Newly diagnosed

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Olliesmom

Member Since 2013
My 16 year old cat was just diagnosed with diabetes even after having a clean panel 3 months ago. Started on2 units of insulin twice a day and on the fourth day he crashed and was rushed to vet with a count of 36. Now am apprehensive about continuing with treatment.
 
Hello and welcome to the board,

we can help you if we have a wee bit more info - although it sounds like 2 units is too much.

1. what kind of insulin is it?
2. What type of food are you giving? wet ? dry? brand type?
3. What weight is your cat?

thanks
Wendy
 
Welcome to the best site on the planet to help you help your kitty Ollie. I dont blame you for being apprehensive if not down right scared. Do you know what kind of test were given to reach this diagnoses? Two units is a lot to give a kitty at first. Twice a day thats a full four units. I'm no expert on the dosing but that sounds like a lot.

Please hang in there for better experience. I know they will do their best to help you figure this all out.

They will ask..What kind of food does Ollie eat?

What kind of insulin does Ollie get?

Do you hometest his Blood sugars?

and much more...There is much to read and much to learn BUT ALL doable. And after a while will become much easier. Stick with the FDMB here angels reside.
jeanne
 
Hi, and welcome to the FDMB, the best place you never expected to be.

What is your name? Looks like your cats name is Ollie.

What meter are you using for testing?

That low number and rushing Ollie to the emergency vet must have been scary.

We can help you a lot. We live feline diabetes 24/7 and can help with most questions.
 
Hello Olliesmom!

Just a quick note of welcome. This forum is populated by angels without whose help my two diabetic cats would not be alive today. They will help you, will take you by the hand & guide you. Ask as many questions as you need, including repeating your questions for as long & as frequently as you need. Don't be shy about asking questions: that's the key. Most vets treat very few diabetic cats per year. Members of this forum help hundreds of diabetic cats per year, thus, their knowledge is awesome. My vet put my cat, Pudge, on 4 units of ProZinc 2x per day. Didn't tell me about home testing so I blindly followed for about 2 weeks before my daughter found this forum. My Pudge & Little One are now in remission. All thanks to this forum. Ask & ask again! Also, do not let anyone stampede you into setting up a spread sheet until such time when you're ready. That can wait until you're not so overwhelmed by the steep learning curve needed to absorb info to help Ollie. I've been known to throw the testing meter - it helped :smile: :o
Best wishes,
Sophie
 
It is vetsulin. We kept him off the meds for two days after his crash and gave him one unit this morning per vet instruction after he ate. This was at 9:00. We tested him at 11:30 and his BG was 37! He was given karo syrup and went up to60 and we will test him again soon after a little more syrup

This is very frustrating not to mention wear and tear on poor Ollie
 
My name is Kathi and Ollie is down to 8.8 pounds after once weighing ten plus pounds. We have him on canned kitten food for now to try and lower carbs and provide nourishment to help him gain weight
 
We r using alpha trak testing meter and us the u40 syringes. Sorry to spread replies out. Getting used to the forum
 
Hi Kathi,

I'm just going to recap some of the information for future reference. We'd like to see this in your user control panel, profile tab, edit signature box at some point.

Kathi & Ollie (16, male, 8.8#)
Vetsulin, U-40 ; Alphatrak 2
Canned kitten food
Started on 2U BID, hypoed, down to 1U BID.

1. What was the diagnosis date?
2. How long between the eating and the insulin shot? (Should be a minimum of 30 to 45 minutes with Vetsulin)
3. Was there a specific reason your vet prescribed Vetsulin? That works better in dogs, not cats. Does not last long enough in cats. Steep drops and steep rises.
4. Would you please share with us the specific kitten food you are feeding? Brand, type ,flavor.
5. Where do you live? US? Canada? International? country, state/province, city would be nice to know.

We like to see your cat Ollie on a better insulin. Lantus, Levimir, Prozinc if in the US. Lantus is the recommended insulin in the Merck veterinary manual.
 
We live in denver co. Our vet who we are not exactly enamored with at this point thought vetsulin was great prior to taking it off the market and was glad to see it returned. Having had no experience with diabetes did not question the decision. Ollie was diagnosed 3 weeks ago just prior to having some dental work which we are holding off on

We have tried a coupeleof different kitten foods to see what he liked since he has always been on dry

He ate at 5:30 this morning (we have two black labs who demand a walk a this early hour) and again at 8:15 prior to his 9:00 shot. Prior to putting him back on insulin we checked his levels for two days and he was always high around 475 in the morning and tapered down to 303 in mid afternoon. So assumed that the one unit in morning would be safe and Lower the BG to a respectable level. We just tested and he has gone up to 120 but this is 7 hours later with syrup and canned food in the interim

We are concerned about the big swing in numbers.

Kathi
 
Due to cats rapid metabolism, you need to dose Vetsulin every 12 hours ... or every 8 hours in some cases. And with your experiences so far, I wouldn't give more than 0.5 units.

You test, feed, then shoot the insulin with about 15-30 minutes of time.

Testing the glucose around the nadir will help evaluate the dose.

Always test before you inject and until you have lots of data showing it is safe, do not give insulin under 200 mg/dL.

When you have a day (or night) to do it, do a home curve where you test every 2 hours from pre-shot to pre-shot. This will show how the Vetsulin works in your cat ... and may show the vet that a different insulin is appropriate - like Lantus, Levemir, or ProZinc.
 
We are concerned about the big swing in numbers.
Click to expand...

I'm concerned with the big swings in the BG numbers too. But that is part of what Vetsulin does. Quick onset, steep drops, steep rises, short duration in cats. It was developed for dogs, and works ok in dogs.

What was the pre-shot test this morning? What we call the AMPS test.

So far, I have this for the BG numbers today:
ate 45 minutes prior to shot of Vetsulin
AMPS ??? 1U
+2.5 37
+?? 60 with karo and food
+7 120

Good thing you are home testing. With that BG of 37 earlier today, your cat may have gone lower if you had not caught it and fed. Convulsions, seizures and death are the last thing we want to see. We have a member now whose cat is being rehabilitated from a severe hypo. It's a long haul she has ahead of her.

Hardly anyone here in the US uses Vetsulin anymore, except vets that have not kept up with the latest diabetes treatments. Here is a primer on Vetsulin from one of our forums. vetsulin primerIt's a bit outdated, but should provide a little bit of information for you.

I would suggest you print out the AAHA Diabetes Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats. This is from a vet published journal back from June 2010. You may want to print 2 copies, one for you, one to share with your vet.
 
A dental cleaning, extraction of any decayed teeth, and antibiotics for any infection may substantially reduce any need for insulin. It can be done before the cat is regulated.

Ensuring the diet is canned or raw, low carb, high protein food may reduce glucose levels 100 mg/dL.

Vet stress may increase glucose levels 100-180 mg/dL.

Should you decide to go vet shopping, there are Vet Interview Topics in my signature links.

You might go to Google Maps and do a search on "veterinarian near street address, city, state".
 
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