Newly Diagnosed Diabetic

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Tell me about it, I have 2 diabetic cats, 1 neurotic cat and 2 elderly rabbits with arthritis and cataracts.

I never use the lancet device because I like to control of depth and angle by just using the lancet on its own by hand (like quite a few people on this forum). Plus the click would freak my cats out.
 
Very tired here and think this might be a question I have asked already of someone...so Rylee is testing 104 2 hrs after shot. So tonight when it's time to feed her do I test her before or after to determine her shot status?? Thanks!!

Tomorrow she goes in for another curve, can't wait to give the vet this info.

BTW - will be last curve done at vet since I am a "pro" at testing now :)
 
as long as you test her within about 15 minutes of eating, you can test her after she eats if that works good for you. i know she is excited and a little wiggly when she's hungry :-) . fwiw, you can test her before eating too. that's what i have to do otherwise Mousie won't sit still for her test. she knows if she gets her pokeys then she gets food so she cooperates. if she has her food first, she'd never get in her spot for her pokeys :-)

since you have a 104 at +2 (two hours after the last shot), you'll want to test again in a couple hours to see where she's at by the way
 
So Rylee is at the vet having her last curve done there. From now on I will be doing it. Her Lantus is going to be reduced from 1.5ML to 1ML 2x day.

Question on glucometer. Vet said only use animal glucometer, that people one won't give proper readings. Does anyone disagree and do you have proof to back it up. animal glucometer strips are so expensive.

Thanks!!
 
My vet said the same thing, but I found I just can't afford the pet strips all the time. I have a human glucometer (Arkray Glucocard Vital) too and it seems to do just fine. The numbers are pretty similar. I just use the vital most times and then use the AlphaTrak2 (pet meter) for official vet BG curves, or if I have questions about any test results. That way, the vet gets numbers from the meter she prefers and I have a solution I can afford on a regular basis. It also means that I can take the human monitor if we ever take Chester traveling. It was a LOT cheaper than the pet meter and I won't mind so much if I forget or lose it. LOTS of people here use the human meters, so they must work pretty well.
 
MbMinx

How far off is the human one from the alpha track?? and thank you for your response :)...I can't wait to change Rylee from that nasty prescription food to something better
 
If you check my signature, I have a link to Chester's spreadsheet. If you scroll to the bottom of the spreadsheet, there's a tab for last year's data. you can see about halfway through where I switched meters. The numbers seem to line up about the same. I have heard that the AlphaTrak2 reads a little bit (maybe 30 points?) higher than the human meters. It doesn't really work to compare them directly - meters only have to be accurate within 20% of the "real" number. When his BG is sitting at around 500, that could be a variance of as much as 100 points (!!!!). Both meters tend to test closer to each other than that 20% margin of error.

I'll be doing another curve this weekend, so I'll be dusting off the AlphaTrak2. We'll have some more numbers to compare!
 
MustLuvCats said:
...Question on glucometer. Vet said only use animal glucometer, that people one won't give proper readings. ...
Click to expand...
There are cat-specific reference numbers to use with a human glucometer. See this Room & Rand article Dosing protocol for cats on glargine or detemir using daily home monitoring of blood glucose concentrations to adjust insulin dose At the low end, the devices differ by about 30 points,
Test values are plus or minus the 20% the FDA allows.
values -> - to + 20%
50 -> 40 to 60
100 -> 80 to 120
200 -> 160 to 240
300 -> 240 to 360
 
Thanks MbMinx and BJM, I will read up on this info. I really can't afford the Alpha Trak strips.

Rylee got dropped to .5 units of lantus, she has been on 1.5 for the last week but her numbers are too low now. The vet warned me they might spike again as her body continues to adjust to feeling better and using her sugars properly (I think I got that right)...we will see.

Stay tuned, oh and BTW, can someone point me in the direction of the spreadsheets to use. I see everyone's sheets but don't know how to get to a fresh one to start my own tracking
 
Hey how do you upload your pictures??? I wanted to put up a pic of Rylee. I am pretty computer savvy as I work on one all day long but this board isn't very user friendly
 
When you're posting a message, below the box there's a tab that says Upload attachment? Click that and you'll get prompted to "choose file". It just opens up a browse window. Locate your pic on your pc, click once on it, and the filename should get selected. Then hit the "add the file" button.
Next, click once back in your message window to make sure the cursor is where you want to pic to go in your message, and finally, click on the button that says "place inline".
That should put the file name into your message with the [attachment] filename.. [/attachment] code in it.
You can hit preview to check if it works before hitting submit.
There is a max size limit of 800 x 600 pixels for pics.
Carl
 
If you're talking about the small avatar pic to the right under our usernames...
You do that in your control panel. On the profile tab, you'll find Edit Avatar as a choice. The process is about the same, you get prompted to browse and find the pic. The big difference is that it can't be larger than 90 x 90 pixels, so you need a photo editor to reduce it that small, then save it to your hard drive. If the file is too large, you'll get an error message telling you that.
Carl
 
fwiw, i had used the freestyle flash since Mousie was diagnosed back in 2006 and never had a problem with it. when i took my foster kitty/now adopted kitty in for labwork a few months back my vet thought maybe it was reading a bit high because her labwork showed a fairly lower number than my meter readings had for him. so i got the relion prime and started using it. figured the flash might be wearing out since it was 6 yrs old and plus the good strips for it were getting harder and harder to find. the relion prime actually runs spot on with what the vet gets on her labwork so we've stuck with it ever since

on a side note, how are you liking this weather? brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 
Today Rylee's numbers are:

8 am feed breakfast
8:10 - 160 BG (no insulin)...she didn't get insulin last night either and she was 124 1 hr after eating
10:10 - 238 BG
1:15 - 171 BG

so can anyone tell me what they think is going on here?? She hasn't had insulin since yesterday morning.

Thanks!!
 
well you are just starting so this may take a while, but it looks like the food change has helped tremendously and she has a really good chance of going into remission (otj).
 
The vet wants me to check her urine with urine strips for the upcoming week then go back to doing the BG's...any thoughts on the urine strips???

Rylee's last read was 195 earlier this afternoon, the vet said stop the BG's until end of next week and also no insulin. Said Rylee is trying to regulate herself and she wants to see how she does.
 
The urine strips will tell you if her blood glucose is high enough to spill over into her urine. This usually happens if their blood glucose goes over about 180 or so.

A normal cat is 50-130, going up to maybe 150 after a meal. Usually on this forum they don't do a trial until the cat is in normal numbers for a week while the dose has been gradually reduced to less than 0.1units. Rylee is a higher than this right now and so you may find you need to put her back on the insulin if she can't sustain it.

Why doesn't the vet want you doing BG tests during the no insulin trial? It will give you a good idea of how she is trending..
 
Thank you Hillary, I did go there and post.

This is a confusing disease.

Will see what happens over this next week

Thanks!!
 
hey there, sorry i didn't post back yesterday. time is getting short with my 19 yr old i told you about so been spending time with him and on top of it, another one has decided to catch a cold or something this weekend so having to keep him separated from the rest and take care of him :-)

anyhoo, yeah, i think Rylee needs insulin too. like hillary said, not much, but some and probably for a short while so i don't think i'd take it away from her completely for a week in all honesty.
 
Hi Lynnlee, my thoughts are with you and your old kitty. Hope both of you are holding up ok

So what should I do be doing, the vet has her off for this week. Maybe I should do another curve tomorrow and she how she is holding up instead of waiting till Friday
 
if you want to do a modified curve tomorrow, there is nothing wrong with that. I don't think you need to do a full curve which is testing every 2 hours over 12 hours.

how about testing

amps
+2
+6
+9
pmps

and of course if you want you could test more often than that.
 
how about trying 0.5 unit.

also you may want to go to the lantus forum as I suggested previously, and ask the folks there what dose they recommend.

AMPS = morning pre shot
PMPS = evening pre shot
AMBG = morning BG (at shot time but no shot given)
PMBG = evening BG (at shot time but no shot given)

+2,+4+6 = the hours after the AMPS or PMPS

This is how we tell time on the board - this alleviates the concern about time zones and you saying well I tested and shot at 8am, etc. - as your 8 am is different from my 8 am. make sense?
 
hi hillary

this helps alot however I didnt' see till just now and didn't give her a shot....she tested 190 right after morning feed

should i wait till tomorrow now?? Don't want to do it tonight in case she goes too low...that's my biggest fear is her tanking and me freakin
 
Are you getting more than one test per day or cycle in? I don't see a spreadsheet, have you started one?
IF you have one, can you post it, attach it to your signature, so it shows up on your posts. And you may want to visit the lantus forum and get more guidance from the people there.

It is up to you whether you give her insulin or not. Will you be home/awake to get spot checks in?

If this were my cat, I would give insulin and get spot tests in, just to better understand how it is working. But that is me.
 
I think she is already posting on the lantus forum. i would recommend she continue to do that and ask questions in there since she should be posting in there regularly if not daily - put the (?) beside the condo name.
 
Great, since you are posting in Lantus, please disregard my previous post and ask your questions there, where it will get quick attention and the people who know lantus best can help you.
 
Hi guys, I did start with the Lantus board the other day. I thought I was only posting there but maybe got mixed up. I will work on a spreadsheet tomorrow. I am still not giving her the injections, I am testing her 3x daily per my vet instructions and will most likely start up again Friday at a lower dose. I still need you guys' advice but was becoming overwhelmed with all the info and so unsure what to do that it was making me doubt everything going on. Please don't give up on us :smile:
 
Hi Wendy, sent you a PM and did my spreadsheet!!!....not sure where vet is going with treatment but I assume shortly Rylee will be put back on insulin since her numbers are rising without
 
MustLuvCats said:
BTW how do I get my sheet to just read "Rylee"
Click to expand...
Remove the spaces from the following and put the web address in where it says webaddress.

[ u r l = webaddress ] Rylee[ / u r l ]
 
The tag for a link has 2 parts, 1 to start it and 1 to end it
If you click on the URL button above, you will see these 2 tags (without spaces - I put them in so you can see what is entered).
[ u r l ] [ / u r l ]

The text you want displayed goes between the 2 tags (without the spaces)
[ u r l ]Rylee[ / u r l ]

The web address is entered as part of the first tag, again, without the spaces
[ u r l = web address ]...
 
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