Meet Bill - Recently Diagnosed, Regulating Quickly

[Ravyn and Bill]

Bill is our sweet orange guy. He's about 13.5 years old, and was diagnosed with DM about a week ago. We got started on Lantus about 5 days ago (and because I didn't know better), we switched him from his urinary care hard food to Paté at the same time. Bill was diagnosed with crystals and FLUTD about 10 years ago, and aside form a flare-up about 5 years ago, he hasn't had any complications. We took him to test for diabetes after he was peeing all over our basement. Thankfully he seems to have stopped since we started the Lantus and have been more diligent about cleaning his box.

You can see his spreadsheet in my signature, and I'm feeling a little confused about how quickly he's regulating. I think I'll run a curve today (8/23) even though it hasn't been a week. We're concerned about him going hypo between doses. Our vet isn't knowledgable in this area (she suggested keeping him on hard food, and not doing home monitoring), so I appreciate the community here!!

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hi and welcome Ravyn and Bill. I just took a look at Bill's spreadsheet (thank you for setting that up so quickly and recording data!) and he's definitely responding to the insulin. Some cats respond very quickly to the diet change and insulin therapy, they are indeed very fortunate. It doesn't look like there is imminent danger of a hypo, but you are so right to be vigilant. You never know what a kitty is going to do.

Would you complete the signature with Bill's info please, just so it's available whenever you post:
Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

You trusted your instincts and found better information about effective diabetic treatment, many of us have discovered that our vets are not terribly well educated in feline diabetes. But on FDMB we have members that have been treating diabetes for years.

Going forward you can visit the Lantus forum, read the stickies at the top of the page and post there to let the other Lantus users get to know you and Bill. Read some of the posts there to get a feel of how things are going for the other kitties, and see how members put the testing results in the titles to let others know what is happening each day. This is the forum to ask for dosing advice and questions about using the insulin. The Main Health forum is more for questions about diet, general health issues, etc. We can look at the current diet and make some recommendations and suggestions there.

Best wishes going forward

 

[Sarah&Soph]

Welcome to you and Bill!

With lantus, there is a depot effect and it takes a few days for the depot to fill, so it could be that you are just now seeing the actual effect of the dose. Definitely check out the lantus forum, there’s lots of experienced people there who can help you!

 

[Cynthia & Merlin (GA)]

I’m so happy you’re on the board! You will get such good guidance here. xxoo