Erin Ethan
Member Since 2023
Hi everyone,
First let me say what an amazing resource this forum has been since our cat Ethan was diagnosed last month.
We're still new on the journey, but I have several questions and concerns already with the protocol he's been put on. I will aim to keep this post as high-level intro, and will try to look for related threads before posting specific questions.
We got Ethan (and his brother Elliott) from a local rescue when he was a kitten; he was born a barn cat. We also have a third cat Mavis who's two years older than Ethan and Elliott.
The first sign of anything amiss with Ethan was when he was 2 years old he was diagnosed with stomatitis. His vet based the diagnosis on seeing inflamed gums with no obvious plaque or tartar buildup. This was found during a routine physical exam. Ethan had no signs of pain in his mouth (no issues with appetite, no pawing, dropping food, drooling, etc.). The redness remains localized to his gums. Full mouth extractions were recommended, but we wanted to hold off given he was not showing any symptoms and he was so young (we will do it if its ultimately necessary to control his diabetes).
Ethan was diagnosed with diabetes in December (symptoms were excess thirst, excess urination, weight loss - he was also having soft stools which was initially attributed to a food allergy). He hasn't been significantly overweight in his life (upper end of the normal range as I understand from the vet). His teeth now have very prominent plaque buildup along with the inflamed gums. The vet does not want to try a cleaning as there is "no point".
Ethan was started on 2 units of Lantus insulin given twice daily (he is 4.4kgs) with canned "prescription" diabetic food fed twice daily at insulin time. We are using a Libre2 device to monitor his glucose readings (we're on our third sensor already as the first two crapped out before the two weeks were up- tried calling Abbott but they were less than helpful). After a few days on the 2-unit dose, Ethan's clinical signs disappeared. His blood glucose curve still appeared to be fairly extreme e.g., ranging from 20mmol/l+ down to 3.9mmol/l later in the same day (this was after ~a week and a half of treatment).
After the one-time 3.9 reading, his vet suggested reducing his dose to 1 unit as he could be reverting and might have a hypo episode (we are at home watching him vigilantly). Since reducing to 1 unit doses roughly a week ago, we have seen his thirst and urination symptoms return somewhat. We just started a new Libre sensor yesterday, and in the past nearly 24 hours it looks like he's running flat at 17+ mmol/l to 20 mmol/l.
Ethan is playful and grooming, although throughout his treatment he's become just absolutely ravenous. His vet has recommended he eat 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 cans per day.
Speaking at a high level, I feel Ethan is on a protocol that might be more dog oriented (2 meals 12 hours apart) and geared for the "typical" scenario of an overweight older cat, instead of his (somewhat) unique situation. Our goal is to do whatever it takes to give him the best chance of reverting, but I'm not feeling confident with his current protocol that he has the best chance of getting there, and I feel like we're running out of time.
Sorry for a semi-venting introductory post... I was a feeling down today with his high readings and just writing this out helped a bit
.
First let me say what an amazing resource this forum has been since our cat Ethan was diagnosed last month.
We're still new on the journey, but I have several questions and concerns already with the protocol he's been put on. I will aim to keep this post as high-level intro, and will try to look for related threads before posting specific questions.
We got Ethan (and his brother Elliott) from a local rescue when he was a kitten; he was born a barn cat. We also have a third cat Mavis who's two years older than Ethan and Elliott.
The first sign of anything amiss with Ethan was when he was 2 years old he was diagnosed with stomatitis. His vet based the diagnosis on seeing inflamed gums with no obvious plaque or tartar buildup. This was found during a routine physical exam. Ethan had no signs of pain in his mouth (no issues with appetite, no pawing, dropping food, drooling, etc.). The redness remains localized to his gums. Full mouth extractions were recommended, but we wanted to hold off given he was not showing any symptoms and he was so young (we will do it if its ultimately necessary to control his diabetes).
Ethan was diagnosed with diabetes in December (symptoms were excess thirst, excess urination, weight loss - he was also having soft stools which was initially attributed to a food allergy). He hasn't been significantly overweight in his life (upper end of the normal range as I understand from the vet). His teeth now have very prominent plaque buildup along with the inflamed gums. The vet does not want to try a cleaning as there is "no point".
Ethan was started on 2 units of Lantus insulin given twice daily (he is 4.4kgs) with canned "prescription" diabetic food fed twice daily at insulin time. We are using a Libre2 device to monitor his glucose readings (we're on our third sensor already as the first two crapped out before the two weeks were up- tried calling Abbott but they were less than helpful). After a few days on the 2-unit dose, Ethan's clinical signs disappeared. His blood glucose curve still appeared to be fairly extreme e.g., ranging from 20mmol/l+ down to 3.9mmol/l later in the same day (this was after ~a week and a half of treatment).
After the one-time 3.9 reading, his vet suggested reducing his dose to 1 unit as he could be reverting and might have a hypo episode (we are at home watching him vigilantly). Since reducing to 1 unit doses roughly a week ago, we have seen his thirst and urination symptoms return somewhat. We just started a new Libre sensor yesterday, and in the past nearly 24 hours it looks like he's running flat at 17+ mmol/l to 20 mmol/l.
Ethan is playful and grooming, although throughout his treatment he's become just absolutely ravenous. His vet has recommended he eat 1 and 1/4 to 1 and 1/2 cans per day.
Speaking at a high level, I feel Ethan is on a protocol that might be more dog oriented (2 meals 12 hours apart) and geared for the "typical" scenario of an overweight older cat, instead of his (somewhat) unique situation. Our goal is to do whatever it takes to give him the best chance of reverting, but I'm not feeling confident with his current protocol that he has the best chance of getting there, and I feel like we're running out of time.
Sorry for a semi-venting introductory post... I was a feeling down today with his high readings and just writing this out helped a bit
.
. If my vet is not supportive or does not carry pens that allow .25 unit increments, could I buy this over the counter?
