New member - Simon

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RebeccaAnn

RebeccaAnn

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Hi everyone!

I am so grateful I found this forum, and have been trying to learn as much as I can. Simon is 11, and despite being a bit chunky he has been healthy his whole life. On September 21st he started throwing up, being very lethargic, and hardly eating. On September 23rd, I noticed an acetone scent on his breath, and set up a vet appointment for that evening. At this point I pulled all dry food, and left only wet (alternating between FF and Friskies) - as I had a suspicion as to what was going on.

He came back with a glucose level of 396 at the vet that night. The vet quickly gave a diagnosis of diabetes. We returned the next day for a consult, and at this time received his insulin. Before even giving any insulin, with the only change being removing dry food entirely, he became his usual energetic, hungry self. I also noticed a lot less urine (and far less sticky).

I have been administering the insulin every 12 hours without incident. Yesterday, I was able to get my hands on a Contour Next tester. We used it, and Simon came back with a reading of 86.4. I spoke with my vet and they advised to not give insulin, and test again this morning. I fed dinner as usual last night after the test, and two hours later he tested at 77.4. This morning, prior to breakfast, he had a reading of 72. Following what my vet has instructed, I again did not administer insulin and proceeded to feed breakfast.

I will be working on setting up a spreadsheet, but I am concerned he might even be going a bit low? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am Canadian, but multiplied all my numbers by 18, I hope that is correct!

Thank you in advance for the help and support!
 
RebeccaAnn said:
Hi everyone!

I am so grateful I found this forum, and have been trying to learn as much as I can. Simon is 11, and despite being a bit chunky he has been healthy his whole life. On September 21st he started throwing up, being very lethargic, and hardly eating. On September 23rd, I noticed an acetone scent on his breath, and set up a vet appointment for that evening. At this point I pulled all dry food, and left only wet (alternating between FF and Friskies) - as I had a suspicion as to what was going on.

He came back with a glucose level of 396 at the vet that night. The vet quickly gave a diagnosis of diabetes. We returned the next day for a consult, and at this time received his insulin. Before even giving any insulin, with the only change being removing dry food entirely, he became his usual energetic, hungry self. I also noticed a lot less urine (and far less sticky).

I have been administering the insulin every 12 hours without incident. Yesterday, I was able to get my hands on a Contour Next tester. We used it, and Simon came back with a reading of 86.4. I spoke with my vet and they advised to not give insulin, and test again this morning. I fed dinner as usual last night after the test, and two hours later he tested at 77.4. This morning, prior to breakfast, he had a reading of 72. Following what my vet has instructed, I again did not administer insulin and proceeded to feed breakfast.

I will be working on setting up a spreadsheet, but I am concerned he might even be going a bit low? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am Canadian, but multiplied all my numbers by 18, I hope that is correct!

Thank you in advance for the help and support!
Click to expand...
Hi RebeccaAnn, welcome to the Forum. we need to know more about the type of insulin, dose, diet etc to be able to help you, I read that your Vet suggested no insulin on 86.4 BG, and 74 is not bad, actually these numbers are great, it means the pancreas heal faster, I shoot my Corky @ even 80 at times a less, let's not forget that once you feed before you shoot the BG raises, so the norm is test feed, shoot, so it is great you are home testing, it is important that you have what is called a HYPO KIT, this will consist of KARO syrup or Honey, some wet can food of medium carbs such as 12-15% and some High carbs between 18-20, the medium carbs is when the BG is between 60-70 a tsp at a time by testing and testing every 1/2 hour, the High Carbs when BG is 70-60 1/2tsp same protocol the KARO/HONEY ONLY as a quick fix if the BG reaches 50-59, you can check Corky's Spreadsheet and see what it looks like and feeding schedule etc in the remarks. We have all been there apprehensive and overwhelmed, is good to read all the sticky notes in the Main Forum a lot of good information, we would like you to create your signature and spreadsheet, this way we can see what is going on and guide you correctly, see links below, and don't worry we are here for you:bighug::cat::cat:

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
 
Sorry should have included that in my original post! I did create a signature, hopefully it showed up!

Simon was prescribed 2 units of Lantus every 12 hours. I am experimenting with how much wet food to give as I do have a second cat - I am also struggling with correct amount of food (since I used to free feed kibble and feed wet) so any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. They usually eat it all no problem before the next meal comes. Right now I am feeding a can of Friskies pate in the morning that they graze on, a can of Fancy Feast pate for lunch, and a can of Friskies for dinner. They have access to 2 water fountains as well. When I am home on the weekends I divide it into smaller meals throughout the day.

I just spoke with my vet and last night they said not to shoot below 108. But I called back again this morning to advise I again skipped his insulin, and the vet that I spoke with said not to shoot below 270. Same clinic, different vet. He is well below both of those numbers, though, so not terribly concerned.

I am wondering if this is possibly a misdiagnosis? He does need a teeth cleaning, which I have seen may cause elevated glucose.
 
RebeccaAnn said:
Hi everyone!

I am so grateful I found this forum, and have been trying to learn as much as I can. Simon is 11, and despite being a bit chunky he has been healthy his whole life. On September 21st he started throwing up, being very lethargic, and hardly eating. On September 23rd, I noticed an acetone scent on his breath, and set up a vet appointment for that evening. At this point I pulled all dry food, and left only wet (alternating between FF and Friskies) - as I had a suspicion as to what was going on.

He came back with a glucose level of 396 at the vet that night. The vet quickly gave a diagnosis of diabetes. We returned the next day for a consult, and at this time received his insulin. Before even giving any insulin, with the only change being removing dry food entirely, he became his usual energetic, hungry self. I also noticed a lot less urine (and far less sticky).

I have been administering the insulin every 12 hours without incident. Yesterday, I was able to get my hands on a Contour Next tester. We used it, and Simon came back with a reading of 86.4. I spoke with my vet and they advised to not give insulin, and test again this morning. I fed dinner as usual last night after the test, and two hours later he tested at 77.4. This morning, prior to breakfast, he had a reading of 72. Following what my vet has instructed, I again did not administer insulin and proceeded to feed breakfast.

I will be working on setting up a spreadsheet, but I am concerned he might even be going a bit low? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I am Canadian, but multiplied all my numbers by 18, I hope that is correct!

Thank you in advance for the help and support!
Click to expand...
@Bandit's Mom
@Bron and Sheba (GA)
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
@JL and Chip
@Christie & Maverick




RebeccaAnn
New
Sorry should have included that in my original post! I did create a signature, hopefully it showed up!

Simon was prescribed 2 units of Lantus every 12 hours. I am experimenting with how much wet food to give as I do have a second cat - I am also struggling with correct amount of food (since I used to free feed kibble and feed wet) so any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. They usually eat it all no problem before the next meal comes. Right now I am feeding a can of Friskies pate in the morning that they graze on, a can of Fancy Feast pate for lunch, and a can of Friskies for dinner. They have access to 2 water fountains as well. When I am home on the weekends I divide it into smaller meals throughout the day.

I just spoke with my vet and last night they said not to shoot below 108. But I called back again this morning to advise I again skipped his insulin, and the vet that I spoke with said not to shoot below 270. Same clinic, different vet. He is well below both of those numbers, though, so not terribly concerned.

I am wondering if this is possibly a misdiagnosis? He does need a teeth cleaning, which I have seen may cause elevated glucose.
 
Last edited:
@RebeccaAnn
Hi Rebecca I tagged a few experienced my for you to see what they have to say .
You said
. I am Canadian, but multiplied all my numbers by 18, I hope that is correct!

Yes that's correct :cat:.
Wow all those BG numbers you gave up top are all normal , I'm no expert on dosing advice but 2 units of Lantus seems like an awful big amount to start with
Let's see what the members I tagged has to say

Did the vet do a Fructosamin test the day you were there and got the diabetes diagnose, it would have given an insight of the overall blood glucose levels the past 3 prior weeks.
 
Thank you so much!

I agree, the dose seems high. I’m glad we didn’t have any issues up until I was able to test yesterday for the first time.

We did not do that kind of test, though they did give me a tiny bag of litter and asked to collect urine sample for testing, which I will be (trying, haha) to do this weekend.
 
I agree with what Lisa posted. Simon may be diet controlled. There are a couple of other thoughts. He may have had some acute medical issue (e.g., a virus) that he worked out of his system. Any sort of stress, whether it's external or a medical issue such as an infection or inflammation can raise blood glucose levels. Simon's levels may have been elevated at the vet's office due to the stress of being in the car and a in a strange place (i.e., the vet's office).

One way to know for sure as to what's going on is to ask the vet to do a fructosamine test. This is a test that provides an average blood glucose level over a period of a few weeks. It would tell you if Simon's levels were elevated for that time or if what you and the vet saw were essentially one time only reactions.
 
Thank you so much for all the helpful replies. I just tested Simon two hours after breakfast and now he’s 3.2… should I be concerned? I gave him a handful of kibble to try and get him up a bit.
 
RebeccaAnn said:
Sorry should have included that in my original post! I did create a signature, hopefully it showed up!

Simon was prescribed 2 units of Lantus every 12 hours. I am experimenting with how much wet food to give as I do have a second cat - I am also struggling with correct amount of food (since I used to free feed kibble and feed wet) so any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. They usually eat it all no problem before the next meal comes. Right now I am feeding a can of Friskies pate in the morning that they graze on, a can of Fancy Feast pate for lunch, and a can of Friskies for dinner. They have access to 2 water fountains as well. When I am home on the weekends I divide it into smaller meals throughout the day.

I just spoke with my vet and last night they said not to shoot below 108. But I called back again this morning to advise I again skipped his insulin, and the vet that I spoke with said not to shoot below 270. Same clinic, different vet. He is well below both of those numbers, though, so not terribly concerned.

I am wondering if this is possibly a misdiagnosis? He does need a teeth cleaning, which I have seen may cause elevated glucose.
Click to expand...
RebeccaAnn said:
Sorry should have included that in my original post! I did create a signature, hopefully it showed up!

Simon was prescribed 2 units of Lantus every 12 hours. I am experimenting with how much wet food to give as I do have a second cat - I am also struggling with correct amount of food (since I used to free feed kibble and feed wet) so any insight on this would be greatly appreciated. They usually eat it all no problem before the next meal comes. Right now I am feeding a can of Friskies pate in the morning that they graze on, a can of Fancy Feast pate for lunch, and a can of Friskies for dinner. They have access to 2 water fountains as well. When I am home on the weekends I divide it into smaller meals throughout the day.

I just spoke with my vet and last night they said not to shoot below 108. But I called back again this morning to advise I again skipped his insulin, and the vet that I spoke with said not to shoot below 270. Same clinic, different vet. He is well below both of those numbers, though, so not terribly concerned.

I am wondering if this is possibly a misdiagnosis? He does need a teeth cleaning, which I have seen may cause elevated glucose.
Click to expand...
For starters disconcerting difference between Vet, unfortunately Vets are not well informed much on Feline diabetes, I will tag a couple of experts on Lantus try to create the spreadsheet in the meantime and signature “ help us help you
RebeccaAnn said:
sorry now he’s 57.6
Click to expand...

I will tag a Lantus expert to help you with dosing:bighug::cat:

@Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
RebeccaAnn said:
Thank you so much for all the helpful replies. I just tested Simon two hours after breakfast and now he’s 3.2… should I be concerned? I gave him a handful of kibble to try and get him up a bit.
Click to expand...
3.2 (58) is not a concern for a cat who is not receiving insulin. He cannot hypo if he’s not on insulin. You don’t need to give any high carb food if I am understanding you correctly that he has not received insulin. Normal BG numbers for a cat are 50-120 (human meter.)
 
CORKY said:
For starters disconcerting difference between Vet, unfortunately Vets are not well informed much on Feline diabetes, I will tag a couple of experts on Lantus try to create the spreadsheet in the meantime and signature “ help us help you


I will tag a Lantus expert to help you with dosing:bighug::cat:

@Bron and Sheba (GA)
Click to expand...
He doesn’t need insulin at this point so no dosing help needed.
 
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