Pepe's mom said:
Good grief! Your vet sounds incompetent. I wonder, do they have malpratice for vets?
Vets can be sued for malpractice. You can also fiile a formal complaint with your state's veterinary medical association as well as the state board of licensing (vets in the US have to be licensed in order to practice).
Susan&Alex said:
Alex (age 15) was diagnosed 3 weeks ago. The vet is having trouble regulating him on Novalin N. He spent 4 days at the vet clinic, then got severely dehydrated after 24 hours of being home...then spent another 5 days at the vet clinic. Original dosage was 3U, then the vet increased to 3.5U, 4U, 5U...and today he wants to bump up to 6U since his BGL was 450 5 hours after his insulin shot this morning.
Novolin N is not a good insulin to use for cats. It simply does not work. Neither does Humulin N insulin.
Regulation doesn't happen at the vet's office. You don't see Human diabetics spend days in the hospital to get regulated. regulation takes time at home to achieve. Some cats can be regulated in a few short weeks, others may take a few months, and still others may need longer.
Alex was dehydrated and given fluids today; the last time he got fluids was 10 days ago.
Why is your cat dehydrated? Did the vet give you an explanation?
The vet says that he will never get regulated until he is neutered.
B.S, IMO. There is no correlation between netuering and diabetes. Diabetes happens for a variety of things: obesisty, eating a high carb food which a cat's body can't handle, steroid use, etc.
The vet does not believe in home testing (he said it's "dangerous").
More B.S. There are many published veterinary studies done on hometesting diabetic cats. Here is a list:
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2508
NOT testing is dangerous. Without knowing what the blood gluocse levels is, you risk sending your cat into a hypo in a matter of a few short hours after blindly giving the insulin.
Would a Human doctor send a newly diagnosed patient on his/her own way and say not to test because it's dangerous? No. Diabetic pets are no different.
I started testing Alex myself this week (he purred). I got pre-insulin morning readings of 387 and 433 on Wednesday and Thursday. I wasn't able to draw blood from his ear on Friday probably because he was too dehydrated.
Great that you have decided to hometest anyways
Susan&Alex said:
Alex is eating Science Diet MD wet (vet's recommendation). I feed him an hour before insulin and give him small snacks in between if I'm home and he didn't eat his usual amount.
You really don't need to feed the prescription junk food. Not only is it expensive, it's full of junk quality ingredients that do nothing to help a diabetic cat. The key is low carbs. You can feed much better qualtiy foods for a lot less money and your cat will like even more. Brands such as Fancy Fest, Wellness, Merrick, Innova EVO, and Friskies are popular, among many others.
Here are the food charts we use:
New food list from Catinfo.org (Sept. 2012):
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Food Chart Public 9-22-12.pdf
Hobo's Guide to Nutritional Values:
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AmkyagqUb3nudG9sRVhTVnFEWlhaU19ZUXkxTnlhYXc#gid=0
Binkys canned food charts:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html (info several years out of date)
Pet Food Nutritional Values list:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8...MzhkYTkxOGM4NThk&sort=name&layout=list&num=50
Dr. Lynne's Wet Food list:
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=12846
Food under 10% carb is ideal for diabetic cats.
Do consider switching the diet once you find a new vet who will prescribe Lantus. A better diet and insulin will help your diabetic cat.
He's on 6U of Novalin N now, twice a day. I just tested him this morning at over 600 (HI on meter). At the vet's office yesterday, he tested at 450 so I guess that's not surprising.
Yikes :shock: That's a pretty big dose of insulin.
Keep in mind that many cats get sooo stressed out at the vet's office that their blood glucose levels are really really high. At home the levels are much lower.
Alex drinks a lot of water -- up to 2 cups a day. Do you have to get the fluids from a vet or is there another source? I think he would benefit from fluids every 4-5 days until he gets regulated.
Drs.FostsrandSmith.com sells subq fluids:
http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=9547+9594+9564&pcatid=9564 I am
not sure which one you would need, though. Someone who has experience with giving subq fluids to a dehydrated cat will be able to tell you which one you need.
You can add water to the canned food to ensure some water intake. You can make the food as soupy as your cat will tolerate. Some like soup, others do not.
