New Diagnosis - not what I expected

So my cat, Kinzington was dx'd w/diabetes last week. The vet said her bloodwork was +600. He rx'd a lantis pen for 2U x2PD. I picked it up Sunday and ordered a Alphatrax2. I also bought the food he recommended (dry) RoyalCanine Glucobalance. So after I read up, a wet food would be better.. so I bought tikicat (which she loves) Long story not so short.. my vet said not to test until 14 days( he was annoyed I was testing at all) , but I did.. Kinz is OK with it.. shes never gone below 250. She actually is maintaining a low 300's reading. So my questions are: Am I testing too early and thats why her numbers are high? Is it a bad idea to switch her food while shes adjusting to insulin? I've read the guide info here.. I didnt find anything with High GB, it was all mostly low GB. Thanks!

 

Welcome to FDMB!!

I haven't a clue why your vet would have you delay home testing let alone be annoyed with you for testing. To put this in context, do really think that if your vet had a diabetic child that the child's pediatrician would give the same advice? No MD would give anyone that advice! So, good for you for having instincts that will keep Kinzington safe. Also, there is no need for an AlphaTrak meter. It's fine to use but it's pricey. The cost for strips are at least 4 - 5 times more than what you would spend on strips for a human meter. Many people here use the Walmart Relion brand meter because the strips are the least expensive around.

You do not need to use a prescription diabetic food. Most of the diabetic foods are composed of poor quality ingredients. The dry foods are very high in carbohydrates. Some of the canned diabetic foods are also high in carbs. The Tiki brand is a good quality food and most of the flavors are low in carbs. This is a food chart that breaks down the nutritional elements, including carbs, of most of the canned foods that are available in the US. We consider low carb as under 10%. However, most of the members here use foods that are in the 5% range. You gave lots of options.

Part of the reason you're not yet seeing much movement in Kinz's blood glucose (BG) numbers is that it's the nature of the insulin you're using. Lantus is a great insulin for cats so kudos to your vet for recommending Lantus! However, Lantus needs to build up in your cat's system. It takes a week for Lantus to build up and stabilize. We refer to that "build up" as the insulin depot. The technical side is that when you give a shot of Lantus, it forms microcrystals that deposit in the fat tissue. Almost all of those crystals slowly dissolve over the 12-hour cycle. However, not all of the crystals dissolve -- a bit is kept in "storage." This allows Lantus to have a long duration and to overlap between cycles. Every time you change a dose, the depot needs to adjust which can take up to 3 days. If you want to learn more about Lantus, take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus forum.

With the switch in foods, please monitor your cat's BG carefully. You've moved from a very high carb food to low carb. Kinz's BG numbers could drop sharply. Please make sure you have something like corn syrup, maple syrup, honey -- anything that is a simple sugar -- on hand should numbers drop low.

You may also want to take a look at this post on helping us to help you. There's information on how to set up a signature that contains basic information on Kinz so we don't keep asking you the same questions over and over again. There are also instructions on how to set up a spreadsheet so you can track Kinz's progress. Linking the spreadsheet in your signature also allows us to follow along and offer suggestions or help.

Please let us know how we can help!

 

Thank you, just trying to wrap my head around it all at this point.. thanks for explaining the lack of movement in numbers, I'll just have to wait and hopefully they do go down
Thanks again!

 

How are things today?

 

The same. I'm only testing before feeding..but she seems to perk up and act normal about an hour before she eats..then eats and gets bored/sleeps. Wondering if its because of her low carb food. Shes alert, etc.. I'm watching for that. Luckily, I telecommute, so I'm here all day to keep eyes on her. Someone for the next week or two is in the house at all times and knows the syrup protocol. I feel like I'm overreacting.. but better over than underreact Thank you for asking, very kind of you to think of us

 

I love her picture you will get amazing advice here! Welcome. Its a steep learning curve, but youll be a pro in no time!

 

She is a Ham and loves her picture taken <3
So this week, I've gone easy on her BG testing, instead testing at the 6-8 hr mark.. to get an indication of where shes at. Yesterday she was at 122 (YAY!) and today 86(YAY!)
I don't want to torment her with doing a curve yet.. but should i? She is on zero carb food (tikicat) and has been for 2 weeks now. She's finally back to her old self

 

It's not torment I promise! If you take a look at my spreadsheet for jekyll you'll see how often I test. Most of us aim for preshot, 3 hours after, 6 hours after, and 9 hours after with random spot checks sprinkled in. I'd recommend making a spreadsheet here. It's been amazing to track it on my phone and my vet has viewing access anytime he wants.

 

She has a bloody spot in her ear from me testing, makes me sad.. even though she barely flinches. Should I do the curve tomorrow then? I certainly dont want to do it daily, do I have to do it daily? I'll grab the spreadsheet now, thank you!

 

Here is the link for the spreadsheet, if you have trouble setting it up just ask we have a member here that would be glad to do it for you
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/spreadsheets-tech-support-testing-area.6/

Also
If you can fill out what we call our signature that would be great, it's at the end of everyone's post in gray letters , information about our kitties
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
Tap on your name above and you will see the word signature add the info and tap save

 

You might want to read all the yellow stickys about lantus
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-levemir-biosimilars.9/
It will explain about testing and lots of good information
You don't have to do a curve today, and you don't need to do it daily

 

Yes you'll get blood crusties if you don't apply pressure with a cotton round after testing. Try to only use the tippiest tip of the lancet too, you don't need to go very deep at all

 

Exactly

 

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with

 

Thank you for this My interpretation of low numbers is anything under 80, so last night I was FREAKING out b/c she tested at 66 a couple hrs after eating. I waited an hour and tested again (poor thing tolerates this, i feel like i'm abusing her wee ears) and it was 77. I feel like I should be able to predict this based on behavior, which clearly isn't the case, lol