Gabrielle17
Member Since 2023
Hello! My name is Gabrilelle, and I'm so grateful to have found this group!
I apologize in advance if this post is too long...I have yet to learn the art of brevity...truly sorry lol.
My cat, Cooper, was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of March after I took him in due to excessive drinking, excessive urinating, urinating outside of the litter box, and weight loss. My vet prescribed 1 unit of Lantus twice per day, monitor via Freestyle Libre. We did not opt to change food at the time; I did not realize how important it was and the vet I suppose did not want to push anything. He was on Crave Salmon & Chicken dry food with occasional wet food of a variety of brands.
The Libre did not last. It fell off after a week, and then the new one fell off again after a day. Gave up on that method. Based on the Libre's readings during that short time being between 400 and simply "HI", she re-tested (fructosamine test, possibly?) and decided to up his dose to 2 units of Lantus twice daily and change his diet to Hills M/D Gluco Support dry food.
I saw no improvement of clinical signs after 3 weeks. Before I paid to drop Cooper off for a curve test at the vet, I decided to do some more research of my own. And here I am! I've already learned a lot. Such as the fact that the vet tech (hopefully) miscommunicated the dose on the syringe and I'd actually been giving him zero at the beginning and 1 unit later (when I thought I was giving 2)...
Yes, she indicated the "zero" line as the "one" line on the syringe...even after I clarified with her. I am in no way bashing, because those syringes are small, so like I said...hopefully just a miscommunication rather than her actually not knowing that. I probably should have known it, it seems logical considering it is numbered, hah! But I digress....
With that being said, Cooper is actually currently on 1 unit of Lantus twice daily. I plan to switch him to wet food completely. I was hesitant to switch right away as--from what I've gathered--it can cause his BG to go down quite dramatically. Full disclosure, I ran out of the M/D Gluco Support. I didn't want to buy a new bag since I am switching, so went back to the Crave with the I&Love&You wet food I had been feeding my other kitty (half dry and half wet). Was this a supremely bad move?
I have the Fancy Feast Classic listed in this group. I went through the "shopping list" on the Facebook group "Feline Diabetes"--I believe it is associated with this site?--and bought the ReliOn meter + supplies as well.
My main questions so far:
1. When can I switch him to wet food? I know I should switch slowly simply for GI reasons, but otherwise how soon can I do this? He is not picky whatsoever, so no issue there.
2. How often do I need to be testing his BG using the ReliOn meter? I work outside of the home 5 days a week (as I am sure most of you do), so is it okay to only be able to test a few times on days that I work?
3. How long is the insulin efficacious for kitties? My vet advised I throw away the pen after 40 days. Seems very wasteful, but of course I will do continue to do this if necessary for best results.
I have been able to get 4 readings on the meter so far, but let me know if this is not enough to answer questions. Thank you for reading this far, and thank you in advance for any advice!
I apologize in advance if this post is too long...I have yet to learn the art of brevity...truly sorry lol. My cat, Cooper, was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of March after I took him in due to excessive drinking, excessive urinating, urinating outside of the litter box, and weight loss. My vet prescribed 1 unit of Lantus twice per day, monitor via Freestyle Libre. We did not opt to change food at the time; I did not realize how important it was and the vet I suppose did not want to push anything. He was on Crave Salmon & Chicken dry food with occasional wet food of a variety of brands.
The Libre did not last. It fell off after a week, and then the new one fell off again after a day. Gave up on that method. Based on the Libre's readings during that short time being between 400 and simply "HI", she re-tested (fructosamine test, possibly?) and decided to up his dose to 2 units of Lantus twice daily and change his diet to Hills M/D Gluco Support dry food.
I saw no improvement of clinical signs after 3 weeks. Before I paid to drop Cooper off for a curve test at the vet, I decided to do some more research of my own. And here I am! I've already learned a lot. Such as the fact that the vet tech (hopefully) miscommunicated the dose on the syringe and I'd actually been giving him zero at the beginning and 1 unit later (when I thought I was giving 2)...
With that being said, Cooper is actually currently on 1 unit of Lantus twice daily. I plan to switch him to wet food completely. I was hesitant to switch right away as--from what I've gathered--it can cause his BG to go down quite dramatically. Full disclosure, I ran out of the M/D Gluco Support. I didn't want to buy a new bag since I am switching, so went back to the Crave with the I&Love&You wet food I had been feeding my other kitty (half dry and half wet). Was this a supremely bad move?
I have the Fancy Feast Classic listed in this group. I went through the "shopping list" on the Facebook group "Feline Diabetes"--I believe it is associated with this site?--and bought the ReliOn meter + supplies as well.
My main questions so far:
1. When can I switch him to wet food? I know I should switch slowly simply for GI reasons, but otherwise how soon can I do this? He is not picky whatsoever, so no issue there.
2. How often do I need to be testing his BG using the ReliOn meter? I work outside of the home 5 days a week (as I am sure most of you do), so is it okay to only be able to test a few times on days that I work?
3. How long is the insulin efficacious for kitties? My vet advised I throw away the pen after 40 days. Seems very wasteful, but of course I will do continue to do this if necessary for best results.
I have been able to get 4 readings on the meter so far, but let me know if this is not enough to answer questions. Thank you for reading this far, and thank you in advance for any advice!


