Welcome to the FDMB, George and I haven't been here long, but one thing we know for sure is that if you have a diabetic kitty, this is the place to be
, you will get tons of support and advice which will be invaluable.
From what you are saying it seems as though you haven't started treating yet. Going to start by offering some advice on literature you can read, and things you can do before starting treatment. Please don't get overwhelmed we have all been there
What are you feeding Salvatore?? If it's dry you need to think about changing to wet (that is the first thing I did with George), here is a link to
Dr Piersons site, it is where I started, I strongly suggest you start here, has tons of useful info on feline diabetes and feline health in general, I seem to remember seeing some info on CKD too, sit down with a cup of coffee and read through it all, it will help you understand Salvatores condition better. Changing to Wet can be easy for some and take time for others, George was easy, I removed his dry, gave him his new high protein low carb wet food and away we went, others have needed to transition more slowly, again a lot of folk in the US feed Fancy Feast in jelly( not the gravy ones they are too high in carbohydrates), in Dr Pierson's site you will find links to food charts and she explains how to interpret the food contents label to help you make an informed choice of what to feed your cat. She talks about feed a cat with CKD too, well worth a read.
Everyone here Home Tests, we monitor our kitties blood glucose levels regularly, that way we can see how well the insulin is working for our babies, and we can keep them safe, shooting with insulin blind doesn't make sense, some of us here have vets who support home testing others have found that their vets won't support home testing, you need to stand your ground with home testing, no human diabetic would shoot insulin blind, it would be foolish and dangerous, why would we shoot blind with our furballs?? Most of us here use Human meters as the test strips are cheaper, bearing in mind that we test regularly this really is a factor, in the US a lot of folk use the Relion meter and test strips available from walmart.
When you can try and set up a
spreadsheet, you can click on GeorgesSS on my signature and you can see what it looks like. I test a lot, don't let that put you off, I am able to and feel I want to but many test much less, when you test kind of depends on the insulin you are using. Getting a spread sheet set up to record Salvatores blood glucose(BG) is the best way to track his progress, it also allows the experienced folk here at FDMB to help you with dosing advice as they need to be able to see how his BG are doing to be able to make an informed comment and try to help. There are folk here managing diabetic cats with CKD, so you are not alone they will pitch in to help with advice. Here is a link on how to set up the Spread Sheet ss, I recommend you do that ASAP, even if you have nothing to put in it yet, but at least you will be up and running by Monday, when presumably you may be starting treatment.
It also helps if in your signature you can tell us a bit more about Salvatore, kind of a summary, when he was diagnosed, age, other health issues, what insulin, what meter etc, you can always update with more info as you go along.
Get some Keto sticks to test for ketones in the urine. We also routinely test for ketones, weekly usually, more regularly if BG is high or Kitty is prone to Ketones.
There are different types of insulin I am using Lantus, it is a slow acting human insulin which has given good results treating diabetic cats, with significant numbers able to gain good regulation or even remission. But there are other insulin's available, do you know what your vet is intending to prescribe? Lantus is widly used here, but it is a little more expensive, than some of the others, so you may want to research costs if that is a factor for you (those buying lantus will buy a pack of 5 5ml pens though it seems more expensive, the 10ml vials will tend to go off before you can use them all so in the end they work out more costly).
Breath, Do some more reading, and tell us a bit more about what treatment you are considering for Salvatore, on the forums for the insulin the stickies at the top will tell you a bit about how they work might help you decide which one you are going to use. You have come to the right place
Bear in mind that we are coming up to the holidays and with travelling and family commitments there are less peeps about than usual. So don't get disheartened if you don't hear from many initially.
Hope all goes well on Monday.
Post up if you have further questions, Dr Piersons site is excellent it will help you put things into perspective, and you may have more questions once you have read through it don't be afraid to post up with more questions
I will add more hugs to Serryns
.
