New here and new diabetic kitty

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leann_sweeney

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Hi, I am Leann Sweeney and one of my cats, Agatha Christie, age 12, was recently diagnosed with diabetes. Since she is so tiny--the most she has every weighed is 7 pounds, but now she's down to 4--insulin control has been very difficult. I look forward to learning a lot from all of you. I am a nurse (and a writer) and I have learned that this illness is similar to that in humans, but different as well. Oddly enough, I write a mystery series for Penguin called Cats in Trouble Mysteries and just turned in the third book in the series. But I don't have far to look for a something to write about as I start my next book. The cat in trouble will be diabetic. If anyone has tips on helping a very small cat stabilize on insulin, I would love to hear your tips. Thanks so much.

Leann Sweeney
 
Hi Leann and welcome!

It would help us if you could give us some additional information.

Insulin you're using and current dosage?

Are you hometesting-testing the blood glucose with a glucometer?

If so, do you have any history of the readings?

What food are you feeding?

Any history of ketones or hypos?

What an interesting story you have and I love the name of your kitty!
 
Thanks! She is on Lantus, 1 unit in the morning and 1/2 unit in the evening (that's fun!). She has been going in for glucose curves every two weeks since she was diagnosed and also has a raging urinary tract infection (probably because she is spilling sugar) that she cannot kick. They even cultured her urine to make sure they had the right drug. So that complicates things because, like humans, illness does raise blood sugar. I am not testing her sugars at home. She spent the last week and a half at the vet as I was in Seattle for the arrival of my new granddaughter. They checked her more often then and said she would go high and then low. Her food is a variety. She likes the Royal Canin for Persians (she's an exotic shorthair) and the Royal Canin Maturity. She will also eat any kind of canned food. I usually buy Fancy Feast grilled as I have two other cats, one who is allergic to FISH! (go figure) so we have to be careful and please everyone. Not testing ketones, either. I am hoping now that I have her back home, she will stabilize more--she seemed to be doing better before I took off for Seattle in a rush. Any help is much appreciated.

Leann
 
leann it would be the most important thing you could do to control agatha's diabetes if you learned to test her bg's at home. we all do it. before each shot and then you also can run your own curve.
the ff is good but the grilled variety's are all high carb. we use foods with 10% carbs or less, i personnaly go for 7 or less.
i could get you our food chart and the utube video of hometesting.
i could even help you get what you need in order to test.
are you ready to start?
 
Do you plan on hometesting your kitty?

I can see the next book now, kitty in trouble starts to feel strange, wearing his trusty cape (with pockets in it) he reaches around, grabs his trusty glucometer, grabs his lancet and tests his blood sugar only to find that his suspician was correct, he was heading towards hypoglycemic numbers. He reaches around a second time and grabs his can of medium carb food and starts to eat his trusty Fancy Feast and within minutes he's ready to tackle some real trouble after having saved himself first.

Okay, I know I'm not a writer, but honestly, the only way to help your cat is to hometest, learn about how lantus works, it prefers a regular dose that stays the same, given every 12 hours, and learn about the right kind of food to feed daily and the right kind of food to feed if numbers are going low.

Others will be by with great advice for you on that, I'm tired now that I've written my story :lol: and my apologies too for writing so poorly, I did a quick search, you have the book The Cat, the Professor and The Poison, a killer game of cat and mouse. It looks wonderful.
 
Jennifer, I loved your story :mrgreen: thought it started out great. Welcome, Leann and AG.....I do not use Lantus so no help there but I will say the most important thing you can do right now, like yesterday ;-) , is buy a meter and learn to hometest AG. We never shoot insulin without testing first and it will also allow you to do curves at home, instead of the vet doing it, and spot checks. If Agatha acts weird, throws up, whatever.....you can immediately test her and make sure she is going into a hypo situation.
 
Wow. I see what you mean about the high carb count with the grilled food. MUST. CHANGE.THAT. I will watch the testing video when my brain isn't so fried. I have Lyme and fibromyalgia, so this time of day I am very brain dead. I took care of sick people for years so I should be able to do this. Thanks everyone for your help! And I do love the kitty story! :-)

Leann
 
leann let me know what you think you need as far as testing supplies or if you want a list of what you'll need if you go shopping.
and welcome to where all the sugar kitties live and play! :mrgreen:
 
Just a caution. Sometimes in some kitties, wet lo carb can make a huge difference in bg levels. When we switched Oliver from dry to wet, his levels went down 100 points overnight. You are on a good dose, but I will feel much better when you are hometesting.
 
Hi Leann,

Sue is right about the food. Many times, when one changes from high carb dry or wet to low carb wet, there can be some pretty dramatic changes in the blood glucose, enough so that the insulin dose may need to be lowered. This is one of the very important reasons to hometest. Calliope was 500 when diagnosed and started on 1 unit of lantus as well as wet low carb food. I had trouble getting the tests at first as she didn't take too kindly to it. When I finally got one several days, later, she was 40! Scared me into testing, regularly, pretty quick in spite of her highness's dramatics! We had to lower the dose then and there and, ultimately, in less than 3 weeks, she went off insulin altogether. You just never know how the food change will affect the kitties. They are all different. Testing is mega important.

Also, some kitties just need a kickstart with the insulin and end up needing very little or none at all. There's no way to know that without testing. Some kitties need more insulin than the starting dose. Regular testing will tell you that.

If you go to the insulin support groups forums and click on lantus, you'll see some stickies at the top of that forum about lantus. Reading those will help you understand that insulin and how it works in kitties. Not all insulins are alike and cats have a different metabolism from humans, so it really helps to understand.
 
ya know it might not be a bad idea to reduce dose a hair until testing begins. better to be safe and almost definetly likely to have lower #'s.
maybe 1/2U. the sooner you get your glucometer the better.
 
leann.. Welcome to our FDMB Family. Like any family we sometimes disagree, but our most important objective of FDMB is to save diabetic kitty cats... I came here so very confused, scared of losing my Charlie and afraid of needles.. I'd forced my vet to give pills... People here convinced me to start insulin... I did... After one injection, I cried 'for happy'.... It was so easy, and my Extra Sweet Charlie.... didn't even notice... Then they started me doing home testing... well not right away...but they kept saying "take control of your cat's health".. I went out and bought a OneTouch Ultra human glucose meter and strips.... stared at it for days prior to finally calibrating and then trying it.... No videos, just verbal instructions... When I saw 350 (something) I for the first time felt I knew what I was doing.... I gave my boy his 1 unit of insulin... twelve hours later.. ditto... within days the week-end arrived. I did a curve myself.. No stress from going the vets to raise his BG level.... It was a good curve... tested every two hours from am shot to pm shot.... I could see the way the insulin reacted in his body... Over a week or two... I could see his weight coming back and his coat was now shinny and beautiful again.... My baby was 12 back in March 2004... He was 18 last August 09.... when he played during our dinner begging for some pieces of chicken... he got them. He woke me screaming and unable to walk, but lunging towards me using his front paws and calling me for help...

Sadly I held him a few hours later as the vet helped him cross to Rainbow Bridge to wait for me. A blood clot to his brain killed my boy.... his diabetes was totally under control.

Welcome to our family of cat lovers. Ask questions and we'll try our best to answer.. You may get more than one opinion... that was scary for me, until someone simply told me.... "Carol, we don't know Charlie... he's yours, you know him... your gut feelings won't lead you astray...." So true... Glad you found us.

I write poetry... Here's how Charlie felt after a few months...

I’m A Cat
©2004 by Carol Notermann

I’m a cat, and I have attitude, at least that’s what I’m told.
But last year, didn’t feel too well, but not because I’m old.
I was just a little tired, really hungry, thirsty all the time.
I’m not old you understand, but a little past my prime.

I used to take such great delight in chasing everything.
But for a while, I simply watched when Mommy played with string.
My Mommy took me to the vet, and really seemed quite scared.
The words he said upset her, but I’m so glad she cared.

She came home and told our family that things would have to change.
She’s moved their food to way up high. It’s past my jumping range.
And now she’s giving me, in my own dish, a different type of food
I sniffed, it didn’t smell the same, I showed my attitude.

But Mommy sat and talked to me. She explained the reasons why
So I’ll make her very happy, and I’ll eat it and not cry.
And then she went on line and looked up a bunch of things
She found a site, she likes a lot, that comfort to her brings.

It’s called FDMB, whatever that could mean.
And since she’s found those people, her smile again does beam.
I’m getting shots and blood tests, and trying to be good.
Cause when she says I’m better, she always knocks on wood.

There’s this thing that’s called a” h*n*ym**n” that she so wants to see
But prays that I can regulate, whatever that may be
She says she’ll just keep keeping on and I should not be afraid
She cuddles me and pets me lots, when in her lap I’ve laid.

I’m a cat, and I have attitude, at least that’s what I’m told.
But now I feel much better, as I told you, I’m not old.
In fact, I look so pretty now, my coat a shinny one
I think today, I owe myself, a long nap in the sun.

(The little cat lies sleeping, in his spot right in the sun
His Mommy’s on FDMB, and talks to everyone.
And Mommy baked a catnip cake, to celebrate year one!)
 
awww carol, you did it again. it's always either a wide grin or a tear. this post brought me both...........thank you.
 
Put the dry back out.....

for now until you are hometesting. Dry is much higher in carbs than canned and removing it before learning to home test might lower her numbers too much. I know the dose she is on is not a large dose but one never knows just how much or little insulin she will need until you start testing. Once you have your meter you can then remove all the dry and test her throughout the day. That way, if she should go too low, you will be able to stop the drop and prevent a hypo.
 
Re: Put the dry back out.....

Hope + (((Baby)))GA said:
for now until you are hometesting. Dry is much higher in carbs than canned and removing it before learning to home test might lower her numbers too much. I know the dose she is on is not a large dose but one never knows just how much or little insulin she will need until you start testing. Once you have your meter you can then remove all the dry and test her throughout the day. That way, if she should go too low, you will be able to stop the drop and prevent a hypo.
Click to expand...

I agree! dancing_cat
 
Thanks everyone for the wonderful welcome. I put some dry food back out, but not that much. I have a virtual meeting this morning and 2 doc visits of my own and then I will get on with learning how to test Agatha. She's doing great this morning but she takes the 1/2 unit in the evening so she may have done fine without the dry food on the low dose. This morning she had her 1 unit and since I have to leave for awhile, putting some dry food out makes sense.

I love the poem! How great is that? And thanks, Lizz, for mentioning my books.

Thanks again all,
Leann and Agatha
 
Hi Leann, and welcome.

As a nurse, you would never give a patient an insulin shot without knowing his BG. We feel the same for our sugarcats. The "normal" ranges for BG are very much the same in humans and cats, and the method of testing is identical. As a matter of fact, we use "human" glucometers (I like the One Touch), but instead of a finger poke, it's an ear poke. It will all feel and look oddly familiar. :-)

If she is spilling sugar, it will be harder to treat the UTIs. And you are right - illness raises BGs, which is another important reason to hometest since you don't want to have the antibiotics kick in, and the BGs suddenly drop as the UTI clears up! You can use glucostix to monitor that. You should also buy some ketostix (or get the "combo" ketodiastix) to monitor for ketones. You don't want her developing DKA - she sounds too tiny to be able to handle such an awful comorbidity.

Again, as with humans, diet is extremely important with diabetics. We are omnivores, but a cat is a pure carnivore, with no nutritional need for more than a trace of carbs in their diets, so it's much easier to adjust their food. Just take a peek at the side of the bag of food and remember the old Wendy's commercial: "Where's the beef?" LOL! One of our favourite websites is all about feline nutrition by Dr. Lisa Pierson (who posts here periodically) : http://www.catinfo.org/ It's well written, informative, and common sense. You will find it invaluable.

Ask questions, read the FAQs and other newbie's posts, and we'll do everything we can for you guys. Welcome aboard.
 
Thanks for all the great info. Today I found a wet cat food at Petco called "Old School Nutrition" with "BG" on the label that stands for "before grain." No grain, no gravy, and all three cats love it. Since I eliminated most of the dry food, Aggie drank much less water today. I am having some health issues of my own so I will learn the testing technique as soon as my brain is in gear. I live near Houston but have spent 3 of the last 4 weeks in Seattle (new granddaughter, born 3 weeks early) and with 3 fatigue causing illnesses I am on system overload right now. One of my other cats converted to FIV positive after being negative most of his life. He is an indoor cat, but while I was hospitalized for a week two years ago, he got outside and my husband could not get him to come back inside. He's so sensitive and untrusting, even of my husband. So he's been sick too. But my cats do not fight and Aggie is still negative (she has never stepped outside our house on her own, ever--and then only in a crate). Anyway, I am a little overwhelmed right now but I am so glad to have been directed to this group of very knowledgeable people. Thanks again!

Leann
 
I agree with Devon....great information and I don't have anything else to add except a hearty welcome to Leann and AC!
 
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