New Member - Question on Home Testing Results

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SDAbby

SDAbby

Member Since 2020
Hi, all - thank you so much for all the info on this page. It's kept me somewhat sane since my cat's diagnosis about a month ago. Abby is a 15 yo mixed cat (probably some maine coon). She's been fairly healthy her entire life but lost a ton of weight the past few months. She is currently on 2 units of Lantus twice a day and eating Hill's prescription wet food (which it looks like i can switch to non-rx food based on everything I've read here/on the web).

Anyways, I've tried to fill in the spreadsheet - hopefully I did it correctly - but I am a little nervous waiting the next few days for my vet to get back to me. The vet thinks that Abby's vet blood test were high in part due to stress at the vet so when she couldn't get accurate results she asked me to home test, which I did today (barely!) She was pretty stable throughout the day (range from 173-230; starting and ending at 208). While I will continue to try to test before each shot, I'm not sure Abby or I will be able to do it before every shot as today took a lot out of both of us (and the last thing I want is for Abby to hate/avoid/etc. me during her golden years). At the end of the day, given the differences in the numbers between at home and vet testing, does 2 units twice a day sound high or should I continue with that dosing until I can get her lower into the 100s? I'm afraid that we jumped up to 2 units fairly quickly based on inaccurate vet testing...but maybe that's what we needed to do - not sure how this all works.

Thanks in advance for any advice!
 
WELCOME TO FDMB! Its about time you posted. :p jk;)
We ARE glad you found us. Testing doesnt have to be stressful and we ADVOCATE home testing as job 1. Seriously there all all kinds of things you can do to learn to make testing if not enjoyable tolerable for your kitty. Most of it begins with you. Nan put it best by saying... If you were about to get a shot from a nervous nurse how would you feel? My guess would be STRESSED and scared. (well that would describe me but you get the picture) Fake confidence and your kitty will have confidence in you. here are fdmb tips:
Hometesting Links and Tips
We look forward to getting to know you and Abby!
WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY:bighug:
jeanne

BTW Your spreadsheet isnt working. I will tag a member to help you with it.
@Chris & China (GA)

This site is full of information with good people to navigate it all. ;):coffee:
 
I started Testing Howie in mid-august and had the same fears (he is 11yo). It does get better! The rice sock is a MUST. Give yourself and Abby some grace. Take a break and give her a treat if it’s not happening and then try again. And do sing! I notice that if I am not chipper with him, he is less cooperative. Do testing in the same spot in your house as she’ll associate it with treats. Give a treat after each test no matter how successful. Besides meal times when he is still squirmy, Howie literally crawls into my lap sometimes. I use freeze dried turkey treats so there aren’t any carbs.You’ve got this!
 
SDAbby said:
She is currently on 2 units of Lantus twice a day and eating Hill's prescription wet food (which it looks like i can switch to non-rx food based on everything I've read here/on the web)
Click to expand...

Is there a reason she is eating prescription food? They are usually pretty high in carbs. Here's a link to Dr. Lisa's food chart giving the carb% of various cat food.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

A word of caution - changing the diet of the kitty to a low carb one can cause blood sugar numbers and insulin needs to fall significantly. You should closely monitor the BG numbers when making the transition.
 
Howiesmom said:
I started Testing Howie in mid-august and had the same fears (he is 11yo). It does get better! The rice sock is a MUST. Give yourself and Abby some grace. Take a break and give her a treat if it’s not happening and then try again. And do sing! I notice that if I am not chipper with him, he is less cooperative. Do testing in the same spot in your house as she’ll associate it with treats. Give a treat after each test no matter how successful. Besides meal times when he is still squirmy, Howie literally crawls into my lap sometimes. I use freeze dried turkey treats so there aren’t any carbs.You’ve got this!
Click to expand...
Thank you, Howie's Mom for the words of encouragement. Unfortunately Abby is not a treat kitty (I wish I had the same problem!!) She has never wanted, taken or eaten treats no matter how many different times I've tried (or different treats I've offered). Based on tips, I'll try cooking some chicken for her and hope that will help. Thanks again!
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
WELCOME TO FDMB! Its about time you posted. :p jk;)
We ARE glad you found us. Testing doesnt have to be stressful and we ADVOCATE home testing as job 1. Seriously there all all kinds of things you can do to learn to make testing if not enjoyable tolerable for your kitty. Most of it begins with you. Nan put it best by saying... If you were about to get a shot from a nervous nurse how would you feel? My guess would be STRESSED and scared. (well that would describe me but you get the picture) Fake confidence and your kitty will have confidence in you. here are fdmb tips:
Hometesting Links and Tips
We look forward to getting to know you and Abby!
WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY:bighug:
jeanne

BTW Your spreadsheet isnt working. I will tag a member to help you with it.
@Chris & China (GA)

This site is full of information with good people to navigate it all. ;):coffee:
Click to expand...
Thank you for the warm welcome! The information on the site as well as knowing there are lots of people that make treatment work has been invaluable during the last month. I tried uploading the SS from a different computer so hopefully it works now - fingers crossed. thanks again!
 
Bandit's Mom said:
The SS you are using doesn't seem to be our format. Here's a sticky with instructions on how to set up a spreadsheet
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

If you have any difficulty, let me know (send me a PM) and I will set it up for you. :)
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Thank you Bandit's Mom. I just tried the process again from a different computer (I fear my work computer's firewall caused issues last night). If you have a chance to confirm if it works, I'd appreciate it. thank you for the offer of assistance if it didn't work.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Is there a reason she is eating prescription food? They are usually pretty high in carbs. Here's a link to Dr. Lisa's food chart giving the carb% of various cat food.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

A word of caution - changing the diet of the kitty to a low carb one can cause blood sugar numbers and insulin needs to fall significantly. You should closely monitor the BG numbers when making the transition.
Click to expand...
Re: RX food - No other than I was just following the vets recommendation since I was so overwhelmed at the beginning. After reviewing notes on this page (as well as others), I'm going to try switching her to FF classic. Her appetite has definitely decreased since we started insulin and she has always been a dry food cat (lesson learned!) Hopefully she likes FF.
 
Bandit's Mom said:
Do you not have any tests in the PM cycle? Cats often go lower at night. A before bed test would give you a good idea on how she is faring in the PM cycle.
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I will definitely try to space out the testing. Yesterday she was done (she tolerated me for the first few tests and by the afternoon I had to drag her out from under the bed and by evening I got the full hiss/catitude challenge). In reading more about lantus, it looks like it should be fairly stable (that's the point of it) so I will try spacing out the testing. I guess one more of Abby's traits to share is she has never been a friendly cat (I still love her!) She was a pound kitty and I got her when she was young, but she is definitely very selective on who she tolerates (mainly me and even then I'm not sure I always make the approved list). Each cat is different and I've tried to give her the best life possible over the past 15 years. She has her moments when she shows her appreciation/love and that makes it worthwhile:)
 
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There are some cycles where you need to test more and others where the kitty is clearly bouncing from low numbers and you can take it easy on the testing front. you don't need to test every 2 hours in every cycle.

maybe some treats at test time will make her more tolerant of tests? :-)
 
Thanks @Diane Tyler's Mom and @Bandit's Mom. Abby and I are getting better at testing (especially since I've just been doing it once a day right now). The vet actually said not to worry about testing given Abby's temperament and we could just rely on a Fructosamine test next week, but after reading the info on here, I've decided to try to keep testing at least once a day. I tried chicken as a treat tonight which she refused. I'll try some watered down tuna tomorrow. She appears to like her transition to fancy feast and her number tonight before her insulin shot was 122. Hopefully she is feeling better!
 
SDAbby said:
The vet actually said not to worry about testing given Abby's temperament and we could just rely on a Fructosamine test next week, but after reading the info on here, I've decided to try to keep testing at least once a day.
Click to expand...
You are very wise to decide to keep testing the BGs. A fructosamine test will just give an average of the BGs for the last few weeks (one number) and does not give any highs or low numbers. That means that your kitty could have very high numbers at the beginning of the cycle and very low numbers in the middle of the cycle and the fructosamine test would show that the numbers are good, when in fact they were dangerous. The fructosamine test is not needed once you are home testing (except to satisfy the vet who does not understand home testing numbers) as home testing gives you up to the minute accurate information to base your dosing on.
I would also recommend getting a before bed test in every night to keep Abby safe.
 
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