New diagnosis for Loki

[Kelsey R]

Hello all. This is Loki. He's was street kitten found by my stepbrother 11 1/2 years ago. He's a big boy - around 2 ft long! He was close to 28 lbs, but dieting over the last few years, we've gotten him down to 22lbs. Obviously, it's too late to stop the diabetes were were hoping to prevent. We think he was bred to be a melanistic bengal, but due to a deformity of his paws, he was thrown out on the street.

Loki was diagnosed with diabetes last week. His BG was 380 at the vet. Luckily the only issues he's had are polydipsia and polyuria. We started him on 1 unit of ProZinc Thursday 11/8. His BG dropped to 290 by the time I first home tested (Sunday 11/11) and was at 260 last night (11/12). My vet suggested we try moving him to 2 units twice a day. She also strongly suggested I buy a vet glucometer and not use the human one that I already have.

He's eating ProPlan Dietetic dry and wet. He gets wet food morning and night and a little dry food around the time his insulin is at it's peak. I really hate Purina and would love to switch to another brand without so much filler and better ingredients. A less costly option would also be welcomed! Loki also has two younger brothers, another cat and a dog. The other cat is feeling very left out with all the new attention and wet food Loki is getting and it's a new struggle to keep them separate during feeding time.

I was very nervous and cried when he was diagnosed. But, your forum really helped get me through those first few days. So a big THANK YOU for easing my stress!! I'm recently married, about to start my last semester of nursing school (while working a full time job and a part time job), my husband just started a master's program, we're house hunting, and starting to talk babies... so more stress was really not something I could handle!

Would love to see what's worked for you guys. Am I deluding myself by thinking he could go into remission? Would also love suggestions about food options? Do I really need a pet glucometer? How often do you check blood sugars? My vet said once every other week should suffice, but that seems insufficient, especially while trying to figure out what

One more pic for the road...

 

[LexaJoy]

What a pretty boy, and I love his name!

First things, welcome! There's a lot of info here, so good on you for getting the jump on it. I'm not familiar with ProZinc, so I'll let those folks who use it tackle that question... or you could hop over to their forum and post there. Either way.

So far as meters and testing go, well. Most of us use human meters. They're less expensive and a lot of the data on this board has been calibrated for you to be able to use those numbers. There's nothing wrong with pet meters. My vet strongly recommended one, too. But... the human versions are easier to manage in terms of the other things you need (strips, especially). They're widely available at places like Wal-Mart, and the cost is less daunting.

Testing should be done, at minimum, every time you want to give Loki a shot of insulin. That will help you know if his BG is in a safe range to shoot. If it's low, for example, shooting could tip him into a hypoglycemic event, which would be dangerous and possibly deadly. We test every pre-shot, and then at least once more during each cycle, just to fill in some blanks on what the insulin is doing and how effective it is. That helps you figure out if your dose is correct or not.

There's a food chart floating around that might be helpful to you to check out. We generally try to stick with wet food that's high in protein and low in carbs, and you really don't even need any special "diabetic foods" anyway. Some of them are actually not very good in terms of meeting dietary needs. I've got three cats and only one is diabetic, so now everyone eats the same thing. It's a bit more costly than regular dry food used to be, since we run through multiple cans of wet food a day, but. It saves on the headache of trying to keep them separate when they eat, and hopefully it'll help my non-diabetic kitties avoid some of the problems associated with dry food. We generally go with Fancy Feast (classic pates only) or Friskies (also pate only), but there's other options out there. Just adjusting the food did help Sherlock's numbers before we even started insulin.

Remission is possible. I'm hoping for it, myself, even though we're only about a month into Sherlock's treatment. I'll keep my fingers crossed for your Loki, too.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Good morning Kelsey and Loki. What a handsome kitteh he is, wow! And your pic with him in your beautiful dress is a treasure.
I realize that getting that diabetes diagnosis is a shock, and it's daunting to try to figure out what to do and when. So, he's already on insulin, you are testing and looking at good food options. Terrific!
I suggest you create your signature so that Loki's info is available when you post, it saves time repetitively asking and answering the same questions. Here is a link on how to do that: SIGNATURE
We also have a wonderful tool in the form of a spreadsheet, where you can enter in all the preshot information as well as all other BG tests you get. This allows you, and other members to see how the insulin is working for Loki and is critical to any advice on dosing. Here is a link to that: SPREADSHEET
You are a nursing student and this gives you an edge on many of us when we began. You have an understanding of how important treating a disease or condition properly is. I found that treating Idjit's diabetes was not as scary as I anticipated, and as I learned more, I became much more confident and capable.
If you haven't already done so, go back to the Home Page and read the "Getting Started" and "Education" sections. Good basic foundation information that you need. There is more information in the other forums, and you will get to that, particularly the Prozinc forum, so you can learn about that insulin, how to use it effectively and get advice from the experienced members there.
Post in the Main forum with your questions about testing, diet, weight control, other health concerns. This Intro forum is the welcome mat and more members will be able to respond from the Main forum.
Wishing you the best on learning to do the "sugar dance" and the ultimate goal of remission!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

@Kelsey R Hi Kelsey and Loki and welcome to the fdmb.
You have been given some great advice by Idjits mom and LexaJoy.
A human meter is absolutely fine...most of us use one here....and our protocols are for human meters..
I would not increase the insulin by 1 unit to 2 units..........we increase by 0.25 (1/4)unit increments as it is safer for kitty and that way we do not go past the best dose. So to increase, I would go to 1.25 units. I am not very familiar with Prozinc so I am going to tag a couple of people who use Prozinc who will be able to help you in relation to the insulin. You might like to wait to see what they say before increasing.
@Rachel @Djamila

 

[Kelsey R]

Thank you for all the wonderful advice!! That food chart is something else! Referencing it, I went out and bought 12 different types. I need to find something my healthy kitty likes, so he stops eating Loki's, and something that if Loki sneaks some of the other's food, it won't be a problem to his recovery! I have updated my signature and will start working on graphing his days to make sure his dosing is working!
Thanks again! Happy to have such knowledgeable people going through this first hand to guide me through helping my boy!