New cat - do I just start over? Yikes.

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Calliene

Calliene

Member Since 2016
First let me say that this site has been a godsend. I brought home a foster cat from the shelter less than 4 days ago. They said he was diabetic yet stable. Sent me home with a lantus pen and a case of Purina ProPlan Savory Selects and said to give him 1 can twice a day along with 2 units Lantus twice a day. They said he needed to gain weight, and talked a lot. They said his BS should be checked by the vet once a month or so. Since he (no name yet!!) has been here he has been a love. He poops and pees (not excessively) in his box, though he did have a liquid poop on Friday.

Indeed the cat did talk a lot, and was very hungry! And I buckled down to learn about feline diabetes. Reading here, discovered I should be testing sugars frequently, and the food the shelter gave me was not the best. Yesterday I fed the cat, gave him his morning insulin, and a few hours later couldn't find him and he didn't come when I called, which was unlike him. I found him under the couch. He responded but didn't want to come out. He seemed to not feel well though.

I went to Walmart and bought a Relion Micro meter. Pre-PM insulin/meal, I checked him. This was 11 hours after his insulin. 21! Holy Toledo. I checked again. 22! I checked myself. 90. I ditched the insulin and fed him. I read the saga of Nicole and Baby. I checked frequently. I gave him some honey. I gave him more food, though I didn't have any real high carb food.

By the time I went to sleep, 3AM, it was 66.

BTW I know I gave him the right dose of insulin. I'm a nurse and give people insulin fairly often.

This morning, 24 hours after his last insulin dose, BS was 63. I fed him and didn't give him insulin, but he's a different cat. He's not ravenous. He's not talking. He seems way chill and though he ate some, he didn't scarf it and there is a lot left in the bowl.

Is it possible this cat has gone into remission? What do I do now?
 
Hi Calliene, for now - no more insulin - but then you knew that. Do you know how long he has been on Lantus? You will need to continue testing as even though his numbers are now normal there will still be some influence from the Lantus. If he stays in normal range for 2 weeks then you can consider him to be in remission.

If his levels rise again and you think he may need to be back on insulin then there is a forum specifically for Lantus/Levemir users and plenty of experienced people who can advise you.

What are you feeding him now? Any other health issues you know of?
 
Yes, it is very possible that the cat is in remission. I adopted a untreated diabetic and he went into remission in two weeks when on Lantus.
I would check the cat before feeding for a couple of days and see if insulin is required. I would also check at about 5-7 hors and see what the BG is there too since food can raise BG.

It is not unexpected for a cat moved to a new household to have diarrhea.

The Purina ProPlan Savory Selects is not a bad food but the expense of the food is not worthin any possible benefits over low-carb canned like Friskies or Fancy Feast. Here is a list of low-carb canned:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/shortcut-shopping-list-all-8-or-less-updated.117688/
 
The medical records that came from the shelter are not great. Only 2 blood sugars noted: 328 on 7/25 (they got the cat on 7/14) and 101 on 8/23. Seems they started Lantus on 8/8. Says he was pu/pd on 7/25 after castration. No longer pu/pd on 8/23. What does that mean? He was given antibiotics on 7/25 and 8/15. And UGH the instructions say recheck his glucose in 1-2 months!! I feel like if I had just followed instructions last night and given him insulin I would have killed him. THANKS TO YOU ALL I went out and got a monitor and figured out how to check him myself. :nailbiting:
 
WOW.....you are very lucky to still have him! I guess he was under some shelter stress!!

Since you understand human diabetes, you know that those 20's are dangerously low but you did all the right things!

For now, you'll want to test at your usual Pre-shot times and see how he does....he could go into remission (we've seen cats in the past who've had symptomatic hypos go into remission...we're not sure how it works but somehow it seems to "shock" the pancreas back to work) or he could need to go back on but at a smaller dose

It'll help to go ahead and start keeping track of his BG numbers on our spreadsheet, so if he does have to go back on, we'll have some of the background on him. Here are the Instructions for getting the FDMB spreadsheet

Looking forward to seeing how "no name" kitty does!!...sure hope he tells you his name soon though!!
 
Thank you! We are working on the name! Of course my grown children - one in college 200 miles away and one working on a cruise ship in Europe - both want a say!!
 
You can feed ProPlan Savor PATEE. It's 2.5% or less depending on flavor. The beef and carrot one is 2.3%. This way he will have the same brand just a different consistency so it shouldn't be upsetting to the tummy.
Maybe spreading out his meals will help.

Congrats on new fur baby.
 
Thanks for giving him a home and taking care of him. He's very fortunate. Best wishes to you both that he doesn't need insulin any more!
 
Thank you! He last had insulin 2 days ago. Yesterday his pre-meal blood sugars were 63 and 65 and today it was 69. Fingers crossed!!!
 
It's between Cal and Leo, but I think he's telling me it's Leo. Now 6 days since insulin!! Thank you all SOOOOO much!!!!!

ETA: Cal is not after me, my name is Sally!! But my husband is a huge Orioles/Cal Ripkin fan.
 
It has now been almost a week since he had insulin. This morning pre-breakfast BS was 64. But in the past few days he has once again become ravenous. He is not peeing or drinking a lot, but he seems SO hungry! I have been feeding him 2 6oz cans a day of Weruva's low carb flavors of Cats in the Kitchen, but he begs for more. So the past few days, I have supplemented with homemade plain yogurt which has a lot of probiotics. He LOVES it, and his poop is finally solid. He IS a big, though underweight, cat, but I worry about feeding him too much. If they are not on insulin and the food is low carb, does it matter?
 
Wow, really? Is there a list somewhere of how many calories are in each food? I liked that the Weruva didn't have carrageenan, but he is a big cat and I need to be getting adequate calories in him. The can said 1 oz per pound, which would be 12 lbs and the cat almost is 12 lbs, but he needs to be at least 15 is my guess. Was hoping supplementing with the full-fat yogurt would help, but he still seems hungry.
 
I have been reading your thread and what an exciting story. You are indeed doing everything right, you are also a wonderful fur parent.
 
Thank you again! I think I had an abridged version of his chart without the calories. I have so much to learn!
 
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