New member Aaron and Hammy Introduction

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

Aaron and Hammy

Member
Greetings all!
I just wanted to introduce myself and ask a question.
I have a 3.5 year old cat named Hammy (the forest cat). Hammy was found at 6 months of age near Yosemite at Bass lake in the middle of the forest where I was camping. He was full of fleas, ticks and just days, maybe hours away from starving to death. I was able to lure him into my popup camper with piles of ham lunch meat hence his name lol. After nursing him back to health it's been 3 years now and he went from emaciate when I got him to slightly chunky to getting slightly thin over the past 9 months.
Took him to the vet this past Monday where he was diagnosed with diabetes. Did blood work to get his results. His symptoms were breathing through his mouth, not playing anymore with his cat buddies, weight loss, lethargy. I was given a prescription for insulin glargine and the vet mentioned Lantus.
I will be ordering his stuff today. My mom is a diabetic and used to use Lantus and so I'm familiar with it. Now she's on Basaglar and has an overabundance of it. Given how expensive this medication is I wanted to know if I could use basaglar and not order Lantus since they are both insulin glargine? Also, does anyone have recommendations on a good meter? I'm so new to all this and feel overwhelmed a bit. Thank you for all your help!
 
Hi and welcome to the forum. Being overwhelmed in the beginning is how we all felt so we do understand:).
Lantus and basalgar are the same insulin.
Just a few questions for you.:)
What dose of insulin are you giving?
Did the vet test for ketones in the urine at diagnosis?
Are you going to be feeding a low carb wet diet?
Have you thought about home testing the blood glucose? We can help you with this.
Here is a good link for new members HELP US HELP YOU
A good glucose meter is the Relion premier meter from Walmart
 
Both Lantus and Basaglar are insulin glargine. Lantus is the original brand name, Basaglar was one of the first generics/biosimilars to come out.

What country do you live in? That'll help us with meter recommendations. Basically you want a small blood drop requirement and cheap test strips, as you'll go through those the most
 
Hi all! Thank you for taking the time out of your lives to help a stranger :)
Its only been a couple days since diagnoses and I just found this wonderful site last night so I am still researching everything but should be going to the store tomorrow or saturday to get everything.
Hammy's blood level was 450 as of Monday when the Vet tested him.
I have been prescribed to give him 1 unit 2x daily 12 hours apart.
I dont know if the vet tested for ketones but she told me "at least he's not in ketoacidosis" . I dont know if thats based on test results or more personal observation of his overall health.
I took him off dry food last sunday and only fed him mittens pickin's (local store brand wet food) wet food until yesterday. Yesterday I got him low carb fancy feast wet food and I am looking into soulistic and tiki cat for a permanent solution.
I am looking at getting a BG meter tomorrow to test at home. The vet recommended me urine strips which I'll get for an easy spot check if I see him peeing but I think a BG test kit is the way to go.
I live in Southern California, USA

There's so much to read and learn haha. Thank you lal for your help!
 
I already have the Basaglar kwikpen so I just need to get the BG meter and the syringes in case I need to drop below a 1 unit dose.*

I also need to put together a Hypo Emergency kit and print a bunch of stuff out ...sigh. ;)

Is the Relion Platinum system good too? It looks like it comes with everything needed, the monitor, 50 test strips, lancing device and 10 lancets, carry case and its bluetooth enabled.
 
Last edited:
Relion premier is a popular one here. It needs a little bit smaller blood drop than the platinum. But the platinum test strips are a bit cheaper. Your choice. Relion also makes half unit marked U-100 syringes. One stop shopping. :)
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top