New Member - Felix

[CarolR]

Hello everyone. Newbie here from Sydney, Australia and really stressed, looking for advice. Felix is 15.5 years old and I got him to the vet nearly two weeks ago after noticing some weight loss and he’s hungry all the time. No other symptoms . Blood draw showed a high glucose, but due to the vet giving me a HUGE estimate for further tests and being on a pension, I decided to shop around. I am disabled after a bad hip fracture two years ago, so today I had a mobile vet here because I can’t get to a surgery. She took a urine sample, no ketones and more blood for a fructosamine test. Talked about treatment as I am on an age pension and she wanted to start him on Senvelgo if it is confirmed. I think partly because she hasn’t a surgery where he can go for blood curves and I’m not sure that I could do them at home. I have just been reading horror stories about it though…..eDKA etc and I’m now so unsure about how to move forward. I only lost my other beautiful cat last December and I can’t bear the thought of losing Felix, but certainly couldn’t cope with the costs of complications from Senvelgo. She also wanted him to go on a very expensive Hill’s special diet, which would be impossible, but he’s on a wonderful low carb, wet diet anyway. Please can anyone help…..should I stick with the mobile vet…..certainly better for both of us from the stress reduction, or try yet another vet for another opinion.

 

[Tim & Pookey]

This hurts my heart that you didn't get a response on your first post. I'm very sorry about that.

Senvelgo is newer but there are people using it. I think as long as there weren't ketones at the initial diagnosis then it's a fine option. I opted for the traditional injectable insulin for my guy, personally, but that's a decision for you. I would say the majority of people are using Lantus or Prozinc here though just based on the number of messages in each area of the forum.

I don't think you need the fancy Hill's diet. Just a regular low carb wet food is fine.

I use a mobile vet and love them. They're not diabetes experts I'd say, but I don't need them to be. It's super convenient for us since my guy hates car rides. And I've also thought about when "the time" comes how much better that experience will be for us at home with a mobile vet.

How are things going? Please feel free to tag me using the @ symbol and then my username anytime. I will get a notification on my personal phone.

 

[Liz & Crowley]

For what it's worth, I was really nervous about doing the curves and testing at home too (and worried he might hate me from pricking his ears), but if anything, I feel like we've gotten closer from it! I've been doing it for a little over a week now, and it was easy to pick up. They wanted me to take him in for curves every two weeks, but I was like, that's okay, I've got all the data here!!

 

[JL and Chip]

I was really nervous about doing the curves and testing at home too (and worried he might hate me from pricking his ears), but if anything, I feel like we've gotten closer from it! I've been doing it for a little over a week now, and it was easy to pick up.

Very common. I’m so glad you persevered with the home BG testing. So often it’s much worse in our minds than in real life. Good job!

They wanted me to take him in for curves every two weeks, but I was like, that's okay, I've got all the data here!!

Yes, and those home results can be much more reliable than what one sees at the vet clinic, especially when it comes to dosing decisions. I’ve had two non-diabetic cats have very high BG at the clinic due to the stress, only to have perfectly normal BG at home. One can imagine how that can be problematic when an insulin dose is based on artificially elevated BG. Again, good job. And welcome to FDMB!