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Dawn Ullmann

Dawn Ullmann

Member Since 2015
My cat is not doing good. Hes starting to hide. A lot even when we are feeding him, its getting harder to give him his shots its like his skin is getting tight and hard to make a tent. We are free feeding him again cause he was getting very aggressive towards everyone even the dog.
We also have been noticing his back legs are getting week, he has a hard time jumping up on stuff. I don't know what to do. How far do you let it go before you think about putting him to sleep. I don't want to give up on him but I also don't want him to suffer. Ideas please.
 
Most of us here test our cat's blood sugar (BG) using a human BG meter. That way we know what is going on and can dose the insulin appropriately.
What insulin are you giving and what does?
What are feeding?
The back leg weakness is likely due to neuropathy due to the BG being to high.
Whare are you located? Maybe someone is near y and can teach you to home test.
What does your vet say?
 
He is on Vetsulin 2 units in the morning and 1 1/2 units at night. He is eating the hills w/d dry food. We tried wet and having him on a schedule but he was getting really mean so the vet and me decided to go back to free feeding and his attitude is better. I will tryand get a spreadsheet done. I live in maplewood, mn
 
You might try free feeding the wet. I leave it out for 10 hours at a time for the 16 cats at my place.
 
You leave wet food out all day. Doesn't it go bad? Now hes starting to have diarrhea. And threw up last night. I'm really worried about him. Have a call into the veto see what to do.
 
None of my cats has had a problem with leaving it out. In fact, several of them prefer it dried out and ... crunchy.
Slow food changes tend to go better; sudden ones may provoke diarrhea and vomiting. We suggest changing only 20-25% per day and taking a good 4-5 days to transition to help avoid that.
 
I'm in Little Falls, but that's a couple of hours away, so I doubt I can offer much help. Definitely quit the Hills, too many carbs. I know there are a couple of places in the cities where you can buy Evo brand food, it's about 10% LESS carbs than the prescription food. I hope your vet calls you back soon!
 
Have you tried making foodsicles?

Take a can of food, add water and freeze in ice cube trays or mini-muffin pans. When frozen you can just pop them into a baggie and back in the freezer. It's something you need to try first though because some cats will eat them frozen!!

The theory is that most cats won't eat what they can't smell, so freezing the food makes it have very little smell, but several hours later when it's thawed out, it's just like fresh
 
Dawn Ullmann said:
I would love to know what everyone gives their cats to eat for free feeding? Ty
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Friskies wet food here. Every Friskies selection with 9% carbs and under that I can find on the catinfo.com nutritional page and the 8% and under shopping list thread. I put it out and leave it out.

If you need to, you can supplement with a low or no carb dry food. There are several options to choose from, including Young Again Zero Carb. But in the long run, if you can manage it, an all wet food diet is probably the best thing you can do for a cat.

Most cats like dry food because it's tasty. That's because manufacturers often add "animal digest" as a flavor enhancer. You can purchase animal digest as a standalone product (like Purina's FortiFlora) to add to wet food to assist with the transition. Many have found that helps their cats adjust to eating wet food. It was instrumental in helping Jenks make the switch.
 
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Friskies pates, mainly poultry versions (I've never seen a domestic cat take down a steer, nor go fishing for salmon).
 
Eco cat and kitten dry is 8.4 carbs according to the nutrient analysis on their site. For a treat, I've been mixing it with a little warmed chicken broth and letting it sit a few minutes before feeding. While its sitting, I test Goof.
 
Ty We have to figure something out. We can't get him regulated, is glucose level last night was 545 so the vet said to go to 2 units in morning and 2 units at night. I hope this helps cause I don't know how much longer I can watch him go through this. Getting harder to give shots and they are hurting him sometimes. Tonight he was laying with me and was purring but it sounded weird like he was congested or something. How do you know when its time to let them go and stop putting them through all this?
 
My kitty Neko started on Caninsulin (Vetsulin) and we found that it was wearing off well before her next shot. She was miserable for a couple hours before feeding time and her next shot. Maybe you could talk to your vet about trying one of the longer lasting insulins such as Lantus, Levemir, Prozinc or PZI. I was so happy when we switched to Lantus cause the U-100 needles were narrower gauge and were easier to give the shots. He may be a bit dehydrated if he's peeing a lot (due to higher numbers), which could make it harder to give the shots.
 
See my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some additional assessments you can make to evaluate him, especially the dehydration checks.
 
@Dawn Ullmann ....I may know someone on the message board that lives close enough to you that they may be able to help you learn to home test. I've sent her a message so hopefully having someone nearby will help...Her name is Molly and her sugarcat is Skooter
 
Greetings @Dawn Ullmann !!!! I am the one that @Chris & China had messaged.

I am in Burnsville, MN. I am dealing with some vertigo issues at the moment, so not allowed to drive much (hoping it fixes itself soon). Skooter is on Lantus and I don't really have experience with Vetsulin, BUT I sure am an expert on feeling nervous/scared/unsure of what to do and not wanting to hurt my kitty! He is also an IBD kitty as well.

Skooter gets fed Nature's Variety Chicken, it is a wet food. I have two autofeeders, one for the AM cycle and the other for the PM cycle. He gets his shot around 6 am/pm (I shoot his insulin while he is eating, he also gets his miralax mixed into his food and his IBD medication) and then the auto feeder is set for 830 (has joint powder medication in it),1030 (his probiotic) and then a quick snack at 3 (it has REALLY helped to bring his numbers down to add that +9ish snack to kickstart his pancreas and has really brought down his pre-shot numbers.

Just a lil background on Skoots: He was diagnosed IBD several years ago and with diabetes a year ago on the 19th of April. He started out eating dry food and worked himself up to 5 or 5.5 units of insulin twice a day. With his IBD, I was hesitant to switch his food as I didn't want to set off an IBD attack, but with the help of the fine folks here, he started transitioning to wet and dropped to 4 units twice a day. Once we got him completely changed over, he dropped to 2 units of insulin twice a day and currently he is all the way down to .5 (yes HALF a unit) twice a day! He started out in the high 500s when he was being tested at the vet's office and even got some 500s when I started testing at home. In my signature line you can see a link to his 2014 and 2015 spreadsheets with all his numbers. He also had some slight issues with neuropathy in the beginning due to his high numbers, it pretty much went away after we got his numbers in better control. At a few points in this sugar dance, I wondered how I could put him through this, and thought the best thing to do was to put him down. I sure am glad I didn't! We have had an amazing, crazy awesome year where I have learned so much!

This is doable and the amazing folks here can help you with dosing and insulin choices. Part of the reason he may be acting out is he just isn't feeling well. That was one of the signs that led me to bring Skooter in. He was hiding a lot, hissing at my sister's dogs when at their house and hissing at other people. They way I look at it, if I had off the chart blood glucose readings, I probably wouldn't feel the greatest either.

I am more than happy to meet up, chat, whatever you need....of course, once this stupid vertigo gets under control!

Please do not give up! I am not sure when your baby got diagnosed (btw what is kitty's name, I must have missed it in the rest of the comments), the beginning is the hardest, but you have a great group of ppl to help and support you!
 
Dawn...I'm wondering whether besides your cat having possibly neuropathy from the high numbers, whether there might be an infection going on as well? Diabetic cats get infections very easily when uncontrolled levels keep up for long periods of time. Perhaps, your cat is being "mean" because of the levels, not feeling well as well as the neuropathy?

I hope your vet has called you back and perhaps, even taken a look at him, check his temperature etc to see if there is another type of infection going on...on top of the glucose levels???

I would have to agree with MollynSkooter's advice to hang in there and try to get things regulated and not give up unless you are told differently by a vet. Things can be turned around. It takes a lot of nerve and frustration and worry etc. at first but, eventually...given time, love, patience and some dedication...it can happen that your cat will have a wonderful life again.

Hang in there and though I may vent a lot with my current Sugar Kitty (and her disposition), I had a previous Sugar Kitty over 10 years ago now where the insulin just wasn't good by today's standards in treatment. Maybe, had he gotten the type of insulin (as mentioned above in other posts...ie: Lantus, Levemere etc.) he might have been regulated better?? But, don't give up just yet. Very sick kitties have quickly been turned around with the right dosage, vet care and human Mom care.

Also consider if you feel that your vet is doing all that he/she can for your cat and knows about diabetes in cats. If not...is it possible for you to get a second opinion with another vet? And, please keep talking to people in here. They are getting me through this slowly and I am just amazed at the knowledge and caring people who are here to support us through these tough, rough and sometimes, tear-jerking times.

I say...hang in there unless you get told otherwise by your vet. Diabetes can be turned around or controlled and kitty can come back from this! :)
 
Ty all for the kind words and help. I don't know what I would do without you guys. He did sound congested last night when he was sleeping me so I think I am going to get him in just to make sure nothing else is going on. I also think I will talk to her about changing insulinif we can afford it. Mollynscooter he isn't being mean anymore since we started free feeding again.
 
The initial cost of the insulin can be a bit of a sticker shock. The nice thing is, since he is already on insulin, you could order from the Canadian pharmacy a lot of us use. I THINK this is the most current web addy for them. Skooter's first vial of Lantus was around $220 and my vet had done some calling around. The vial was 10mL, glass and lasted about 6 months. Through the pharmacy in Canada, I was able to get the pens (5 pens with 3mL each, for a total of 15mL) for about $150 with shipping. I think it might be up to around $160 right now. BUT that insulin will last me probably over a year. Plus with it being the pens and not the glass vial, I don't have to worry so much about it breaking.

That would be my suggestion. Hopefully once you get him on an insulin that will work better with his body, we will be able to see some great results....again, I am not that far from you, so please let me know if there is anything I can do!
 
I hope your vet is willing to switch insulins....Lantus has a proven protocol that's been published, but Levemir and ProZinc will work well too. They're all better than Vetsulin for cats.

Most vets don't see a lot of diabetic cats...it's much more common in dogs, so a lot of times they just use what they're used to using and treat their diabetic cats like small dogs.

If money isn't a problem, I'd ask for a script for Lantus and switch over .....and please take Molly's offer to help if you need it (as soon as she can drive)....it's so very helpful to have a "live person" there to show you the ropes on testing!
 
Hey I'm from.MN originally! Ya betcha..my cats free feed young again zero carb. Also on vetsulin cuz I can't afford anything else. :)
 
MollynSkooter...we've got Morrigan on the Lantus pens. The pharmacy tells us to throw them (the open vials/pens) away at 28 days. I keep them in the fridge both the opened and un-opened. How long can I use the opened vials because at 1 unit a day right now, it's going to be most of the vial thrown out.


MollynSkooter said:
The initial cost of the insulin can be a bit of a sticker shock. The nice thing is, since he is already on insulin, you could order from the Canadian pharmacy a lot of us use. I THINK this is the most current web addy for them. Skooter's first vial of Lantus was around $220 and my vet had done some calling around. The vial was 10mL, glass and lasted about 6 months. Through the pharmacy in Canada, I was able to get the pens (5 pens with 3mL each, for a total of 15mL) for about $150 with shipping. I think it might be up to around $160 right now. BUT that insulin will last me probably over a year. Plus with it being the pens and not the glass vial, I don't have to worry so much about it breaking.

That would be my suggestion. Hopefully once you get him on an insulin that will work better with his body, we will be able to see some great results....again, I am not that far from you, so please let me know if there is anything I can do!
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You can use the refrigerated, opened, Lantus pen for about 6 months. Testing will show you when it is starting to peter out.
 
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Louellen said:
How long can I use the opened vials because at 1 unit a day right now, it's going to be most of the vial thrown out.
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You can use the lantus until the remainder i the vial/pem becomes cloudy, discolored or abnormal looking or until the insulin loses its effectiveness as should by BG values. Most caretakers can use a an entire 3 ml pen and half or more of a 10 ml vial.
 
Thank you both so much BJM and Larry and Kitties! That's a PHEWW from me on that as the cost is getting to us greatly....between food, glucometer strips, vet bills, insulin, needles, etc.. :)
 
Well went to the vet. This darn cat gained weight now back to 15 pounds so she thinks that's why its taking awhile to regulate him but also possible infection somewhere. She gave him a shot of antibiotics and also raised the morning dose to 3 units instead of 2. I hope it helps. Its killing me to see him not feel good. Will keep you posted.
 
Dawn, we had a diabetic kitty 0ver 10 years ago and are back with another one now. The one thing I do remember was that Topper (our previous diabetic cat) was always getting upper respiratory infections UNTIL we got him regulated on the insulin (old and harsh one but, can't remember the name of it now...I think Lente???) He was on antibiotics for them a few times and once we got him regulated, they stopped. So, it's quite possible that his breathing difficulties are due to an infection and possibly his weight gain???

Please do keep us all updated and keep your chin up. He's being covered by both the insulin and the antibiotics. :) You're doing all that you can! :)
 
Dawn...we don't recommend ever going up by a whole unit at one time (unless the cat is a diagnosed high dose cat on a LOT more insulin...like over 20U)

Increases should be done in .25 unit increments so you don't go past what might be a "best dose"

Have you had any success in learning how to home test? If you can get that down, it'll REALLY help you to know what's going on inside his body
 
Can we get you started using our grid to record your glucose tests and note any observations even if you haven't been able to test? It will help us give you better feedback. Instructions are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.
 
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