LaurieL
Member
Hi, I'm Laurie and since last Sunday I've had a crash course in feline diabetes. On Friday, April 8, I took my cat Gracie (age 7) to have her teeth cleaned and by early Sunday morning she had become very sick. The vet at the emergency animal hospital gave us the bad news...diabetes. Her glucose was 322 and because she also had ketones the vet said that she wasn't just stressed from the dental cleaning/anesthesia. Gracie stayed there so she could get an IV with insulin and things like potassium to improve her electrolytes. On Wednesday evening they taught me how to give her the shots and we were able to bring her home. Since then, I've been reading all about how to care for her, and this website has been very helpful! The vet didn't tell me to check her blood glucose, but after reading about hometesting here I went out yesterday and got a glucometer. I even surprised myself when I was able to do a successful first test without upsetting Gracie too much. (I think the warm rice sock helped a lot!)
Gracie's numbers while in the animal hospital were stable in the low 200's. The first hometest yesterday was 206. Right now she's getting 1 unit of Lantus twice a day. I have been feeding my cats canned food and a little dry food at night (one of my 3 cats is crazy about his "dry crunchies". ) But now I'm only buying the low carb brands recommended for diabetic cats, and the dry feedings are gone except for burying some in the fussy guy's wet food while he learns to eat only wet food. Gracie's definitely feeling better and has been eating better than she was before her teeth cleaning. (I had thought her recent change in appetite may have been because of tooth problems, and in fact she did have a fractured tooth that was pulled during the cleaning .) This Wednesday she's returning to the animal hospital for the day so that the vet who had been caring for her can do a curve. The people who work there have been so good to Gracie and very helpful to me. I'm so thankful that they saved Gracie's life, and I'm also thankful for everything I've learned here already!
Gracie's numbers while in the animal hospital were stable in the low 200's. The first hometest yesterday was 206. Right now she's getting 1 unit of Lantus twice a day. I have been feeding my cats canned food and a little dry food at night (one of my 3 cats is crazy about his "dry crunchies". ) But now I'm only buying the low carb brands recommended for diabetic cats, and the dry feedings are gone except for burying some in the fussy guy's wet food while he learns to eat only wet food. Gracie's definitely feeling better and has been eating better than she was before her teeth cleaning. (I had thought her recent change in appetite may have been because of tooth problems, and in fact she did have a fractured tooth that was pulled during the cleaning .) This Wednesday she's returning to the animal hospital for the day so that the vet who had been caring for her can do a curve. The people who work there have been so good to Gracie and very helpful to me. I'm so thankful that they saved Gracie's life, and I'm also thankful for everything I've learned here already!