle. I think you can call the meter manufacturer to get the control solution. There's probably a phone number in the instruction book for the meter.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
If you're referring to the control solution as it's called, it isn't for cleaning the meter. It's used to check that the test strips are reading in the correct range that 's printed on the strip bottle. I think you can call the meter manufacturer to get the control solution. There's probably a phone number in the instruction book for the meter.
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Thx for info,did call them!
 
racn1320 said:
Still getting some high numbers,should their be any adjustments with this being a human meter. as it not being a pet meter or are the numbers exactly the same as if it would be a pet monitor
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Unfortunately, numbers are not exactly the same; even if you had 2 of the same pet meter. All glucose meters are allowed a 20% variance. Only adjustment you need to make with using a human meter is that if you get a reading of 50 OR LESS, it is time to take action. For newer members, give a little bit of Higher carb food with gravy and just give like 1 nice tablespoon of mostly gravy. You will probably get a couple pieces on the spoon, which is ok :).

More information about what to do: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/
 
racn1320 said:
Just did ketone test,still at 15 small. same as when she left vet
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Did they send you home with subQ fluids and instructions on how to give them? If not, can you call the vet to see if they will do so? It will help flush out those ketones-- you don't want them to get out of hand. You can also add as much water as she'll tolerate to her wet food-- mix it up to make a kind of soup-- to get more fluids into her, but subQ would be better.

racn1320 said:
Still getting some high numbers,should their be any adjustments with this being a human meter. as it not being a pet meter or are the numbers exactly the same as if it would be a pet monitor
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What kinds of numbers are you getting?
 
No fluids were sent home with me,i even asked. said not needed,she has been drinking plenty of water. toward the end of her 8hrs of lantus was in mid 300' s
 
Was this the ER vet or your regular vet? I'd call either or both vets and tell them she's still throwing "small" ketones. Even if they aren't willing to send you home with a kit, maybe you could bring her in, not (hopefully) for another extended stay, just for a dose of fluids on an inpatient basis.

Normally we say that anything above "trace" ketones is an automatic trip to the vet, though I know that, after the past few days, you'd really like to keep it to home care, which is why I asked first about subQ at home. She's eating well, she's getting her insulin, and she seems to be feeling better, so she's got most of what she needs for recovery happening, but recent DKA kitties can be very delicate. Getting some extra fluids into her now could make a big difference in where she goes from here.

@Meya14 , your thoughts?
 
It was the er. ill do another test tomorrow and call and see what they say,if they say bring her in ill take to my reg vet and see if they can do this. god i hope not tho
 
She's still eating and drinking well, and acting like she is feeling better?

Please keep a very close eye on her-- as you know, a ketone situation can deteriorate rapidly.
 
She is def drinking well,now eating new wet food,just notveating as much. her ketones have not got worse and no 3rd eyelid. we playd string earlier. she just seems tired
 
The eating makes me nervous, but the rest sounds good (tiredness is to be expected after a bout of DKA-- it really hammers them, it often takes a couple weeks before they get their normal energy back).

Encourage her to eat anything she is willing to eat-- dry food is fine, tuna, treats, whatever. What you don't want happening is for the ketones to take hold and make her lose her appetite entirely again, it's a vicious cycle and it can move fast. Food+insulin+fluids are what is needed to keep them down.

Keeping my fingers crossed that she keeps improving!
 
So with the dry food eating does it matter it puts the numbers up? she is eating more wet than dry but not as much as she used to. i hope i dont have to get her to vet tomorrow $. iv fluids wouldnt be that expensive i hope not. she doesnt seem dehydrated
 
racn1320 said:
So with the dry food eating does it matter it puts the numbers up? she is eating more wet than dry but not as much as she used to. i hope i dont have to get her to vet tomorrow $. iv fluids wouldnt be that expensive i hope not. she doesnt seem dehydrated
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After DKA when kitty is still in a touch and go state, worry less about carbs and the effect on BG and more about calories and a high enough dose of insulin to keep ketones down. Higher carb food will allow you to give more insulin. Add warm water to all wet meals, as much as she will tolerate.
 
Ok ,i went and bought some food today, more diabetic than regular but i can give her some more regular wet food as long as its fine
 
Fluids are relatively inexpensive-- I don't know off the top of my head (someone else might have recent experience) but I'd say it would probably be somewhere in the low-mid tens of $$$, especially if you were just getting the supplies and doing it yourself at home. It's a really common at-home treatment, lots of folks around here do it.
 
If she'll eat it, go ahead. The carbs are mostly in the gravy, so if you want to try to limit carbs but still giving her something tasty you could try to squeeze out some of the gravy first (save it, just in case you have to add it back in later!).
 
If she is eating well, that is good. I would ask about the fluids at your normal vet the whole setup cost me about $20 when my cat had DKA. Usually you do them once a day for a couple days, and one bag will last a few days. If you can, keep track of the time you gave the insulin and times you took the blood sugars and results, and list them here. This will help people here better understand what is happening with the blood sugars.

How much insulin are you currently giving? If you take blood sugar before the shot, then 3 hours, then 8 hours, then before the next shot and they are all above 300, then you should raise the insulin by 0.5 units and keep that dose for at least 4 shots. Since she still has a small amount of ketones, it means she's not getting quite enough food and insulin. Don't worry if the dry food raises the numbers for now, you can always adjust the insulin. She needs the food.
 
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