New to the board - Diabetes - glucometer brand query (Caresens)

[Lionz]

Hi all,

Wow this place is great, thanks so much for the supportive welcome so far.

Link to my intro here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hi-were-new-here.170949/

First query is does anyone here use or have knowledge of this glucometer brand: http://www.caresens.co.nz/ https://www.catsanddiabetes.com/products-page/

This brand is readily available and affordable here in New Zealand. So I'm keen on using if anyone has experience with them?

Secondly I was asked some questions about our cat in my intro post. So here is some more info about him.

He is on Lantus 5 units twice a day. This seems like a huge dose to me, but he has had regular monitoring at our vet via Fructomine (is that correct?) and blood curves throughout the day tests, and that is what they are recommending at present.

He was started at .5 and moved progressively up to 6 units over the course of 4-6 weeks after initial diagnosis, then down to 4.5 which he sat on over the Xmas break, and after the last visit (last week) he was moved back up to 5 units. I have asked the vet for copies of his curves and tests so I can post here, once I have them I will share. I did take a snap of one on my phone, so will get that up ASAP.

He is being fed Hills Science diet m/d dry in the morning, and wet at night (vets recommendation). I know now that Hills is too carb heavy, esp the dry, so have been pushing for the vet to help us transition to lower carb non dry food. I do not want to do this until we have tried / started home testing for obvious reasons.

Since starting insulin treatment not much has changed about his behaviour, other than he is no longer drinking large amounts of water. He seems ravenous most of the time, and is always angling for food. Other than that he still gets around ok, likes pats, and purrs a lot etc.

He is a DSH rescue cat, 11 years of age, and his weight is currently 6.2 kg. He was previously free fed, that has changed to strict two daily meals with his shots now. He has had no serious health complications throughout his life, other than some horrendous injuries from fighting our neighbours cat Barry (RIP) back in the day.

Phew, long post. Anything else you need to know please let me know.

 

[Just-As-Appy]

I am not familiar with the glucometer that you mentioned. The only thing I would not get is a metre that only the vet sells the strips because inevitably the clinic will be closed when strips are needed the most - I just encountered this over New Year's with a kitty that I am catsitting.

5 units seems high, but if the cat is on dry foot that might be part of the explanation. You are correct that before you change his food to all wet, low carb you really need to be hometesting and have a good handle on his bg. The numbers can be higher at the vet due to stress.

While their bg is high, they will be hungry, so I suggest feeding him several small meals of wet food during the day. I used a timed feeder that provided food every 4 hours day and night. I also added water to the food which makes the tummy feel more full. Start with just a little warm water (releases the aromas!) and add. Some people feed up to a ratio of 1:1 food to water. Maybe someone else can verify, but it is my understanding that m/d is fairly high carb. Most of the pate foods by Fancy Feast or Whiskas are good low carb foods.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Any meter will work fine....they're all regulated by your government agencies that deal with personal health care products....the key is finding one that has replacement strips that you can afford and get easily. These kitties of ours have a pesky habit of dropping low at 3am on a Sunday morning when we're low on test strips!!

5 units is a huge dose, especially for so early in Kazi's diagnosis.....most cats are started at .5 to 1 unit and we only go up in .25 unit increments every 3-7 days so we don't miss what could be a perfect dose for each cat. Insulin is a very powerful hormone so tiny amounts can make a big difference in our little cats!!

The fructosamine test is better than nothing, but not by much....it only gives the average blood glucose over the past 2-3 weeks...it can't tell you if your cat is going from 400 to 40 and back to 400 in the same cycle! (22.2 to 2.2 on your scale.....most of us are in the US and the scale we use is different....you just multiply your numbers by 18 to get ours)

You're right that the M/D dry is bad....we want to feed a low carb (less than 10%) canned or raw diet ....Not only is all kibble too high in carbs for a diabetic, it's also harder on their kidneys and especially in diabetics, we want to protect those kidneys!!

You don't need your vets permission to change foods, but you do need to be home testing!! Dropping the carbs in the food can drastically reduce the need for insulin!! We have seen cats that ate as few as 3 pieces of kibble and their numbers went up 100's of points!!

There are some good videos on YouTube on testing. This is one of the better ones:

With Lantus, it's not so important that they eat before they get their shot....just that they're willing to eat. Most of us feed multiple small meals instead of 2 big ones. Smaller meals are easier on the pancreas than big ones are (just like humans are told to eat more frequent, smaller meals!).....the only time we don't want them to eat is for the 2 hours before shot times so that when you test before shooting, you get a number that's not influenced by food.

Keep asking questions!! The people here are great about sharing their experiences!!