Newly Diagnose Worries

[Catarina_21]

Hello everybody, new member here ! 04/29/22

My name is Catarina and I am Portuguese so im sorry if my english is not perfect. I am 22 years old and when I was 8 my family adopted Patinhas, (it means little paws in portuguese) the sweetest cat I´ve ever met. Patinhas is one of my 3 cats and he has been a huge part of my life for 14 beautiful years. In 2015 Patinhas was diagnosed with kidney failure and the vets didn´t thought that he would make it, but against all odds my beautiful boy is still with us, a few months ago he started having some health complications and after I changed vets he was finnaly diagnosed with diabetes last month.
The first days were hell (just to me, because he behaves like a champ) everytime that I had to give him insulin I cried... thankfully I dont cry anymore and the shots became part of my daily routine, he is on a very low dose of insulin because his vet says that we should understand the pattern of his glicemia levels first. But I am very scared because his levels have been around 500 something and today it is on 554 mg/dL this is the highest level so far... is this normal ? He also drinks a looooot of water and pees a lot (everywhere) I am so worried, I am feeling very overwhelmed and very afraid of losing him.

I´m so sorry for the long post and thank you so much for the attention, any tips will be very appreciated

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Hi and welcome to you and Patinhas. You have come to the right place. Your English is great! Better than some Americans, haha. I am pretty new to this as well and I remember being so scared and worried for my boy Hendrick before we found this forum. The people here saved me, and saved him!

in order for anyone here to be able to help, they will need some basic information about Patinhas, and for you to put it in your signature spot so that people don't have to bug you with the same questions repeatedly.

See this link here:

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

it sounds like you are testing his levels at home that is great, bravo to that!

I am sure more members will be along to offer additional support and guidance. A spreadsheet with the levels will be needed as well.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Welcome Catarina and Patinhas, low his name little paws so cute you have definitely come to the right place like Kyle has said
Tap in your name and a drop down will come up, tap on signature and add this information

• Add info we need to help you:
  • Caregiver & kitty's name
  • DX: Date
  • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
  • Name of your meter
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
  • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

We have a spreadsheet that we track our cats BG on to see how the insulin is working and how low they are dropping. It does sound like you ate testing him which is great. I will give you the link in how to set up our spreadsheet which also explains how it works , if you have trouble doing it please ask , we a wonderful member who will be glad to set it up for you, again just ask.
Once you fill out your signature we can then help you

would also suggest you pick up a package of Ketostix or equivalent. These are strips that you use to test a cat's urine for ketones. Ketones can be dangerous if they are present at a higher than trace level.
follow the directions on the bottle.

Some people slide a (dedicated!) soup ladle under them to get a sample, others put some saran wrap in the litter box where they would pee
Or if you can just hold the strip while he's peeing and catch it like that

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome Catarina and Patinhas to the forum.
It is overwhelming in the beginning but we can help you in lots of ways to make it easier for you both.
Can you tell us what type of insulin u are using and the dose please?
Also what food are you feeding him and how often?
And what type of glucose test meter are you using?

 

[Catarina_21]

Hi and welcome to you and Patinhas. You have come to the right place. Your English is great! Better than some Americans, haha. I am pretty new to this as well and I remember being so scared and worried for my boy Hendrick before we found this forum. The people here saved me, and saved him!

in order for anyone here to be able to help, they will need some basic information about Patinhas, and for you to put it in your signature spot so that people don't have to bug you with the same questions repeatedly.

See this link here:

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

it sounds like you are testing his levels at home that is great, bravo to that!

I am sure more members will be along to offer additional support and guidance. A spreadsheet with the levels will be needed as well.

Hii, thank you for your answer!
I will share Patinhas information, thank you for the tip
I was VERY afraid of testing his levels at home and it was not easy because I was scared to hurt him. Unfortunetly I can only test him again on Monday because I ran out of lancets I only had very few. On Monday I will start the spreadsheet and the testing. Thank you so much for your help!!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hii, thank you for your answer!
I will share Patinhas information, thank you for the tip
I was VERY afraid of testing his levels at home and it was not easy because I was scared to hurt him. Unfortunetly I can only test him again on Monday because I ran out of lancets I only had very few. On Monday I will start the spreadsheet and the testing. Thank you so much for your help!!

Are you able to go out and get some more lancets.I would not leave it until Monday before testing again.
You will have no idea of it is safe to give the dose or not. And this insulin needs to be given

 

[Catarina_21]

Welcome Catarina and Patinhas, low his name little paws so cute you have definitely come to the right place like Kyle has said
Tap in your name and a drop down will come up, tap on signature and add this information

• Add info we need to help you:
  • Caregiver & kitty's name
  • DX: Date
  • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
  • Name of your meter
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
  • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

We have a spreadsheet that we track our cats BG on to see how the insulin is working and how low they are dropping. It does sound like you ate testing him which is great. I will give you the link in how to set up our spreadsheet which also explains how it works , if you have trouble doing it please ask , we a wonderful member who will be glad to set it up for you, again just ask.
Once you fill out your signature we can then help you

would also suggest you pick up a package of Ketostix or equivalent. These are strips that you use to test a cat's urine for ketones. Ketones can be dangerous if they are present at a higher than trace level.
follow the directions on the bottle.

Some people slide a (dedicated!) soup ladle under them to get a sample, others put some saran wrap in the litter box where they would pee
Or if you can just hold the strip while he's peeing and catch it like that

Thank you so much for your answer !
On monday I will start the spreadsheet, for now I´ve updated the info I could.
Never heard of those strips thank you so much, I will try to find those in my local pharmacy.

 

[Catarina_21]

Hi and welcome Catarina and Patinhas to the forum.
It is overwhelming in the beginning but we can help you in lots of ways to make it easier for you both.
Can you tell us what type of insulin u are using and the dose please?
Also what food are you feeding him and how often?
And what type of glucose test meter are you using?

Hii, Thank you so much !
Yes of course, I am giving him Caninsulin, we've started with 0.03 but the levels are still very high so the vet adviced me to update the dose to 0.05, its still very low because we haven't done the curve yet.
I am feeding him the diabetic dry food from Royal Canin, Patinhas is a very chunky cat, (he drooped his weight recently before being diagnosed with diabetes tho) and he could eat ALL day long so I feed him twice a day. I am using a meter called "Accu-Chek".

 

[Catarina_21]

Are you able to go out and get some more lancets.I would not leave it until Monday before testing again.
You will have no idea of it is safe to give the dose or not. And this insulin needs to be given

Ok I understand I will go this afternoon to the pharmacy. I have a doubt tho, I'm so sorry if it is a dumb question I am still very new to this ... When you say that is not safe to dose him is it because his levels could be low and then he could go into shock? his levels have been aroud 500 up everytime he was tested ? could his levels drop so drasticly?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hii, Thank you so much !
Yes of course, I am giving him Caninsulin, we've started with 0.03 but the levels are still very high so the vet adviced me to update the dose to 0.05, its still very low because we haven't done the curve yet.
I am feeding him the diabetic dry food from Royal Canin, Patinhas is a very chunky cat, (he drooped his weight recently before being diagnosed with diabetes tho) and he could eat ALL day long so I feed him twice a day. I am using a meter called "Accu-Chek".

With caninsulin, you need to feed 30 minutes before you give the insulin so that the cat has some food in the tummy as caninsulin hits quite hard and fast.
It is not the best insulin you can get. You would be better with something like lantus insulin.
The dose you say 0.03 is a strange dose. Are you able to take a photo of it in the syringe and post it here?
You will need to copy the photo and paste it into where you write.

Royal canin dry food is a high carb food. Diabetic cats need low carb 10% or under carbohydrates. Otherwise they will continue to have high blood glucose levels. Do you have access to any canned food in Portugal? Such as fancy feast pates.?
Please give your kitty some extra snacks during the day and night apart from the meal you give before the insulin doses. It is absolutely fine to feed them at other times. Just don’t feed him for the 2 hours before you give the insulin as we don’t want the pre shot blood glucose level to be influenced by food.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Ok I understand I will go this afternoon to the pharmacy. I have a doubt tho, I'm so sorry if it is a dumb question I am still very new to this ... When you say that is not safe to dose him is it because his levels could be low and then he could go into shock? his levels have been aroud 500 up everytime he was tested ? could his levels drop so drasticly?

No questions are ever dumb here so please ask as many questions as you like.
We can’t say when the insulin dose begins to work and starts to bring down the BGs. So to be safe we always say test before every shot.
While you are out getting some more lancets, I would also buy some ketostix or dia ketostix from a pharmacy ( the same ones that humans use) and test the urine for ketones. There should be no ketones and if the BGs (blood glucose) are remaining high, we need to make sure no ketones develop. So testing the urine is the best way to do that. You will need to collect a urine sample from your kitty and follow the directions on the bottle.

 

[Catarina_21]

With caninsulin, you need to feed 30 minutes before you give the insulin so that the cat has some food in the tummy as caninsulin hits quite hard and fast.
It is not the best insulin you can get. You would be better with something like lantus insulin.
The dose you say 0.03 is a strange dose. Are you able to take a photo of it in the syringe and post it here?
You will need to copy the photo and paste it into where you write.

Royal canin dry food is a high carb food. Diabetic cats need low carb 10% or under carbohydrates. Otherwise they will continue to have high blood glucose levels. Do you have access to any canned food in Portugal? Such as fancy feast pates.?
Please give your kitty some extra snacks during the day and night apart from the meal you give before the insulin doses. It is absolutely fine to feed them at other times. Just don’t feed him for the 2 hours before you give the insulin as we don’t want the pre shot blood glucose level to be influenced by food.

I was not informed by the vet about the 30 minutes I give him the insulin right after he eats , I am so glad that you told me that thank you so much !!! I will ask his vet about other insulin options for Patinhas. Here it is the syringe, my nail is marking the dose I was told to give him. Yes I do have access to some brands of canned food I am not sure which ones could be the best for Patinhas. Is Royal Canin food not a good option even if it says that it is for Diabetic cats ? I bought this one because before the diagnose Patinhas stopped eating and even had to take some appetite stimulants (he is eating normaly now) and he used to eat renal food from Specific and when he stopped eating I bought Royal Canin Renal food and he started eating better so I kept the brand in Diabetic food because I was afraid that he could stop eating again if I changed the brand.

 

[Catarina_21]

No questions are ever dumb here so please ask as many questions as you like.
We can’t say when the insulin dose begins to work and starts to bring down the BGs. So to be safe we always say test before every shot.
While you are out getting some more lancets, I would also buy some ketostix or dia ketostix from a pharmacy ( the same ones that humans use) and test the urine for ketones. There should be no ketones and if the BGs (blood glucose) are remaining high, we need to make sure no ketones develop. So testing the urine is the best way to do that. You will need to collect a urine sample from your kitty and follow the directions on the bottle.

Ok, it makes sense thank you so much for the help, I will go to the pharmacy now and ask for those.

UPDATE: I just got the lancets and the test strips so I can start testing his levels tonight (I am worried about something tho, 2 out of the 3 times that I've tested him no values apper on the screen only "HI" only last night I had a "normal" number and it was 554). Unfortunetlly the pharmacist told me that the ketostix are very specific and that their supplier doesn't even have them but she adviced me to try another pharmacy, I don't drive so I cant go to another pharmacy because they are far from my home. On Monday I can try to see what pharmacies I encounter on my way to university.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

I’m going to ask @FrostD to look in on you as she is a caninsulin user and I am not. I used lantus and levemir.
Can you take a photo of the whole syringe please with the marking on it so we can see it clearly please?
Do you know if it is a U40 syringe? I’m not sure what you are showing us is an insulin syringe.


Food:is this the food you are feeding at the moment? It’s 18.8% carbs which is high carb. But don’t do any changes to the food until you have a spreadsheet set up and we can help you transition as changing over to a low carb food can drop the blood glucose levels quite a bit.
https://petchemist.com.au/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-feline-diabetic-dry-cat-food.html?sku=RCFELDIA3.5 (10680)&setCurrencyId=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5_O71OS79wIVSg4rCh3dLQgWEAQYBSABEgJtkvD_BwE

I am going to give you the UK information sheet which has the FOOD LIST in it. You may find some foods you can get in Portugal. Also there is other interesting information in it.
It’s really important he keeps eating.

 

[Catarina_21]

I’m going to ask @FrostD to look in on you as she is a caninsulin user and I am not. I used lantus and levemir.
Can you take a photo of the whole syringe please with the marking on it so we can see it clearly please?
Do you know if it is a U40 syringe? I’m not sure what you are showing us is an insulin syringe.


Food:is this the food you are feeding at the moment? It’s 18.8% carbs which is high carb. But don’t do any changes to the food until you have a spreadsheet set up and we can help you transition as changing over to a low carb food can drop the blood glucose levels quite a bit.
https://petchemist.com.au/products/royal-canin-veterinary-diet-feline-diabetic-dry-cat-food.html?sku=RCFELDIA3.5 (10680)&setCurrencyId=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMI5_O71OS79wIVSg4rCh3dLQgWEAQYBSABEgJtkvD_BwE

I am going to give you the UK information sheet which has the FOOD LIST in it. You may find some foods you can get in Portugal. Also there is other interesting information in it.
It’s really important he keeps eating.

The needle was off and I am not the greatest with photos I'm sorry !! But I hope that the next photos are a bit better:

And yes thats the food he is eating at the moment! Ok thank you so much I will check it out

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Thanks for the photo. That is not a U40 syringe. So unless you are using a conversion table (which can be done) you will need to change the syringe.
However, wait until @FrostD comes along to confirm this.

 

[Catarina_21]

Thanks for the photo. That is not a U40 syringe. So unless you are using a conversion table (which can be done) you will need to change the syringe.
However, wait until @FrostD comes along to confirm this.

Ok, thank you so much for the help

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Ok, it makes sense thank you so much for the help, I will go to the pharmacy now and ask for those.

UPDATE: I just got the lancets and the test strips so I can start testing his levels tonight (I am worried about something tho, 2 out of the 3 times that I've tested him no values apper on the screen only "HI" only last night I had a "normal" number and it was 554). Unfortunetlly the pharmacist told me that the ketostix are very specific and that their supplier doesn't even have them but she adviced me to try another pharmacy, I don't drive so I cant go to another pharmacy because they are far from my home. On Monday I can try to see what pharmacies I encounter on my way to university.

If the blood glucose is over a certain number (it varies with different meters) the BG will read as HI. This a normal and it just means that it is over the maximum reading it goes to. So record that on the spreadsheet.
Reading in the 500s and above are high so make sure Patinhas is eating well and drinking plenty and don’t skip any doses of insulin. Another name for the ketostix is keto-diastix.

 

[Catarina_21]

If the blood glucose is over a certain number (it varies with different meters) the BG will read as HI. This a normal and it just means that it is over the maximum reading it goes to. So record that on the spreadsheet.
Reading in the 500s and above are high so make sure Patinhas is eating well and drinking plenty and don’t skip any doses of insulin. Another name for the ketostix is keto-diastix.

Ok good !! I thought that the meter was broken or something. I will record that thank you so much.
He is definitely eating well and drinking A LOOOOT of water. Thank you so much, I hope I can find those Monday.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

If you need any help with the spreadsheet I know that @Bandit's Mom will be happy to help you.

 

[FrostD]

We've seen people use those before it's just much more difficult. Are those markings in mL?

You will have a very hard time measuring the small doses required cats in those. Insulin doses are measured in units of insulin. Caninsulin is U40, so there are 40 units of insulin per mL. So 1 unit of Caninsulin would be drawn up to the 0.025 line...the trouble is we increase in 0.25U increments - 0.006mL, no way to measure that. We can probably make them work until you can get some proper insulin syringes

 

[Catarina_21]

We've seen people use those before it's just much more difficult. Are those markings in mL?

You will have a very hard time measuring the small doses required cats in those. Insulin doses are measured in units of insulin. Caninsulin is U40, so there are 40 units of insulin per mL. So 1 unit of Caninsulin would be drawn up to the 0.025 line...the trouble is we increase in 0.25U increments - 0.006mL, no way to measure that. We can probably make them work until you can get some proper insulin syringes

Yes it is in mL, ok thank you so much on monday I will ask the vet for one of those.