Osker

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RobNY

RobNY

Member Since 2021
Hello, just signed up and wanted to introduce my Osker. He's 1 year old grey male cat. Got him from the Humane Society at 14 weeks old. When I got him he had ringworm and an upper respiratory infection. Got these issued addresses but they didn't seem to fully go away. At about 18 weeks old (I'm trying to rush this story and not be long and drawn out) he was diagnosed with feline diabetes. His BS was 450 to 585 all the time. We started with a unit 2x a day...4 units twice a day...then 6 units twice a day... He's been down to 60 and then he's at 540. We've tried the controlled diet...regulating his shots...nothing was working to bring Osker to where the vet said he should be...which was 80-120..from what I was told. At Oskers low (80-200) he's lethargic, can't keep his eyes open and just lays around. At 250-350 Osker acts as if he's feeling fine. Over 400 and he's back to the lethargic state he gets into when it appears he's not feeling well. Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago...Osker is now a year old. (I forgot to say we test him at home 2x a day) So we tried no insulin shot for 24 hours...his BS was 368 in the morning and 360 in the evening. Day 2 no insulin...same thing...340...352. Day 3 roughly the same etc etc... Oskers acting normally... On day 5 (maybe) we gave him 1 unit and he went to 140. He did not look or act well...he was just lethargic and didn't move much. So we decided to keep monitoring him 2x a day and as of today his been about 2 weeks with no insulin. He always reads at a low of 320 to a high of 380 and he seems fine. My question is...Is this ok? Could it b that Oskers normal is 320-380? He was taking Vetsulin...if that matters. I just want him to feel good and live a happy life and it seems to b happening but these high BS numbers concern me only because of what I was told that a cats normal is 80-120. Any incite from anyone on this matter is extremely grateful. Thankfully this board exists and hopefully I can help someone else sometime. Thanks again, Rob & Osker
 
Rob I an going to tag 2 membets for you for advice. You are increasing units way too much
We only increase by 0.25 units at a time

@JanetNJ

@Deb & Wink
Hi guys Osker is on Vetsulin
Please read his intro

I'm going to ask Rob to set up his signature and SS so you can see what's going on
 
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Rob can you set up your signature, It will give us info about Osker. It's at the end of everyone's post in gray
Click on the link below


https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
Click on your pic and then hit profile and in the top upper right hand corner tap on your name and a drop down will appear and you will see the word signature , tap on it and fill out the info about your kitty
 
Thank you for the replay. Your spreadsheet is amazing!!! I've written oskers day to day all down in a notebook. I just found it easier to write it all down when I'm on the fly plus I just like writing.
Anyhoo, I've only upped Oskers dosages as per the recomendations of the vet. I've taken him there a lot. Once a week for a long period of time. They told me they have NEVER seen a kitten with feline diabetes ever. They said hed probably grow out of this. So this whole thing is new to me and the vet doctor which is crazy. I've got no one to help me with this which led me here. I tried setting up the signature...if I should add anything please LMK.
 
Also...I wanted to say. The vet had me increasing his dose in 0.25 increments. The bigger jumps were from 4..to 5....to 6. Initinally we were doing 0.25 increases and it was giving little to no results. After weeks of these small increases they then recommended jumping a whole unit increase. Just thought I should mention this.
 
Hi Rob please add to your signature are you home testing, if so add what meter you are using pet or human meter also what are you feeding wet, dry or both
But it would still be helpful for you to set up the spreadsheet in order for members to give you advice we need to see those numbers
It's OK to keep your own BG in a notebook
We have a lot of experienced and knowledge members here, if it wasn't for them Tyler would have never gone into remission
I tagged
@JanetNJ

And
@Deb & Wink

Who have used vetsulin
Hang in there
 
RobNY said:
He always reads at a low of 320 to a high of 380 and he seems fine. My question is...Is this ok? Could it b that Oskers normal is 320-380?
Click to expand...
No, that isn't ok. That high of a BG is over the renal threshold, so slow but steady kidney damage will be happening.

Dose changes should be made based on the nadir, or how low a dose of insulin takes your cat. Vetsulin often does not last the full 12 hour cycle in cats. So unless you get some mid-cycle tests, you don't know how Osker is doing on this type of insulin.

So that means you need to test during the 12 hour cycle, and not only at pre-shot (before you give the insulin).

Unfortunately, we can't see your notebook, so have no idea how Osker is doing. We have our standardized spreadsheet (SS) which is pretty easy to use. Once you have the SS setup, if you could enter the most recent 2 weeks of tests, that would be great.

As Diane said, knowing what food you are feeding Osker as well as what meter you are using to test would be good.

Yes, it's very unusual for a kitten to be diagnosed with feline diabetes. The only kitten I remember with diabetes was Michelangelo. His owner is no longer posting on the message board, and hasn't posted here for years.
 
RobNY said:
At Oskers low (80-200) he's lethargic, can't keep his eyes open and just lays around. At 250-350 Osker acts as if he's feeling fine. Over 400 and he's back to the lethargic state he gets into when it appears he's not feeling well. Fast forward to about 3 weeks ago...Osker is now a year old. (I forgot to say we test him at home 2x a day) So we tried no insulin shot for 24 hours...his BS was 368 in the morning and 360 in the evening. Day 2 no insulin...same thing...340...352. Day 3 roughly the same etc etc... Oskers acting normally... On day 5 (maybe) we gave him 1 unit and he went to 140. He did not look or act well...he was just lethargic and didn't move much. So we decided to keep monitoring him 2x a day and as of today his been about 2 weeks with no insulin.r
Click to expand...
Hi and welcome. You'll get good help here. I just wanted to address your comments about Osker's behaviour. This is very common for cats to be lethargic in normal numbers when they aren't used to them. Butters was the same at first. She was in higher numbers for quite a while before she became tightly regulated. Now she acts more lethargic when she is in higher numbers.
I've seen one of the moderators, @Wendy&Neko often use the analogy of people who are used to having caffeine in their systems. If you cut back on coffee, you don't feel good (caffeine withdrawal). Osker needs to spend more time in lower numbers to get used to them.
 
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Hello and welcome. I do remember seeing one other kitten besides Michelangelo here, but can't remember the name. It's more likely a type 1 diabetes than a type 2 that older kitties get. As others have said, he does need insulin and I'd try to get a better insulin for your cat than Vetsulin. Which was originally called Caninsulin (for dogs) in the US and still is elsewhere in the world. The (2018) AAHA Diabetes Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats recommends using Lantus or Prozinc for cats, though we have found Levemir has similar action and works well. That's what Michelangelo eventually went onto.

What food is Osker eating now? You also want to make sure he's on an appropriate low carb diet (wet food or raw).
 
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