Newly diagnosed diabetes for my cat

[Kittius]

Hi Everyone,
I’m Jenna and my cat is five year old Kittius. About a month ago he was diagnosed with Diabetes after he saw a vet because he had been drinking a lot of water and urinating frequently. After his blood and urine results he was put on 1 unit of Glargine twice a day and we removed most kibble from his diet focusing on canned low carb food and protein treats. Over the last few weeks his water consumption has decreased and his urinating has as well. He’s still not quite his energetic self though. He’s not completely back to normal and sleeps more. He went for a check up a couple of days ago and his glucose spot check was 260 but his fructosamine was fairly high in the 400’s, believe. The vet raised his insulin dose to 1.5. He hates getting a home glucose check so it’s a real struggle to get blood from him and it ends up causing him stress and likely elevating his numbers. Has anyone tried the freestyle libre monitor and does it work? I worry about the glue hurting his skin.
Thank you for any advice and encouragement. He has always been such a happy little boy and I fear some of the joy has left him.

 

[CORKY]

Welcome to FDMB
If you have difficulty testing the CGM comes in handy, but it is not a good idea placing the sensor with glue first because it irritates the skin and because the sensor can cause faulty levels or not work at all, this is why is recommends to always have a manual monitor handy in case the sensor falls off or malfunctions, because it is very important to test prior shooting insulin, you want to know his glucose level to avoid a hypoglycemia episode

 

[Kittius]

Welcome to FDMB
If you have difficulty testing the CGM comes in handy, but it is not a good idea placing the sensor with glue first because it irritates the skin and because the sensor can cause faulty levels or not work at all, this is why is recommends to always have a manual monitor handy in case the sensor falls off or malfunctions, because it is very important to test prior shooting insulin, you want to know his glucose level to avoid a hypoglycemia episode

Thank you so much for your reply.

 

[Connie & Parker & Moonie]

This might be helpful to look through - Getting Started With Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) for Diabetic Cats

You'll still want to be ready to do manual testing though since CGMs can malfunction or fall off.

You might have already seen this but sharing in case helpful - Info - TESTING AND SHOOTING TIPS

For us, we reserve the highest value treats only for testing, which has gotten Moonie very cooperative and excited to test at times. The biggest game changer for us was also investing a lot of time upfront warming her ear. Some people use the rice sock warmed in microwave trick, we also sometimes use handwarmers.

 

[Tim & Pookey]

Hi there! You got some good replies from Corky and Connie/Parker above. Could we help you with some home testing tips and tricks? I understand not all cats cooperate nicely for it, but maybe there are some quick wins we can share to help make that process easier for you two.

If you're going to stick around, this post has some good information about setting up your profile and a spreadsheet. Just makes it easier to see what's going on and for us to help better.

 

[Kittius]

This might be helpful to look through - Getting Started With Continuous Glucose Monitors (CGMs) for Diabetic Cats

You'll still want to be ready to do manual testing though since CGMs can malfunction or fall off.

You might have already seen this but sharing in case helpful - Info - TESTING AND SHOOTING TIPS

For us, we reserve the highest value treats only for testing, which has gotten Moonie very cooperative and excited to test at times. The biggest game changer for us was also investing a lot of time upfront warming her ear. Some people use the rice sock warmed in microwave trick, we also sometimes use handwarmers.

Thank you so much for the advice. My little guy hates the glucose testing so much. He squirms and struggles and then this inflates his numbers because of the stress— stress for me too!
That’s why I’m considering the free style libre. I’m just not sure what the right thing to do is.

 

[Kittius]

Hi there! You got some good replies from Corky and Connie/Parker above. Could we help you with some home testing tips and tricks? I understand not all cats cooperate nicely for it, but maybe there are some quick wins we can share to help make that process easier for you two.

If you're going to stick around, this post has some good information about setting up your profile and a spreadsheet. Just makes it easier to see what's going on and for us to help better.

Yes, thank you! Sharing quick wins would be helpful!

 

[Tim & Pookey]

Yes, thank you! Sharing quick wins would be helpful!

Couple tips below that helped me with testing Pookey...

• Pick him up, and then bring him down like straddling him between my knees to keep him from wiggling around
• Sing or hum a song to keep things calm
• Freehand with the lancet and ditched the lancing device and understanding the lancet does have a pointier end
• Gently milk the ear like a pimple to get the bead of blood to come out