New to site friends with Holly & Spader!!!

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Molly & Tennyson

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Hi there, Holly & Spader's Mom is assisting me with my cat Tennyson, who was just been diagnosed with diabetes.. Tennyson also has FIV and an UTI... Happy to be on this site, and will be back later... needing a lot of support at this time...
 
Hi and welcome to the FDMB family.

Sounds like you have some great hands on help there with Holly and Spader!

You will find all the help and support you could possibly need from this wonderful bunch of crazy cat folks. :-D

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang
 
Hi everyone. Molly did great! Tennsyon was easy!
His +9.5 was 126.
She just tested again at +12 and he was 182. It was her first time!

I told her not to shoot.

She is concerned that she is going against her vet's advice because her vet told her that home testing would hurt the cat and that it could ruin their bond. Without any vet bashing, it would be great if Molly could hear other experiences form folks who were told not to home test, but decided to do so. She is feeling weird about going against the vet's advise. I understand that. That was me.

She is using a freestyle meter. I told her to get some control solution tomorrow so she could have peace of mind that the glucometer is working. Costco didn't have any so she is going to go to CVS.

Can anyone give her input regarding the UTI and the FIV situations? He also apparently has one functioning kidney and his kidney numbers are barely above the reference range.

And he is on PZI, green box. Up to 2 units BID. Diagnosed on Feb 7.

Thanks!
 
Welcome Molly and Tennyson! Congratulations on home testing! You are now members of the vampire club :lol:
When my cat was first diagnosed, the vet told me to shoot twice and day and come in once a week for a BG test. I started off that way. Then I found this site and began testing. One preshot I got a 35!!! If I had given her a shot that time, I think there is a good possibility she would have died. So that was my drastic education---that I had to be in charge of her treatment. This was not a bad vet, and I continued to use him, with the awareness that he just was no diabetes expert and that many vets are not educated about home testing.
My cat HATED to be tested. Would growl and hiss and try to bite. The videos of cooperative cats blew my mind---it was like they were a different species. But with patience and love and food treats we eventually got the hang of it, and by the end she would come over to me when she saw me get out the testing supplies! Never in a million years did I think that would happen. Truthfully, I felt we really developed a much closer bond as a result of going through this together. And I think that is the experience of many people.

Edited to add---if you don't want to bother with control solution---I used to test myself as a control.
 
Welcome to FDMB

Home testing will quickly become a routine - my cat Tiggy comes to me at testing time - he doesn't mind except I think it tickles, because if I don't hold his ear, he will flick it and the blood drop goes flying.

Try to be calm and happy at test time - if you are scared -- your kitty will be also.
 
You probably won't find control solution at any store. Call the technical support number on the back of your meter and ask for some. They'll probably send it free. (DON'T say it's for a cat! Being vague usually works fine. If you have to, spin a very short yarn about how you are testing yourself and don't think the numbers look right, or the meter is new and you want to verify that it is working right, or something like that. But definitely leave the impression that a human is being tested.)
 
If you poke yourself to see how it feels, poke the *side* of your finger. The pads and tips have lots of nerves (after all, you use them for feeling things), and poking them may hurt big time. Kitties' ears have comparatively few nerve endings, which is why poking the edge of the ear seems not to bother most cats at all. What sometimes seems like a "pain" reaction is really more a "surprise" reaction, and that tends to disappear after the first few tests.

But you're already testing, so you may already have figured this out.
 
Holly and Molly....maybe our next new member will be Dolly :-). The rationale that vets give against home testing makes no sence to me. If someone had a diabetic child or a diabetic grandmother with dementia, you would test their BG before giving them insulin. If a docter told someone to give a family member insulin but not to test BG first, hopefully people would think he was crazy. The docter would probably also lose their medical license. Why should the standard of care be different for a dog or a cat?

The agruement it would ruin the bond is also baseless to me. If someone overdoses their cat,, what happens to the bond then? This logic some vets use seems rather bizzare.
 
Welcome! You are in good hands with Holly. Spader was one of our special cats, a grand old man! Testing will possibly save his life if he has a low number and you shoot. Human diabetics never give themselves their medicine without knowing their number. I could have killed my Shiloh a few times if I hadn't tested. It won't ruin your bond. Explain to your cat over and over why you are doing this. He'll understand. Donna
 
hahahaha!! i just want to say that the ONLY time my diabetic cat gets excited about me coming near her is when it's time for me to test her and give her her shot. LOL!! she knows she gets treats if she does. every once in awhile she will sit on the kitchen counter and let me pet her head for a minute but other than that, she finds us humans pretty useless.
 
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