My 16 yr old diagnosed 5 days ago with DM, we live two hours from our vet

Hi. Thank you for having me.

My name is Kaitlin, my cat Ernie is 16. He's a black short hair. I feel pretty run down and am having a hard time coming up with a peppy, thorough introduction. So, I apologize if it is a bit all over the place. I took him to our emergency vet on Saturday the 20th and figured out he has diabetes. His number was 418. No ketones, nothing else strange. Although there was a tiny bit of blood in his urine they didn't seem concerned and it did NOT look red or pink at all. She mentioned he had very mild pancreatitis. He was not hungry. He was clearly not feeling well and lethargic. He sprayed inside twice. That is when I took him in. He has not done that since he's been home (5 ish days).

(I live two hours away on a very remote and pot holed road) My vet said because of my unusual circumstance and the fact that he does NOT tolerate a 2 hour drive over bumpy roads well at all, she wanted me to just take him home and monitor him there without coming in for curve tests. She started him on 1 unit of vetsulin twice a day. After looking online, I decided to order a glucose meter, but it wont be here for 6 days. The vet never even mentioned to me to do it this way. I have not had his glucose checked since Saturday. She just said to monitor his drinking, eating urinating habits and what to look for for hypo. I have some urine test strips arriving in the mail today. Can that help?

I really am at a loss. Today, he seems a tad better. He seemed nauseas so I had them prescribe him anti nausea meds a couple days back. It seems like it helped a little tiny bit with wanting to eat. But he still doesn't want to eat nearly as much as he did. He went outside for a tiny walk. He seems a little bit more "there" behind his eyes if you know what I mean. But, he's still basically sleeping and laying all day. He also hasn't gone to his water bowl since this AM which seems good? He's also not liking to eat food out of his bowls as much and kind of likes me to hand feed sometimes, at least with his dry food until I get him adjusted to new stuff.

I am a wreck. I don't know if I missed pertinent information as I am struggling to think clearly. I am 33, I've had him since I was 16. He's nearly all I have. I feel so terribly vulnerable being so far away.

Any and all information and tips you are able to give I would be so grateful. Also, if I've missed any info to add let me know and I'll do my best.

Thank you.

 

How far are you from a pharmacy? You can pick up supplies at any pharmacy -- well anything except Vetsulin. You can use a human meter to test Ernie's blood glucose levels. Many vets don't say anything about home testing or they tell you your cat will hate you for poking him in the ear. (That doesn't happen!) I would encourage you to get a glucometer. Vetsulin is an insulin that works very quickly and can drop blood glucose numbers hard and fast. Having a meter will help you to be aware of what's going on and whether you need to intervene. You'll need to get a glucometer, test strips for the glucometer, and lancets. The lancets should be 28 gauge. If your vet didn't suggest it, you need U40 syringes to give Ernie his insulin. The insulin test strips are not the most accurate way to measure Ernie's glucose levels but they will do in a pinch. You'll also want to get ketone test strips. These are also a urine test. If the test strips you bought are Ketodiastix, they will also test for glucose. Ketostix test for ketones only.

What food did your vet recommend? If you're feeding Ernie dry food, there's a good chance it's high in carbohydrates. Can you let us know what you're feeding him?

This is some information on Vetsulin. It may help to fill in some of the blanks spots. Most of us were pretty overwhelmed when we learned out cat was diabetic and what was involved in our kitty's care. When my cat was diagnosed, she was hospitalized. I speak fluent medicalese. I was so bewildered, I didn't ask and no one offered to show me how to give an injection. I got home and realized I didn't have a clue. YouTube was very helpful!

 

Hi, thank you so much for getting back to me. So he's been really picky since all of this happened so I am kind of just trying to get him to eat anything. He's lost .2 lb in 5 days. They vet asked what I had him on and was pretty nonchalant with ideas. I do have the hills science m/d dry because he was on half dry and half wet food before. I do soulistic pouches but I heard that the gravies aren't the best. He loves the gravies. I got a soulistic shrimp wet can food that has zero carbs. I ordered the relion premier classic. Does the 28 gauge fit that? I couldn't see on the amazon page. I am just over an hour from the nearest pharmacy. I wouldn't mind running in but I have to work the next two days. I did a urine stick a while ago, maybe 4 hours from his next shot and it was pretty high. But, I haven't successfully changed his diet. Would his 1 unit of insulin need to change? I am frantic thinking about how Ernie is so traumatized by going to the vet, that I just really hope he has an easy go at this whole insulin thing. I am so lost.

 

Hi Ernie and Kaitlin and welcome to the forum. It is very overwhelming in the beginning but you have come to the right place for help and support.
Can you tell us what type of food you are feeding Ernie? Until you have a glucose meter and can test and see what the glucose is, I would NOT try swapping Ernie over to a low carb diet, especially if you are giving vetsulin.
Make sure you feed him 1/2 hour before you give the dose of insulin as vetsulin hits quite hard and fast and you need food aboard to help this. You can also keep offering food during the cycles.
If he is not eating very well, let him eat what ever he wants to at the moment as eating food is very very important to a diabetic cat.
Keep giving him the antinausea medication. Pancreatitis can be painful and cause nausea. Did the vet give you any pain medications.?

The urine test strips will be helpful until you get your glucose meter. Hopefully you got the strips that show ketones and glucose. If the strips are showing NO glucose, you might need to reduce the dose a bit down to 0.75 unit. And it will be helpful to know if there are still no ketones in the urine.
Let us know the results of the urine tests and we can help you.

Do you have some honey or Karo at home and some high carb food….most dry food is high carb…in case of a hypo? If not please get some.
I am going to give you a couple of links to look through for information.
HELP US HELP YOU

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO VETSULIN

HOMETESTING HINTS, LINKS AND TIPS

The most important things you can do at the moment until you get the glucose meter is to make sure Ernie is eating and eating well. Keep an eye out for signs of a hypo …information about this in the about link ‘help us help you’…and test the urine daily for glucose and ketones.
Keep asking questions, we are here to help you

 

The 26-28 gauges are lancets and have nothing to do with the meter. They are the little things you use to poke a hole to get the blood that gets sucked up by the strip in the meter. If you're buying them from Walmart, you want the ones marked "THIN", not the "Ultra Thin" or "Micro Thin".

You can buy a lancet device if you want, but a lot of cats aren't very happy with the "click" they make when you use them. A lot of us just freehand the lancet so we can see where we're actually poking. It's totally optional...if you think you need one, get it.

 

Here's everything you need if you are ordering from Walmart:

Meter, Relion Premeir Classic: https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103?

Premier blood glucose strips: https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197?

Lancets: https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Thin-Blood-Lancets-100-Count/34088206?

Lancet device (optional): https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Lancing-Device/34129433?

Urine Ketone Test strips: https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Ketone-Test-Strips-50-Count/33574014?

Cotton Round cosmetic pads: (optional but great for putting on the other side of the ear to keep you from poking into your finger and after the poke, are good for applying pressure to test site to help contain bruising) https://www.walmart.com/ip/Equate-Beauty-Cotton-Rounds-100-Count/498816654?

 

I appreciate all of your wisdom and experience. Thank you. Do I need alcohol swabs to clean the site before hand? He seems to be a little more perky this morning. I couldn't order from Walmart as I don't have a cell phone (I live in the middle of no cell phone service) so I had to do on Amazon. I hope that when it arrives, it'll all be cohesive together. Feeling a bit all over the place but I feel like I get my best sleep in 6 days last night. Hoping we both feel better soon. Thank you so much!! Valuable info.

 

THANK YOU!! I will not switch his food until I have the glucose meter. This is the type of stuff I need to know. Thank you. My vet said none of this.

 

How quickly does Amazon deliver to you?

Given how it really does sound like you're a good distance from everything, if it were me, I'd make sure that I was keeping extra supplies on hand. This would be especially the case if getting in and out of your area is a problem in inclement weather. In other words, don't let your supply of insulin, test strips, syringes, etc. get low.

There are lots of options for food. This is a link to a food chart. It has information on the carbohydrate content of most of the canned cat foods available in the US. Many of us use Chewy's as an option for delivery however, it's helpful if you know that your cat likes the food since they deliver in cases. We consider low carb food as being below 10% carbohydrate. Most of the members here feed their cat a food that's in the neighborhood of 5%.

For now, until your get your glucometer, I'd do a bit of "practice." Pick a convenient spot for testing Ernie's blood glucose. Introduce him to his testing spot and scratch/play with his ears. Give him a treat. I'd keep doing this so you are getting Ernie used to getting treats at his testing spot and will develop a positive association to your fiddling with his ears and getting treats.

Please let us know if you have questions or how we can help.

 

It takes about 5 days usually for any packages to be delivered. UPS only drives out to our town three days a week unfortunately Thank you so much for these tips on getting him used to the ear thing. Where do people usually do it on the ear. The tip? I guess I will check youtube also. I went to work for the first full 8.5 hours today since this happened and although I was worried it was nice to get out. My partner was here to keep an eye on him as well. I am feeling so much better having found this group. Some seriously awesome and informative and thorough people. Thanks again

 

In Bron's post above (#4) there's a link to a post on home testing. There's a huge amount of information in that link, including videos on home testing. There's also a figure that shows you where on a cat's ear. you want to test. You actually want to test along the outer edge.