New here - genuinely need help!

Hi all,

I am so grateful that I've found this forum!

My baby Shelly, who I rescued from outside of my apartment as a little one back in September 2010, was diagnosed with diabetes back in February. She had not been coming around as much as she always did, but I eventually noticed the empty water bowl and the soaked litter and upon checking on her, I saw that she was extremely skinny. After some research I self-diagnosed her and immediately took her to the vet where the diabetes was confirmed.

She was prescribed Vetsulin, of which she is currently receiving 3.5 units of twice a day (she started at two units). I was not informed of any dietary changes to make and she was devouring the Iams Proactive Health Indoor Weight & Hairball Care kibble that I've always free-fed her and my other three.

Unfortunately I've fell into some hardship and have had to move about 2.5 hours away and back in with my parents for the time being, so I haven't been able to take Shelly in for a check-up and she's about a month overdue. Because of this, I started doing my own research and was amazed to find out that the kibble just isn't good for any of my cats. I began looking into diets and have started feeding all of my cats Friskies Classic Seafood Paté since it's easily available at the grocery store and best fits into my budget with the layoff and severely lowered income.

Upon first switching to this diet, things started to look better. Shelly was making less trips to both the water bowl and the litter box and she had started gaining weight. At her lowest, she was down to 2.5 pounds when I first took her to the vet in February and she is now up to around 5.5 pounds. But this seems to have been short-lived as she's back to drinking crazy amounts of water and making frequent trips to the litter box. She's also craving more of the wet food than she initially was.

I've finally decided that home testing will be the best way for me to help get her on track since I can't afford to take her to the vet all the time nor do I even have one in town here that I can get her into quickly. I went out today and purchased a ReliOn Prime glucometer after a quick search of these forums.

I'm about two hours off from her next feeding time and dose of insulin, but I just went ahead and tried out the glucometer and received a reading of 351 mg/dL, which I know is very high.

I'm about to start browsing through the forums to soak in all of the information, but any advice that you guys could provide to me would be awesome, including your own stories and suggestions, as well as links to any forum posts and other resources that would be beneficial for me to read.

I have no idea how often to test her, when to do it and how to adjust insulin doses accordingly--I'm completely blind in this regard.

Thank you guys so much and I look forward to working with you to hopefully get my girl back in good health. I've been praying for her and I hope this story turns out well!

God bless,
Jacob

EDIT - I'm starting with the following threads after checking the Vetsulin forum:
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-caninsulin-vetsulin.231587/

Thank you all again!

 

Welcome to the forum. Help is on the way.
At a minimum, you want to test Shelly right before each insulin injection to make sure it is safe to shoot (BG has not gone too low.) Another test mid cycle is a good idea to start.
If you look at a few of the member's spreadsheets, you will see how often they test and record numbers.
The learning curve is steep. Write down the important stuff (I didn't and found I was forgetting as quickly as I was learning.)
It's great that you switched to pate and that your kitties will eat it. That is a great start.
Hugs,

 

I'm pretty new to this too so I don't have a lot of advice to share, especially as far as how much insulin to give with Shelly's numbers. You have found a great resource right here, and experienced people who have dealt with this with their own cats will help you every step of the way. I felt overwhelmed when Simon was diagnosed in May, but his vet didn't seem in any rush to get him on insulin. He did mention a low carb diet but then recommended a prescription kibble that I later learned still had too many carbs. My first step was researching low carb canned food, not easy to do by yourself. But there is a link right on FDMB to a long list. Kudos to you for starting your kitty on Friskies Classic which is on the "approved" list. Fancy Feast Classics also are on the list. Finally in mid-June Simon started with Vetsulin. His vet had prescribed 2u twice a day, but I checked here first because that seemed too high to me to start with Simon's numbers, and went with 1u. We later increased that to 1.5. All this time we were shooting blind, because we hadn't started home-testing. Finally after another trip to the vet for labs in early July, when we discovered that Simon's BG tested at 37, we decided home-testing was essential. We had no idea it had dropped that low. He certainly was at risk for hypo. It still took me a long time to decide on and finally get all the testing supplies.

Speaking of hypo...there is also important info here about that: what to have available in case Shelly does drop too low and what the symptoms can be. There are excellent instructions to print out - have some medium and high carb food available, some Karo or honey on hand - all very detailed.

I am super impressed that you have started home-testing so quickly. Congrats! After a month on Vetsulin, I asked our vet to write a prescription for ProZinc instead, which I filled at Costco. I had heard that Vetsulin drops quicker and is not as long lasting as other insulins. But each one has its advocates and you can read more about each one here. We started Simon on ProZinc July 13 and finally (!) started home-testing just over a week ago, on July 17. What a revelation it has been, and it is keeping us so much more informed as well as keeping Simon safer. We test Simon about 45 minutes before an injection. Immediately after the test he eats a large amount of food, about a quarter of a 5.5 or 6 oz. can. i was advised here that that amount was sufficient for safety for the injection, which we give 25-30 minutes after food. We were very concerned that he eat enough, and since he's always been a nibbler and grazer rather than a gobbler, that was a problem. We wound up putting what he hadn't eaten in a big syringe and feeding it to him. He didn't object, and I think it was safer for him. I was also advised in the beginning to give him a snack 2-3 hours after the injection, and I also made a point of giving him another one about 4 hours after. Make sure that you withhold food at least 2 hours before testing, because food can influence the numbers.

As far as frequency of testing, information is always good. I have been amazed how fast the numbers drop after insulin so it's helpful to keep an eye on them. I'm not the best person to ask about this. Just remember that the AMPS and PMPS are the basis for the injection. An additional 2 or 3 tests will let you know how the insulin is affecting her throughout the day.

Good luck! Remember that people are here who will help you and even talk you through things. i think you've made great progress already!

 

Hi Jacob and Shelly,
I am so glad you have decided to home test the blood glucose (BG). Sounds as if you have worked out how to home test but here is a link you might like to look through
HOMETESTING https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

I am glad you have got rid of the dry food. It is high carb and unsuitable for any cat, diabetic or not.
Now that you are feeding a low carb diet you may need to reduce the dose of insulin as feeding a low carb diet can substantially reduce the BG.

If you look at the link you have managed to find..’help us to help you’ you will find links to 1. The spreadsheet. 2. The signature. 3 The hypo kit
If you could set up the spreadsheet and signature, that would be very helpful and mean we can help you with the dosing. Start entering all your data into the SS. There is no need for you to go the the vet.
I would strongly advice you to set up a hypo kit because you never know when you might need it and when you do, you need to have it right there!

Make sure you test before every dose of insulin to see it is safe to give the dose.
Also if you can test during the cycle, mostly the first half to see how low the dose takes Shelly.
I would suggest, as well as giving the main meal (30 minutes before the dose) you give a couple of snacks during each cycle (day and night)
Those snacks can be given about 2 and 4 hours (+2 and +4) after each dose …..those times are not set in concrete and can be moved around as needed but a snack at +2 is a good idea as vetsulin is working strongly then. keep asking lots of questions. We are very happy to help you.
Post each day for help.

 

sorry about the diagnosis, but I'm glad you found us.

Good call switching them all to pate. Any of the flavors of pate are good choices as long as it doesn't say gravy.

Yesssss on the home testing!!!! So glad you're going to do that. Once I started testing at home my cat didnt go back to the vet for a year. It's so much more safer and accurate to do it from hom. I have a video in my signature showing how I tested my cat CC at home. I always tested preshots (just before the shot, and at least two hours from her having food), a mid day cycle every time I was home. If I was working I'd test just before I left the house. Then the evening preshot, and a before bed test. On the weekends and days off I would test much more.