No dx but suspicious after starting steroid, want to check BG at home to be safe but am confused

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kxk34

kxk34

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Hello! I previously frequented this board when my cat Fuzzy was diagnosed with steroid-induced diabetes in 2022. My current cat Chloe recently hurt her back and was prescribed steroid injections 2x weekly to try to reduce inflammation/pressure on her spine. Since getting her most recent dose three days ago I’ve noticed that she’s urinating a LOT (like multiple times per hour) and it does not appear to be fully attributable to an uptick in drinking water as that hasn’t really changed during the same period... I know it is possible it is just a side effect from the steroid and nothing more but given my experience with Fuzzy developing diabetes shortly after starting a steroid this recent development has me quite wary.

Unfortunately, her recent vet bills have put me in a pretty bad spot financially and I really can’t afford to spend additional money at the vet for something that could just be paranoia on my end when she needs follow up appointments in a few weeks for her back issue (and just last week I convinced myself we should check her urine for a UTI and it was normal and put me out another $98 for the urinalysis). All that being said, I want to check her blood glucose at home to be safe (and obviously will take her to be seen if abnormal). I still have the AlphaTrak 2 meter I bought when Fuzzy was diagnosed with diabetes but the test strips expired in October of 2023 so I’m worried about using them and get a false result. My coworker let me borrow her ReliOn meter and strips to try instead but I'm still a little confused on how the values will differ from the pet-calibrated meter....

Do I need to do anything to make the human meter values interpretable for a cat or can I just enter the values on the US human meter spreadsheet? Also, would it be worth it to test with the AlphaTrak 2 strips as well even though they are expired, or would that be a bad idea? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
 
kxk34 said:
Hello! I previously frequented this board when my cat Fuzzy was diagnosed with steroid-induced diabetes in 2022. My current cat Chloe recently hurt her back and was prescribed steroid injections 2x weekly to try to reduce inflammation/pressure on her spine. Since getting her most recent dose three days ago I’ve noticed that she’s urinating a LOT (like multiple times per hour) and it does not appear to be fully attributable to an uptick in drinking water as that hasn’t really changed during the same period... I know it is possible it is just a side effect from the steroid and nothing more but given my experience with Fuzzy developing diabetes shortly after starting a steroid this recent development has me quite wary.

Unfortunately, her recent vet bills have put me in a pretty bad spot financially and I really can’t afford to spend additional money at the vet for something that could just be paranoia on my end when she needs follow up appointments in a few weeks for her back issue (and just last week I convinced myself we should check her urine for a UTI and it was normal and put me out another $98 for the urinalysis). All that being said, I want to check her blood glucose at home to be safe (and obviously will take her to be seen if abnormal). I still have the AlphaTrak 2 meter I bought when Fuzzy was diagnosed with diabetes but the test strips expired in October of 2023 so I’m worried about using them and get a false result. My coworker let me borrow her ReliOn meter and strips to try instead but I'm still a little confused on how the values will differ from the pet-calibrated meter....

Do I need to do anything to make the human meter values interpretable for a cat or can I just enter the values on the US human meter spreadsheet? Also, would it be worth it to test with the AlphaTrak 2 strips as well even though they are expired, or would that be a bad idea? Any insight or advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
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@Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
Hi there! Sorry to hear about the vet bills. I’ve seen others here get financial assistance from some public programs. Could be something to look into.

On the meter - human meter will generally read lower than the AT. Good news is the guidelines on this forum are in human meter values. I’d probably ditch the AT altogether and just note that in your spreadsheet, but let’s see what more experienced members think.
 
Tim & Pookey said:
Hi there! Sorry to hear about the vet bills. I’ve seen others here get financial assistance from some public programs. Could be something to look into.

On the meter - human meter will generally read lower than the AT. Good news is the guidelines on this forum are in human meter values. I’d probably ditch the AT altogether and just note that in your spreadsheet, but let’s see what more experienced members think.
Click to expand...
A great Foundation that can help you immediately is DCIN. There’s a few paperwork but you get answered right away, they can supply you with insulin, medications, syringes, strips, monitors etc you can directly contact
Isabelledavenport@gmail.com , she can help you let her know that Maria & Corky referred you, I don’t know what would I have done without th assistance of this Foundation, good luck:bighug::cat::cat:
 
Hi and welcome back to the forum…I’m sure you don’t want to be here though!
I would be concerned as well with the symptoms of peeing a lot more after steroid shots. I would not use steroid shots in a cat unless they were a last resort myself. Unfortunately vets sometimes use them as a first resort.
It is absolutely fine to use the ReliOn meter and there is nothing you need to do except use it..no preparation or changes you need to do to the result. The normal BGs for a cat are 50-120 on a human meter.
If the BGs are normal it might be worth while getting the thyroid checked.
Let us know how you get on.
 
Here is the link for the meter and test strips so you don't have to search for them
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197
At least if you need more test strips you can run into Walmart and pick them up or if you're running low you can just order them from Walmart

@kxk34
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome back to the forum…I’m sure you don’t want to be here though!
I would be concerned as well with the symptoms of peeing a lot more after steroid shots. I would not use steroid shots in a cat unless they were a last resort myself. Unfortunately vets sometimes use them as a first resort.
It is absolutely fine to use the ReliOn meter and there is nothing you need to do except use it..no preparation or changes you need to do to the result. The normal BGs for a cat are 50-120 on a human meter.
If the BGs are normal it might be worth while getting the thyroid checked.
Let us know how you get on.
Click to expand...

Thank you! Her BG was 101 when I checked earlier so WNL, but I’m going to check again after she eats dinner just to be safe. If it’s not too much higher then I’ll feel slightly better about waiting to discuss it until her follow up appointment in two weeks since I know her BG isn’t too high (at least not currently) and the urinalysis came back all normal. I am very skittish about steroids after what happened with Fuzzy (and was before that as well to be honest) and actually had resisted treating Chloe’s IBD with a steroid for the past year but this latest round of issues forced my hand unfortunately :/ she has arthritis in her spine and they think she has a disc injury based on a CT scan but that alone put me out almost 4 months rent so I can’t afford an MRI to get a more conclusive diagnosis or surgery should more conclusive results suggest that… so our only real option was to treat with steroids and hope to see improvement with cage rest I really hope she gets better and the frequent urination doesn’t turn out to be diabetes or anything else but sadly I’m not too optimistic right now.
 
Sometimes steroids are the only option.
101 is within the normal range so that is promising.
I would try getting a test in before she eats and then one 3 hours later. If her pancreatic working insulin will
Kick in and the BG should go down.
I’d get some spot checks maybe one or 2 each day to give an overall picture.

What type of food are you feeding her?
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
What type of food are you feeding her?
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Hill’s Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome dry food (free graze bc of issues with weight loss/appetite due to IBD earlier this year) and Fancy Feast grilled chicken wet food 2x daily (we also have the Hill’s Gastrointestinal Biome chicken & vegetable stew but she is a very picky eater and lost interest in that after a week or two and the FF grilled chicken is the only wet food she’s interested in eating consistently that doesn’t give her soft stools). She’s currently in a tough spot with her recent back issue causing hind leg weakness so pretty much the only thing we have going for us right now is improved appetite on the steroid
 
The Hill’s Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome dry food is 34% carbs which is way to high in carbs. You need to be looking at. 10% or under carbs. Is this for the IBD. Is there another food you can try. Have you tried novel proteins?

have you tried visbiome probiotics for cats? It is really great for IBD cats
 
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