Newly Diagnosed and overwhelmed

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SaraM2261

SaraM2261

Member Since 2011
Hi everyone,
What a cool board. Well, I am a cat lover and own three cats at this time. My very most lovey and awesome cat (although I love them all this guy is super special to me in particular. He is my sleeping buddy every single night and he takes care of me when I am sick never leaving my side if he knows something is wrong with me. No animal has ever loved me more than him and I love him right back.) started peeing/drinking amazing amounts this week so I brought him in to the vet today and he was diagnosed with diabetes. :(

We were prescribed Lantus, 1 unit morning and night. I have read and re-read lots of the information on this site and while I am very overwhelmed I am starting to get my head around it. Luckily my husband and I are financially able to handle all of these expenses without any issues there. (I definitely had sticker shock at first though! And so did my husband when I got home. To which my reaction was to break down in tears and say, "We can't just let him die." Which quickly got my hubby over the sticker shock and he said, "Of course we can't, we can do this.")

I have been tearful off and on all day, and spending lots of extra time with my sweet kitty. His blood glucose was not insane - it was 148 at the clinic. So now I am kind of concerned about a hypoglycemic attack. Also I know I caught this very early which also makes me worry about hypo because his pancreas could kick in for a honeymoon at any random time. :(

Anyhow, thanks for being here and thanks for reading all of this if you got this far!! :) I'm sure I'll be on a lot, especially if he proves hard to regulate here at the start. I am about to feed him and then give him his first dose so wish me luck.
-Sara
PS: Hubby and I work from home, so we will be able to monitor him very well, and we also have 2 kids: daughter who's 6 and a son who's 3.
 
148 at the clinic is a low number. We usually consider they are high at the vet because they are stressed, and that their blood glucose levels go down when they get home and relax. We would encourage a new diabetic not to shoot any insulin at that number. Our cut off number is 200.

Have you given any insulin?
 
I just gave him his first dose.
I'm going to give him some wet food now that you say that. He'll probably eat the whole thing because it's a huge treat for him, so we'll see in about 4 hours or so.
Thanks!
 
Also thinking that a BG monitor would be good to have at home. So I am going to call the vet and see if he can recommend one etc...
 
Sara,

It can be dangerous for him to have any insulin if that number was at the vet. He can hypo. Are you willing to learn how to home test tonight to keep track of his numbers and keep him safe?

Did your vet do a fructosamine test or just the blood test with a meter? Are you sure it was 148?
 
Sara just sent me a pm and asked about meters. I said I would reply here.

Sara, here is the shopping list. No, you don't need a prescription. You are buying a human meter.

A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 26-28 gauge is good. Any brand will work as long as the lancets match your device.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats

If one of you could go to the store, the other could stay here with us and we will get the stuff (and kitty) prepared to test.
 
I don't want you to scare you, Sara. But with a new diabetic we are always cautious. Some cats test much lower at home and much lower than 148 would be really low for a one unit shot. If you can test tonight, you will be able to see how he is doing and whether he is going too low and you will be able to intervene.

Also, you may need some high carb food (the kind with gravy is good) and some syrup and an empty syringe - just in case. Better to be safe than sorry.
 
I'm here by myself at the moment (with my two kids whom I just put to bed...(sigh).
My hubby should be home about 11pm (in like 3 hours).

He definitely seems to peak on high in the evening (just by behavior this week) every evening 8pm-10pm-ish he will drink water like a mad man for minutes on end and eat a lot more too. The cats hide and sleep most of the day and don't eat a whole lot, then when the kids go to bed the wake up and eat and play with us and spend time out in the main living areas. So, I am thinking it might be ok, especially with giving him all this wet food.

So, here's the debate = do I wake the kids up and put them in the car and go get a meter or wait it out and see what happens?? I know hypo is extremely serious, and I have the vet's home # so he seemed concerned and attentive but not overly. I feel pretty confident that with Duncan (cat)'s eating behaviors during the day that actually could have been a low, but I really appreciate your advice and help. He is my best animal friend so, it's important. I'm just so new to all this.

I was almost going to wait until morning to give him is first dose so I could watch him closer. I guess just like human kids this little man is going to keep me up all night tonight for his first dose. :)
 
Hi sara,
what is kitty's name?
Looks like Sue has already explained lots of things, and wanted to let you know that there's a whole pile of people here who like nothing more than meeting new members and helping them out with this.

If you can get to a store tonight, definitely do so. It'll be sort of a quick tour of how to treat a diabetic cat, but that's ok. We can explain all the little details later, but for now, let's make sure kitty is alright, ok? Follow along with what Sue is saying, and others like me are here too in case we think of something else you need to know right now. The more people in the conversation, the more difficult it will be for you to keep up with it.

My name is Carl, my Kitty is Bob, and after joining here and getting tons of good advice, he went into remission only about a month later. The people here really know their stuff.

Carl
 
Welcome Sara and extra sweet Duncan!

Oh I so WISH/HOPE/BEG for a 148 from KT and he's been on insulin for 5 months!! I wonder why the diagnosis of diabetes with a bg of 148?

Sticker shock: It doesn't HAVE to be expensive other than the initial cost of Lantus. There's probably cheaper places to get it than your vet. Please get the Reli-on 'Contour' meter rather than the Reli-on Ultima. The Ultima takes huge amounts of blood, the strips draw slow and error more often than my Contour ever has. The Contour is the one with the cheapest strips.

BIG hugs!!! Welcome to our family!
 
Do you mean he had a unit today already? At home or at the vet? When did the vet get the 148? Was it before the shot at the vet or somewhere in the middle of the cycle? How did he act today?

it is impossible to know what the insulin will do. Every cat reacts differently. That is why we test at home so we never give a shot if their numbers are too low and so we can monitor to see how they are doing. The problem is that if he would go too low, he could have a bad reaction and require ER care. If you can test him, you can test him before he gets that low and intervene with high carb food or syrup.

I am sorry for you to have this kind of introduction. Usually we have time to welcome you and your kitty and give you lots of advice on things in a calm, easy manner. We just need to know more about when the 148 came to know how this work out.
 
The 148 was fructose by blood at 10:30am today - no insulin was given at the vet at all.
we went to the pharm and got the insulin and the rest of the day was normal. This is his first dose that I just gave him at 8pm tonight. The doc didn't give any and said that was so I could get on the time schedule I wanted later tonight.

I took all food away when we got home, and then I just fed dry at 7:30 and then insulin at 8pm one unit, and then after posting here gave a whole can of wet with gravy fancy feast which he just finished.
 
Welcome Sara & Duncan

I see Sue is already explaining everything very well at this point...Is there a chance you can reach your hubby and have him stop by a Wal-mart and grab a human meter, lancets and test strips...Wal-mart has an excellent meter called the Relion Micro for about $10, lancets should be another 3-4 dollars and test strips about $20 for 50 then at least we can start teaching (trial by fire) how to test Duncan to make sure he is okay tonight.

148 although on the high side is still a very normal BG number for a cat especially at the clinic. I work part-time as kennel help for my vet and they won't even suggest diabetes unless it is over 300 but will order additional tests...Again don't want to scare you, we just want to make sure Duncan is going to be okay this evening.

Also if you want to give us a city and state we might have someone close than can pop by to show you the ropes...I'm in Hastings Nebraska and have 2 diabetic cats as well as 11 non-diabetics.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
We would probably consider 148 a normal non diabetic number because it was at the vet where most kitties are stressed. That is why we are worried about giving him insulin with that kind of a number.

Giving him food with gravy is probably a good plan as it should help keep his levels higher. Don't feed a whole lot - a little at a time is better so he doesn't get full.

3 hours is a while to wait. Anyone near you who is diabetic and might come over and let you borrow their meter and strips?
 
He's definitely diabetic. With the water and the peeing and the eating but still dropping wt I was pretty sure before I even went to the vet.
I thought the meters would be in the hundreds of dollars, and I also thought you needed a script for them!!! I am going to get the kiddos up and have an "adventure" to Walgreen's and get one and I will test him and let you all know.

Thanks for letting me know how serious this could be.

He's cream/white and I can see huge capillaries in his ears. He also never needs to be held to do anything. Even the vet didn't need to hold him to take blood or urine in a totally separate room from me so I think I can do it, but I will be back if I can't.
 
He's cream/white and I can see huge capillaries in his ears. He also never needs to be held to do anything. Even the vet didn't need to hold him to take blood or urine in a totally separate room from me so I think I can do it, but I will be back if I can't.
Click to expand...

99% of the people who just read that thought "What? I want THAT kitty!!!"
drive safe, and we'll be here when you get back.
Carl
 
Hope the kids enjoy the adventure. I am so sorry this is your introduction to the site.

When you get back, put a flashlight up next to his ear. Running along his ear is a vein. Going out to the edge of the ear from that vein to the edge are capillaries. That is where you want to poke.

Try the meter on yourself first so you know how it works. Put some hot water in an empty pill bottle and put it up next to his ear and get it nice and warm. Then take the lancet and poke his ear with the pill bottle behind so you have a surface to poke against.

It is great that he is mellow and should be patient with Mom stabbing him. :mrgreen: It may be that he was also not stressed at the vet and his number will not be too low.
 
Good news (this is bad news, but it's good tonight)
I just tested him and he's at 304 right now.

Whew!
So, I got the Relion Ultra, lancets and device and strips. Came home flinging boxes. Kids are already asleep! (wow) Tested myself and then tested him. Didn't make it on the first poke, but he was laying along side me purring so I just took a lancet in my hand and did it manually without the device and was able to really see what I was doing. Grazed that main vein and got my more than enough for a sample.

Thank you all so much. So much better to know these things than to guess.
I think I will take another at 12pm (it's 10pm here now) and see if he's coming down.

Any other words of wisdom?? :) So glad I found this site tonight.

Thank you!!!
 
Fantastic! Welcome to the vampire club!

That number is safe - it may reflect the high carb he ate. I am confused about the low number at the vet but glad he isn't low.

So, now that you can test, you'll want to test before every shot to be sure it is safe to give the insulin. Until you have data and know how he is likely to react, we suggest not giving insulin if he is 200 or under.
 
Just wanted to say welcome to the club! You are in the right place. I was where you are just 2 months ago, and now, thanks to this board my kitty is going into remission I think! (day 10 of no insulin)

You're doing amazing and getting great advice!

Test before each shot and everyone here will walk you through what to do!
 
So now we can do the normal newbie stuff. Welcome!

Lantus is a good mild insulin. And now that you can home test, you can easily keep his doses safe.

What are you feeding? We like wet lo carb food.
 
My cat was just diagnosed a week and a half ago, so I'm not far ahead of you, but I can tell you it does get easier! Being able to test made a huge difference to me in terms of peace of mind. I know people who don't home test, but I can't not do it and then just wonder. I wish Mikey would behave as well as your cat does for his ear pricks!

Anyway, I don't have a ton of advice yet; I'm new to this, too, but it does get better! Finding this board the other day was fantastic...it's good to know you're not alone!
 
Whew! Glad you got a test in tonight and that he wasn't low.

Now Welcome to the FDMB Family!

Good idea on getting another test in couple hours to check if he is dropping and by how much before going to bed for the night. I know I will at the very least still be around and I'm sure others will too if you want to post those results as well.

Welcome to dancing with a Sugarcat, sorry it had to be a trial by fire but at least you have mastered one of the key steps. :-D

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
I really can't say thank you enough.
So, I just tested again and he's at 297, so coming down nice and slow. (after a huge meal! So I will keep that in mind as well.)

I am/was feeding science diet mature indoor formula. The others (cats Junior(approx. 16y) and Chambord(approx. 12y)) will be happy to hear that we have to change to wet. :) They love it! I have read enough posts on here to know how much it can help. I have also learned about peaking and onset of the administered insulin, so I know better when to dose and when to feed.

When our cats get sick we get them on wet immediately and now I can see why it helps. Just like kids and ginger ale and toast/crackers.
So that will be an easy change for us. We always have wet on hand in case someone (cat) gets sick, or has a bad hairball.

I have found that the lancing device sucks for me/us and I am a LOT better with just a lancet in hand (33 gauge). That being said this is a particularly docile cat. But still, I feel like I have no clue where that needle is going when I use the device and if I just handle it I can see it's going where I want it. So this last time I held him and he didn't love it but he didn't struggle much and he is now "telling" me it's time for bed (for both of us to snuggle) so obviously he's not harboring any ill feelings about the test. :)

This poor kitty has been through a lot today. I am amazed that he is still speaking to me at all. Thank you all for your help and support. It's been an eventful 12 hours that's for sure. Let's hope this can go on for a long long time. Other than a completely unknown stray that I got from the humane society years ago (I have no idea how old he was, but I adopted him as a very mature adult who died after 2 major surgeries from cancer (had two major surgeries to remove tumors and sent bios to University of MN to see what the heck was going on back when we had no money at all, we <3 our kitties)...RIP) I have not had a cat not live to 20+, and Duncan is only about 10. I can only hope I have 10 more years of love from this special kitty, but I will take what I can get. He was a rescue from a litter that came in to a vet clinic I was working at as a front office admin. His whole litter was NUTS and had to be put down, his mom was nuts as well and blind, probably from untreated diabetes. We tried to imprint the whole litter (4 brothers/sisters) for about a week and Duncan was the only one who warmed up to us.

We have a vacation scheduled in Feb. and need support for 1 week during that time. I have yet to see the rest of this message board but maybe there is someone here who can help. If not then my next source is the vet office staff. I hope by that time I can give someone some reasonable instructions and have some kind of schedule that would be easy to follow.

I have always known that this is a special cat, but it's really hitting me now just how much he loves me.
Thanks again everyone!!! I appreciate all your help tonight. I am going to go actually sleep, and very well after so many tears today only because you all spurred me on to get the meter and test him to be sure. Thank you, from my heart.

-Sara M.
will post pics and get an avatar soon :)
 
You will do great with this sugar dance, Sara. We are so glad you were willing to go out and get the meter and test him.

You have probably read that a change to wet lo carb can really lower the levels so be monitoring for that when you change. And we have a Lantus support group with great info on how Lantus works and how to dose. It is worth some reading time.

viewforum.php?f=9

This morning start a new thread with your new number and tell us how things are going!
 
Hi Everyone,
I have a newly diagnosed cat named Daphne. Its been about 3 weeks or so, since she's been diagnosed. Since then we started her on 1 u of insulin 2x's daily, then last week we did the 12 hours curve and the numbers were not good…250 low and 484 high. I know I may be a bit confusing because of my own illness, memory is bad, but I'll try to recount things in the best order I can. For some reason I have the 11/24/11- one and a half u 2x's daily. So I guess we started with one u but moved up to 1 1/2 after the first test at home. (I borrowed my brother-in-laws meter for the day and I thought that was the problem, but I see that everyone here also uses human meters too, so we did another 12 hr. curve today (the vet said to give her little ears a brake), so a week later her numbers are a little better I think, TEST 5:40 AM TODAY AND EVERY 2 HOURS SINCE, first number was 340, then at 5:45, 1/2 can food DM, and 2 u of insulin, then test 1/2hr. after this was 378, then 335, 317, 275..then the next dose of insulin 5:45PM, test @ half hour was 266, ending the day with a 258 (just an extra test at 1 AM now) the vet is now closed till Monday and I will only have this board to guide me till then. I know this board does not replace the vet, but this is more for my peace of mind. I watched her all this time, (I know, just like that letter from a cat I read, so true), I follow her around, looked at her eating… I am most concerned about her back legs, if the floor does not have a rug, she slips and will just sit and rest, they are better then they were last week though. I had another cat with diabetes years ago, but she was great, just one u a day and lived a happy long life of 17 years. So far, I have a feeling this time is not going to be that easy. So I read a lot and from what I see, I don't think she is, I think its called, rebounding, (too much insulin?), because there are no low numbers at all. And also, since 4 days ago, we have increased the dose to 2 u 2x's a day. I don't know how long it takes to see improvement after an increase in dose. So if I can ask a question or two here, maybe I can figure things out before I see the vet on Monday. 1. Does anyone know if the numbers I give here are normal for a cat diagnosed 2 weeks ago? 2. Does it take a long time to see an improvement in numbers? The vet said, only feed her 1/2 can DM in Am, and 1/2 can in PM followed by insulin. Already I had to cheat a little, she just seems so hungary, and will sit and look at her dish till the next time to eat, so I give her 1/8 can for snacks throughout the day except when we do the curve. (she was on dry food for most of her life, she's 15) And if I can ask one more question, 3. Does anyone give their cat more then 2 u's a day, it just seems like a lot for a 14 pound cat, since my other cat only got 1 u for years.
Thank you to anyone that has any answers at all for this "overwhelming" process.
Barb
 
Hi Barb,
Go back out into the main area where you can see all the threads and click on "start a new thread" toward the top of the page and post what you posted in here and people will respond to you if they haven't already. People generally start one new thread per day and this is my thread for yesterday. :)

I will read it through in the morning when I wake up for real. Just doing a test here and going back to bed. :)
-Sara
 
Just tested at 3:30am and he's at 376 at 9+ (had to shoot early because we went out.) He was 291 right at the time of the night time shot which was 1:25 early for him.

Should I assume he is still filling the shed? We are only in the 3rd cycle. But I haven't seen a number lower than 271 when he peaks on Lantus. And judging by this number he will be higher by the time he gets his next shot at 6:45/7am this morning...3:45 hours away... ?

Thoughts?? (I should probably start a thread for Sunday...) off to bed finally. :)

I am just concerned about the continued high numbers over each cycle. Hoping this is still the time when he "should" still be filling the shed. Trying to just be patient and not change anything but it's hard to know he's constantly high.
 
Hi Daphne,

You will get lost, as Sara said, at the end of her post. I am going to repost you on your own thread. Look for Daphne#5New Post. You should get some replies there. (I will start with one)

Sue
 
Hi Sara,

As I have said, I don't use Lantus so have to keep sending you back to the stickies. Dosing early is like a dose increase so I know that changes what you should do with your next dose, but I am not sure what.

Why don't you start a new thread this am (hopefully before you shoot) and put Lantus in the title so you get some Lantus eyes?

Also, can we help you set up a spreadsheet so we and you and your vet can see your history of dosing and numbers at a glance? Here is the way to do it:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50130

It is complicated so if you need help, just ask.
 
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