@Katie&Kirby take a deep breath and relax, the first few weeks of dealing with this are horribly stressful. 417 is an ok number when you are first starting out and everything you do feels stressful and sends you into a panic. We have all done fur shots and missed doses. My kitty was bony and poorly when she was first diagnosed and I ended up crying at the vet because I didn't think we were getting anywhere - and this is from a person who knows a lot about diabetes which in some ways made it more scary. She looks like a different cat now and is happy and healthy but it has taken three months to get to this stage. It is early days and you need to get into a routine and ask for help when you are not sure - there is always someone on this board who will have an answer for you. I am not familiar with your insulin or the food available in your part of the world but others are and can help you with that. The important thing when starting out with insulin is to find the dose which is right for your kitty and it can take a long time to figure that out, I am still adjusting doses but have had to make several other changes along the way.
When she was first diagnosed I was pretty much free feeding as she had lost so much weight and didn't worry too much about perfect numbers, but now I have her on a strict 12 hour feeding regime, she is on a specialist food to help her liver and pancreas problems but any low carb wet food is fine for most kittys. She kept throwing up in the early hours but that has more or less stopped now. Just feed her the same stuff consistently. I do have her on a 12 hour regime for her insulin, some days her numbers are better than others but then she hasn't read the manual so as long as she is fine I don't tend to get too hung up on the numbers. If you can start a spreadsheet that would be really helpful as it is colour coded to make things a bit easier for you to understand the numbers and look at trends, someone can help you with that and if you put the link in your signature we can refer to it as and when. Can you also update your signature so we don't ask the same questions over and over, if you can add some basic information as we have it helps with giving advice.
It would help us to advise you better if you can answer a few questions for us.
What are you feeding and how much and when?
How much does your kitty weigh?
Has Kirby ever had ketones?
What meter are you using?
I do understand the anxiety but we have members on this board who have very bad anxiety and are managing their kittys just fine so if they can do it so can you. They have just needed a bit more support along the way. You have started home testing which is great, you have managed to give shots, so that is two big things out of the way already and you are well on your way. You can do this.
