NEWLY DIAGNOSED TESTING MY ACCOUNT

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mkattz & Wally

mkattz & Wally

Member Since 2014
Hi All:

Wally my 15 yr old orange tabby cat was diagnosed with a tumor over his adrenal glad. He also has IBD and a heart murmur. After the tumor was discovered he gained a tremendous amount of weight, at the rate of 1 lb a week. The tumor was too risky to remove and I could not afford the surgery anyway. At the rate he was gaining weight we brought him home and planned on doing palliative care. We did test for Cushing Disease as his symptoms seemed to indicate it but he was negative. He became very large. I stopped weighing him at 26 lbs, I couldn't bear knowing how quickly he was gaining weight. I believed he was going to have a heart attack and that would be the end. He seemed pretty content, not to aware of his illness but as he got larger he started having mobility issues. Well Wally did not have a heart attack. Instead he lost weight, ate a lot, drank a lot and lost muscle mass in his limbs. I assumed that the tumor was doing weird things but out of the blue decided to test his BG and It was 497. We went directly to the vet and got a prescription for insulin. Wally started on two units twice a day on 6/12/16. I ran his first curve today and set up a chart for him. I hope it is attached. The results have not been very promising with the lowest reading being 334. Does anyone know if this type of tumor can make him a acro kitty? Any way Wally is a large kitty normally. His normal weight is approx. 17 or 18 lbs. I am starting low and going slow unless convinced otherwise. My last diabetic kitty was started at a high dose and we had hypo scares. His doctor also insisted on changing his diet immediately which ended up being fatal as he would not eat. I had to syringe feed him for months, never got his BC under control and he passed away within 7 months of diagnosis from pancreatitis and fatty liver disease. I don't want to go down that road again. Wally is only eating wet food but it isn't very low carb. He like Friskies with gravy. I tried to give him the pate but he would not eat it.
 
Hi Michelle and welcome.

Yes, you did attach the spreadsheet correctly. I was able to view it. Good job! One thing I noticed right off the top is that you are not always testing before you shoot. We strongly urge that you do so. You need to know that the BG is high enough to safely give the insulin. Please don't ever assume it will be high, because as you probably already discovered with your other kitty, FD is a very unpredictable disease. Especially when your kitty is new to insulin, you need to get as much data as you are able so you can see what the insulin is doing. It is perfectly fine to start out doing SLGS. Can you please add that to your signature, so people won't give you the wrong information?

As far as transitioning Wally to LC food, one suggestion is that you give him what he likes, then also give him a spoonful of the pate, next to his regular stuff. Even if he doesn't eat it, keep doing it at every meal. Eventually he will try it, and then start eating it. As he does, you can give him a little more of that and less of the other, etc., until he's eating only LC. I would get Fancy Feast Pate, so you aren't wasting as much as you would with Friskies. You might also try some other brands, like Wellness or BFF or Weruva - Weruva and BFF are mostly fish, but they usually have a bit of sauce, and he might like that. Are you familiar with Dr. Lisa's Food Chart? It's very handy for finding LC food, although it's a bit old so the newer brands aren't on it. If you find one you want to try, ask about it here - someone might have the info on it.

Meanwhile, read the stickies at the top of the Lantus & Levemir page and ask LOTS of questions. The only dumb question is the one you don't ask! I don't know how involved you were here with your first FD kitty, so forgive me if I'm telling you stuff you already know.

I'm going to see if I can get some of the members that have Acro cats to respond to your questions about that.
 
Just wanted to say welcome to the group and confirm your SS is attached correctly! I'm sorry to hear about Wally's conditions as well as your other kitty. Have you had a chance to take a look at the Sticky's on the main page? It's important to choose which protocol you'll be following and put that into your signature . Start Low Go Slow
SLGS or Tight Regulation Tight Regulation . It's also important to test before each shot and get a minimum of 1 mid-cycle test for both AM & PM cycles.

I see that Tricia has just posted so I'm going to jump out for less confusion!
 
Welcome to Lantus/Levemir Land, Michelle and Wally. I'm so very sorry that your other sweet baby crossed due to advice from your vet.

The starting dose for Start Low Go Slow is 1u every 12 hours if kitty is not on a low carb canned or raw diet. Just for comparison, the starting dose for the Tight Regulation Protocol for a kitty whose ideal weight is 17 pounds is about 2u every 12 hours.

Acromegaly is a high dose condition which results from a tumor on the pituitary gland. A very informative post regarding this condition as well as insulin autoimmune antibodies (IAA) is here.

Lantus is a depot insulin and it usually takes several days to fill the depot to the dose where he is....which might not be the "fitting" dose for him yet. The gravy food could also be greatly influencing his numbers but, as Tricia said, it's best to change foods slowly. I've had great success with the method she recommended.

As Tricia and Karen have suggested, a few more random tests each cycle in addition to a preshot test every cycle will allow us to see what Wally's BG might be doing.
 
Thank you all for responding. The vet originally wanted to start with 3 units twice a day but I insisted on starting low. They also told me not to test for one week as his numbers would be all over the place. That is why I just started testing today. I could tell he was not hypo as his urine output is still very high. I will try the food transition starting right now. It's time to take the 12 hour BC. I'm wanting to increase the dose a whole 1/2 unit instead of 1/4 unit based on his numbers. Good idea, bad idea, what do you guys think. A quick response would be appreciated. It is time for his next shot! I'm pretty sure I will be doing the SLGS regime but am still deciding and I'm tempted to break the rules already by increasing 1/2 unit already.
 
I would hold the dose until you gather more data. It's too difficult to say if the high numbers are because his dose is too low, too high, or just right and he's bouncing. Check out the New to the Group Sticky for definitions. We need several cycles worth of data to know what is happening.

If you are following SLGS, the increases are in .25U amounts. Only TR allows higher increases, but you need to be on a low carb wet or raw food diet. Changing his diet alone can make a HUGE difference to the blood sugar numbers. I'd start by holding the dose, getting more tests in, and doing the transistion to lower carb food.
 
Well we just took the 12 bc before dinner 394. Still really high. I gave him FF shreaded Medleys which is lower carb than the Friskies gravy food and he is eating it well. Just got off the phone with the vet and she said to increase insulin 1 unit. I will go with the 1/2 unit increase. Please let me know if you think this is the wrong thing to do!
 
Thank you for replying Wendy. You just changed my mind. I will hold off on the increase and see if the lower carb makes a difference
 
Welcome, Michelle!

I agree with Wendy. Transitioning to a lower carb food can make a huge difference in your cat's numbers. It sounds like you've been through the ringer when it comes to low numbers. It would be easier on your nerves to keep the dose where it is until you have more data while you're shifting Wally to lower carb food.

 
As an example of switching to low carb food we had one cat who was on low carb but snacking on another cats food, and he was on 5.5 units of Levemir. When the caregiver removed dry food from the house and after one very hairy 36 hours, the cat was no longer on insulin. That's an extreme example, but big changes can happen. The Fancy Feast Pates are even lower carbs. I believe the Medleys are more medium carb.
 
Yes, I understand that the lower carb food is an important part of the equation. I will be using your technique of mixing some with the food he likes. I feed him the FF shredded Medleys which is 10% carb which he liked last night and gave him a fat 2 units of insulin. I don't know how you can tell .25 unit from .5 unit, I'm really blind so it is hard for me to see the tiny markings. I gave him the same food this morning and he only ate half. I got out the Relion syringe, with half unit markings, and gave him 2.5 units. I know it was only suppose to be .25 increase. The doctor wanted to go up 1 unit. Don't be to upset with me. His AM BC before eating (I think, I left out some FF pate and it was gone this morning but I have 4 cats, so I can't be sure who ate it) was 407. Two hours after insulin up to 411. I will check in another 2 hours. Poor guy, I have his ears all bruised. I believe we want to keep the carbs at 10% or less. I have not let him have any kibble since diagnosis. Since he has mobility problems, this was easy. I just put it up on tables, the other cats can still have it. The wet food with gravy is between 12 to 15% carbs but he eats it well. This is hard! I just want him below 300 at this point! Oh by the way the fat gray and white cat in the picture is not Wally. That is Keeko, who did not have a good outcome. I will update the picture as soon as I have time and figure out how too.
 
Hello and welcome. Another tip for giving pate food is to add water to make it soupy (gravy). It might get him eating the lower carbs.
 
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