Newby Beauregard

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Heinz R.

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Hi, Folks:
We are delighted to have found this website and registered a couple of days ago.
By way of introduction, our American short hair, Beauregard is 10ish, adopted us about 8 years ago and is, of course, neutered. His diabetes was diagnosed last fall and he was put on a rather high insulin dose. He seemed to get rather sick and he was diagnosed with severe liver problems. However, with expert and caring veterinary help over several months plus help from whoever watches over cats he pulled through and his diabetes seems to be under control (we have a check-up vet appointment coming up in about a week) and he gets 1 iU Lantus twice a day.
During the more severe period of his liver illness he was getting about a half-dozen different meds and he had stopped eating. Since not eating created a problem with the insulin administration, on the vet's recommendation we allowed for him to get a feeding tube installed. While he was at the vet's hospital he didn't tolerate being fed as much food as he needed to get to survive, throwing up a lot and salivating, and the vet indicated that he was rather nervous cat and perhaps would do better in the familiar environment at his home. We took him home and he indeed began to tolerate being fed a gradually increasing amount without throwing up or salivating, along with the entire regimen of drugs administered at various times of the day and night, as well as an appetite stimulant. He even began to eat on his own in addition to being fed by tube. Long story short, after a couple of months his meds (other than insulin) have been gradually reduced to zero, the feeding tube has been removed about a month ago (the story on that some other time, it was actually initiated by Beau, himself) and his last test also about a month ago showed normal liver function numbers. At this point he seems to have returned to health in all respects other thann the diabetes.
It was great finding this forum and we look forward to sharing whatever we have learned with this community. We do have some questions but we think that these might be more appropriate for the Lantus/Glargine group.
We are not sure if posting all of the above is appropriate but thought it would introduce Beauregard to the community. If it was wrong to do so Beauregard's dad apologizes.
Heinz R.
 
Hiya and Welcome Beauregard and dad Heinz.

You can post any health related cat topics here in Health - some of us using Lantus and the other insulins are not frequenting the insulin boards, but we frequent Health, Community and Tink Tank.

And you can ask any questions you like.

Glad your Beauregard was a figther and fought his way back to health. Good job on that.
 
Welcome Beauregard and Heinz.

Thank you for the introduction. I am very glad that Beauregard made it through his major health issues, thanks to his dedicated daddybean. I hope you will check out the Lantus forums, and post often. Is Beauregard on a low carb all wet diet, and are you home testing him?
 
Thank you both for the warm welcome. We're still feeling our way around. By the way, the primary care giver is Beau's mom, Kyra, I just do whatever I'm told and that needs to be done. In our house the cat comes first.
Now, to answer the questions. Beauregard does not like wet food at all, he disdains all table scraps and the only Diabetic dry food that he will eat is Purina DM.
We do not home test him because we don't know how.
I did post the following question on the Lantus subgroup: We bought 3 mL cartridges from the UK that will have spent about three weeks unopened and unrefrigerated before they get to us. Will that length of time have done any damage to the Glargine. ANd if not, will the usable time have been reduced?"
Thanks for all your help.
Heinz R.
 
Here is the link for all the info and pics and videos on hometesting
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...e be it with insulin or just diet controlled.
 
Tx for recommendations, Hope and (((Baby)))GA. We'll do whatever we can do with the Urine aspect of testing but neither my wife nor I want to do anything that involves a lancet or anything else that might be needed to draw blood and possibly pain to Beau. Kyra (my wife) has learned how to give Beau his Lantus shot so that it's painless, I couldn't even get myself to do that.
We monitor his food and water intake very carefully and keep a twice daily chart (including when he poops) so that we could quickly notice any significant deviation and get the vet involved post haste. We'll see how well the urine tests work once we learn how to do that.
Tx. again
Heinz R.
 
Heinz, you pulled him through the liver problem, don't risk losing him to a hypo. If sticking the edge of the ear hurt in any way, none of us would be doing it and our cats wouldn't let us do it. I can go in, sit down on the sofa, open the draw to get the meter, etc. out and Mishka gets up from wherever she is and comes to me. Sometimes I go to her where she is sleeping, put a cosmetic pad under the ear for support, stick her, get the blood and a bg reading, and she doesn't move. It does not hurt them so don't let your fear stop you from doing it. It is the most important thing you can learn to do and it is a true lifesaver for Beauregard.

FWIW, I adopted Mishka at 5, was to be PTS because of the diabetes. She hated me and I had to wear gloves and use an e-collar to test and shoot. She also was in DKA the day after I got her so testing and shooting was major and had to be done. Now anyone can test her. Hope also was tested as soon as I got home from picking her up at the airport. Vinnie also was unknown to me but I tested his crinkled ears. It becomes so easy to do.
 
Hi and welcome!

Home testing is the key to the safe treatment of this disease. Would a doctor ever tell a human patient to inject insulin blindly without testing? Never! If humans should home test, and can do so easily and painlessly, why can't cats?

Without home testing you really won't know what is going on with your kitty. You have no idea whether you've got his diabetes and blood glucose numbers under control or not. The occasional test or curve at the vets office can't replace the accurate data you get from home testing. With home testing, you will be able to make educated, safe adjustments to Beauregard's insulin dose based on his numbers. And by testing him you will learn how his body reacts to insulin, and you will be able to prevent and treat possibly deadly hypoglycemia episodes. You will be able to sleep at night and go to work during the day knowing your kitty is safe. Worrying constantly about your cat's safety is an awful feeling.

Pretty much everyone here home tests successfully. Scooter and I do. There are hundreds of cats here that get poked for blood multiple times per day. None of these cats have horrible scarred ears and the majority of them actually LIKE to test, because they get treats or food in the end, and they know it makes them feel better! If your wife can handle shots, I'm sure she can handle home testing too. And it would be a great benefit for all of you if you could get on board with it too.

Scooter and I only had 3 months to bond before we started the pokes. At first it was stressful. It always is. Sometimes you will have to wrap kitty in a towel to stop the struggling and poke multiple times before you get blood. But if you are persistent with treats they start to realize that it isn't so bad, and there's a reward in it for them. It took Scooter about 3 weeks before he finally settled down and held still for pokes. Now we can do it in less than 3 minutes. He will lay on the floor in the kitchen in our "poke spot" and holler at me to come test him because he wants treats :lol: And if you looked at his ears, you would never be able to tell which ear I poked.
 
Thanks Hope and Ry, a lot of very useful information. Kyra (my wife) and I have a lot to learn. We really do appreciate your input and it shows why this Forum is so valuable.
 
Welcome to you, Heinz and Kyra,

I don't really have much to say that the others have not mentioned but would like to touch on a few points.

The home testing is easy peasy; my cats pretty much sleep through the little poke to the tip of their ears. Just pick up a meter, test strips, lancets for the lancet device, and KETOSTIX. When you get them, there are plenty of videos that people can post for you and just mention any little problem you are having and there will be plenty of people around to help you and give some tips.
I am sure Beauregard would rather be at home and get the occasional poke on the ear as opposed to being stuck in a crappy cage at the vet for the same kind of pokes every few hours.
The pokes at home are alot cheaper! Cats are not vocal about how they are feeling so a test may be just enough to save your cat from going too low.

About the foods, I don't recall if anyone mentioned it but there are TONS OF DIET CONTROLLED cats, and just by switching low carb wet food for the dry food and high carb wet with gravies or grilled in the name. There are many ways to gradually switch to better, lower carb foods, but it's important to be testing first because once you switch foods, you may find Beauregard's insulin needs reduce. There are some notes on how to handle any hypo situations, so have them handy when you start making changes.

Neither cats of mine test the same at the vet as at home; one gets much higher numbers at the vet, and the other gets much lower numbers. Curves give you artificial data.
 
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