prior steriods not suspected as cause of DM as he had been off dexamethasone for a week at that point)
Wrong...it usually takes a lot longer than a week for the effects of steroids to clear the body
terrible bladder infection (suspect for the insulin resistance)
Pain, infection and inflammation can all raise the blood glucose, but usually not that high. I suspect it's more a mix of infection and steroids.....but the good news is "IF" you can keep him comfortable without going back on the steroids, he has a better chance of going into remission. Cats that become diabetic due to steroids have a better chance of remission. However, if his quality of life is awful because he's itchy and steroids are the only thing that works, we just adjust the insulin around the steroid use. Sometimes there is no choice.
my vet said sometimes, not normally, but sometimes a cat will do better with dosing once every 24 hours and *thinks* my cat *may* be one of those.
Nope...a cat's metabolism is much faster than a humans. In humans, Lantus is a once a day insulin, but cats do better with every 12 hour shots.
I'll work on trying to figuring out the spreadsheet. i still don't even know what most of the stuff being recorded means ...very overwhelming. I'm struggling with the forum as it is.
You're doing fine!! You don't have to learn everything tonight and you don't need to do it all tonight! Your cat didn't become diabetic overnight and it's going to take time to get him better! If you have any trouble getting the spreadsheet set up, just click on my name and choose "start a conversation" and I'd be happy to set it up for you.
You don't have to transcribe all the numbers from the Libre either. If you can get the Pre-Shots (AMPS is the AM Pre-Shot...PMPS is the PM Pre-Shot.....those are the tests you get immediately before feeding/shooting) and a couple of tests in between the shots, that's enough for now.
We were all where you are once. Take it one step at a time, keep asking questions, and believe in yourself. You can do this!
