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Julia78

Julia78

Member Since 2020
Hi, my name is Julia and I have just joined felinediabetes.com. Heartbreakingly, my 13 year old cat Pepper was diagnosed with diabetes about 2 weeks ago. He’s been wearing the libre disk for 12 days and is on 1unit of insulin every 12 hours. I’m bringing him to the animal hospital this coming Monday to have the libre device removed. Once it is removed, I’m wondering how I’ll know if his glucose levels are high enough to administer the insulin. Also, the internist who diagnosed Pepper instructed me to feed him just twice a day right before giving the insulin. Pepper is used to eating small amounts of food throughout the day and is not tolerating this new feeding schedule. He will only eat a little over one small can of food in one sitting, so I have been giving him small amounts of chicken twice a day between feedings. Is there harm in doing this? He has been keeping me up throughout the night and I’m sleep deprived. I live in a very small house and will hear him crying wherever I put him. Also, he’s a large cat and two 3 ounce cans of food per day is not enough for him. He typically wakes me up around 1am and 4:30am and at those times I give him a small amount of chicken breast. I just don’t know how I can keep this schedule up and still be able to function. I’m even having trouble focusing enough to be able to write this. I would be grateful for any suggestions; I‘ll be surprised if I’m the only one with these issues. I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Thank you.
 
Welcome Julia to FDMB. I'm so glad you found us. Most members here use a human glucose meter. I did when I had a diabetic kitty. It pretty straight forward. You test just like humans do only we recommend giving the tip of Peppers ear a poke put the meter strip in and suck up the blood. Of course there's fine tuning to all this. I will let our members walk you through how to go about this.
While you are waiting for more responses you might want to read here
Suggestions, Tech Support & Testing Area
The yellow stickies at the top of the list will help you help us.

Again WELCOME to the best place to help you help Pepper

jeanne
 
Julia78 said:
Hi, my name is Julia and I have just joined felinediabetes.com. Heartbreakingly, my 13 year old cat Pepper was diagnosed with diabetes about 2 weeks ago. He’s been wearing the libre disk for 12 days and is on 1unit of insulin every 12 hours. I’m bringing him to the animal hospital this coming Monday to have the libre device removed. Once it is removed, I’m wondering how I’ll know if his glucose levels are high enough to administer the insulin. Also, the internist who diagnosed Pepper instructed me to feed him just twice a day right before giving the insulin. Pepper is used to eating small amounts of food throughout the day and is not tolerating this new feeding schedule. He will only eat a little over one small can of food in one sitting, so I have been giving him small amounts of chicken twice a day between feedings. Is there harm in doing this? He has been keeping me up throughout the night and I’m sleep deprived. I live in a very small house and will hear him crying wherever I put him. Also, he’s a large cat and two 3 ounce cans of food per day is not enough for him. He typically wakes me up around 1am and 4:30am and at those times I give him a small amount of chicken breast. I just don’t know how I can keep this schedule up and still be able to function. I’m even having trouble focusing enough to be able to write this. I would be grateful for any suggestions; I‘ll be surprised if I’m the only one with these issues. I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Thank you.
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Hi Julia and welcome!!

NO you don’t have to feed him only twice a day. It drives me crazy that so many people come here and say their vets told them that. That works for dogs not for cats who are grazers and it’s also easier on their pancreas to eat small portions several times a day, so please go back to Pepper’s feeding routine. The only thing to do for diabetic cats is make sure you’re not feeding dry food or high carb foods. Most of us here feed our cats FF pate and that’s just fine. Please check out the link JT shared and set up your signature like I have mine so we can all see at a glance the basics about Pepper. Home testing is the only and best way to monitor your cats BG levels and we all do it and we can all give you tons of tips!

there’s a list of cat foods and their carb content here somewhere. I’ll try to find and post it for you. Once you start testing, you want to make sure he hasn’t eaten for at least 2 hours prior to the test but the rest of the day he can eat his usual small portions spread out :)

welcome again! :bighug:
 
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Oh and if your vet tells you you need to get a pet meter which is more expensive and the test strips are also very expensive, that’s not true as well. Most of us here use human meters. I have freestyle lite and ReliOn from Walmart. You should maybe tomorrow look into getting/ordering a meter, test strips and lancets so you can start testing once the libre comes off. Don’t worry, you got this! :smuggrin:
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Hi Julia and welcome!!

NO you don’t have to feed him only twice a day. It drives me crazy that so many people come here and say their vets told them that. That works for dogs not for cats who are grazers and it’s also easier on their pancreas to eat small portions several times a day, so please go back to Pepper’s feeding routine. The only thing to do for diabetic cats is make sure you’re not feeding dry food or high carb foods. Most of us here feed our cats FF pate and that’s just fine. Please check out the link JT shared and set up your signature like I have mine so we can all see at a glance the basics about Pepper. Home testing is the only and best way to monitor your cats BG levels and we all do it and we can all give you tons of tips!

there’s a list of cat foods and their carb content here somewhere. I’ll try to find and post it for you. Once you start testing, you want to make sure he hasn’t eaten for at least 2 hours prior to the test but the rest of the day he can eat his usual small portions spread out :)

welcome again! :bighug:
Click to expand...
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Oh and if your vet tells you you need to get a pet meter which is more expensive and the test strips are also very expensive, that’s not true as well. Most of us here use human meters. I have freestyle lite and ReliOn from Walmart. You should maybe tomorrow look into getting/ordering a meter, test strips and lancets so you can start testing once the libre comes off. Don’t worry, you got this! :smuggrin:
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!!
 
Julia78 said:
Hi, my name is Julia and I have just joined felinediabetes.com. Heartbreakingly, my 13 year old cat Pepper was diagnosed with diabetes about 2 weeks ago. He’s been wearing the libre disk for 12 days and is on 1unit of insulin every 12 hours. I’m bringing him to the animal hospital this coming Monday to have the libre device removed. Once it is removed, I’m wondering how I’ll know if his glucose levels are high enough to administer the insulin. Also, the internist who diagnosed Pepper instructed me to feed him just twice a day right before giving the insulin. Pepper is used to eating small amounts of food throughout the day and is not tolerating this new feeding schedule. He will only eat a little over one small can of food in one sitting, so I have been giving him small amounts of chicken twice a day between feedings. Is there harm in doing this? He has been keeping me up throughout the night and I’m sleep deprived. I live in a very small house and will hear him crying wherever I put him. Also, he’s a large cat and two 3 ounce cans of food per day is not enough for him. He typically wakes me up around 1am and 4:30am and at those times I give him a small amount of chicken breast. I just don’t know how I can keep this schedule up and still be able to function. I’m even having trouble focusing enough to be able to write this. I would be grateful for any suggestions; I‘ll be surprised if I’m the only one with these issues. I hope you are all staying healthy and safe. Thank you.
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Hi Julia my cat Dusty just had her Libre put on yesterday . I was also told by my Vet 1 unit of Lantus insulin at meal time every 12 hours . As I predicted Dusty got out of the shirt they put on her to not mess with the libre sensor and really scratched around the sensor . She will sometime eat her food most of the time a few bites . She had been transitioning from dry food but the not really eating you think would concern her Vet a little more huh . Julia just know you are not alone and this forum has the most knowledgeable, compassionate sweet people you are really going to like them . Im just learning but if you need to talk or vent Feel free Roe
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
Welcome Julia to FDMB. I'm so glad you found us. Most members here use a human glucose meter. I did when I had a diabetic kitty. It pretty straight forward. You test just like humans do only we recommend giving the tip of Peppers ear a poke put the meter strip in and suck up the blood. Of course there's fine tuning to all this. I will let our members walk you through how to go about this.
While you are waiting for more responses you might want to read here
Suggestions, Tech Support & Testing Area
The yellow stickies at the top of the list will help you help us.

Again WELCOME to the best place to help you help Pepper

jeanne
Click to expand...
Thank you, jeanne. I will have to learn more about this site and how to set up a spread sheet and signature tomorrow when my brain is working better. I know I’m going to sleep better tonight than I have in weeks. I’m so grateful I found this place and that there are such supportive people here. I can’t thank you enough. Have a good night, all.
Julia
 
Dusty & Roe said:
Hi Julia my cat Dusty just had her Libre put on yesterday . I was also told by my Vet 1 unit of Lantus insulin at meal time every 12 hours . As I predicted Dusty got out of the shirt they put on her to not mess with the libre sensor and really scratched around the sensor . She will sometime eat her food most of the time a few bites . She had been transitioning from dry food but the not really eating you think would concern her Vet a little more huh . Julia just know you are not alone and this forum has the most knowledgeable, compassionate sweet people you are really going to like them . Im just learning but if you need to talk or vent Feel free Roe
Click to expand...
Hi Roe,
Thank you for responding to my post. I’m sorry you’re going through this with
Dusty & Roe said:
Hi Julia my cat Dusty just had her Libre put on yesterday . I was also told by my Vet 1 unit of Lantus insulin at meal time every 12 hours . As I predicted Dusty got out of the shirt they put on her to not mess with the libre sensor and really scratched around the sensor . She will sometime eat her food most of the time a few bites . She had been transitioning from dry food but the not really eating you think would concern her Vet a little more huh . Julia just know you are not alone and this forum has the most knowledgeable, compassionate sweet people you are really going to like them . Im just learning but if you need to talk or vent Feel free Roe
Click to expand...

Hi Roe,
It’s nice to meet you. Sorry I messed up my first response to you. I’ll have to learn about this site tomorrow when I can think more clearly. I have learned that dry food is not good for our cats’ kidneys and that they can get addicted to it. It happened with Pepper and I slowly weaned him off of it. I’d be very careful about giving the insulin with too little food. It sounds like you’re having a similar issue to mine. Did you read the post written by a kind person to me tonight about cats liking to graze? And that a lot of vets tell people with diabetic cats to just feed them twice a day but that that’s not necessary? I’m hoping you can find the post here in this thread. I’m not happy with any of the vets I’ve been to. I believe they saw that Pepper was on his way to being diabetic but they dragged their feet and now it’s too late to stop it. I’ve spent close to $4,000 over the past three months. Now I’m babbling. Have a good night, and I look forward to chatting with you again soon.
 
Julia78 said:
Hi Roe,
Thank you for responding to my post. I’m sorry you’re going through this with


Hi Roe,
It’s nice to meet you. Sorry I messed up my first response to you. I’ll have to learn about this site tomorrow when I can think more clearly. I have learned that dry food is not good for our cats’ kidneys and that they can get addicted to it. It happened with Pepper and I slowly weaned him off of it. I’d be very careful about giving the insulin with too little food. It sounds like you’re having a similar issue to mine. Did you read the post written by a kind person to me tonight about cats liking to graze? And that a lot of vets tell people with diabetic cats to just feed them twice a day but that that’s not necessary? I’m hoping you can find the post here in this thread. I’m not happy with any of the vets I’ve been to. I believe they saw that Pepper was on his way to being diabetic but they dragged their feet and now it’s too late to stop it. I’ve spent close to $4,000 over the past three months. Now I’m babbling. Have a good night, and I look forward to chatting with you again soon.
Click to expand...

baby steps. And yes once you get ready to home test we always say test, feed then shoot. Because you want to check the BG level first, then make sure they have food in them so that you can give the shot.

the other great advantage of feeding more often is that it keeps your cats blood glucose (BG) level from dropping too much at any point in the cycle (12 hours). Like today my cats BG level dropped a lot twice during the day and I fed her both times to get the level to go back up to safer numbers.

hope you have a good night sleep!! I sure need one too ha!
 
Julia78 said:
Hi Roe,
Thank you for responding to my post. I’m sorry you’re going through this with


Hi Roe,
It’s nice to meet you. Sorry I messed up my first response to you. I’ll have to learn about this site tomorrow when I can think more clearly. I have learned that dry food is not good for our cats’ kidneys and that they can get addicted to it. It happened with Pepper and I slowly weaned him off of it. I’d be very careful about giving the insulin with too little food. It sounds like you’re having a similar issue to mine. Did you read the post written by a kind person to me tonight about cats liking to graze? And that a lot of vets tell people with diabetic cats to just feed them twice a day but that that’s not necessary? I’m hoping you can find the post here in this thread. I’m not happy with any of the vets I’ve been to. I believe they saw that Pepper was on his way to being diabetic but they dragged their feet and now it’s too late to stop it. I’ve spent close to $4,000 over the past three months. Now I’m babbling. Have a good night, and I look forward to chatting with you again soon.
Click to expand...
Julia you are not babbling at all . Our stories are so similar. Between Vet visits trying different cat foods it has not been a month yet and I am at the $2,000 mark . How is Pepper doing with the Libre ? I am going to get a home test meter also . I can’t believe her numbers with the libre though they may be true sure dosent hurt to double check ohhhhhh but Dusty is not the easy king of cat . Can I ask you how are Peppers BG numbers ? Very nice talking with you Roe
 
Dusty & Roe said:
Julia you are not babbling at all . Our stories are so similar. Between Vet visits trying different cat foods it has not been a month yet and I am at the $2,000 mark . How is Pepper doing with the Libre ? I am going to get a home test meter also . I can’t believe her numbers with the libre though they may be true sure dosent hurt to double check ohhhhhh but Dusty is not the easy king of cat . Can I ask you how are Peppers BG numbers ? Very nice talking with you Roe
Click to expand...
Hi Roe,
Pepper had an appointment at the animal hospital to remove the Libre tomorrow but thankfully it came off today with just a little help from me. The scanner wouldn’t give me a reading this morning because it has expired. I only gave Pepper 1/2 of his usual 1 unit dose of insulin because I didn’t know what his glucose number was. I called the vet and they told me not to worry so much about the numbers and to just ‘watch him and see how he behaves.’ That doesn’t seem like very wise advise, nor is it comforting. They told me I don’t need to test his glucose using blood. Really?
For the most part Pepper’s BG numbers have fluctuated between 200 and 400 over the past 2 weeks. The number went down to 87 one time after an injection and was 100+ ( below 200) about 6 times over the past two weeks, but mostly in the mid to upper 200s to the lower to higher 300 range. I still haven’t set up my signature here and am not sure if I should fill out the spread sheet because I don’t what I’m going to do next. I’m just afraid to give him the insulin without knowing his BG numbers. What kind of home meter will you get and do you know where you’ll purchase it? Will you be testing Dusty’s actual blood after the Libre is taken off?
 
Julia78 said:
Hi Roe,
Pepper had an appointment at the animal hospital to remove the Libre tomorrow but thankfully it came off today with just a little help from me. The scanner wouldn’t give me a reading this morning because it has expired. I only gave Pepper 1/2 of his usual 1 unit dose of insulin because I didn’t know what his glucose number was. I called the vet and they told me not to worry so much about the numbers and to just ‘watch him and see how he behaves.’ That doesn’t seem like very wise advise, nor is it comforting. They told me I don’t need to test his glucose using blood. Really?
For the most part Pepper’s BG numbers have fluctuated between 200 and 400 over the past 2 weeks. The number went down to 87 one time after an injection and was 100+ ( below 200) about 6 times over the past two weeks, but mostly in the mid to upper 200s to the lower to higher 300 range. I still haven’t set up my signature here and am not sure if I should fill out the spread sheet because I don’t what I’m going to do next. I’m just afraid to give him the insulin without knowing his BG numbers. What kind of home meter will you get and do you know where you’ll purchase it? Will you be testing Dusty’s actual blood after the Libre is taken off?
Click to expand...
Hi Julia funny you should mention about the Vets and testing . When Dusty was first diagnosed I was just told to give her 1 unit of Lantus 2xs a day no testing. She said it was such a small amount of insulin. After 6 days I had to bring her back to the vet for a BG test and Dusty BG had dropped from 479 to 257 . So now the Libre is on and her BG has gone as high as 499 as low as 281 but usually in the 300’s I’m like WHAT ? Julia testing Dusty’s blood will be a challenge to say the least I was told by a few members on here that the Freestyle Lite meter or the Relion prime meter ( Walmart) is what most on here use .
I’m confused why your Vet did not suggest home testing . Trust me the Last thing I want to do is poke her ears for blood but I feel like I Have to know . This is really all so Overwhelming . Dusty is 2 days with the Libre I have to watch her every minute because she will try to take it off lol ....My Vet gave me a do not give an insulin shot number which is below 100 did your Vet say anything to you about this ? I’m asking because Pepper dropped to 87 . Julia like I said I am learning and just telling you what my Vet told me please let the more experienced members advise on this . What insulin is Pepper on ? Roe
 
I'm no expert but even I know the ONLY way to keep your baby safe is to home test. Its just common sense. As for actual testing? No cat hated testing more than poor ol Trouble. It took two of us. One thing that made it go much smoother was the treats. He did know if he sat for a test he got treats. That didnt stop him from being a wiggle worm though.

It DOES get easier.;)
 
Dusty & Roe said:
Hi Julia funny you should mention about the Vets and testing . When Dusty was first diagnosed I was just told to give her 1 unit of Lantus 2xs a day no testing. She said it was such a small amount of insulin. After 6 days I had to bring her back to the vet for a BG test and Dusty BG had dropped from 479 to 257 . So now the Libre is on and her BG has gone as high as 499 as low as 281 but usually in the 300’s I’m like WHAT ? Julia testing Dusty’s blood will be a challenge to say the least I was told by a few members on here that the Freestyle Lite meter or the Relion prime meter ( Walmart) is what most on here use .
I’m confused why your Vet did not suggest home testing . Trust me the Last thing I want to do is poke her ears for blood but I feel like I Have to know . This is really all so Overwhelming . Dusty is 2 days with the Libre I have to watch her every minute because she will try to take it off lol ....My Vet gave me a do not give an insulin shot number which is below 100 did your Vet say anything to you about this ? I’m asking because Pepper dropped to 87 . Julia like I said I am learning and just telling you what my Vet told me please let the more experienced members advise on this . What insulin is Pepper on ? Roe
Click to expand...

Roe is absolutely right. You have to home test. I’d never have caught Minnie’s low 40 yesterday and would not have been able to bring it up with food because I wouldn’t even know about it. Dropping below 87 does not mean you don’t give the insulin. Depending on the insulin you’re on, skipping doses diminishes the depot considerably. A below 87 let’s say at nadir or mid cycle would only mean you decrease the dose by .25 units. A below 87 at preshot value, then yes skip the dose. So it depends on what time of day, what insulin you’re on. A lot of us, wait 30 minutes or so after getting a low number, like below 87 and retest to see if it’s dropping or not. So a lot goes into it and you can only know what to do when you are home testing.

Julia, the 2 meters Roe suggested are the most used and reliable human meters. No need to get a pet meter with super expensive test strips. I have both freestyle and ReliOn. Freestyle takes a bit less blood and the strips are still less than a pet meter but more than ReliOn. Do you have a Walmart near you? Because the advantage of the ReliOn is you can buy it at Walmart with the lancets and strips and you don’t need prescription for any of it and you don’t wait on shipping

I strongly encourage you to home test. Don’t make the same mistake I made and just assume your cat is fine in between vet checkups. This made Minnie’s road to being regulated 10 times longer than it needed to be and just to give you both an idea of how inaccurate it is to rely on vet numbers only, when we all know how stressed cats are at the vet which makes their BG number go up so you don’t get an accurate reading, Minnie was at 9 units a day when I started following everyone’s advice here and now she’s at 5. She was being overdosed for no reason. Please please please trust us on this :cat:
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Roe is absolutely right. You have to home test. I’d never have caught Minnie’s low 40 yesterday and would not have been able to bring it up with food because I wouldn’t even know about it. Dropping below 87 does not mean you don’t give the insulin. Depending on the insulin you’re on, skipping doses diminishes the depot considerably. A below 87 let’s say at nadir or mid cycle would only mean you decrease the dose by .25 units. A below 87 at preshot value, then yes skip the dose. So it depends on what time of day, what insulin you’re on. A lot of us, wait 30 minutes or so after getting a low number, like below 87 and retest to see if it’s dropping or not. So a lot goes into it and you can only know what to do when you are home testing.

Julia, the 2 meters Roe suggested are the most used and reliable human meters. No need to get a pet meter with super expensive test strips. I have both freestyle and ReliOn. Freestyle takes a bit less blood and the strips are still less than a pet meter but more than ReliOn. Do you have a Walmart near you? Because the advantage of the ReliOn is you can buy it at Walmart with the lancets and strips and you don’t need prescription for any of it and you don’t wait on shipping

I strongly encourage you to home test. Don’t make the same mistake I made and just assume your cat is fine in between vet checkups. This made Minnie’s road to being regulated 10 times longer than it needed to be and just to give you both an idea of how inaccurate it is to rely on vet numbers only, when we all know how stressed cats are at the vet which makes their BG number go up so you don’t get an accurate reading, Minnie was at 9 units a day when I started following everyone’s advice here and now she’s at 5. She was being overdosed for no reason. Please please please trust us on this :cat:
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Ale so Glad you answered as I said more experience members . As mentioned my Vet gave me the no shot number could that be because she prescribed the Lantus pen and there is no way to decrease you think ? Your way seems to make more sense to me
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
I'm no expert but even I know the ONLY way to keep your baby safe is to home test. Its just common sense. As for actual testing? No cat hated testing more than poor ol Trouble. It took two of us. One thing that made it go much smoother was the treats. He did know if he sat for a test he got treats. That didnt stop him from being a wiggle worm though.

It DOES get easier.;)
Click to expand...
Jt what meter did you use on Trouble ?
 
Dusty & Roe said:
Ale so Glad you answered as I said more experience members . As mentioned my Vet gave me the no shot number could that be because she prescribed the Lantus pen and there is no way to decrease you think ? Your way seems to make more sense to me
Click to expand...
Ah you’re injecting directly from the pen? I use syringes to draw the insulin from the pen that way I can get the precise dose in units, 1/2 units and even 1/4 if needed. My vet did one thing right which was to have me do that from the get go. Do you think you could try using syringes? It would make it easier to adjust doses. Lantus especially is very depot sensitive and you only want to skip doses if you really have to. Did your vet say skip if cat goes below 87 at any time or only before the shot?
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Ah you’re injecting directly from the pen? I use syringes to draw the insulin from the pen that way I can get the precise dose in units, 1/2 units and even 1/4 if needed. My vet did one thing right which was to have me do that front get go. Do you think you could try using syringes? It would make it easier to adjust doses. Lantus especially is very depot sensitive and you only want to skip doses if you really have to. Did your vet say skip if cat goes belo 87 at any time or only before the shot?
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The way she made it out was if she went below 100 to not give her a shot I’m kind of thinking strange huh . The pen needle tops are so tiny and yet Dusty still gives me a hard time . My Vet has me practice with a syringe then ordered the pen with the pen needles go figure lol . What type of syringes would I look for ? Is there a gauge number ?
 
Dusty & Roe said:
Jt most of my life we had black cats and if that is a picture of trouble he is Beautiful
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Sadly that is not Trouble. I never did get a good picture of him. I got bugged a long time ago to put a picture instead of that ? that use to be there. I took this picture of my Waldo. As a kitten, he walked into my house one day and wouldnt leave. I found out he lived in the house nest door. That family was too weird. They raised pit bulls and.......cats. Yeah its what you think. We called animal control, They came out posted a letter. The next morning they were gone. Moved out during the night. Waldo stayed ;):p
 
Dusty & Roe said:
Hi Julia funny you should mention about the Vets and testing . When Dusty was first diagnosed I was just told to give her 1 unit of Lantus 2xs a day no testing. She said it was such a small amount of insulin. After 6 days I had to bring her back to the vet for a BG test and Dusty BG had dropped from 479 to 257 . So now the Libre is on and her BG has gone as high as 499 as low as 281 but usually in the 300’s I’m like WHAT ? Julia testing Dusty’s blood will be a challenge to say the least I was told by a few members on here that the Freestyle Lite meter or the Relion prime meter ( Walmart) is what most on here use .
I’m confused why your Vet did not suggest home testing . Trust me the Last thing I want to do is poke her ears for blood but I feel like I Have to know . This is really all so Overwhelming . Dusty is 2 days with the Libre I have to watch her every minute because she will try to take it off lol ....My Vet gave me a do not give an insulin shot number which is below 100 did your Vet say anything to you about this ? I’m asking because Pepper dropped to 87 . Julia like I said I am learning and just telling you what my Vet told me please let the more experienced members advise on this . What insulin is Pepper on ? Roe
Click to expand...
I am so upset with Pepper’s vet, Roe. They don’t tell me anything and when I ask they make it sound like this whole thing is no big deal. No one can go in the building because of the covid virus so I didn’t even have hands on training to give the injections. It’s very hard to reach the internist he sees and I end up dealing with her assistants. Pepper is on Lantus twice a day, the same as Dusty. Pepper’s BG fluctuated, too, and the vet said it’s normal for a diabetic cat. I do not remember them advising against giving the insulin if the BG is low but it’s possible they wrote it down somewhere. As you know, it’s all pretty overwhelming. I’m nervous about giving his insulin tonight not knowing his BG number. I’ll probably give him 1/2 a dose. Do I need a prescription for the freesyle lite or Relion prime meters? Are those human meters? I wonder if I’ll need a prescription for the test strips and lancets. I guess I’ll have to find a video on how to draw blood. I’m sorry Dusty is trying to take the device off. Pepper didn’t seem to mind it and left it alone.
 
Julia78 said:
I am so upset with Pepper’s vet, Roe. They don’t tell me anything and when I ask they make it sound like this whole thing is no big deal. No one can go in the building because of the covid virus so I didn’t even have hands on training to give the injections. It’s very hard to reach the internist he sees and I end up dealing with her assistants. Pepper is on Lantus twice a day, the same as Dusty. Pepper’s BG fluctuated, too, and the vet said it’s normal for a diabetic cat. I do not remember them advising against giving the insulin if the BG is low but it’s possible they wrote it down somewhere. As you know, it’s all pretty overwhelming. I’m nervous about giving his insulin tonight not knowing his BG number. I’ll probably give him 1/2 a dose. Do I need a prescription for the freesyle lite or Relion prime meters? Are those human meters? I wonder if I’ll need a prescription for the test strips and lancets. I guess I’ll have to find a video on how to draw blood. I’m sorry Dusty is trying to take the device off. Pepper didn’t seem to mind it and left it alone.
Click to expand...

julia, see my reply #17 about the meters answering your question :)
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Roe is absolutely right. You have to home test. I’d never have caught Minnie’s low 40 yesterday and would not have been able to bring it up with food because I wouldn’t even know about it. Dropping below 87 does not mean you don’t give the insulin. Depending on the insulin you’re on, skipping doses diminishes the depot considerably. A below 87 let’s say at nadir or mid cycle would only mean you decrease the dose by .25 units. A below 87 at preshot value, then yes skip the dose. So it depends on what time of day, what insulin you’re on. A lot of us, wait 30 minutes or so after getting a low number, like below 87 and retest to see if it’s dropping or not. So a lot goes into it and you can only know what to do when you are home testing.

Julia, the 2 meters Roe suggested are the most used and reliable human meters. No need to get a pet meter with super expensive test strips. I have both freestyle and ReliOn. Freestyle takes a bit less blood and the strips are still less than a pet meter but more than ReliOn. Do you have a Walmart near you? Because the advantage of the ReliOn is you can buy it at Walmart with the lancets and strips and you don’t need prescription for any of it and you don’t wait on shipping

I strongly encourage you to home test. Don’t make the same mistake I made and just assume your cat is fine in between vet checkups. This made Minnie’s road to being regulated 10 times longer than it needed to be and just to give you both an idea of how inaccurate it is to rely on vet numbers only, when we all know how stressed cats are at the vet which makes their BG number go up so you don’t get an accurate reading, Minnie was at 9 units a day when I started following everyone’s advice here and now she’s at 5. She was being overdosed for no reason. Please please please trust us on this :cat:
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Thank you so much for this information, Ale (I saw someone else abbreviate your name that way, hope it’s ok.) I will definitely go to Walmart tomorrow and pick up the meter, lancets and strips. It sounds as though you prefer the freestyle meter but you didn’t say if they sell those at Walmart. I like the idea of needing less blood. I don’t know how Pepper is going to tolerate me pricking his ears, and I hope to find an instructional video online. Thanks again for the great information! Julia
 
Julia78 said:
I am so upset with Pepper’s vet, Roe. They don’t tell me anything and when I ask they make it sound like this whole thing is no big deal. No one can go in the building because of the covid virus so I didn’t even have hands on training to give the injections. It’s very hard to reach the internist he sees and I end up dealing with her assistants. Pepper is on Lantus twice a day, the same as Dusty. Pepper’s BG fluctuated, too, and the vet said it’s normal for a diabetic cat. I do not remember them advising against giving the insulin if the BG is low but it’s possible they wrote it down somewhere. As you know, it’s all pretty overwhelming. I’m nervous about giving his insulin tonight not knowing his BG number. I’ll probably give him 1/2 a dose. Do I need a prescription for the freesyle lite or Relion prime meters? Are those human meters? I wonder if I’ll need a prescription for the test strips and lancets. I guess I’ll have to find a video on how to draw blood. I’m sorry Dusty is trying to take the device off. Pepper didn’t seem to mind it and left it alone.
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No I believe you can just buy the meters . Wow did they even show you where to inject on Pepper ? I need to shout out the the forum about these meters they all know so much about them . One of the Important thing I learned on here is to prepare if Dusty’s BG drops too low and have like a little emergency kit ready with honey or syrup ready there is a link I have to find or if someone else finds it please post it for Julia let me see
 
Julia78 said:
Thank you so much for this information, Ale (I saw someone else abbreviate your name that way, hope it’s ok.) I will definitely go to Walmart tomorrow and pick up the meter, lancets and strips. It sounds as though you prefer the freestyle meter but you didn’t say if they sell those at Walmart. I like the idea of needing less blood. I don’t know how Pepper is going to tolerate me pricking his ears, and I hope to find an instructional video online. Thanks again for the great information! Julia
Click to expand...
Yeah so that’s the thing. I do think I like freestyle but that’s just because right now I’m more used to it. If you start with relion than you should be fine. Freestyle has to be ordered online. You also won’t need a prescription but you have to wait for shipping. The most affordable site I found for freestyle is affordable diabetic. They sell the meter, strips, lancets but you have to wait. Call Walmart before you go btw, because you know how stock is these days just to make sure they have it all in stock.

Oh and yes Ale is totally fine :)
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Yeah so that’s the thing. I do think I like freestyle but that’s just because right now I’m more used to it. If you start with relion than you should be fine. Freestyle has to be ordered online. You also won’t need a prescription but you have to wait for shipping. The most affordable site I found for freestyle is affordable diabetic. They sell the meter, strips, lancets but you have to wait. Call Walmart before you go btw, because you know how stock is these days just to make sure they have it all in stock.

Oh and yes Ale is totally fine :)
Click to expand...
Ale do you have the link for emergency if BG drops too low for Julia ? Or where she can find it ?
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Roe is absolutely right. You have to home test. I’d never have caught Minnie’s low 40 yesterday and would not have been able to bring it up with food because I wouldn’t even know about it. Dropping below 87 does not mean you don’t give the insulin. Depending on the insulin you’re on, skipping doses diminishes the depot considerably. A below 87 let’s say at nadir or mid cycle would only mean you decrease the dose by .25 units. A below 87 at preshot value, then yes skip the dose. So it depends on what time of day, what insulin you’re on. A lot of us, wait 30 minutes or so after getting a low number, like below 87 and retest to see if it’s dropping or not. So a lot goes into it and you can only know what to do when you are home testing.

Julia, the 2 meters Roe suggested are the most used and reliable human meters. No need to get a pet meter with super expensive test strips. I have both freestyle and ReliOn. Freestyle takes a bit less blood and the strips are still less than a pet meter but more than ReliOn. Do you have a Walmart near you? Because the advantage of the ReliOn is you can buy it at Walmart with the lancets and strips and you don’t need prescription for any of it and you don’t wait on shipping

I strongly encourage you to home test. Don’t make the same mistake I made and just assume your cat is fine in between vet checkups. This made Minnie’s road to being regulated 10 times longer than it needed to be and just to give you both an idea of how inaccurate it is to rely on vet numbers only, when we all know how stressed cats are at the vet which makes their BG number go up so you don’t get an accurate reading, Minnie was at 9 units a day when I started following everyone’s advice here and now she’s at 5. She was being overdosed for no reason. Please please please trust us on this :cat:
Click to expand...
I’m not sure if I thanked you already, Ale. I really appreciate all this information. Pepper is on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day. It was an hour or more after I’d given him his injection that his BG was 87. He had been sound asleep when I took it so I don’t know if that would make any difference. I won’t be able to test him tonight or tomorrow morning, do you think it would be wise to have him eat and then give him half his usual dose of insulin? Thanks again. Julia
 
Dusty & Roe said:
No I believe you can just buy the meters . Wow did they even show you where to inject on Pepper ? I need to shout out the the forum about these meters they all know so much about them . One of the Important thing I learned on here is to prepare if Dusty’s BG drops too low and have like a little emergency kit ready with honey or syrup ready there is a link I have to find or if someone else finds it please post it for Julia let me see
Click to expand...
The vet gave me a link to a YouTube video on how to do the injections. I live in Connecticut and a lot of vets aren’t allowing people to enter their buildings because of the virus.They come out to the car to get your animal.
 
Hi Julia, welcome to you and Pepper.:)
do you have a spreadsheet set up?
We can’t give dosing advice unless we can see the BGs on a spreadsheet. It would be unsafe.
We are very happy to help you but need to see the data.

I will say though that being asleep will make no difference to the BG levels.
An 87 a couple of hours after the dose of Lantus is quite low. Do you know what the preshot number was.?.
I would give him a snack of low carb food now and retest in an hour to see it’s not still dropping.
What dose of Lantus is he on?

I know you are very new and all the is very overwhelming. There are a couple of things you can do that will make it much easier for us to help you. You have come to the best place for Pepper. One is the SS and the other is your signature that will appear at the bottom of all your posts and will tell us about your kitty so we dont have to look back through all your posts to see. Here is a link to How You Can Help Us Help You. You will find the links within this link.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
 
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