New to this.... Have some quick questions...

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Matt&Phoebe

Member Since 2013
Hi Everyone. I'm Matt, and my cat Phoebe (11 yrs old) was just diagnosed with diabetes last week. I noticed the typical excess drinking and more pee'ing and got her to the vet right away. Her sugar was at 505.

The vet prescribed Lantus - 1 unit two times a day. I am bringing her back to the vet on Friday 5-24-13 for her first check.

Her over drinking and pee'ing symptoms went away within 2 days - which I am assuming is a good sign. Her appetite has remained the same - although my Phoebe has always had a healthy appetite and is a fairly big girl. She weighed in at 15.5 lbs at the vet. She actually gained weight, not lost, which I was surprised about.

Pheobe, oddly, does not like wet food at all, considering how much she loves to eat, however I did buy a no grain dry food, from FROMM - which was not overly expensive. 20$ for a 5 lbs bag. I am easing her into the no grain slowly using half her regular food (Purina) and half of the FROMM for a few weeks. Has anyone used this brand and find it effective?

Also - has anyone had expierence with the Lantus Pen, vs the vile? The pen seems easier, however a friend of mine uses the pen on herself and I noticed it makes a clicking noise, which I am concerned might freak Pheobe out a bit. Has anyone switched to the pen and find it easier?

Also - where is the best place to get the Lantus? CVS charged me 160$ for the vile. Is everywhere comparable? I live in the state of Mass.

Thanks Everyone!
 
The lantus solostar pen is used with an insulin syringe to get those accurate, consistent low doses that kitties require. For a person, being off by a unit may not make a big difference but it sure does for kitties on those tiny doses.

The advantage to the pen is it holds less insulin, you only open one pen at a time, and usually use up all the insulin before the 4-6 month life span of the insulin has passed. With the vial, people often end up tossing a half full vial because the insulin has become ineffective.

ETA: Lantus Savings card program here $25 for first 6 prescriptions of the solostar pen. Prescription must be written for the pen. http://www.lantus.com/considering/save-on-lantus/default.aspx It's from the manufacturer of Lantus and can be used for a pet. Made for those without insurance coverage.
 
Welcome to the board..

The problem I can see with the Fromm dry food is that although its grain free, it's still high carb (29% from what I can see). To best control blood glucose and offer a chance of remission you need %calories from carbs under 10%.

We strongly recommend people at least try to transition their cats to wet first (many cats here refused it at first but succeeded with persereverance to change their cat to wet) however if you have made a valiant effort and still failed, there are other dry foods that are much better such as young again zero carb.

Many of us, including myself, use the pens but not the needle tips that come for them. The pen just isn't accurate enough for a cat, it can be off by easily a unit which doesn't matter for humans. So we don't use the needles, instead we buy syringes with half unit increments and insert them into the rubber end of the pen to extract the insulin. Pens as deb said last longer, are less easily broken etc.

Wendy
 
Good to know about the FROMM brand. It does seem like wet food is really the way to go. It amazes me that she doesn't like it. She likes tuna and sardines, but when I put wet food in front of her - no interest. I am going to work on trying to get her to like it. Not only that, cans of Fancy Feast (from what I read are a good canned food) are cheaper than the FROMM in the long run.

Thanks again! :smile:
 
You can try mixing the wet and dry 50/50 and see if you can bribe her to sample the wet. Then gradually reduce the dry to wet ratio and try to wean her off of it.
 
OK I forgot to say something every important - if you are changing to a lower carb food it is critical that you home test her blood, even though she is only on one unit right now, her blood sugar will drop due to the food change. That means so will her insulin needs!!. We can provide a shopping list and tips if you like.

Also here are some tips for transitioning her to wet: http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf



Wendy
 
Thanks Wendy. I am going begin home testing after my first check up appointment this Friday. I need to talk to the vet about this and get some eduction on home testing. Luckily, I have been able to find some videos on YouTube that show you how to do it. The only thing with this is that the vet is telling me that the "people" monitors are not as accurate for cats as the one they are trying to sell me, which is almost $300.00. One of my girlfriends, whose cat also had diabetes (he is in reminssion now :) ) was testing her kitty at home using a "people" meter and compared it to results that she got from the vet. She said it was off by 5, so that is accurate enough for me. cat(2)_steam
 
if you are changing to a lower carb food it is critical that you home test her blood, even though she is only on one unit right now, her blood sugar will drop due to the food change.
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And the food change to low carb wet does not even need to be a complete changeover for the BG (blood glucose) numbers to drop a lot.

I had Wink on 3/4 wet food, 1/4 dry food and he hypoed. Even though I was dropping the dose. I simply did not drop the dose enough, or fast enough. I should have cut it in half at least.

The only thing with this is that the vet is telling me that the "people" monitors are not as accurate for cats as the one they are trying to sell me, which is almost $300.00.
Click to expand...

I used an Alphatrak 2 side by side with a Relion Confirm. Numbers were within 30-45 points at the low range. Look at Wink's ss from 1/28 thru 2/21. First set of numbers for a date are on the Alphatrak. Second set of numbers are on the Confirm.

That was good enough for me and the test strips for the Confirm are 1/3 the price of the Alphatrak test strips.

Relion Confirm meter is < $17. 100 test strips are 35.88
Relion Prime is about $16, 100 test strips are $18 (2 boxes of 50 strips each, $9)

I went with the Confirm.
 
We have lots of home testing tips and videos here! : https://docs.google.com/document/d/13c_CPZVKz27fD_6aVbsguadJKvjSrSAkD7flgPPhEag/pub

Plus here is a shopping list!

Getting started shopping list
1. Meter ie Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro.
2. Matching strips
3. Lancets - little sticks to poke the ear to get blood . new members usually start with a larger gauge lancet such as 28g or 29g until the ear learns to bleed. Optional - lancing tool.
4. Cotton balls to stem the blood
5. Neosporin or Polysporin ointment to heal the wound
6. Mini flashlight (optional) - useful to help see the ear veins in dark cats, and to press against
7. Ketone urine test strips ie Ketostix or ketodiastix - Important to check ketones when blood is high
8. Sharps container - to dispose of waste syringes and lancets.
9. Treats for the cat - like freeze dried chicken
10. Karo syrup/corn syrup or honey if you dont have it at home - for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast
11. A couple of cans of fancy feast gravy lovers or other high carb gravy food- for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast

Wendy
 
12. And a rice sock. Don't forget the rice sock to warm the ear. Take an old thin sock, no holes, fill the toe with a few tablespoons of rice. Heat in microwave for 15-20 seconds. Should feel warm on your wrist, like a heated baby bottle. Hold against ear to warm the blood and make getting a blood drop easier.
13. Treats for you and your cat. Freeze dried protein treats work well. They will help you to train your cat to come running for the test.
 
Welcome Matt & Phoebe! :-D

Matt&Phoebe said:
Also - has anyone had expierence with the Lantus Pen, vs the vile? The pen seems easier, however a friend of mine uses the pen on herself and I noticed it makes a clicking noise, which I am concerned might freak Pheobe out a bit. Has anyone switched to the pen and find it easier?
Click to expand...

Just wanted to clarify that because we use syringes with the pens, there is no clicking sound. ;-)

Deb & Wink said:
I used an Alphatrak 2 side by side with a Relion Confirm. Numbers were within 30-45 points at the low range.
Click to expand...

Most of us use human meters so this 30-40 point difference is automatically accounted for by the numbers we consider "good." For example, on a human meter, a non-diabetic should test between around 40 to 120. On a pet meter, this range is more like 70 to 150.

And because the majority of us use human meters, we use those numbers as our "default" basis for "good" numbers. So if you do decide to go with a pet meter, we ask that you state it clearly in your signature so we can adjust information based on pet meter numbers vs. human meter numbers.
 
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