hbs60
Active Member
Hello, thanks for being here, I could certainly use your help. Sorry this may be a bit long, I'll try to keep it as concise as possible.
My cat is a 12 year old Russian Blue male (his name is Eukanubo (long story about that). He was diagnosed in October 2009 when he was peeing outside his box. His sugar at the time was in the 400s. Curiously, he had a UTI in April, his sugar at the time was fine. At any rate, he got diagnosed two days before I had to go on a 2 week trip, so I left him boarded while I was away, so he could get regularted. When I got back, his glucose was on the 170s, so the vet said to hold off on the insulin but to keep testing him. At the time, he was getting Vetsulin 1 unit twice daily. They taught me how to test him, and his readings were on the 170s to about 220s, the vet didn't want me to give any insulin until it was 300s. So for the next 3 months, I check regularly, sugars are less than 300s, but I'm noticing the cat is losing weight, eating and drinking, so after this went on for a while, I finally took him to the vet with my meter so we can check it at the same time. It turns out that while my meter was reading in the 200s, theirs was in the 400s, they even checked with another meter and with a blood draw. No longer poor kitty was losing so much weight! So, it's insulin shots for him only that since Vetsulin was discontinued, they gave me a vial of ProZinc, and I've been faithfully giving him shots twice a day, and they gave me a new meter for free, so he is being tested regularly. There's only been a couple of occasions in which his sugars were low enough that I would skip his insulin, but he is consistently running in the 300s, sometimes in the 400s. He's now been getting insulin for 3 weeks now. For a while there, it was a struggle to get him to cooperate with the ear testing and the insulin shots, so I thought the high sugars were from the stress, but now he's doing much better with the testing, but the sugars still seem high to me. I've tried doing a curve, testing him at several times a day, but it seems that the insulin barely touches the sugar readings. He is on dry Hill's Prescription M/D, and I've read the comments about wet food being better. He's a free-feeder.
Clinically he looks much better. He's put on a little weight, and is definitely more perky and playful that he's been recently, although he's still have had a couple of times in which he peed outside the box, and still drinking lots of water.
I have a spreadsheet with Google docs but don't know how to post it here, help?
So, here are my questions,
Should I expect his sugar to get better in 3 weeks of insulin, or would it take more time?
Should I switch from free-feeding to only feeding twice a day?
Should I change his diet first, then try to switch to twice a day feeding, or should I increase his insulin dose?
If I should do all of the above, in what order should I proceed? I'm mostly concerned that since I'm gone for the day, his sugar could drop and if I restrict his food to twice a day, he may get hypoglycemia when I'm not around.
How can I figure out if my injecting technique is adequate?
I feel comfortable with the vet, she is always very willing to answer my questions, my only concern is that I don't feel as comfortable as she seems to be with a glucose in the 300s. Incidentally, I'm a physician, but I'm well aware that what I know about human diabetes and management wouldn't apply to my cat, so I feel as unfamiliar and lost as any other newbie. What else should I be asking the vet or at this board?
Thanks so much for any feedback!
HB
My cat is a 12 year old Russian Blue male (his name is Eukanubo (long story about that). He was diagnosed in October 2009 when he was peeing outside his box. His sugar at the time was in the 400s. Curiously, he had a UTI in April, his sugar at the time was fine. At any rate, he got diagnosed two days before I had to go on a 2 week trip, so I left him boarded while I was away, so he could get regularted. When I got back, his glucose was on the 170s, so the vet said to hold off on the insulin but to keep testing him. At the time, he was getting Vetsulin 1 unit twice daily. They taught me how to test him, and his readings were on the 170s to about 220s, the vet didn't want me to give any insulin until it was 300s. So for the next 3 months, I check regularly, sugars are less than 300s, but I'm noticing the cat is losing weight, eating and drinking, so after this went on for a while, I finally took him to the vet with my meter so we can check it at the same time. It turns out that while my meter was reading in the 200s, theirs was in the 400s, they even checked with another meter and with a blood draw. No longer poor kitty was losing so much weight! So, it's insulin shots for him only that since Vetsulin was discontinued, they gave me a vial of ProZinc, and I've been faithfully giving him shots twice a day, and they gave me a new meter for free, so he is being tested regularly. There's only been a couple of occasions in which his sugars were low enough that I would skip his insulin, but he is consistently running in the 300s, sometimes in the 400s. He's now been getting insulin for 3 weeks now. For a while there, it was a struggle to get him to cooperate with the ear testing and the insulin shots, so I thought the high sugars were from the stress, but now he's doing much better with the testing, but the sugars still seem high to me. I've tried doing a curve, testing him at several times a day, but it seems that the insulin barely touches the sugar readings. He is on dry Hill's Prescription M/D, and I've read the comments about wet food being better. He's a free-feeder.
Clinically he looks much better. He's put on a little weight, and is definitely more perky and playful that he's been recently, although he's still have had a couple of times in which he peed outside the box, and still drinking lots of water.
I have a spreadsheet with Google docs but don't know how to post it here, help?
So, here are my questions,
Should I expect his sugar to get better in 3 weeks of insulin, or would it take more time?
Should I switch from free-feeding to only feeding twice a day?
Should I change his diet first, then try to switch to twice a day feeding, or should I increase his insulin dose?
If I should do all of the above, in what order should I proceed? I'm mostly concerned that since I'm gone for the day, his sugar could drop and if I restrict his food to twice a day, he may get hypoglycemia when I'm not around.
How can I figure out if my injecting technique is adequate?
I feel comfortable with the vet, she is always very willing to answer my questions, my only concern is that I don't feel as comfortable as she seems to be with a glucose in the 300s. Incidentally, I'm a physician, but I'm well aware that what I know about human diabetes and management wouldn't apply to my cat, so I feel as unfamiliar and lost as any other newbie. What else should I be asking the vet or at this board?
Thanks so much for any feedback!
HB
