New Member & I need your help!!!

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mccat2

mccat2

Member Since 2010
Hi Everyone:
I am new to this site and am looking for your help. I have a 16 year old male cat Sampson who was diagnosed as a diabetic. He was drinking a lot of water and losing weight. His glucose level was over 500 when we discovered it. The vet had me start insulin injections at the 1 unit dose of humalin 2 times per day. We went weekly for 3 weeks, with sugar decreasing from over 500, to 360 to 228 on November 12th. The working vet that day told me to increase his dosage to 2 units per day twice a day. On Thursday November 18th Sampson went into hypoglycemic shock and I had to rush him to an emergency vet after hours. Cost me a lot of money, but I love him dearly. His glucose level had dropped to 20. Apparently I nearly killed him with those injections. Got him out of the emergency Vet and transported him to my regular vet when he was stable. We have been taking his sugar weekly (but waited through the holidays). The last several times his sugar has been at 284 and 247 respectively. Oh yeah, he hasn't been on insulin since the episode (frankly I am scared to death to give him any). My next vet appointment is on Monday. However, he is looking really frail, a little wobbly and seems confused from time to time. Could this be due his sugar level dropping so low? I had gotten out of bed that night around midnight, looked for him, he didn't look right picked him up, put him on the bathroom floor and he fell over and began to urinate. I immediately got him to the vet within 20 minutes of him falling. What are your thoughts? He also has an odor eminating from him, It's not horrible but I smell it on him. It's almost medicinal but hard to accurately describe.
I also have to believe that the vet that day made a big mistake in having me double his dose when his sugar was coming down so nicely. However, I didn't know and I also didn't have knowledge of the corn syrup at time either. My question is how do I get this sugar under control and how to I prevent another episode like this and also why is he not seeming right to me after this problem. However, he does have some better days, where is more like this old self and a little more peppy. Please help, I would really appreciate you input.

Also just learning this website so bear with me.


V
 
I am not one of the experienced ones in Lantus Land but I wonder if you should copy your post and put it on the main FDMB forum and even the Health forum from the main page. Have you had any bloodwork done or his urine checked to see if he also has kidney issues? Just a thought but if this were my kitty showing those signs, I'd get him in today if possible...I wouldn't wait until Monday. If he has not had any insulin in quite some time, then he shouldn't be going hypoglycemic from insulin so if his BG is dropping, it would be due to something else. The smell you described makes me wonder if your cat possibly has diabetic ketoacidosis or some other acidosis from kidney issues. Take a look at these links:

http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Ketones

http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/r ... msg-670554

http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/profile.php?9,405
 
Welcome! you have certainly found a great place for help and support in the FDMB.

this place, quite literally...saved my cat's life...

I'm going to bump your post up so that more experienced folks can see it..
take a deep breath...because help is on the way..

we know Sampson is your cat's name...do you mind if i ask yours?

Celi & binks
 
What you are describing (the odor) and given that you likely have had high Blood Glucose (BG) levels since you stopped giving any insulin sounds / smells like Ketones - this could be very very serious (fatal) if its DKA so I think i would drop everything and go immediately to a vet or ER if I were you. Or did you say you already took him? (It's not quite clear from your post I'm afraid) but bottom line if he's falling over and smelling like acetone (nail polish remover) and you didn't get him to the vet yet - then i believe that you certainly should now..

(Anyone else - please correct me if I am mistaken here!!!)
 
If the cat's breath smells like nail polish remover (acetone), you may want to go to the vet now, as the cat could be in ketoacidosis, a medical emergency.

If not, read on.

It is really helpful to glucose test at home. By knowing your cat's blood glucose you will be able to avoid giving insulin when it is unsafe to do so and be more confident giving it when you see the numbers are high enough to handle it.

Of all the things to focus on, since you're already giving insulin, home testing will help you save your cat's life.

Once you are home testing, reading up on the food options (we strongly discourage dry food as most of it is high carbohydrate) will help you select food your cat will eat that won't break your budget (who knew that some WalMart Special Kitty pates were low carb? Like the Turkey and Giblets dinner!) You may find that as you go to low carb foods, the insulin needs will drop drastically.

Humalin is a shorter acting insulin than Lantus, Levemir, and Prozinc/PZI. It may be helpful to negotiate using a longer acting insulin with your vet, once you feel you have a handle on things. Although the initial cost may seem high, a vial of Lantus, for example, is 1,000 units and at roughly 4 units a day would last 250 days, so don't let the up front cost deter you. The longer acting insulins result in smoother swings in glucose levels, rather than the more sudden drops of short acting insulins.
 
BJ is correct. If what you are noticing is an acetone (similar to nail polish remover) or an alcohol-like smell, I would strongly encourage you to get your cat to the vet. Diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) is a medical emergency. What you are smelling are ketones - a byproduct of fatty acid metabolism that throws electrolytes and other essential values out of whack. DKA can be life threatening if uncontrolled.

Humulin is a very difficult insulin to use without home monitoring. It can drop blood glucose (BG) levels very sharply. In order to know what is going on with Sampson, I would strongly encourage you to start actively monitoring Sampson's BG levels and check for ketones. You can purchase Ketostix at any pharmacy and did the strip into his urine stream.
 
If the smell is like what others have described GET TO YOUR VET.

Several people have mentioned home testing. Most of us use human meters, you can buy them at any drugstore, the same with the keto stix. many here use the Walmart Relion meter, the test strips for it are the least expensive you can find retail. The sooner you can start testing the better. Cats get stressed at the vet and that can raise their numbers.

Can you let us know where you are? City/State? There may be someone near you who can help you learn to test.
 
Bump....moving you condo (post) up to the top as you situation is serious.

Have you been to the vet? Can you let us know how you and your kitty are doing? We will worry about you guys?
 
I am in Warren, MI and would be very interested in how to use a tester. It may give me piece of mind knowing where Sampson''s levels are at. I have a Vet appointment in an hour moved it up as we had a problem last night with Sampson not being able to stand and his leg buckling under him. I stayed up all night watching him and a tester would have been really helpful. The last time I was at the ER Vet it cost me over $1000.00 (not that he isn't worth it but he also has artheritis) and I wasn't sure why his leg was giving out. However around 6:00 a.m. this morning he is able to stand on his own again. Is this how neropathy works??
Also could someone recommend a good, easy tester. Sampson is not a lap cat....

Thanks so much. Will keep you posted on what the vet says.


Vicki & Sampson
 
Many people here use the glucometer sold at Walmart -- Relion. It's their house brand and it is inexpensive, as are the strips and their syringes come in 1/2 unit increments. One of the members here just got a Freestyle Lite meter and loves it! It uses a very small amount of blood which will make learning home testing easier. I use a Bayer Contour meter and like it. A box of 50 strips for the Freestyle and Contour runs around $26. The cost for the Relion strips is much less.
 
Hi, Vicki

I'm glad that you're on this board, as everyone on here that is more experienced than I can help you. I'm glad that you also have an appointment with the vet, too. Your vet will be able to determine if Samson has ketoacidosis or not. Judging by the description of the smell that you've described, it sounds like that he does.

Ketostix can be purchased at any pharmacy. If you can, catch him as he's urinating in the box by putting the strip behind him and allowing the stream to hit it. Or, you can purchase some aquarium gravel, and use it in place of the litter, and when he goes in it, you'll be able to drip the strip into the urine that way.

I'm hoping that someone from this board lives close enough by you to show you how to hometest. If I did, I'd certainly show you. It's quite easy once you get the hang of it.

Please keep us updated on Samson's condition and your vet visit. I'm sending tons of good thoughts and healing vines.
 
I also posted to you in Health. I'm glad you moved your appointment up. Please let us know what the vet says.
And learning to home test will be your best tool. We will help you. It's usually tough at first to get the hang of it, but once you do, it will be come second nature. And Sampson will get used to it, too, especially when you give him a treat each time.
Good luck at the vets.
 
My heart goes out to you. My kitty and I send you lots of prayer power. I almost lost my Gandolf too, he was so horribly sick. I'd never seen such a thing. I was absolutely desperate and found this place. As you've already experienced, many vets just are not as well informed about Feline Diabetes as they could/should be with continuing education. Unfortunately I found that true of my vet as well. Many of us respectively inform our vets of this site cause they really need to know this stuff. In the meantime, there are awesome dosing coaches here who really know their stuff and have a heck of a lot more "real-life" clinical experience then many vets do. I'm not bashing vets, not at all, its just a fact. As soon as you get the time please read the "Sticky's" at the top of this forum...you will learn so much. It may seem overwhelming at first (I was in tears when I first came here) but there are videos on how to home test, instructions on how to decide on the dose, food lists, sample curves and so much more. I even updated Gandolf's litter box system by what I learned here! And the coaching and support is unmatched. In less than a month's time you will be a different person when it comes to understanding this insulin business and most likely Sampson will be feeling more like his self again. It could very likely make the difference of life and death to your precious kitty. It certainly did to mind.
Home testing and the longer lasting insulin has given me & my kitty our lives back and saved me hundreds & hundreds of dollars.
It is very possible you will see an incredible difference in Sampson in just a few short days. Remember, check out the "Sticky's" at the top of this forum and ask all the questions you need too. Please keep us posted, and again, our prayers are with you.
We welcome you. You really have come to the right place.

Cee & Gandolf cat_pet_icon
 
Hi,

I'm glad you moved your vet appointment up. How did it go? If you are able to start home testing, it should help save money on vet bills.
Post everyday, people will respond with lots of help.
I hope your vet visit helped Sampson. Let us know. cat_pet_icon
Sending lots of prayers.
 
Hi Everyone;

Well tonight was our very 1st poke on our own with the glucose test. I set the lancet to 2 and then 3, I didn't get enough blood to even get on the strip. It was difficult at best, put Sammy on the bed, sort of held him between my legs. Overall he was pretty good and I would have been able to test if only I had gotten more blood. Any suggestions? I did keep squeezing & massaging his ear but no go. We will try again tomorrow.
P.S. I gave him a massage with a hand held massager that he loves and also a little cat nip.
Thanks for your support & help.


Vicki & Sampson
 
mccat2 said:
Hi Everyone;

Well tonight was our very 1st poke on our own with the glucose test. I set the lancet to 2 and then 3, I didn't get enough blood to even get on the strip. It was difficult at best, put Sammy on the bed, sort of held him between my legs. Overall he was pretty good and I would have been able to test if only I had gotten more blood. Any suggestions? I did keep squeezing & massaging his ear but no go. We will try again tomorrow.
P.S. I gave him a massage with a hand held massager that he loves and also a little cat nip.
Thanks for your support & help.


Vicki & Sampson
Click to expand...

Hi Vicki,
Congrats! It's tough to get that first one in, and you'll be trying all sorts of stuff to see what works best for you and him.

A couple tips.
1) rice sock. take a sock that has lost it's mate (wool or cotton) and put a couple tsp of rice in it. tie it off (I used an elastic hair tie with NO metal in it)

you'll heat this in the microwave for 10-20 seconds (depending on your microwave). Use it to massage Sampson's ear to heat it up and to increase blood flow. I also used our rice sock to put counterpressure on the underside of the ear as I poked.

2) if you are using a lancet that makes a click noise, just click it near his ear and give him a treat (a low carb one like a piece of chicken or bonito flakes or something). if he's anything like my Cosmo, he'll start begging to be tested once the association is made.

3) try both ears. most cats (it seems) have an ear that is a better bleeder than the other.

4) the three strikes, you're out rule. If you poke three times and can't get blood? Give it a break and try again later.

5) whenever sampson is laying near you, play with and rub his ears so he gets used to you handling them.

also, i know we have a few members in Michigan (I think Rochester Hills and Utica). I could PM them and see if they can come show you how to test, if you're interested. Please PM and let me know. I"m not on FDMB as much as I used to be, but a PM will get emailed to me.

good luck!
 
Hi Vicki,

I'm so glad to hear to here Sampson is doing better :mrgreen: .

We had a heck of a time when we first started home testing, but we kept at it and we're pretty good now.

Warming the ear with the rice sock helps tremedously (warm the rice sock in the microwave for 10 seconds, turn it over and warm for 10 more seconds, you should be able to hold it to your cheek for a few seconds without discomfort. than put in on one side of kitty's ear for a couple seconds and than the other side for a couple seconds, do this for 20 or 30 seconds than try poking).
Also when we first started we had 33 gauge lancents and couldn't get any blood with it, than someone told me to buy 28 gauge or less, (what? who new they came in different gauges, but sure enough went to the store looked at the boxes and they do!) and that made a hugh differance.

Lastly get a meter that requires less blood, the Walmart relion is great because it only requires .3ul of blood, the less blood the easier. I recently tried Bayer Breeze2 it required 1ul of blood and was really difficult to use.

I hope this info helps :dizcat .
 
Good news. I tested Sampson tonight and it went smoothly. We used a rice sock and the opposite ear. His reading was at 141 and he had eaten just a couple of bites of the kitten food (apparently he didn't like that brand). Took it about a half hour after he ate. I will continue to test him.
I will attempt to learn & do a curve when he is more acclimated to the testing.

Thanks so much.


Vicki & Sampson
 
Since you've started home testing, you might want to think about starting a spreadsheet. If you click on any of the links in our signatures, you'll see what a SS looks like. The instructions are in this link to the Tech Support Center. The SS will help you to keep track of the BG test data you are collecting and you can send the link to your vet so s/he can keep track of Sampson's progress.
 
Congratulations, Vicki! It will get easier and easier.
Another tip for you that I recently learned: Hold his ear with thumb and forefinger and put a little pressure on the spot on his ear just below where you are going to poke. Blood flows down from the tip of the ear, so if you put pressure below where you poke, you create a "dam" and it is easier to get a blood drop. Also, a little vaseline on the ear helps the blood drop to bead up.
I use Neosporin creme (not ointment) with pain killer after the last poke of the evening. This helps the ear to heal overnight.

You are doing great! And so is Sampson.

Ella & Rusty
 
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