Overwhelmed with Diabetes diagnoses for Chloe

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catladyamy

catladyamy

Member Since 2018
Hello there! I'm in need of some advice.

Our 10 year old cat was diagnosed with diabetes 7/17 after her blood sugar came back at 426 when getting testing done for a surgery. We have started her on 1cc of insulin twice daily and are in the process of switching her over to wet cat food. She did great Tuesday evening and yesterday at both meals, eating the wet food with gusto. Today she was not very interested in her breakfast and we did not administer her AM shot. I saw her at lunch break but she has been hiding under the bed today and wasn't interested in any food besides treats. I am concerned because our Vet has not really said anything about home testing and when I mentioned it today she said she does not suggest it because it can stress the cat out. She instead suggested we bring her in for a quick glucose reading but she gets VERY stressed in the car and usually goes to the bathroom and/or starts drooling. I dont want to stress her out more by taking her to the vet for a "quick" glucose test. Is this normal for the vet to discourage home testing? What are your experiences and do you do home testing? Again, we are VERY overwhelmed with this diagnoses so any guidance would be wonderful.
 
Unfortunately, a lot of vets discourage home testing. It is the stupidest thing. They would not inject their child with insulin without knowing his/her glucose level, but they want you to do it to your cat. You are absolutely right in thinking that home testing is less stressful than a trip to the vet. In fact, after a short time of testing, it usually becomes very easy and routine. There is simply no other way to make sure you keep your baby safe... with the added benefit of reducing the cost and stress of vet visits. Ignore your vet and start testing. You will hear that over and over again here, possibly with a few horror stories to go along with it from people who listened to their vets initially and learned the hard way that they should not.

It is all very overwhelming in the beginning, but it really does get better. It will be okay. You will get a lot of support here. Welcome!
 
catladyamy said:
Thank you! I will greet that set up now. I'm also going to go after work and get a glucose monitor and strips!
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I'm so glad to hear that you are going to get a meter and strips. Many of us use the Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro, because it requires a very small sample of blood plus the strips are more affordable. It's wise to start with a 28 or 29 gauge lancet, so it will be easier to get a blood drop. You can use Vaseline on the ear so that the blood beads up, a cotton round or ball behind where you are going to poke for firmness and compression after the poke. We also use pain relief ointment after compression is done. Don't forget treats for kitty even if the test is unsuccessful, and a treat for yourself. There is a section in the FAQs forum about home testing: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
Patience and practice are the keys, it gets easier. BTW, we were among that followed vet advice and only tested a few times a week, midday..we were shooting blind :eek: and we just happened to catch Idjit beginning a hypo event. It wasn't serious, unlike others, but it sure scared me. We sure changed our testing habits fast!
 
I will update the insulin once I get home. I am at work right now and can't remember for the life of me which one it is! I know this might sound like a dumb question but if we test and her glucose is in the normal range do you just not give the shot? My fiancee and I both work from 8am to 5pm and I can come home on my lunch most days so how often should we test her glucose?
 
You want to test before every shot to make sure it is safe to give the shot - food should be withheld for two hours before this test so the results will not be impacted by food. When you are first starting, it is recommended that you not give a shot if it is below 200 (when you are using a human meter), but as you get a little more testing data and have a feel for how your cat responds to the insulin, you will get to a point that you can shoot on lower numbers than that. What type of insulin you use also factors in to when you should and should not give the shot. There are specific forums for the different insulin types, and that is the best place to post when you want dosing advice.

In addition to the pre-shot tests, you will want to get mid-cycle (between shots) tests in when you can so that you can start getting an idea of how the insulin impacts her. Some people do a curve on the weekend which means testing before the shot and every two hours after, up until the next pre-shot test. That lets you see when the insulin starts acting, when she is the lowest, when she starts going back up. If that is not an option for you.. don't worry about it.. you can grab mid-cycle tests at different times on different days as you are able to and begin to figure out the same things that way.. just takes longer.

I noticed that you are feeding Hill's w/d wet food. That food is 25% carbs. It is best if you feed less than 10% carbs to a diabetic.. most of us try to stay more like 5% and under. If you have not been there yet, there is a site called catinfo.org that has all the feline nutrition info you could need. The Dr who created it, Dr Pierson, made a list of cat foods that gives their carb content and other info. There is a link to the database version of it in my signature. You can filter by the desired criteria and get a list of foods to try. Dr P recommends, "start with protein minimum of 40, fat maximum of 50, carb max of 10, and for cats with kidney issues....phos less than 300."
 
Thank you, I will check out the insulin forums as well. I feel like our vet kind of pushed everything on us and said go with it and we were left with a lot of questions. The Hills w/d wet food is what the vet had us buy in the office. Chloe and the other cats diet has up until this week consisted of 1 tbspn friskies wet mixed wtih 1/8 to 1/4 cup purina dry twice daily so we are going to transition her back to friskies but use pate instead of flakes/shredded/bits and try to phase out the dry food. There is so much information out there that it's kind of hard to comprehend everything all at once. We were very suprised by the diagnoses because she just had surgery a year ago and bloodwork was fine and the only "symptom" she really exhibted was a slight increase in drinking water from the faucet.
 
I should have mentioned that if you switch from higher to lower carb food, you want to be careful as that change can lower glucose. So, it is important that you are testing during that time!
 
It does feel overwhelming at first, and there is a great deal of information to read and learn. But you are taking care of the most important things first: feeding, insulin and testing. When you have time, and feel a little more sane, just take a look around the board. There is one forum devoted to FAQs that you are going to find very helpful, and when you get home and find out what insulin you are going to be using, there are forums devoted to the different insulin types, and fantastic people to answer questions and advise. At the top of each of the insulin forums there are yellow tagged stickies, with valuable information that will help you understand the treatment. I remember so very well, questioning whether we would be able to effectively care for Idjit, the people here helped and taught me. And, reminded me to breathe, that it would indeed get easier....it did. :cat:
 
Another question that might seem kind of stupid but why wouldn't a vet recommend a change in diet/weight as a means of lowering BG before prescribing insulin? My line of thinking here is that happens often for humans that have high cholesterol or something like insulin resistance. I actually had insulin resistance and was not put on meds but changed my diet and it resolved itself. I would think they'd want to maybe try change in diet/weight and do home testing and if this is not sufficient then to start the cat on insulin.
 
Because most of them know little or nothing about treating feline diabetes (unfortunately that's the truthful answer)

I highly recommend switching to a low carb diet FIRST before going onto insulin because we have seen it make a drastic difference in the blood glucose numbers!!

If after you've completely switched over to low carb canned and given it several days to a week, then if you DO need to start insulin, it's safer than to try to change the diet when you're already on insulin
 
Thanks for the confirmation. Our gut was telling us to try diet first and then move onto insulin if needed. She got 3 doses this week and after each was a little sluggish and sleepy. We haven't given any insulin since yesterday PM and she ate dinner tonight and is acting her usual self. We are going to do her BG test in a few minutes to get a reading. I think so much change at once was not only overwhelming us but her too! Thank you everybody for helping to put my mind at ease. I am feeling a lot less stressed and feel like I have a solid plan in mind :)
 
catladyamy said:
She got 3 doses this week and after each was a little sluggish and sleepy.
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That can be normal, so don't necessarily blame the insulin.

Their bodies get used to living in those higher numbers and when we give insulin, we're forcing them down into numbers they aren't used to anymore. It can take time to re-adjust.

The "prescription" W/D food is very high in carbs and NOT good for a diabetic!! (another stupid piece of advice from the vet).….the canned is about 25% carbs

We want them eating low carb foods....less than 10%

Most of us feed plain old Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies pates! All are less than 10% carbs and are a lot more affordable than the "prescription" junk!!

I think you mean 1 "unit" of ProZinc….not 1cc.....1cc is 40 units of ProZinc
 
Since she was eating friskies before we're going back to that but the pate ones. She did great this morning and seems to be feeling good. We tried to do a BG test last night but her ear didn't want to bleed so we'll try again today.

I'm sorry I do mean 1 unit of prozinc! I will update that =)
 
catladyamy said:
We tried to do a BG test last night but her ear didn't want to bleed so we'll try again today.
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Make sure the ear is warm....it helps to make a small rice sock (put a couple teaspoons of rice into a small sock and tie)…..microwave about 10-15 seconds to warm (test against your wrist like a baby's bottle to make sure it's not too hot)

Hold against the ear for a few seconds before attempting to poke.

Sometimes it helps to poke twice in the same place too.

What size lancets are you using? If they're the ones that came with a "kit", they're probably too small. Getting a larger lancet gauge will help a LOT. Look for 25-28 gauge lancets (usually "alternate site test" lancets)

As you poke more and more, new capillaries will grow into the area and make it easier to get that blood drop. We call it "learning to bleed".
 
Update- The vet called to check on Chloe today. I explained that we had stopped the insulin while we adjusted her diet and that we are trying to monitor BG at home before resuming insulin if needed. The vet was happy with my plan of action and said that she thinks I have done a great job doing research and laying out a plan. I was so excited to hear this! Chloe has not been "asking" for water from the sink like she used to (it felt like 50 times a day) and is playing more and acting like her old self. She even seems to be less bloated since we switched to the wet food and cut back drastically on dry. I ordered 28 gauge lancets online because our local pharmacies didnt seem to carry under 30 gauge (or maybe they were sold out?) and those should be here tomorrow. Hopefully that makes getting the blood sample a little easier. The last test she did okay for and forgot about it 2 minutes later so I'd say we are making some progress. Everybody here has been so helpful and I can't thank you guys enough. I will continue to update as we progress :)
 
So glad to hear this Amy. It would be very helpful if you would set up the spreadsheet so we can see the BG numbers, and the progress. If you have trouble with getting it going, there are members that can help.
Here is a link to the instructions and understanding the spreadsheet: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/suggestions-tech-support-testing-area.6/
It would be marvelous if the diet effected all the change Chloe needed, but if not and she needs a little insulin support in addition, then the members here can provide some information.
 
Thanks so much! Its been super hectic and I haven't been able to get on here much. Chloe had surgery today to remove a mammary mass. They rechecked her fructosamine to see how the change in diet had affected it and it cut it in half! The vet said before it was in the 600s and today was in the 300s. This makes me super happy. She did suggest we still do 1 unit of insulin twice a day and hopefully with a little weight loss it will go into remission. She did lose about 1/4 of a pound in the last month so we're making some progress and that's more than I could want at this point. Its going to be a little longer road to recovery from the surgery but I'm staying positive.
 
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