New Sugar mom needs advice

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PamelaR

Member Since 2021
Hello Everybody!

I am Pam and I am very new and inexperienced. I'm hoping that somebody here with the patience of a Saint will take me under their wings and help me learn.

I have many cats and lots have health issues but this is my first time having a diabetic cat.

Casey has been a part of my family for a little over a year now. He just showed up at work one day and he didn’t have a chip and I couldn’t find anybody searching for him on any of the usual Facebook or pawboost pages so he became a part of our family. He is solid white and just about completely deaf.

Recently Casey has started losing weight and just didn’t look good. I suspected hyperthyroidism because I am familiar with that but was completely taken off guard with a diagnosis of diabetes. He also has a urinary tract infection which he is getting antibiotics.
Casey spent a few days at the vet getting fluids and insulin. he came home last Wednesday evening.
My vet said that I didn’t need to check his BG at home but I like having as much knowledge as possible so I went out and got the Relion meter and supplies.
Casey is getting 1 unit of Prozinc twice a day. I gave him his first dose Thursday evening. I learned on the Feline Diabetes Facebook page to fast him for at least two hours prior to checking his BG before insulin.
These are his BG results since Thursday evening.
3/11/21 - 7:00pm - BG 480 - gave insulin
3/12/21 - 12:30am - 5 hrs after insulin - BG 317
6:00am - meter reads “HI” - gave insulin
8:06am - BG 413
11:22am - BG 348
2:57pm - BG 391
6:20pm - 513 gave insulin
10:25pm - 264

3/13/21 - 6:07am BG 351 - gave insulin
11:10am - BG 141
1:25pm - BG 356
7:06pm - BG 395 - gave insulin

3/14/21 - 12:25am - BG 143

7:45am - BG 400 - gave insulin
12:15pm - BG 93
3:40pm - BG 374
7:35pm - BG 357 - gave insulin

3/15/21 - 6:26am - BG 191
I did not give Casey his insulin this morning. I was worried that it would make him go hypoglycemic (which I don’t really know what that is but I know I don’t want it to happen)
He ate and at 7:28am his BG was 228 and I had to go to work but ran back home at 9:30am and his BG was 269.

I am possibly checking his BG too much. His poor little white ears are dotted with bruises. I know I’ll get better at this with time.

I haven’t set up a spread sheet yet. I do everything on my iPhone and don’t know if I can do it on here.
I don’t know what most of the diabetes terms mean. Somebody mentioned that Casey might be “bouncing” but I’m not sure what that means.

I look forward to learning from you all.
Thank you for reading this book that I have written.

Oh, also, Casey ate the Glycobalance food, that the vet sent us home with, the first day home from the vet but I learned from the Facebook page that that stuff is still high in carbs.
He has been eating pate food only and freeze dried treats.
I have ordered some of the Dr. Elseys Clean Protein food and also some of the Young Again food and hopefully both will arrive this week sometime. Casey really loves him some dry food but I will still mostly just feed him the canned pates.

Thank you all!!!
 
Welcome. And thank you for taking in Casey.

The link below will help you understand the terminology. Feline diabetes is a steep learning curve but it becomes second nature rather quickly and here you have a world of people to help you.

FDMB Glossary - common abbreviations & definitions used throughout the Feline Diabetes Message Board

I'm tagging a couple of experienced Prozinc users to look at Casey's numbers.
@JanetNJ
@Deb & Wink

In the meantime, here are the Prozinc links.

Sticky NEW TO THE GROUP: THE PROZINC BASICS. PLEASE START HERE.

Sticky INSULIN CARE AND SYRINGE INFO Proper Handling and Drawing
Marje and Gracie, Feb 18, 2020
Sticky PROZINC DOSING METHODS
For help in setting up a spreadsheet, I'll tag some spreadsheet gurus for you.
@Bandit's Mom
@Chris & China (GA)
 
@PamelaR ...I'd be happy to set up a spreadsheet for you if you have trouble with it. Just click on my sign on name and chose "start a conversation" to send a private message.

If you want to give it a try yourself first, here are the instructions for getting the FDMB spreadsheet

Bounces happen when 1. they drop too low 2. they drop too fast 3. they drop into numbers their body isn't used to anymore (or any combination of all 3)

The liver releases stored sugars and hormones to bring the blood glucose back up quickly. Now in case 1 (drop too low) this is a good thing...except Mr. Liver doesn't much care how high he sends the BG....he just wants it UP.

In case 2 and 3, it's Mr. L perceiving that there's an emergency. WARNING WILL ROBINSON! (giving away my age here..LOL)
The blood glucose is dropping too fast and/or down into numbers I haven't lived in for awhile.....release that stored sugar and hormones!!....so while there isn't any real emergency, you still get the "bounce".

It can take up to 6 cycles for those sugars and hormones to clear out of the body but as Mr. L gets used to being in normal numbers more often, he should start to panic less and less so the bounces won't be as high and may not last as long.
 
PamelaR said:
Hello Everybody!

I am Pam and I am very new and inexperienced. I'm hoping that somebody here with the patience of a Saint will take me under their wings and help me learn.

I have many cats and lots have health issues but this is my first time having a diabetic cat.

Casey has been a part of my family for a little over a year now. He just showed up at work one day and he didn’t have a chip and I couldn’t find anybody searching for him on any of the usual Facebook or pawboost pages so he became a part of our family. He is solid white and just about completely deaf.

Recently Casey has started losing weight and just didn’t look good. I suspected hyperthyroidism because I am familiar with that but was completely taken off guard with a diagnosis of diabetes. He also has a urinary tract infection which he is getting antibiotics.
Casey spent a few days at the vet getting fluids and insulin. he came home last Wednesday evening.
My vet said that I didn’t need to check his BG at home but I like having as much knowledge as possible so I went out and got the Relion meter and supplies.
Casey is getting 1 unit of Prozinc twice a day. I gave him his first dose Thursday evening. I learned on the Feline Diabetes Facebook page to fast him for at least two hours prior to checking his BG before insulin.
These are his BG results since Thursday evening.
3/11/21 - 7:00pm - BG 480 - gave insulin
3/12/21 - 12:30am - 5 hrs after insulin - BG 317
6:00am - meter reads “HI” - gave insulin
8:06am - BG 413
11:22am - BG 348
2:57pm - BG 391
6:20pm - 513 gave insulin
10:25pm - 264

3/13/21 - 6:07am BG 351 - gave insulin
11:10am - BG 141
1:25pm - BG 356
7:06pm - BG 395 - gave insulin

3/14/21 - 12:25am - BG 143

7:45am - BG 400 - gave insulin
12:15pm - BG 93
3:40pm - BG 374
7:35pm - BG 357 - gave insulin

3/15/21 - 6:26am - BG 191
I did not give Casey his insulin this morning. I was worried that it would make him go hypoglycemic (which I don’t really know what that is but I know I don’t want it to happen)
He ate and at 7:28am his BG was 228 and I had to go to work but ran back home at 9:30am and his BG was 269.

I am possibly checking his BG too much. His poor little white ears are dotted with bruises. I know I’ll get better at this with time.

I haven’t set up a spread sheet yet. I do everything on my iPhone and don’t know if I can do it on here.
I don’t know what most of the diabetes terms mean. Somebody mentioned that Casey might be “bouncing” but I’m not sure what that means.

I look forward to learning from you all.
Thank you for reading this book that I have written.

Oh, also, Casey ate the Glycobalance food, that the vet sent us home with, the first day home from the vet but I learned from the Facebook page that that stuff is still high in carbs.
He has been eating pate food only and freeze dried treats.
I have ordered some of the Dr. Elseys Clean Protein food and also some of the Young Again food and hopefully both will arrive this week sometime. Casey really loves him some dry food but I will still mostly just feed him the canned pates.

Thank you all!!!
Click to expand...
Wow you are on the ball!!!!! He was probably fine to shoot this morning.... One thing you could do when your get a lower than expected number is to stall for up to an hour without feeding and see if the number is going up. You could also reduce the amount a little.
 
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