Just want to say Hello!

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Deborah&Saatz-Su

Deborah&Saatz-Su

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Hi,

My name is Deborah, and my almost 10 year old baby, Saatz-Su, was diagnosed with FD on March 15th, 2011. That is also the day I found this board and started lurking in your forums. So, first off I wanted to thank you all for the great site you run. I have learned so much, though I still very much feel the "newbie" with a lot more to learn, I don't know how well I would have handled things in the first few days without this resource to turn to. Thank you.

On to the kitty info! My little Saatz chose me to be his companion before he was even old enough to leave his mother. At the time a work associate had had a baby, and I would go to visit her and see her newborn son. Well, her half Siamese cat had had kittens with a stray a few weeks before, and every time I would go over to their place, this tiny orange ball of fluff with airplane ears would crawl into my lap, play with me a short time, and then curl up and sleep on me for the rest of my visit. Now, at the time I lived on my own in a studio apartment that didn't allow cats, with my 6 month old Ausche cat. I resisted for a little while, as I really wasn't supposed to have any cats at all, but when Saatz was 10 weeks old I put him in my shirt pocket and took him home. And I have never even once regretted it. My work friend later told me that none of the kittens would pay much attention at all to people who came to visit, just him, and only when I came over. I tell my friends he is my soul kitty, and a few even understand that, so it was never even a question for me whether to treat his FD or not.

My best guess is that he went untreated for about 3 months before he was diagnosed. At that time we had switched from free feeding a dry adult food, to a dry weight control food. If I had only known at the time...Anyway, we did this because while Saatz has been a chubby 15 lb cat most his adult life, Ausche has been a really fat 15 lbs for most of his adult life, he isn't much smaller then Saatz, just more compact, no lanky Siamese genes in him. We wanted to try to get them both to a healthier weight, we were worried about health problems as they grow older. So our best guess is the that the diet change triggered the FD after a life time of bad food. In the 3 months we free fed the new food, Saatz went from 15 lbs to 9.8 lbs. Ausche had also lost weight, but you could hardly even tell on him.

So, we took him to the vet, and he was diagnosed with a BG level of over 500, I do not remember the exact number, but can get it if I need to. Thankfully everything else was fine with him. She gave us a Rx for ProZinc, told me to give him 2 units twice a day, and recommended Rx food. I didn't get the food though, after reading this site, and Dr. Lisa's, we decided to feed Friskies wet food. They have always gotten Friskies wet food as a once or twice weekly treat, so the switch was easy, they both think they are getting treats for every meal. We also switched from free feeding to feeding twice a day at shot time. Ausche has no problem with the new schedule, Saatz goes into "I haven't eaten in days, please pity me" mode 2 or 3 hours before feeding time. I am hoping this starvation behavior will even out as he continues to feel better.

I have not started to home test yet, but I plan on it. My vet recommended to do so, she is a really good vet who has been really open, encourages me to call with questions, and was totally cool with me not feeding the Rx food. Anyway, home testing supplies should be here sometime this week, and my vet tech is going to show me how to use everything. I am pretty sure I could figure out how to do it from your vids and guides, but she offered to show me at no charge, and its always nice to be shown in person the first time. I know I should have been testing from day one, but money is an issue, and I can get supplies from my brother at a steep discount, I just have to wait till they get here. I did take him to the vet on Thursday, he had a BG test there at the +6 mark, it was at 76. They also drew blood for a fructosamine test, and she said the results of that looked really good. And, he has gained half a pound back, which he really needed. She recommended he stay at 2 units for now. I worry a little that a BG of 76 was a little low for being at the vets, he is though quite a calm cat, even at the vets. Anyway, he obviously feels better, he is back to his old antics, doesn't sit at the drippy faucet all the time anymore, and wants to play again. He has not once shown any sign of his BGs being too low, so I will leave things as they are until I can start doing some curves at home and getting some real data to see what is really happening.

Whew, this is quite a bit longer then I initially intended it to be. I just wanted to introduce myself and Saatz-Su to the board. With my Saatz being only 10 years young, I have a feeling we could be here for quite a while. :P

Thank you again for the wonderful site!
 
Hello Deborah and welcome! What a great vet, you are SO lucky. Thanks for introducing yourself and keep posting. Any questions we might help with?
 
Welcome Deborah,

It looks like you are doing a lot of things right - good job on the diet change. I would be concerned about the 76 at the vet. Even if he is just a little stressed there, it is a nice low number. I love your story about Saatz adopting you! Unregulated diabetics are hungrier - their bodies do not use the food efficiently. I would consider giving him a few small meals during the day to help support his pancreas.

Are you waiting for our newbie kit to arrive? If you can't get the supplies before it comes, I would certainly reduce the dose. We suggest starting low and going slow. It is much easier to add insulin if needed than to deal with low numbers. I would consider giving one unit or even .5 until you can see what his numbers are.

If you can afford it, you might just get the glucometer and lancets today. They are very inexpensive at Walmart and worth every penny if you are looking at a kitty who needs less insulin, not more. Shopping list:

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
 
Thanks for making me feel welcome. I do have a question, I have no problem giving him a few small meals during the day if that will help him, I was under the impression though that is was dangerous for him to not eat much around shot time. I very much want to keep the shots consistent, but if feeding him frequent small meals means he won't eat much at shot time, is it better to stick with the 2 meals a day even if he gets a little hungry towards the next meal? Or, feed the frequent meals and risk having to delay a shot? Also, I am not waiting for a newbie kit, but thanks for asking. In fact I have all the supplies I need, save for the meter itself and the strips. I have been waiting on my brother. He works for a major medical company and has a free meter and steeply discounted strips on the way to me. It just took him a while to get everything together so he could do that for me. I should get them Monday or Tuesday thought, so not much longer to wait.
 
Hi Deborah,

You seem to be the most awesome kitty-Mom. Thank you for that. Scritches to Saatz and Ausche.

I have no problem giving him a few small meals during the day if that will help him, I was under the impression though that is was dangerous for him to not eat much around shot time. I very much want to keep the shots consistent, but if feeding him frequent small meals means he won't eat much at shot time, is it better to stick with the 2 meals a day even if he gets a little hungry towards the next meal? Or, feed the frequent meals and risk having to delay a shot?
Click to expand...

The "rule" of feeding when giving insulin developed with the insulins that have a quick, steep drop in BG levels. Primarily Humulin N. Saatz is on ProZinc, which is a PZI insulin. PZIs can give a drop, but not as steep a drop as Humulin N. You will know once you start to test BG levels. When I had diabetic cats on a PZI insulin (not ProZinc as it wasn't out at that time), I did "serial" feeding to keep their curves as flat as possible.

Like Sue, I would be concerned about a 76 at +6, whether at the vet or at home. That is a signal that Saatz's dose is too high. I agree with a dose decrease to 1U twice a day (BID) until you get your testing equipment. (Bless your brother.) For most cats, better too high than a moment too low.

Please do let us know how you and Saatz progress. I suspect you will.
 
PS. We have several folks here in your area. If you need hands on help, please give a shout out. You also can send me a private message for me to ask them to get in touch with you.
 
welcome. I need a brother like that lol
you can feed small frequent meals. just try to not feed 3-4 hours before the +12 ps
 
welcome. I need a brother like that lol
you can feed small frequent meals. just try to not feed 3-4 hours before the +12 ps
 
With that low of a glucose and no testing, I'd want to leave food out all the time, lest the cat go into hypoglycemia because he's unable to meet the insulin demands for glucose. If you do decide to decrease the dose to 1 unit twice a day, that will help protect him from a hypo.

Using a timed feeder and/or freezing some of the canned food is a way to have them eat gradually during the day instead of all at once.

I'll note that with my pride of 11, they nibble throughout the day, but always chow down a bit when I put fresh food out at shot time.
 
Thanks for all the responses! Through out today I have been giving him little snacks whenever he has been asking for food, I don't want to leave food out because Ausche is doing well on the twice a day schedule, and he really needs to drop a few pounds. With Saatz's increased food intake, would it still be advisable to drop his insulin to 1U for tonights shot, and until I get my home testing equipment? Or would you guys keep him where he is at 2U and just continue to feed him whenever he is hungry? He has already eaten today what he would normally get in one day and he has not even had dinner yet.

I cannot begin to tell you guys how out of his way my brother has gone so that I can get cheap strips for Saatz for the rest of his life, and he doesn't even care for cats much, he is a dog person. He is an amazing brother, and I really am so very lucky to have him.

And thank you Venita, I will keep that in mind and send you a PM if I ever need to get in touch with some of the folks here in the Twin Cities.
 
I would reduce the dose. And yes, it sounds like you have a lovely brother. You are very lucky.

Since you don't have numbers and he can bring himself up with food, I am with others. Do small frequent meals. Oliver was 15 pounds when we started (after years of trying to get his weight down with dry diet food). After a few months of wet food, he lost 3 pounds. We fed him an extra can of Fancy Feast until he was regulated. Then he was fine with our feeding less.
 
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