New to forum, newly diagnosed 9 yr old cat, Simon

[Darlene D]

Hi, I'm Darlene, and my diabetic cat is Simon. He will be ten years old on 8/8/22. 1 Unit long acting insulin. We are still trying to find the correct dose. He started insulin 8/1/22. It's almost been 1 week.
In March SEVO med treated him with radiation for his hyperthyroidism and July 7 this year he was diagnosed with diabetes. We knew there was something off before the hyperthyroidism because he was excessively drinking water. We got him tested but they said his high sugar was probably stress induced. We went back not long after and tested again and then they tried to get his urine to confirm but couldn't so we got the urine at home with one of those urine extraction kits.

We do take his blood sugar before each meal. He used to refuse to eat, then I started pureeing his food and syringe feeding him which helped and the Dr prescribed an appetite stimulant called Mirataz (mirtazapine transdermal ointment) which has helped tramendously.

One concern is that Simons little pink paw pads are starting to get very dry after so many blood sugars hand neg taken. It has become more difficult to get blood from his paw pads... Not sure of what I can apply to his paw pads to make them soft again.

Thank you for reading, I'm looking forward to learn from everyone.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Welcome to the FDMB. which insulin is he getting? Are you giving it every 12 hours? I think most of us test with ear pricks. I don’t think my cat would have liked paw pricks. We have stickies on how to do it.
Please add a signature and start a spreadsheet. I will supply a link for both.

 

[tiffmaxee]

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB...ir-biosimilars-land-experience-updated.46014/

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Yes I always did the ears too. Here’s a diagram

 

[Darlene D]

Welcome to the FDMB. which insulin is he getting? Are you giving it every 12 hours? I think most of us test with ear pricks. I don’t think my cat would have liked paw pricks. We have stickies on how to do it.
Please add a signature and start a spreadsheet. I will supply a link for both.

Hi, thank you,
I cannot figure out how to change my name or how to add a signature. I found the spreadsheet and will be learning how to use it. We give Simon 1 unit of insulin every 12 hours in conjunction with a meal (unless his BG is too low then we skip the insulin and wait till next mealtime-check prior of course) however we check his BG every 6 hours per Dr recommendation. This evening was the first time we were able to skip a dose because his BG was below 100. We communicate with our Dr via email and she responds in a timely manner. Our prescription is for Lantus Solostar INJ SAN (the pen). We have been using his paws (which breaks our hearts) because he is on an appetite stimulant that is administered on his inner ears (the pinna). We are only on day 8 of giving insulin and checking BG.

 

[Darlene D]

Welcome to the FDMB. which insulin is he getting? Are you giving it every 12 hours? I think most of us test with ear pricks. I don’t think my cat would have liked paw pricks. We have stickies on how to do it.
Please add a signature and start a spreadsheet. I will supply a link for both.

Thank you, I have now changed my name and added a signature and fiddled around with the spreadsheet. This might be a silly question but what is AMPS AND PMPS? maybe something to do with AM and PM feedings? the +1 etc is hours? thank you in advance.

 

[tiffmaxee]

I’m going to tag Bhooma who can set up your ss probably later tonight. @Bandit's Mom

I suspect your cat might be on too high a dose if you are seeing bg under 100 at either amps or pmps. Yes, amps is the bg before giving the morning shot and pmps is the evening shot. Yes tge +1 is one hour after. That’s because we are in various time zones and members are from around the world. What is your starting dose? It’s better to give a dose you can shoot every 12 hours as lantus likes consistency. We increase and decrease here in .25 increments so when using a pen use a syringe to draw up the dose and shoot.

Most of us find 2-3 mini meals each cycle, 12 hours. Sometimes snacks are needed after that to keep the bg at safe numbers .

Will Simon eat any other flavors of food? I ask because an all fish diet has some drawbacks but he has to eat.

 

[Darlene D]

Right now that is all he will eat. I know the metals can get high and I used to veer away from all fish. He lost so much weight in 3 weeks that the Dr said feed him whatever he will eat. He used to like beef but refuses it. Also refuses chicken. Until he is back at a healthy weight we decided to just feed him what he eats. We haven't found THE dose yet, as we are only 8 days into using the insulin. He sees the dr 8/10 for a checkup and glucose curve.
I was wondering how you did .25 with a pen. Thank you for clearing that up. Tonight was the first time he was below 100. At 92. Usually he's in the high 200- mid 300+. So I was shocked to see below 100. It could be his body getting used to it, numbers getting better.

 

[tiffmaxee]

The dose will go up and down especially at first. How much are you giving him?

 

[Darlene D]

1 Unit every 12 hours.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Do you need help with setting up your spreadsheet?

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

This might be a silly question but what is AMPS AND PMPS? maybe something to do with AM and PM feedings? the +1 etc is hours? thank you in advance.

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers
We also get some more tests in after AM and PM to see how the insulin is working and how low Martin is dropping
We don't increase or decrease by going by the Pre Shots we go by how low Martin is dropping

We adjust the doses by 0.25 units at a time
Also insulin should be given the same time for the AM and PM shots

@Darlene D

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

I was wondering how you did .25 with a pen

We use syringes and insert the syringe in the gray rubber stopper that's on the pen
You can buy these
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/1316/surecomfort-u100-syringes-half-unit-31g-3-10cc-5-16in-100ct


If you have a Walmart by you this was posted by one of our members , but you need to go into the store to buy them , they are not sold on their site

As for syringes, if you have a Walmart near you, you can get U100, 3/10ml, 30 or 31 gauge insulin syringes (the 3/10ml syringes ALL have half unit marks no matter what they might tell you). They should hold a maximum of 30 units. Either one of these is fine (and can be 30 gauge or 31) They are $12.58/100

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
Take a look at the lancets ,you will see one side points up, that's the side you want to poke with
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
You can also put a thin layer of vaseline on the ear ,to help the blood bead up
A video one of our members posted
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]