Schwarmen
Member Since 2026
Greetings from China, from two exhausted cat parents.
****Too Long, don't want to read: Diagnosed 3 months ago.
Questions: 1. Is it more painful to prick the paw pads? 2. How do I get my cat to not hate testing without giving him snacks? (they shoot up his blood sugar). 3. Will we ever be able to choose an appropriate dosage if his appetite never becomes totally stable? 4. Is the needle really much better than the pen? 5. What are TR or SLGS? (google did not help)********
Our boy, Putin, was diagnosed in the beginning of January and everything has felt like an uphill battle since then. He had severe pancreatitis, a lung infection and liver damage. They were also worried he had a tumour. He was hospitalised for seven days and they had to put a tube in his nose to feed him. After he came home, we had to continue to force feed him because he would not eat. We used appetite enhancers and we encouraged him to eat by giving him whatever he liked most. When he did slowly begin to eat on his own we fed him low carb dry food because that's what he liked. He refused to eat wet food at all and this is a part of the reason it has taken us so long to even get to the point that we're at now. (We also spent a month taking care of a friend who had to have surgery).
We tried every brand of low carb wet food and every flavour but he was not interested. We tried heating it and feeding him on different surfaces or mushing it into different textures, etc. Eventually what worked for us was adding crushed freeze dry chicken onto the wet food and later we bought a low carb chicken powder (made from chicken livers). Finally we got to a point where he was eating 260-280 grams a day which is what was recommended for his weight and calorie intake needs. We also realised we had to feed him four times a day to get him to eat the right amount because he has always free grazed. Eventually we bought a machine that can open for him whenever and has icepacks to keep the food fresh. This is also helpful because his sister cannot eat his food and vice versa.
When we first brought him home we used a freestyle monitor and although the monitor itself didn't bother him much he did, after 5 weeks, develop an incredible phobia for the bandages that we used to cover it. When we did our own application of the monitor for the first time, I wanted it to be as stress free as possible for him and I stupidly decided not to use a cone. He bit me so badly that I got an infection and had to go on antibiotics. Finally, his fear of the bandages became so severe that when we were trying to readjust them at one point, he shat all over my husband. That's when we decided to give up on the monitor.
Blood testing has been a whole new drama and I am so scared of traumatising him and hurting him in any way. He hates the blood tests. We were unsuccessful with the glucose reader that we first bought because it required so much blood and would decide it wasn't enough immediately. Then my husband bought one that is designed for children and requires much less blood. Now we easily get the results each time but he still hates it. We stopped using the lancet because we realised the clicking noise was triggering him and it was beginning to make him scared of his insulin shots too, which has been the only easy part about all of this. We chose to prick him on his paw pads because he is not an easy cat and he will bite and fight if he feels scared. But now I'm starting to doubt this decision because he hates testing time. Which leads me to my first question: does it hurt more on the paw pads? Additionally I've seen people talk about giving their cat a treat with every test but in our experience treats always shoot up his blood sugar (freeze dry chicken which is supposedly low carb). This is what we use when his blood sugar is low.
A few days ago we switched from Sanofi's Glargine pen to the Novo nordisk pen. The former had one unit as the smallest and the new pen allows us to give him 0.5. We found that no matter how we adjusted his feedings, one unit twice a day was too much but one unit a day was not enough. We were aiming to give him 0.5 twice a day with the new pen but so far we've only been giving 0.5 once a day because in the mornings his blood sugar tends to be too low for a shot. We've also noticed that his blood sugar has been much more stable on this new insulin and we have not seen any crazy high numbers like we were before but for the last three days his appetite has dipped. We've also noticed a drop in his blood sugar in the evenings after his shot. Which leads me to my third question; will we ever be able to choose an appropriate dosage if his appetite never becomes totally stable? I've heard people say that it's better to use a needle than a pen but our goal is eventually to be able to do these things alone when the other person needs to be away for whatever reason and he is not an easy boy. Is the needle really much better than the pen?
Hopefully I haven't given you the wrong impression of my Puti. He is a sweet and cuddly boy (as I type this on the couch, he is tucked under my arm) and he only lashes out when he's scared. He was badly abused before we adopted him and he was severely traumatised when he first came to us. I love him so much and I was so scared when I thought we were going to lose him. Lately I feel like I'm hanging onto a single frayed strand of rope. My husband is also really struggling and his mental health was already tenuous to begin with. We are so tired. And although we celebrate each small win, there is so much more guilt, anger and hopelessness.
****Too Long, don't want to read: Diagnosed 3 months ago.
Questions: 1. Is it more painful to prick the paw pads? 2. How do I get my cat to not hate testing without giving him snacks? (they shoot up his blood sugar). 3. Will we ever be able to choose an appropriate dosage if his appetite never becomes totally stable? 4. Is the needle really much better than the pen? 5. What are TR or SLGS? (google did not help)********
Our boy, Putin, was diagnosed in the beginning of January and everything has felt like an uphill battle since then. He had severe pancreatitis, a lung infection and liver damage. They were also worried he had a tumour. He was hospitalised for seven days and they had to put a tube in his nose to feed him. After he came home, we had to continue to force feed him because he would not eat. We used appetite enhancers and we encouraged him to eat by giving him whatever he liked most. When he did slowly begin to eat on his own we fed him low carb dry food because that's what he liked. He refused to eat wet food at all and this is a part of the reason it has taken us so long to even get to the point that we're at now. (We also spent a month taking care of a friend who had to have surgery).
We tried every brand of low carb wet food and every flavour but he was not interested. We tried heating it and feeding him on different surfaces or mushing it into different textures, etc. Eventually what worked for us was adding crushed freeze dry chicken onto the wet food and later we bought a low carb chicken powder (made from chicken livers). Finally we got to a point where he was eating 260-280 grams a day which is what was recommended for his weight and calorie intake needs. We also realised we had to feed him four times a day to get him to eat the right amount because he has always free grazed. Eventually we bought a machine that can open for him whenever and has icepacks to keep the food fresh. This is also helpful because his sister cannot eat his food and vice versa.
When we first brought him home we used a freestyle monitor and although the monitor itself didn't bother him much he did, after 5 weeks, develop an incredible phobia for the bandages that we used to cover it. When we did our own application of the monitor for the first time, I wanted it to be as stress free as possible for him and I stupidly decided not to use a cone. He bit me so badly that I got an infection and had to go on antibiotics. Finally, his fear of the bandages became so severe that when we were trying to readjust them at one point, he shat all over my husband. That's when we decided to give up on the monitor.
Blood testing has been a whole new drama and I am so scared of traumatising him and hurting him in any way. He hates the blood tests. We were unsuccessful with the glucose reader that we first bought because it required so much blood and would decide it wasn't enough immediately. Then my husband bought one that is designed for children and requires much less blood. Now we easily get the results each time but he still hates it. We stopped using the lancet because we realised the clicking noise was triggering him and it was beginning to make him scared of his insulin shots too, which has been the only easy part about all of this. We chose to prick him on his paw pads because he is not an easy cat and he will bite and fight if he feels scared. But now I'm starting to doubt this decision because he hates testing time. Which leads me to my first question: does it hurt more on the paw pads? Additionally I've seen people talk about giving their cat a treat with every test but in our experience treats always shoot up his blood sugar (freeze dry chicken which is supposedly low carb). This is what we use when his blood sugar is low.
A few days ago we switched from Sanofi's Glargine pen to the Novo nordisk pen. The former had one unit as the smallest and the new pen allows us to give him 0.5. We found that no matter how we adjusted his feedings, one unit twice a day was too much but one unit a day was not enough. We were aiming to give him 0.5 twice a day with the new pen but so far we've only been giving 0.5 once a day because in the mornings his blood sugar tends to be too low for a shot. We've also noticed that his blood sugar has been much more stable on this new insulin and we have not seen any crazy high numbers like we were before but for the last three days his appetite has dipped. We've also noticed a drop in his blood sugar in the evenings after his shot. Which leads me to my third question; will we ever be able to choose an appropriate dosage if his appetite never becomes totally stable? I've heard people say that it's better to use a needle than a pen but our goal is eventually to be able to do these things alone when the other person needs to be away for whatever reason and he is not an easy boy. Is the needle really much better than the pen?
Hopefully I haven't given you the wrong impression of my Puti. He is a sweet and cuddly boy (as I type this on the couch, he is tucked under my arm) and he only lashes out when he's scared. He was badly abused before we adopted him and he was severely traumatised when he first came to us. I love him so much and I was so scared when I thought we were going to lose him. Lately I feel like I'm hanging onto a single frayed strand of rope. My husband is also really struggling and his mental health was already tenuous to begin with. We are so tired. And although we celebrate each small win, there is so much more guilt, anger and hopelessness.
