New diagnosis

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yboehm

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I'm the proud granny to my son's 11 yr old tabby- Millie. We just got the diagnosis Monday.

After returning from a two week work assignment out of town, I was appalled to find that she had lost a significant amount of weight. Unless you had picked her up you would never know she was thin.
Her blood sugar was +400 and she did test positive for sugar in her urine. Our vet started her on 2 units of Humulin N, BID.

My first concern is the info that this insulin is not favorable for feline diabetic, also I'm questioning the directions given for administering. In humans they inject before they eat, at least 15 min. before, but I was instructed to feed and then administer the insulin?

Second concern we are a multiple cat home and trying to regulate her meals and monitoring litter box and water intake, etc. Plus I'm having a hard time getting her to eat even a 3 oz. can of vet food.

Any pearls of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.
 
yboehm said:
My first concern is the info that this insulin is not favorable for feline diabetic, also I'm questioning the directions given for administering. In humans they inject before they eat, at least 15 min. before, but I was instructed to feed and then administer the insulin?

Second concern we are a multiple cat home and trying to regulate her meals and monitoring litter box and water intake, etc. Plus I'm having a hard time getting her to eat even a 3 oz. can of vet food.

Any pearls of wisdom will be greatly appreciated.
Click to expand...

1a) Humulin N lasts roughly 6-8 hours in the feline, which means that when it wears off before the next shot, the glucose tends to go way up. This may be managed by picking up food 6 hours after the shot or by dosing every 8 hours. Neither of those options works as well as an insulin which lasts 10-14 hours such as Lantus, Levemir, ProZinc, and PZI. On the plus side, Humulin N is relatively inexpensive up front.

1b) You want to be sure there is food on board before giving insulin, otherwise you could end up with a hypoglycemic cat ... which can be fatal.

2) Feed all the cats the same thing - over the counter, low carbohydrate, canned food. Some lists for refernce is on Binky's Page. There are 2 dry foods which are around 10% calories from carbohydrates, but dry food is not optimal for health. For more on this, read Cat Info You really can dump the expensive prescription food - most cats won't eat it and the nutrition can be just as good or better in over the counter foods such as Wellness Core, Merrick Before Grain Turkey, And Evo Cat and Kitten food.
 
Did the vet discuss home testing?

Many vets don't, but the reality is, you wouldn't give insulin to yourself a human child without testing, it's no different just because the grandchild in question is a cat.

So, if you can, go to any pharmacy - Walmart is cheapest and pick up a meter and test strips so you can test the cat.

Walmart sells relion brand which is quite inexpensive and requires a small amount of blood. Yes, human meters are fine to use in cats.

While there, also get:

ketone sticks - so you can test urine for ketones
neosporin - to rub on ears after testing, to keep bruising down
petroleum jelly - in case you have challenging ears and this will help to bead up the blood for testing
meter
strips
lancets - either ones for the meter if you want to use the device, or any type if you want to free hand the tests - personally I did the latter, as I couldn't figure out the lancet device.

And come back, we will help show you how to test.
 
I would put in my 2 cents to consider getting larger-gauge lancets at first (maybe 26 or 28g) because it's much easier to get blood from the cat's ear this way. My meter came with 31g lancets or something like that, and we had a terrible time getting a test at first. It gets easier the more you do it.

Also, one of the over-the-counter glucose meters is said to be not good/accurate... I can't remember for sure which one it is right now, but I believe it is the store brand with "True" in the name that you can get at most pharmacies. Hopefully someone will chime in and confirm or refute. I just wanted to mention that because I have heard of people not being allowed to return testing supplies if they buy the wrong ones by mistake. Many people here seem to use the Relion that Hillary mentioned.
 
Either get the relion from walmart, or I like the bayer contour - they are easy to use, no coding involved and require a tiny amount of blood.

The Tru brand meters are bad, I know walgreens, CVS and rite aid sells that brand - anything with TRU are not good meters.
 
Here is info on how Humulin N works for cats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=19&t=303

You should feed your cat half the food, wait half an hour, test the blood glucose level, give insulin if the blood glucose level is at a safe enough level (over 200), and then give the rest of the food. Humulin N can be a bit harsh on the blood gluocse levels if the stomach is empty so having some food first will sort of soften the effect.

Humulin N isn't a great insulin to use, though. Ask your vet about ProZinc, Lantus, or Levemir.
 
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