Merlin

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Barbs_uae

Member Since 2016
Hi... my name is Merlin and my mommy's name is Barbara. We live in Abu Dhabi in the UAE. I'm a 9 yearold Arabian Mau. About a month ago I was diagnosed with diabetes.

My mommy gives me 2 shots of 3 units of insulin a day. She's petrified of needles so the vet have us the Lantus pen to use. So far things haven't been going too badly. I'm still drinking lots of water. I went to the vet on Thursday and we're waiting on the results of my blood tests so that we can adjust my dosage.

Mommy used to feed me cans of Applaws tuna and cheese but the whole country is out of stock so I've been eating Felix. I'm a fussy boy and she's had to chuck out plate after plate of food because me and my brother don't like it!

Today I'm freaking my mom out. I've decided that I'm not going to eat my dinner. She's tried everything. She hasn't given me my insulin. Is she doing the right thing? It's almost 11pm here in the desert so calling the vet is not an option.
 
Hi Merlin, welcome to FDMB! Is your Mommy home testing your blood glucose levels? Without knowing what your BG has been recently it is very difficult to offer advice. How many units of insulin does she give you? I'm making the assumption that you are on a 12-hour schedule?
 
No home testing yet. He has 3 units every 12hrs. His glucose was high on Thursday when the vet tested him. We're waiting for the curve (?) Results to come back. There are no facilities in the UAE to treat it so the blood sample gets sent to the UK.
 
Hi and welcome. My neighbor has two cats he brought home with him from Abu Dhabi!
3 units is a fairly high dose. If you can pick up a human glucose meter you can run the curves yourself and get the results instantly. It's very easy to do, and we'll be glad to teach you. Testing before each shot and periodically between shots will tell you how well the Lantus is working and will help you keep Merlin safe from hypoglycemia, which can be deadly if undetected. Has Merlin eaten yet? If not, try warming his food and stirring it up good.
 
Sharon14 said:
Hi and welcome. My neighbor has two cats he brought home with him from Abu Dhabi!
3 units is a fairly high dose. If you can pick up a human glucose meter you can run the curves yourself and get the results instantly. It's very easy to do, and we'll be glad to teach you. Testing before each shot and periodically between shots will tell you how well the Lantus is working and will help you keep Merlin safe from hypoglycemia, which can be deadly if undetected. Has Merlin eaten yet? If not, try warming his food and stirring it up good.
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I need to work up the courage to do home testing. I'm scared of hurting him.

He's a very very big cat... over 10kgs. We tried him on a lower dose and he started drinking loads of water again. We should get his tests results back soon.

He hasn't eaten yet. We'll try again in the morning. If he doesn't eat his breakfast we'll head back to the vet.
 
We were all scared of hurting our cats when we started home testing. You need to tell yourself that you're doing it to help him get better. My cat actually comes trotting over when I sit in our testing chair and rattle the container of test strips. You can make it a pleasant experience for Merlin too. Choose a spot that will be your testing spot. Take him there several times a day and hold him rub his ears then give him a treat and let him go. When you're both relaxed with that, add the poke to his ear and you're done! Remember to take a deep breath and relax you're doing this to help Merlin. There are lots of videos on you tube showing techniques watch those and ask us lots of questions. We'll be glad to help you!
 
As soon as your pharmacy opens get some urine ketone test strips, collect a sample and do a test. If trace result contact your vet as soon as you can for advice. If anything higher than trace you need to get Merlin to the vets immediately for treatment in order to prevent diabetic ketoacidosis. If you get to the vets, ask the vet to check for ketones.

See the nausea symptom list on this page to see whether nausea might be the reason Merlin's not eating. There are details of treatments on the page should you need them. (If you don't get onto the site first go, keep trying; sometimes it takes a while for the server to respond.)

If nausea is an issue, try raising Merlin's food and water bowls as a first step.


Mogs
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I replied to your thread in the welcome forum earlier and had to run out for a bit. Sorry you didnt get him to eat, hoping for a better outcome with his breakfast!
 
While you work on the home blood glucose testing, take a look at my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some other assessments which can help you evaluate how your cat is doing, particularly dehydration checks, measuring food and water intake and output, and urine ketone testing (obvious sweet or vinegary breath odor may indicate ketones).
 
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