Lexi Nagi
Member Since 2021
Hi all,
I made this account to log on, say thank you to every one who has contributed to this gem of wisdom and to maybe, in time, help others.
This post is more of an introductory storytime: I'll share numbers and units and measurements in a different post if it contributes. Just know I did check things here and with my vet all of the time.
Three cats have moved in with us over the years: the eldest, Lexi, was diagnosed with diabetes in februari 2021. She is 11, a tiny feisty torti, and I had expected a lot of different diagnosises, but not this. I went in because I just found her lackluster and depressed. No other signs of illness really. They eat grainfree their whole life (a mix of a kibble and natural wetfoods with treats like freezedried salmon).
We have a wonderful vet who is good at taking care of both owner and animal: he sent me home with a lot of info and asked me to think about it for a day before starting treatment because it's a lot financially, planningwise, and you have to be able to poke your animal with needles.
We own a business that is on the lot next to our own house, which gives us a lot of freedom. It also allows us to make the expenses needed, for which we were grateful. So I returned the next day. Because my guy it a bit iffy with needles, we opted for the vetpen with caninsulin. I'm pretty much able to do whatever is needed. So we started and for two weeks all was good with a startup dose. Lexi perked right up. But she started to hate the pen more and more, and come pokingtime she started to hide, get fearful. And since she felt better she was a strong menace and able to refuse cooperation.
Since I've taken care of her since she was a 5 week old stray, it broke my heart to see her being scared of me all the time. Things escalated ever further until it lead to three cats running around the house, me in a nervous wreck and no insuline in the cat. I had perused the internet and stalked these boards for hours. I tried smaller gauge needles on the pen, different sites etcetc. No use.
I decided (with my vet) that a few days break would not kill her and tried to retrain her to the pen (without a needle, just the tenting, touch and a treat) but to no avail. I found a chinese herbal supplement for diabetic cats and with that and all wetfood we took a break. She remarkably was stable from march till july. We made little progress with training tho. She hated the vetpen so much I couldn't understand it.
Mid july she started loosing weight rapidly and getting depressed again. We came to a point that a decision had to be made: I was on the verge of making the final call because she started suffering visibly.
Then fate intervened. I was cleaning the living room and while she was trailing behind me as she usually does, I absentminded started clicking a ballpoint pen I had picked up. Lexi looked at me with fearful eyes, ducked and ran for the cover of the sofa. I put two and two together and realised that that sound set her off. And the vetpen as a slight but sharp noise to it too. So I used the info here to order the smallest shortest needled U40 I could find (Braun Omnican 20's). And with a prayer and no prior testing I shot her with 1 IU in her flank. She was so far gone that I could not do any damage and I wanted to spare her any and all stress from hometesting or driving to the vet. And the shot went in. 12 hours later another one and she began to react. After two days of roughing it I took her back to the vet, told him of my adventures, we did a bloodtest and we took it up to 2 IU.
Within two weeks her weight was almost completely back on, she began to build muscle and a gleaming coat. She is really fit now. There have been bumps along the road since, including a very scary hypo-episode, and we continue to train, now also for hometesting more structurally, but we are taking it slow because too much pressure will sent this little torti into rebellion. She has to think everything is her idea.
But she is still with me, more cuddly then ever, and for that I have to thank you!
It has also taught me that perfection is the enemy of good enough. There are a lot of things we might be able to do in theory or some time in the future but that are too much, too soon, right now for what she (and I) can handle. So we go for 1) QOL, 2) acceptable labs and only then 3) the possibility of remission/tight regulation etc.
I made this account to log on, say thank you to every one who has contributed to this gem of wisdom and to maybe, in time, help others.
This post is more of an introductory storytime: I'll share numbers and units and measurements in a different post if it contributes. Just know I did check things here and with my vet all of the time.
Three cats have moved in with us over the years: the eldest, Lexi, was diagnosed with diabetes in februari 2021. She is 11, a tiny feisty torti, and I had expected a lot of different diagnosises, but not this. I went in because I just found her lackluster and depressed. No other signs of illness really. They eat grainfree their whole life (a mix of a kibble and natural wetfoods with treats like freezedried salmon).
We have a wonderful vet who is good at taking care of both owner and animal: he sent me home with a lot of info and asked me to think about it for a day before starting treatment because it's a lot financially, planningwise, and you have to be able to poke your animal with needles.
We own a business that is on the lot next to our own house, which gives us a lot of freedom. It also allows us to make the expenses needed, for which we were grateful. So I returned the next day. Because my guy it a bit iffy with needles, we opted for the vetpen with caninsulin. I'm pretty much able to do whatever is needed. So we started and for two weeks all was good with a startup dose. Lexi perked right up. But she started to hate the pen more and more, and come pokingtime she started to hide, get fearful. And since she felt better she was a strong menace and able to refuse cooperation.
Since I've taken care of her since she was a 5 week old stray, it broke my heart to see her being scared of me all the time. Things escalated ever further until it lead to three cats running around the house, me in a nervous wreck and no insuline in the cat. I had perused the internet and stalked these boards for hours. I tried smaller gauge needles on the pen, different sites etcetc. No use.
I decided (with my vet) that a few days break would not kill her and tried to retrain her to the pen (without a needle, just the tenting, touch and a treat) but to no avail. I found a chinese herbal supplement for diabetic cats and with that and all wetfood we took a break. She remarkably was stable from march till july. We made little progress with training tho. She hated the vetpen so much I couldn't understand it.
Mid july she started loosing weight rapidly and getting depressed again. We came to a point that a decision had to be made: I was on the verge of making the final call because she started suffering visibly.
Then fate intervened. I was cleaning the living room and while she was trailing behind me as she usually does, I absentminded started clicking a ballpoint pen I had picked up. Lexi looked at me with fearful eyes, ducked and ran for the cover of the sofa. I put two and two together and realised that that sound set her off. And the vetpen as a slight but sharp noise to it too. So I used the info here to order the smallest shortest needled U40 I could find (Braun Omnican 20's). And with a prayer and no prior testing I shot her with 1 IU in her flank. She was so far gone that I could not do any damage and I wanted to spare her any and all stress from hometesting or driving to the vet. And the shot went in. 12 hours later another one and she began to react. After two days of roughing it I took her back to the vet, told him of my adventures, we did a bloodtest and we took it up to 2 IU.
Within two weeks her weight was almost completely back on, she began to build muscle and a gleaming coat. She is really fit now. There have been bumps along the road since, including a very scary hypo-episode, and we continue to train, now also for hometesting more structurally, but we are taking it slow because too much pressure will sent this little torti into rebellion. She has to think everything is her idea.
But she is still with me, more cuddly then ever, and for that I have to thank you!
It has also taught me that perfection is the enemy of good enough. There are a lot of things we might be able to do in theory or some time in the future but that are too much, too soon, right now for what she (and I) can handle. So we go for 1) QOL, 2) acceptable labs and only then 3) the possibility of remission/tight regulation etc.
Last edited:
