MomoAndRobin
Member Since 2023
Hi everyone!
My name is Robin. My girlfriend and I had our 11 year-old cat Momo (the grey one in my profile picture) diagnosed with diabetes in mid-January this year following a bout of prednisolone for IBD. Managing diabetes has been an adventure, and we are trying to take a more proactive role in determining Momo's insulins needs.
With her IBD and chronic pancreatitis, Momo's appetite and food options have made it difficult to manage her blood sugar. We had her eating a combination of Royal Canin's hydrolyzed protein dry and Hill’s z/d wet food, but after a few days of vomiting that ended with a 3-day hospital stay for hypoglycemia we switched her over to the dry food only. Her vomiting seemed to coincide with the wet food, but we weren't sure of the cause and attributed it to and IBD/pancreas flare up. This was tough as Momo is very food motivated, but she did not enjoy the dry food. Cue many struggles trying to time the insulin dose and keep her appetite regular.
Thankfully, we started feeding her Royal Canin Select Protein PD food as of 6/2 and she loves it. So far, it seems to agree with her stomach and we're starting to see lower BG numbers.
As far as insulin goes, she originally started on 3 units of Glargine twice a day. We dropped this to 2 units before Momo had her hypoglycemic incident. Once she was stabilized, the vet found out that even with normal food intake 2 units sent her into hypo territory so we dropped down to 1 unit. After recent high BG readings, the vet recommended 1.5U in the morning and 1U in the evening.
Momo tolerates home testing well! This is an area where we are trying to learn more and be more proactive. Since her diagnosis our vet has recommended testing only before shot/meal times, then only testing if there were symptoms, and now testing more often but not on a specific schedule. I think like most of the folks I've read on here have said, they seem to struggle with strong recommendations for fear of pet parents getting overwhelmed. We are now trying to find a good cadence and are going to start doing +4 and +8 regularly in addition to the 0 and +12 (next PS) tests. I work from home so I have ample opportunity to monitor and test.
Since Momo's hypoglycemia, we've been hesitant to administer insulin with low numbers. The more I'm reading, though, it sounds like we want to get her BG down and keep it down. I'm still nervous to give her too much in the evening as I'm worried about hypo overnight. I just imagine what might have happened had we been asleep during that drop into the 30s. Once we have more data logged in the spreadsheet I'm hoping I'll be more confident in a range for giving/withholding insulin. If anyone has advice or experience with Glargine/Lantus and BG ranges from an AlphaTrak, I would be all ears.
I also want to give a huge THANK YOU to all of you who contribute such wonderful information to this message board. I've already found out that I can keep Glargine longer than 28 days, that we can buy much cheaper syringes online, and that using a human BG meter would save us a ton of money as well (we just replenished our AT strips so the swap will have to wait). All of this will make a huge difference in the ongoing costs to manage diabetes, which is incredibly helpful given that Momo's new prescription food is $100 for 24 5oz cans. It's hard to put a price on a food that keeps both her IBD and diabetes more manageable, though.
I know this has been a wall of text, but I wanted to make sure I provided all of the relevant information for Momo and her journey so far. One cute story that came out of her recent hospital stay - once Momo was stabilized and the doctor came to give us an update, he said that Momo didn't seem like a hypoglycemic cat (they confirmed with their meter) because she gave them hell when they put the IV in. She is a little fighter. The next morning they called and said once her BG was back to normal, she was extremely sweet and affectionate. Momo doesn't seem to do anything halfway.
We are going to keep reading and start using the spreadsheet in my signature to get Momo's insulin dosage under control. Thank you all again for your contributions past, present, and future.
My name is Robin. My girlfriend and I had our 11 year-old cat Momo (the grey one in my profile picture) diagnosed with diabetes in mid-January this year following a bout of prednisolone for IBD. Managing diabetes has been an adventure, and we are trying to take a more proactive role in determining Momo's insulins needs.
With her IBD and chronic pancreatitis, Momo's appetite and food options have made it difficult to manage her blood sugar. We had her eating a combination of Royal Canin's hydrolyzed protein dry and Hill’s z/d wet food, but after a few days of vomiting that ended with a 3-day hospital stay for hypoglycemia we switched her over to the dry food only. Her vomiting seemed to coincide with the wet food, but we weren't sure of the cause and attributed it to and IBD/pancreas flare up. This was tough as Momo is very food motivated, but she did not enjoy the dry food. Cue many struggles trying to time the insulin dose and keep her appetite regular.
Thankfully, we started feeding her Royal Canin Select Protein PD food as of 6/2 and she loves it. So far, it seems to agree with her stomach and we're starting to see lower BG numbers.
As far as insulin goes, she originally started on 3 units of Glargine twice a day. We dropped this to 2 units before Momo had her hypoglycemic incident. Once she was stabilized, the vet found out that even with normal food intake 2 units sent her into hypo territory so we dropped down to 1 unit. After recent high BG readings, the vet recommended 1.5U in the morning and 1U in the evening.
Momo tolerates home testing well! This is an area where we are trying to learn more and be more proactive. Since her diagnosis our vet has recommended testing only before shot/meal times, then only testing if there were symptoms, and now testing more often but not on a specific schedule. I think like most of the folks I've read on here have said, they seem to struggle with strong recommendations for fear of pet parents getting overwhelmed. We are now trying to find a good cadence and are going to start doing +4 and +8 regularly in addition to the 0 and +12 (next PS) tests. I work from home so I have ample opportunity to monitor and test.
Since Momo's hypoglycemia, we've been hesitant to administer insulin with low numbers. The more I'm reading, though, it sounds like we want to get her BG down and keep it down. I'm still nervous to give her too much in the evening as I'm worried about hypo overnight. I just imagine what might have happened had we been asleep during that drop into the 30s. Once we have more data logged in the spreadsheet I'm hoping I'll be more confident in a range for giving/withholding insulin. If anyone has advice or experience with Glargine/Lantus and BG ranges from an AlphaTrak, I would be all ears.
I also want to give a huge THANK YOU to all of you who contribute such wonderful information to this message board. I've already found out that I can keep Glargine longer than 28 days, that we can buy much cheaper syringes online, and that using a human BG meter would save us a ton of money as well (we just replenished our AT strips so the swap will have to wait). All of this will make a huge difference in the ongoing costs to manage diabetes, which is incredibly helpful given that Momo's new prescription food is $100 for 24 5oz cans. It's hard to put a price on a food that keeps both her IBD and diabetes more manageable, though.
I know this has been a wall of text, but I wanted to make sure I provided all of the relevant information for Momo and her journey so far. One cute story that came out of her recent hospital stay - once Momo was stabilized and the doctor came to give us an update, he said that Momo didn't seem like a hypoglycemic cat (they confirmed with their meter) because she gave them hell when they put the IV in. She is a little fighter. The next morning they called and said once her BG was back to normal, she was extremely sweet and affectionate. Momo doesn't seem to do anything halfway.
We are going to keep reading and start using the spreadsheet in my signature to get Momo's insulin dosage under control. Thank you all again for your contributions past, present, and future.
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The differing advice from the two vets has been frustrating.
That has to feel great for both of you!
