Newly Diagnosed Diabetic -- Sophia Winters

[Barbara Kay]

Hi! My beautiful black/smoke girl Sophia has hit some really rough times. About a month ago she suddenly went blind. We have no idea why. Both eyes just look like the irises are wide open but clouded over. At the same time her bg tested slightly high. So we treated for possible infection. Sophia adjusted to blindness well but was loosing a lot of weight. When tested again by vet, bg was 380. So she got her first 1 unit shot of ReliOn 70/30 today. I was very happy to find this site as Sophia and I start on this new journey. She's been there for me for 12 years; I hope I can do right by her.

 

[BJM]

ReliOn is the Walmart label. I believe what you have is a mix of NPH (70%) and Regular (30%) insulin. This suggests your vet is out of date. This mixture will hit hard and fast then wear off within 8 hours.

Up to date treatment uses longer acting insulin such as Lantus, Levemir, Prozinc, or PZI. Here are the AAHA Guidelines - you'll want to print these out, read them, and take them in to discuss with your vet.

The first thing we'll suggest is learning how to home test. You'll need a human glucometer (ex ReliOn Confirm), test strips for it (have a stockpile of 40-50 extra strips in case of lows low), and 26-27 gauge lancets for collecting blood. Pick up some Neosporin Ointment (not cream) with pain relief too; it helps the blood bead up, reduces the annoyance of testing, and helps the small pricks heal.

Also purchase some urine ketone test strips to check for ketones, a by-product of fat breakdown. Too many ketones may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), an expensive, potentially fatal complication of diabetes. See my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for ways to use these, plus some other ways to monitor diabetes.

 

[terri1962]

Hello

Welcome to the board. Did they ever check Sophia`s blood pressure? If her blood pressure was high it could have cause what you are describing in that her iris`s would be large and stay that way.
My cat Andy had high blood pressure and the same thing happened to him I had to rush to to the ER vet so they could administer IV medicine. They told me if he did not get it his retinas would detach and he would go blind.

Terri

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

I second what everyone said. Can i ask though what she is being fed? food/brand? wet or dry?

Definately need to start home testing too - its critical to keep her safe

Wendy

 

[Katie & Mego (GA)]

Welcome Barbara & Sophia!

I am new here as well. My little Mego was just diagnosed last Friday after blood/urine testing. Just so you know, you're in good hands here. If you're like me, you've probably been reading A LOT of information on this site. And honestly, there's more info here than any vet ever provided me so read up and hang in there. You're going to get a lot of advice from many who have been in your shoes as a newbie. So here's what I can tell you I've learned in the last week that has gotten Mego on the road to recovery:

- dry food has way more carbs than cats should have (only 10% or less of calories should come from carbs) so it's a good idea to switch to a wet canned food if you can. Many people here recommend Fancy Feast or Friskies. This website has a lot of great info on Feline Nutrition I'd recommend reading up on... http://catinfo.org/
- If you're on a tight budget like I am, it's good to start doing home testing if you can. Testing at the vet can get quite expensive and you'll have the real time numbers you need to dose correctly. I purchased the ReliOn Micro from Walmart, test strips, lancets and ketone strips as my starter kit.
- Check with your vet as to why they chose the insulin they did. From what I can tell, most of us here are on Lantus, Levemir or PZI. These are longer lasting insulins.
- Read, read, read everything on these info boards. Bookmark pages you want to come back to for easy reference. It's kind of a jungle in here.
- Ask every question even if you think it's a dumb one. Everyone here is so willing to help you and Sophia.

So, welcome to the club and we wish you and Sophia all the best. We'll see you soon I'm sure.