Out of remission and completely overwhelmed

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Naomiandvincent

Member Since 2014
Good morning all. This is my first time on these boards and I haven't stopped crying for two days now. My Vincent came out of a year and a half remission and is reading 417 (from the vets). The only reason I knew he came out of remission the first time was because he had a blockage and after his operation he wasn't diabetic anymore. He was on caninsulin before and I had no problems with it; but now my vet has started him on lantus 2u x 2 daily. I know nothing about lantus and so far I'm overwhelmed with what's been happening. I am pretty sure I had two fur shots yesterday (I was told to get the solo star pens and both times when I took the needle out the tips were bent flat). What a horrible suggestion someone told me! So I have no idea but I think he got some insulin yesterday just by the way he was acting. Now today and he doesn't want to eat. So obviously I can't give him his insulin right? Why would he just be laying around? I am not good enough to do home monitoring because I am gone to work for the city daily- and I have a hard enough time with his injections as it is. What can I do? What seems to be Vincent's problem? I'm terrified and sad because the first time he was diabetic is when I was engaged to my fiancé, and since that time, my fiancé tragically passed and this is a giant trigger for me. I am very overwhelmed and would appreciate the help.
 
Oh, Naomi, it sounds like you and Vincent are having a hard time. I am sorry that things seem so overwhelming. Hopefully we can help.

Lantus is a much better insulin thanCanninsulin - milder and longer lasting. But it is completely different and will take some getting used to. It is not my insulin, but some Lantus users will be along to help you with the pin and the schedule. Keep checking back in for replies. Here is some info on how to use the pen
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=151


Has he changed foods or is he just reluctant to eat his regular food? If he is eating wet food, you can tey dressing it with parmesan cheese, tuna juice,his favorite treat - anything he really likes. Or warm it in the microwave until nice and stinky. You could also add warm water to it to make it more of a gravy.

And to relieve your mind, I would pick up some ketone strips. You want to stay on top of his ketone levels while he is off his food and you are working to get the shots right. They are strips you test his urine with and can be gotten at the drug store (same as humans use). If he won't let you stick one in his urine stream, we have ways to help.
 
Oh Noami. Ugh what a rough time! Hang in there! There are lots of folks here who can give you really good advice to be sure. Lantus is a good insulin, but it takes a bit of patience because it takes a few days to build up in the cat's system.

I am not one of the more experienced people here but wanted to jump in to help asap.

- You can use regular syringes with pens; just use the pen like a vial.
- Folks here will need to know what you are feeding Vincent.
- Has he been sick? All kinds of illness and even just a trip to the vet can cause spikes in glucose.
- Testing at home is really, really, really important and helpful even if you can only do it at the same time you give the injection (test, then inject, then feed) and a few midcycle tests on your days off. You really need to know what his glucose is at home because it can be high at the vet which leads the vet to up the dose which can lead to hypoglycemia!
- Testing at home is not very expensive and saves vet bills in the long run.
- The pee spots on the floor should resolve when the glucose comes down. Vincent's kidneys are working overtime to get rid of all that extra glucose because it is toxic.

Take some deep breaths. Keep posting here. You won't believe how helpful the folks here are. It is overwhelming, but just take it one step at a time.

First step, post back here what you are feeding Vincent.
 
Naomi - I'm so sorry you are feeling overwhelmed. What a tough situation. But you've come to the right place for help and your vet has Vincent on a better insulin now. Can I ask what city you live in? Maybe there's a member nearby who can help you learn to home test. As long as you are home for injections you can test before you shoot and another time when you are home at night and you'll get an idea how the Lantus is working. Many people here work during the day and can't monitor.

What does Vincent weigh? We have a weight based formula for starting Lantus. It might be that a slightly smaller dose is a better starting dose.

Are you in Canada? Caninsulin is more commonly prescribed there - that's what we started on. If you are in Canada, you can buy Lantus in the pharmacy in a 5 pack of cartridges or a vial, in addition to the pens. I like the cartridges better - they are the refill parts of the pen and less waste. But no matter, you take the top off the pen and can still use it that way. But like others have mentioned you need to buy insulin syringes. Get ones with 1/2 unit markings as we increase and decrease in small amounts. That's why the pen tip syringes don't work, they can only do whole unit amounts and are not as accurate. Work fine for humans, but not cats.

What are you feeding Vincent? I hope it's a low carb wet food diet.
 
Hi, I'm new to all of this too, with just three months experience, so best to follow the 'experts' advice around here! They really helped me.

One thing I don't think I saw anyone mention yet is to shave a roughly 2inchX2inch area where you are injecting the insulin. That way, you can't really give fur shots since you can see the needle go right in the skin. It REALLY helped me. Your kitty may look a little funny but that's okay. :) My vet did this for me with what looked like a regular electric hair trimmer.

Also, I had a hard time with the glucose monitoring in the beginning. I even poked straight through my poor cat's ear edges a few times. Now I can do a very gentle prick in low light and get a blood drop almost always on the first go. I think I would have felt much more scared of the insulin injections if I didn't know the glucose reading ahead of time. The vet appreciates it, too.

I was so confused with the Lantus pen, too. So I went on here and saw that you can simply unscrew the Lantus pen tip and draw from the grey dot with a regular syringe.

Tanya :)
 
First off thank you all for the replies. I am very scared right now and just can't stop crying. I ended up taking him to the vets because I was really worried that I couldn't carry out his care today. Vincent after his blockage was put on the healthy advantage that the vet supplied because after his blockage he wouldn't touch anything but that food and I didn't want to rock the boat, so to speak. So he was on a IMO-crappy diet with a lot of the wet food most days (fancy feast classics). He is the type of lovey dovey man that he would meow hysterically when he heard the lid of the wet food can opening and he just looked at me today like "oh well." This is not his normal behavior. This is his third day at the vets and they will most likely keep him over night. The needle tips for the solo star lantus bent so easily that I will most likely resort to pulling with syringes. 32 gauge just was too thin for his skin I guess. He weighs 12.8 pounds and about 4 months ago he was 13.5. I first noticed the excessive drinking again and the weight loss in his haunches. I'm pretty observant with my animals which led to me bringing him in on Monday. I am in Barrie, ON Canada and have been trying to reach out to anyone who is familiar with lantus and diabetic home testing but no replies yet on Kijiji. I have no idea why this time around this is so hard for me; I feel like I'm at a breaking point and feeling very helpless. It's hard without my fiancé here anymore, and I certainly don't want to lose my Vincent yet. I'm away 10 hours a day for work, and I'm stuck. I feel like this is beyond me. I just want him to feel better but I'm very overwhelmed right now.
 
He also wasn't sick leading up to this; Infact two weeks ago he was running back and forth or what I like to call it as being "spun". I just feel like I won't be around enough to check his urine, except my two days off. I have tried watching videos on home testing but I just don't grasp it. Maybe I'm too overwhelmed and nothing is sinking in
 
Consider calling the SPCA and ask if they have any volunteers familiar with feline diabetes. I have left my name at our local shelter as a support person.
 
Practice testing on an apple, and on yourself. You only need enough of a prick to make a tiny droplet of blood.

Then, spend some time petting him an massaging his ears. Take a good look at the edge of the ear. You'll see a small vein that goes along the outer edge. You may have to look from underneath the ear if the fur is very dark or thick, or possible shave a small area off the edge.

You snuggle up to the cat, hold the ear braced with a folded piece of tissue or a cotton ball, and prick between the vein and the edge, near the top third of the ear. Up to 3 unsuccessful tries, then treat and take a break. In an emergency situation, aim for the vein, just be prepared to blot quickly.
 
Maybe change your first post subject line to something like "Home testing help needed, Barrie ON, Canada".
 
Naomi welcome!

I want to give you some hope. I came on here in December and was just as frantic as you. I listened and read all of the sticky notes. It felt like a graduate course on feline diabetes. I learned that all of the folks here want the very best for you and your kitty. I followed all of the advice and changed what Scooter ate, his insulin and had his teeth done. Next I removed kibble from our house and this past week Scooter went off the juice meaning he is off insulin and well.

So listen to the folks here. Even if you have to read and re-read what they post and say. No one expects you to understand everything every time. Even if you think they are off their rockers you will soon see they will come back and never leave you on your own. FDMB is the kindest place you never wanted to be! :-D It is full of very smart kitty parents.

Glad you found us.

Linda
 
Naomi,

Your vet should be able to help teach you how to home test. If ur vet does not then I would look into a new vet. If you have no luck at all finding help, I am in Cambridge ON, and am sure my wife and I would be able to make the trip to help you out.

And btw, Fancy Feast classics is not a bad food at all. It is one of the most frequently used for diabetic cats. Read the ingrediant list, it is short and sweet, not a lot of crap in there.
 
Wow. All you guys are so amazing. I'm going through so much and this just Added to it. Vincent is home from the vets and he is eating and peeing and drinking and I've been drawing out of the solostar pen with a needle. So far it's been a piece of cake (the needles I used to use with the caninsulin were bigger, and these ones seem to be so thin he doesn't even feel it). I'm lucky to have a good vet who doesn't charge me for visits as she does it for the love of the pets. I completely adore her. I tried switching to a different and way better kibble but he wants nothing to do with it (he is so picky. With texture and size) the reason I still want to use some sort of dry kibble is because he won't always want wet food. He is probably the pickiest cat ever! Any suggestions? I've tried heating the food; adding tuna, etc. he doesn't eat treats as I've never given him any as the wet food was his treat. I'm not sure what way to go for his food- so I've been still giving him a few kibbles of his old dry that he was on. Is this bad? do any of you feed dry at all? Thanks again. I truly appreciate it.
 
Not sure if anyone has shared this with you, but here's a great link to help with testing and to get you familiar with all that it entails.

Naomiandvincent said:
I'm not sure what way to go for his food- so I've been still giving him a few kibbles of his old dry that he was on. Is this bad? do any of you feed dry at all? Thanks again. I truly appreciate it.
Click to expand...

Some people do give the old kibble as a treat, but they're very cautious about it since some cats can spike high from even just a couple of pieces. Most of us feed low carb, wet food because, when it comes to feline diabetes, it's like fighting an uphill battle if you're still feeding dry. Here are some tips and tricks for transitioning to all wet food that you might find helpful.
 
Welcome Naomi and Vincent. I'm glad you found us - we can help! Here's a quick reference sheet for testing and shooting. One of our senior members was kind enough to put it together. Sounds like you're getting the hang of things, but I know I looked at it after I had been doing this awhile and still found some valuable tips. Keep up the great work and try to be patient.

Testing and shooting tips

*Edit - Kpassa beat me to it! LOL!
 
Any amount of dry can spike his blood sugar for over 24 hours and if your goal is remission then I would definitely try and use Kays tips to transition him off it. Also you could top his wet food instead with crumbled freeze dried chicken (pure snacks - get in most pet stores and walmart) if he likes that.

What wet foods have you tried? My guys love the fancy feast pates and I had no problem taking away their dry when I started that.


Wendy
 
I use a little dry food but I'm very very VERY cautious about it because I obviously don't want Dusty to loose remission. I literally give my kitties about 3 pieces of dry kibble with their wet food during their last meal of the night. It helps them make it through the night without waking me up at midnight for more food. I'm using Evo Cat and Kitten chicken flavored for the kibble which is only about 6% carbs. I'd say 99% of their food is Fancy Feast with just those three pieces of kibble at night. So far it hasn't affected Dusty's BG reading but I keep a close eye on it for any changes. I also give them PureBites as others have suggested, they love that stuff as a treat or to sprinkle on top of their wet food.
 
Wink was a dry food addict. I probably used almost all those tips that Kpassa pointed you to, to get Wink to recognize the wet food as edible. He wanted nothing to do with the canned food at first. I did manage to transition him over to an all canned diet. Soon after, he went OTJ (off-the-juice), insulin being the juice.

Two tips that worked really well for us.
1. crumbled Halo Liv-a-little freeze dried chicken treats on top of the wet food. This would get him to eat a bit more.
2. add a tablespoon or two of water to the canned food, to make a sort of gravy. You're going for the consistency of applesauce to very soupy. It helps to keep your kitty hydrated with the extra water too.

It wasn't easy to transition Wink. Took me about 6 weeks and lots of persistence and patience and trying different tips from thattransitioning feline dry food addicts to canned food document.

What dry food are you feeding at the moment?
What dry food did you try to switch him to?

You might try mixing a tiny portion of the new dry food into the old dry food. Slowly over at least a weeks time, gradually decrease the amount of old dry food and increase the amount of new dry food.
 
Don't know if this is good for DB kitties or not, but the vet recommended I give Rocky 1/2 cup of MD dry when needed. This is prescription cat food, so I do get it from the vet. It seems to help both of my cats with their eating.
 
I could not regulate Scooter for months. He was in black and red for months. I would get happy when ever a pink would show up. Check Scooters SS below for his numbers.

I removed all the kibble from my house and within days Scooter was off insulin. Scooter is a carb addict. Kibble nearly killed him. Try one day off kibble and see if his numbers come down.

I am glad you have a great Vet. I do to and I understand her love for animals.
 
I just wanted to say.... What a few weeks this has been! The week after he was on insulin for a week- he tested at 81 at his highest in the curve. The following week he was still the same. So he is off the juice for a month! He was only on insulin for a week! I was strict with wet food only and he is doing well so far!!! My vet calls him schizophrenic and I have to agree!!!!! :o
 
After 14 days with glucose between 40-130, randomly testing throughout the day, we consider a cat officially OTJ.
 
Please take the 911 off your first post so people know you dont have an emergency anymore, thanks.
 
That's great but if he is outside of the 40-130 then the remission isn't that strong yet. He might be ok or he might need to go back on the juice as he might start to creep up again... Paws crossed he continues to get better! I would feed him mini meals to help and no dry.. Remission is so fragile and if they fall out its unlikely they go back in..
 
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