New to the Forum. I need your expertise

Hello My name is Vicky, I am from Malaga, Spain and I am sorry if I am posting in the wrong place.

My cat Sharess has just been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and my husband and I are overwhelmed.

She has persistent calicivirus since she was 3 years old. Less than a month ago she vomited and her vomit went up her nose and into her ear causing an infection. For this reason we took her to the vet and she did a blood test (all good) and sent her antibiotics. 15 days later her ear was cured, but she started to drink a lot of water and pee a lot. We went to the vet immediately and the vet detected 587 glucose and 499 glucosamine, but no ketos. I still don't understand how come she can be from a perfect blood test to a this mess in only 15 days.

The vet prescribed her 1.2 IU of caninsulim on December 13, but seeing no significant change, he prescribed her 1IU of ProZinc on December 22.

However, she is worse now. She has levels between 450 and 600 all the time, not matter how many times I test the glucose, and she started peeing on herself and all over the house. She also sneezes a lot, and I don't know if it's related to her previous infection, diabetes, or both.

I need advice. How long does it take for the doses to regulate? The vet wants to increase the dose to 1.5UI today after looking at a glucose curve, and he says that the next increase will be between 5-7 days. It is right? How long did your cats take to regulate? I am afraid he is too cautious, because I notice that, sometimes Sharess has problems with her legs.

I also whould like to show you Sharess' guclose table, but I didnt find how to do it. I confess there is a lot of info in this forum and I get lost a bit.

Thanks a lot in advance and Merry Christmas!

 

Welcome Vicky and Sharess , you have come to the right place. What a beautiful kitty !
The members here are amazing and if it wasn't for their advice Tyler wouldn't be in remission today. There are lots of experienced members here
I will give you a link so you can give us some information about Sharess ,the link will also tell you how to set up your spreadsheet so you can enter the BG numbers you have and it will tell you how the spreadsheet works.
It's really easy.
Great that you are home testing and have switched to Prozinc.
Caninsulin is not the best insulin for cats ,so it's great the vet switched to Prozinc

Once you enter the BG numbers you have I can tag some members to take a look at it
Also if you have trouble setting up the spreadsheet just ask ,we have a member here who can set that up for you

Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.

Can you also add to your signature from Spain that would be helpful

 

Good morning Vicky and Sharess. You are in exactly the right place. It's great that you're now a Prozinc user, Caninsulin was meant for dogs, never lasts the full 12 hour cycle and is hard on a cats systems. One day you'll be posting in the Prozinc forum but that's for later. You should spend some time there reading up on what we call "stickies", notes and short essays about Prozinc. You should add to your profile what time zone you're in, most of our members are in North America so a morning emergency for you means it could be 2AM here. There's always someone here but there are no guaranties.
I really cannot answer your medical questions but you should know that everyone here is a volunteer and at some time we have all been where you are now, wondering how this could have happened and what do I do now. There were a few times I thought I had just murdered our first diabetic cat (he was sleeping) and a few years later when his brother was diagnosed I just shrugged my shoulders and got new batteries for my meter. What looks impossible now will become a mere inconvenience. Cats don't die from diabetes, it just changes their lives.
Feliz navidad

 

Thanks a lot!! I already changed my signature. I am trying to understand the Spreadsheet before I create it

 

It’s about right to adjust the dose in a week or 2. Unfortunately, we like to say that feline diabetes is a marathon not a sprint. There’s no set time on how long it take a cat to get regulated because every cat is different. You mentioned she’s peeing on herself. Is she having difficulty with her back legs? Is she able to get in and out of the litter box, jump, etc? I’m also curious. Did they do a fructosamine test to determine a 3-week bg average?

 

We do this because we are driven to it, no thanks are needed. There's no advertising here, no "Skip Ads" and no lines on a map.
This is everything the internet should be.

 

You are the best, guys!

She is having difficulties with her back legs sometimes. Nothing terrible, but is still shocking for me. I added 3 more litter boxes and they do a fructosamine test. She has 554 on 12/21 and the last one was 499 on 12/14. We already orderes Freestile libre 3 to test the glucose, but the device will arrive in 5-7 days.

 

Newman was showing some weakness in his hind legs, avoiding jumping and carefully measuring his jumps. He also had some tremor in his hind legs when resting. I treated him with Zobaline which is used to treat diabetic neuropathy in cats. The Zobaline has eliminated those symptoms. Here's a link about the condition.

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feline-diabetic-neuropathy-weak-back-legs.178252/

 

You don’t need to do fructosamine again after the first time. It’s only needed to diagnose diabetes since a spot check is not an accurate way of determining if a cat has diabetes.

 

Linda's suggestion for treating the weakness in your cat's legs won't make a great deal of sense. The product she mentioned is not likely to be available in Spain. You want to see if you can find methylcobalamin (also called methyl-B12). It's a form of vitamin B12. You can crush tablets and add them to your cat's food. They can help with diabetic neuropathy.

What are you feeding your cat? This is a link to foods that are available in the UK. I believe that many of the same brands are available elsewhere in Europe. We encourage you to feed your cat low carbohydrate, canned food. We consider low carb to be less than 10% carbohydrate although, most members here feed their cat in the 5% range. The majority of dry food is very high in carbohydrates even if it is a prescription diabetes diet. The higher the carbs in the food, the harder it is to get the blood glucose numbers in a good range.

Chances are that with your cat fighting the calcivirus for a long time, it was stressing her system. The ear infection likely put her over the top and the additional stress from the infection, put just too much pressure on her pancreas and she developed diabetes. Even with cats that go into remission, the stress of an illness may cause the diabetes to flare up. The good news is that you caught this very quickly.

There's a good chance you need to raise your cat's insulin dose. You may want to do some reading about Prozinc and how we approach dosing. This is a link to the Prozinc forum. Please take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the page. It will help you to understand more about this type of insulin (it's a good insulin for cats!) and issues around dosing. It's fine to keep posting in this forum. I just wanted to link you to Prozinc-specific information.

 

Thanks a lot to all of you. The vet recommended us Royal Canin Diabetic dry food and Hills M/D diabetic LC Wet food, but I am not a fan. Before all of this, she was eating Orijen six fish dry food, and today the new wet food just arrived (Smilla veterinary diet diabetes and Animonda integra protect Diabetes). I dont see Hills M/D diabetic in your list... not a surprise

Regarding the dose, and after checking the numbers and talking to the vet, we increased it from 1UI to 1'5 UI... will see how it goes, because more than 500 is not an acceptable number :/

Also, the vet recomended us "Impromune" for the calicivirus before she was diagnosed with diebates. I stopped because I don't know if it's a good thing to give in combination with diabetes, but I definitely will check the methylcobalamin. I just started reading about it and it's super interesting

Merry Chistmass to all! <3

 

Hi Vicky I see in your signature it says Sharess spreadsheet but it's not there ,did you set it up already ? It should be in blue letters if you did set it up
@Vicky & Sharess

 

Hi Diane!

I put it as a placeholder while I try to understand how it works, but I had to leave home due Christmas Eve Dinner with my family. In the meantime I show you Sharess' numbers from my personal sheet, so you can have an idea

 

No problem at all, I was thinking you might have done that , Enjoy your dinner

 

There is a link understanding the spreadsheet but I'm going to explain it anyway
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


Here is the link anyway
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/spreadsheets-tech-support-testing-area.6/

 

I see you were given the link to read about Prozinc above , be sure to read about the 2 dosing methods, when you pick one you can add that to your signature and your spreadsheet. If you need help with setting it up just ask we have a member here that would be happy to do it for you

 

Pretty much any of the diabetic dry foods are going to be extremely high in carbohydrates. The Royal Canin is 27% carb. I think the wet foods you're using may be fine. I would suggest transitioning Sharess off of what you've been feeding to the lower carb foods. This is a link to a website on feline nutrition. Its a good read. There's also a section on transitioning a cat to a wet food diet. Some cats have stomach issues if you transition them too fast. In addition, if you've been feeding a higher carb diet, switching quickly to a low carb diet will have an impact on blood glucose numbers. While that may be desirable, we also don't want Sharess' numbers to suddenly drop too low.

 

Hi Vicky I'm not far from you in Loja Granada.

I get all George's food online, mostly I use Zooplus.
You can use the UK food list, most of those foods are available on Zooplus.es, though I do order some specific ones from zooplus.de (Germany) because they are no longer stocked in Spain.

George also has kidney issues, so I'm a bit limited with what foods I can feed. We use Wild freedom range, Lamb, chicken and duck, and we also use thrive complete chicken fillets, tuna and salmon, and tuna.

As @Sienne and Gabby (GA) said if you can cut out the dry altogether it would be better as most of it tends to be too high.
I was also recommend the royal canin by the vet,I threw it in the bin when I realised how much carbohydrates it had.

For me it was no problem making the switch George had not started insulin, so I changed the food before starting insulin.

As your little one is already on insulin, I would reiterate , remove the dry slowly, in some cats the food change can make a big difference to their insulin requirement.

I think those foods are below 10%
Although the ones I've recommended are not marketed as diabetic they are non the less low in carbohydrate and suitable for our sweet babies. I like the wildfreedom and thrive range because they are free from additives and are just pure high quality meat. You should know if you look on the UK food list that some of the regular animonda range are also low in carbohydrate not just the diabetic.

You want to download the US spreadsheet as here in Spain we use the same units for glucose measurements as in the US


Feliz Nochebuena y felices fiestas

 

Hello again! Finally, after the Christmas family commitments, I managed to create the Spreasheet and add the data. As you can see, the numbers are alarmingly high, and I don't know how to control them. Should I be scared? The veterinary has told us that on Wednesday or Thursday we should do a new glucose curve to see if is necessary to increase the dose or wait a bit to avoid somogyi effect.

Also I added the labs details, but I added a "Spanish LABS" tap with the picture of the data, since I struggled to find the equivalencies in English. Sorry about that :/

 

Hi Vicky thanks for setting up your SS and adding the numbers, Can you please add the name of the meter to your signature, I assume it's a human meter ?
If so you can just put Human Meter and also SLGS
I am going to tag a Prozinc user for you
@FrostD
Can you all add to your signature From Spain
Thanks Vicky
@Vicky & Sharess

@FrostD
Here is Vicky's post from today also which is on the Prozinc Forum

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-to-prozinc.272274/#post-3028547

Do you think she should continue posting on the Prozinc forum or the Welcome and Main Forum?

 

The 194 you got the other night isn't too bad. Right now she is bouncing - it's when the BG drops lower and/or faster than they're used to and their liver perceives it as a threat. It then releases stored glycogen and counterregulatory hormones in order to spike BG back up. The effe ts can last up to 6 cycles (3 days).

Since she's getting the dry/high carb food you'll want to hold this dose for about 7 days. I would actually start to slowly transition her food now if you can - this dose gives you a pretty good cushion for safety. While transitioning food you will want to hold this dose, and monitor her carefully (ideally one midcycle test each cycle).

If you ever get a number below 90 you will want to reduce by 0.25U.

I would keep your posts in Main Forum until the food transition is complete - there are more eyes here to help in an emergency. Unfortunately I am not able to regularly check the ProZinc forum at the moment so I worry a potential issue might get missed.

 

@FrostD
Thanks Melissa , I'm a stickler did you mean to type 197 instead of 194 not that it matters
Glad you suggested for Vicky to continue to post on the Main Forum
I hope you and Evelyn are doing well

 

I replied on the ProZinc forum.

 

Thanks a lot for your advices! I added all your recomendations to my signature. She just was 171, pretty consistent with yesterday at the same time. I will have to wait a bit more untill FreeStyle arrives since I realized they cancelled my order for no reason without telling me and theyr page is not working

 

Hola Vicky.

Well done and thankyou for getting the SS set up. Yes she is going high but you are also seeing some movement in her glucose levels and it is very early in stages of of her diagnosis so we don't expect h to get regulated quickly.


The hills diabetic wet food is not LC, it's somewhere between 13-19% carb on a dry matter basis, (I did the calculation, using various figures from different sources, not sure what the current recipe is) when we talk about LC we want below 10% on a dry matter basis.

Have you stopped the dry food completely? I don't see it on your signature?

Running a glucose curve once a week is a good idea, but probably if you were to get a two additional tests in each cycle that would give more useful information than a single curve once a week.

I'll explain...
If your cat is bouncing when you run a curve all you will see is high flat numbers. ( You saw this in the last curve you did) This is because your cat has a physiological response to either a fast drop, numbers lower than usual for her, or more time than usual in a lower range or any combination of the above. In a bounce your cats liver reacts to the above and releases glucose into the bloodstream raising blood sugar for at least one whole cycle or maximum of 6 cycles (three days).

Note this is not somogyi effect, which has never been demonstrated in cats, there has only ever been one very small human study which discussed somogyi, and which later was disproved in humans.

Also I would suggest that when you test mid cycle you do so not just around the +6 I have seen many cats nadir much earlier than this on prozinc, so when we see a 171 at +6 it may be that is her nadir (her lowest BG level) but it is also possible that she has had her nadir at +4 (with a value lower than 171) and at +6 her levels are actually already going up because she is not getting duration with the prozinc.

We cannot assume that she will definitely nadir at +6 at this stage untill you build up the data on the SS to support that . At this stage the more data you get onto the SS the easier it will be to make decisions on dosing.


I wanted to ask, did she have steroids from the vet for the calcivirus treatment? I ask because I had a litter of orphan kittens I rescued and they were treated with a combined regime of steroids and antibiotics for calcivirus, it probably doesn't matter but it may explain her sudden diagnosis of feline diabetes, as steroids can induce diabetes in some cats.

Also you asked about the impromune, I've used that in a dog with Leishmaniosis, the main problem might be if it has sugar in the tablet, I think the dog version did, but you would need to check out the ingredients on the cat version. Even a small amount of sugar in the tablet can affect her glucose levels, the other ingredients I don't think would be problematic as it's just a supplement to support the immune system. It's not a product available in US so I don't think anyone outside of Europe, perhaps even Spain will have heard of it . (I'm a bit busy at the moment but I will look at it later in the week)

 

I was just checking in and see the 159 at +4 on your spreadsheet. Wow. That’s quite a drop from her morning AMPS. I hope you will be able to get a few more tests after the +4 so we can get a better idea of her nadir. What did she eat today? I suppose I am asking because of the 159 … I am wondering if she ate the higher carb foods or perhaps some of the lower carb foods. I do not know if you have had a chance to buy any lower carb foods yet. If she’s seeing a 159 on high carb food, I would consider reducing her dose a little while you transition her to lower carb food.

 

Just wondering if you have the syringes with the half unit markings, I don't know if they have them in Spain, we usually adjust the dose by 0.25 units not 0.5
Maybe @Gill & George would know

 

We have U 100 syringes with 0.5 markings.( BD syringes)

However, prozinc is U40, not sure what is available in the U40 syringes, or what Vicki is using.

Yes that +4 is interesting, it shows that she did not bounce,
The high AMPS this morning being due to lack of duration rather than bounce.
Last night she onset, bg dropped we saw that blue mid cycle (it may or may not have been nadir) and then by AMPS 12/27 her bg was high, however with onset we have seen numbers drop, so she is having another active cycle, if she were having a bounce in this mornings cycle we would see high flat BG with no curve to be appreciated, today this is clearly not the case.
So this is simply a case of lack of duration with her numbers going up as the insulin levels in her blood stream reduce.

Not all high numbers are bounces.

From the glossary thread
BOUNCE: When a cat’s BG numbers drop into a low range, drop fast, or drop into a range the cat is no longer used to, the liver and pancreas may respond by releasing a stored form of glucose along with counterregulatory hormones. This causes numbers to spike back upward. It can take up to 3 days/6 cycles for a bounce to clear.

We would expect the bounce to last at least one full cycle


Also in the glossary regarding somogyi

SOMOGYI: Also referred to as chronic Somogyi rebound, Somogyi is a term that was coined in 1938 by Michael Somogyi, MD to describe the process in which the body reacts to low blood sugar or a rapid drop in blood sugar followed by a rapid rise. The original research was conducted with a very small sample of humans and was never replicated in humans nor in cats. Shorter acting insulin was used thus there is no relevance if using the longer acting insulins that are currently recommended for treating FD today. A study by Roomp & Rand refuted the existence of Somogyi in cats that were prescribed Lantus.

 

What is your feeding schedule? It’s advisable to not feed after nadir (as soon as we figure that out). You can give a low carb treat if you are testing her ear but not a meal. Feeding after nadir can shorten the duration of the insulin. So most of the feeding is better done in the first half of each cycle.

 

You are right about this not being a bounce, and I am glad you mentioned it. I had too many spreadsheets open at one time, I believe. But I did mean to say that dropping from that high AMPS and into the blue would be enough of a drop to trigger a bounce in a lot of cats that I know of. I hope Sharess will not prove to be a bouncy cat (so frustrating!)

 

Hello everyone. Thanks a lot for checking my baby. I will need to do more glucose test. I wanted to do a blood test every 2h on Thursday and do as many as I can tomorrow, but with Christmass and the family is more difficult.

Regarding food. I try to reduce the dry food at the minimun. from now on, I am going to give her only animonda and Smilla and only after the shots, but it's a bit difficult when she looks at you with her sweet eyes demanding a bit more. I had been giving her around 10-15g of Royal caning diabetic as a candies because she loves it, but I guess it's not a good idea after checking the last +8 numbers.

Regarding the syringes, we are using U40 with 0.5 marking. I show you a picture bellow:




Thanks a lot for the info about the bouncing and somogyi. My vet was insisting a lot about Somogyi. If you say the problem is due to lack of duration and not bouncing. How do you normally proceed?

 

The duration should improve when you get her onto a completely LC wet diet.
And not feeding after nadir.

I know the problem with the big eye, my boy is an expert with those.

O used to give him some freeze dried treats, pure meat.

I use the wildfreedom, cosma and thrive treats.
Do you know those?

We will have to see how she does on prozinc.

 

Hahaha, I see we have the same issues with our babies' eyes. Yup. I have some cosma snackies and they are not her favourites. She will have to deal with it

Thanks @Gill & George. Your avices are really apreciate. Maybe some day we can come to granada and have a coffee or some tapas with you

 

Ummm, the AMPS this morning is still high but it's low considering the previous ones. My vet recomended me not to put the insulin and check every hour to see how she goes...

 

I'd suggest checking every 30 min. When Sharess' numbers are heading up, it would be fine to give her insulin.

Also, please consider your vet's instructions. How long does your vet expect you to stall? If you wait 3 hours, your next shot will be due 12 hours after you give an injection. You will then need to move your shot time back to your usual time by no more than 30 min per day.

This is copied from the Prozinc dosing instructions:

 

That is a very low AMPS for her. I would test in 30 minutes from her last test and NOT give her any food. Then you will be able to see if she is going up on her own. You will need to decide if you are going to skip the insulin for this cycle or just stall for a while until she's higher. But this will mess up your shot time and you can only adjust it back to the desired time by a maximum of 30 minutes per day.

 

Oh, I see now that Sienne already replied. I agree with her (obviously since it sound like I said essentially the same thing!)

 

Damn, the vet told us to feed her and we already did

Why shouldn't we give her any food? My question is to try to understand the logic behind, because she spent all the night without any food at all, and even without food, she didn't want to eat much this morning :/

PS: She plays and is in a great mood

 

We do not feed them when we are stalling to see if BG has come up. If you feed her then her BG level will be inflated because of the food. Then you really don't know if it is safe to shoot. What is her BG now?

 

So the not feeding is just temporary while you see if the BG is coming up on its own WITHOUT the influence of food. I hope this is making sense. I don't want you to be mean and not give her any food for hours and hours.... just for half and hour or an hour maybe... until you see if she is at a safe number to shoot.

 

You're making perfect sense and that is exactly the reason.

 

Thanks for the explanations. Sadly She ate (not much) because the vet told me and I didn't read you on time, and now the numbers are 194. What would you do? shot her? Reduce the dosis or wait?

 

How late are you now after your normal shot time?

 

Considerations are: will she keep eating today -- little snacks like a teaspoon or two during the early part of the cycle? Since we don't really know what her BG would be without food then you may want to just reduce her dose for this cycle. One unit or if you want to do .75 (a half dose) then you can hopefully get back on track tonight.

 

I just thought I should add that what I mean by getting "back on track" tonight is shooting the full dose... obviously, you are late and will have to change her p.m. shot time unless you skip. Skipping is also an option. Just let us know what you end up doing.

 

I am 2h late from the AMPS. She just gave 200 after eating and not shotting insulin at all. I think I will skip the dosis at least you think otherwise

 

I think that is okay. You will be able to shoot tonight at your normal time. It will be okay. She's doing really well overall. I hope she will eat today.

 

203 with no insuline so far... I am impress. I think I can go shopping without risk and see how she goes after. Thanks a lot for your support

 

Hello wise people!!

Today I have decided to make a decent glucose curve, carefully taking care of the food, and testing the sugar almost every hour. The numbers that have come out are quite decent, but considering the previous values and taking into account that I have to give her insulin within 2 hours, any sugestion on how I should proceed if the numbers don't increase much? how bad it's to modify the dosis when she is not stable? I love you all for all the good advices!!

 

For the future, when getting a curve, you do not need to test every hour. You test every 2 hours (pre-shot, +2, +4, etc.) for one cycle.

 

yeah, I wanted to know exactly where the nadir was. I may overdid it a bit ^_^!

So the PMPS is 180 now. Maybe 1 UI instead of 1'5 UI?

 

Very nice! The 1U was a good decision.

Just know that nadir is not always the same. Sometimes when they break a bounce, the nadir is later than usual. I'm not sure if that's what happened today.

Technically the 88 today would be a dose reduction down to 1.25U.

 

This morning she was 530 again. I swear she's driving me crazy

 

@Gill & George
Happy birthday!

 

Oh @Gill & George I didnt know it was your birthday! ¡Feliz cumpleaños! <3

 

@Vicky & Sharess and anyone who hasn't figured it out yet.
Click on anyone's avatar, near the top left you'll see Members, click on that and on the right side will appear today's birthdays.
For anyone who never thought they'd get "old" here (me) once you've entered your birthday it's too late.
I was just a wee lad when I joined, now my knees creak, my back hurts and
I urinate frequently!

 

That number in the 500s is a bounce. That's the less than wonderful news. The good news is that Sharess is clearing the bounces fairly quickly. It's all part of the process of your cat getting used to being in more normal numbers.

 

Thanks for your comment @Sienne and Gabby (GA) . the PMPS just gave 478. Today we didn't test the glucose much (Only in the +6) so I can't be sure when the numbers started rising. I hope she can stabilize soon...

btw, I checked your signature and I saw all Gabby's profile and legacy... I couldn't stop crying. I am so sorry for your lost. She really was special

 

Thank you, Vicky. She crossed the Bridge around this time of year. Despite the number of years that have passed, she is still dearly missed.

 

@Sienne and Gabby (GA) I totally feel you. I lost my first 2 cats on 2013 and 2014 because of cancer after 13 and 14 wonderful years together and in a 8 months interval of time between each other... I still cry a lot when I remember the last moments.

Our babies take a piece of our hearts with them when they leave us, but they are pure magic, pure unconditional love and pure feelings. They tiptoe majestically and sneak into our beings, giving us their gentle imprint forever. Their existence is a precious gift that warm the soul and I think we are so lucky that they accept us in their lives...

 

Today Sharess peed on herself and the AMPS indicated "Hi". We guess she bounced again.... So frustrated

We went to a vet specialize in cats and she took her blood to make an exhaustive analysis and look for possible pancreatitis. will see in a few days...

However, the worse part was being in the vet and listen a conversation between a cat owner and the vet. The man was in the clinic without the cat saying that his 4 years old cat didn't want to eat for 4 days and he was bleeding from his butt. The vet told him that they were about to close and that he should go to emergencies tonight because it seens really urgent. She even told him the list of the 24h clinics he could go, but instead fo listen to the vet, the owner said "well, I will wait until tomorrow...When do you open?" How come people can be so irresponsible? poor kitty. It will probably die...

I go out of my way every time my cats are sick, even if it's not super serious... there are owners who don't deserve their pets

 

We basically stole two of our cats from neighbors down the street who kept getting their kids new cats like used stuffed animals from Goodwill. Every month there would be a new dead cat on our busy street. The entire neighborhood knew our little secret and didn't say a word. There were no posters for missing cats, they weren't neutered or micro-chipped. One followed me and our dog home, the other had shown up at our back door freezing and soaking wet.

 

Our vet just told us that we are doing really good with Sharess, but she is a complicated case. Is this true? I mean, I can compare with other Spreadsheets, but I am not an expert. I can see that numbers are super high sometimes, but I cannot know if most cases in this forum have this kind of dificulties at the begining

 

This is one of the great mysteries of the universe because every cat is different.
Our first cat had textbook numbers and curves but the second was just a mess for years. Some cats will go into remission like it never happened and others, maybe like Sharess, just want to see you tear your hair out. It's been less than two weeks since you asked the question I just quoted. You also mentioned possible pancreatitis. Give it some time, it's happened to most of us.

 

Thanks a lot. I just wanted to be sure. Our vet confessed us that he doesn't know much about diabetes because diabetes in cats is super rare. After reading a lot, I dont think is that rare, this is the reason we decided to look for a second opinion 2 days ago, especially since today he told us that we should only give her dry food. Still don't know about the pancreatitis results. I will tell you as soon as possible.

Thanks a lot for your conforting words <3

 

You should share this site with your vet. It sounds like he needs it

 

It depends on your definition of 'rare'. The standard internet answer is between 0.2% and 1% so at least 1 in 500 and at most 1 in 100. At least he's honest enough to admit not knowing as much as he could and that's not his fault. It's not well taught in veterinary colleges and techs know even less.
That advice about dry food is why people come here. Some people have been told not to test, to feed exactly this many grams 12 hours apart and that only a clinic can do a curve for $500. I'm still waiting for someone to say they've been told to howl at the moon after sacrificing a goat.
Prozinc wasn't even approved until 2009 in the US so both my cats were on Caninsulin. In the late 70's I dated a diabetic girl who had a meter like the one below. It even has an AC adapter, I wonder if it gets HBO.
Qué monstruo. ¡Es más grande que mi automóvil!

 

I'm just here to add that I love your comments the more I read them LOL

 

wow, thanks again for your answer. all diabetes world is crazy and this machine you posted is indeed bigger than my car!

My vet is nice and I am thankful that he took our case. Before being a vet, he was our friend when we were teenagers. He says that, in other circunstances, he would have referred the case to a colleague, but Sharess is like family and he talks to me by whatsaap and consult the case with other vets to tell me the right think to do... I can't ask him for more, but it doesn't mean that I wanted to ask for a second, or third opinion ^_^!

 

It would be amazing but I am afraid he doesn't speak English

 

Aw shucks. Inside every man is a sensitive being waiting to be heard.
Or maybe not
I dropped my loo-loo

 

Hahaha!!

 

hahaha @Noah & me (GA) you are amazing

 

I am going to tag Melissa for you to take a look at your SS , I see Sharess dropped under 90 on 1-4 during the AM cycle, asking Melissa if you should have reduced the insulin since you are following SLGS
@FrostD

 

Thanks @Diane Tyler's Mom. The results from the new vet just arrived today and she say there is no sing of pancreatitis and the frutosamine droped from 554 to 398. We will go on Tuesday to check the orine and see possible infection. She wants to use antibiotics preventively, just in case the diabetes is caused by an unknow infection. What do you think? I am going to update my SS with the new lab results.

 

Well that's great news , I'm no expert when it comes to this , sorry, but I will tag Melissa again about this since she's a prozinc user
@FrostD

 

I will reduce from 1'5 to 1'25 today. Will see how it goes

 

Did any of the labs include WBC, etc? Those should be showing signs of infection...

Yes I would take the reduction.

 

Would you mind starting a new thread please as this one is getting a bit too long, thanks.
Don’t forget to link this thread to the new one for continuity.