Hi everyone,
First, thank you for those who put their time into maintaining this forum. It is much appreciated.
My female cat is nine years old and has been diagnosed with diabetes. We tried giving Glipizide a chance for a bit and tracked her fructose level but after her fructose test results this past Friday, it is time to move her to insulin. The Glipizide helped a bit but not enough.
I'm looking to get some more information from folks here around the daily monitoring of an insulin dependent cat. My catch-22 here is that my job is what gives me the money to afford her diabetes management but it also keeps me out of the house for approximately ten hours a day. I leave the house at 6am to commute to work and I typically don't get home until 4:30pm. Add a problem in on the interstate for the home commute, and it can push me to 5-5:30pm.
I have a lot of concern and anxiety over not being able to properly monitor her and end up doing more harm than good with the insulin. Can I get an idea of how a typical day w/monitoring works for folks?
Any feedback is appreciated.
Thanks,
Chris
Welcome, Chris! You're certainly on the right track with learning to home monitoring and getting your cat on a good insulin, like Lantus. Getting her off the Glipizide is a very good thing; Glipizide is not good for cats because it actually puts more stress on the pancreas and can lead to permanent insulin dependence, and it's supposed to be used only as an alternative to euthanasia if the owner refuses to treat with insulin. Most cats (80+%) on a low carb canned diet, a slow acting insulin like Lantus, and dose adjustments with daily home testing according to the recommended protocol end up going into remission. And getting your cat into remission will be far easier on your schedule than anything else you can do--I speak from personal experience!
When Bandit was diagnosed back in 2009, I was working a full time job with a 2 hour commute (so I was also gone 10+ hours, with no way to get home on lunch breaks), a part time job on the weekend, and going to grad school. Needless to say, I was really overwhelmed in the beginning. Things do get much easier as you get used to the shots, testing, and routine. A lot of what I'm going to say below is going to sound hard, but trust me, it's not as hard as you think once you just start doing it.
Treatment is absolutely doable with your schedule. Lantus is best shot on a 12/12 schedule, so what you would do is test, feed, and shoot at 6am before you leave for work, and then test, feed, and shoot after you get home at 6am. The occasional late shot if you're stuck at work is not going to be a big deal--once you get an idea of how the insulin is working in your cat, you can off-set the overlap effects of the late shot by shooting a slightly reduced dose. (There's a ton of knowledgable folks on the Lantus forum that can help you with dosing on a tight schedule). And because you're leaving for work right after shot, you'll want to skip or shoot a reduced dose if she tests low when it's time for her shot at 6am.
When Bandit was on insulin, I would test/feed/shoot at 7am, leave for work, get home at around 6pm, and then test/feed/shoot at 7pm. Then I would get a mid-cycle test before bed at 9-10pm, and I would set an alarm to get a test at his nadir (the lowest point of the cycle, which is how the Lantus dose is adjusted), and then go right back to bed. I would get a curve and other random tests on the weekend to help figure out how the insulin was working on him throughout the day. I also made sure he had food on hand 6 hours after the shot while I was at work--I did this by freezing chunks of canned food and putting them in automatic feeders for the cats.
If getting up and going back to bed is not an option for you, I would also at times pay a college student to come in and get the mid-cycle test at 1pm when I was work. If you have a friend or neighbor or family member that might be willing to help you out on occasion, that certainly helps take the stress off a bit.
We all do the best we can with management, and I understand that not everyone is able to get up in the middle of the night and go back to bed like I did to get that third, mid-cycle test. Even if you're not able to shoot for remission, diabetic cats can live a long and healthy life still with twice a day testing, too! But if you can shoot for remission, it's a lot easier on your schedule in the long run to not have to give shots twice a day and be flexible with meal times, and test only once every week or so.
Check out this thread for more tips on how to work treatment into a busy schedule:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...ion-possible-with-a-full-time-job-yes.129378/.
I am sorry if all that information seems overwhelming, but please ask away for advice in the Health Forum or Lantus Forum if you need more help figuring out any of this stuff---help with getting testing down, shots, finding more affordable Lantus, and how to work the best treatment possible into your schedule.
