Penny started on Vetsulin yesterday

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Pjmuellner

Pjmuellner

Member Since 2017
Penny was diagnosed with diabetes a month ago when she tested in the 500's with AlphaTrak at the vet. I didn't start her on insulin right away; I immediately changed her from dry food to Fancy Feast wet food, 0 or 1 carbs. To keep her from losing weight, I fed her 3 x day (7:30am, 1:30pm, 8:00pm). She stopped drinking lots of water (in fact I never see her drinking water any more). To prepare for using insulin, I got a Relion Micro and practiced. She tested in the 236 - 274 range (pre-insulin).

We went back to the vet yesterday to start insulin and the AlphTrak registered 390 (my Relion meter registered 316 at the same time). My vet prescribed Vetsulin, 2 iu twice a day. I changed her feeding schedule to 1.5 cans of food at 8am and 8pm (instead of 1 can 3 times/day). My vet told me I didn't need to test her blood glucose for a couple of weeks while the insulin gets stabilized. Still, I tested before her first dose and she was 330 on the Relion Micro.

This morning I fed her and gave her another 2 iu. On my Relion Micro meter she tested 288 +2 hours after eating and 241 +4 hours after. She seems quieter today and less social but she's always a little shy so I'm not sure. I don't know what else to look for.

I have so many questions about this but for now:

How important are these glucose tests now? My vet said not to worry about them for a couple weeks and if this is true, I don't want to unnecessarily poke her. Sometimes it takes 2 lancet attempts to get blood. But if it's important I will get it done.

If tests are important now, when should I do them?

(I printed off the instructions to create a spreadsheet and I will do that today. I know that will help.)

She has neuropathy (walks on hind hocks). And stopped going to the litter box at night, went on the bedroom carpet. I've been sleeping on an air mattress in the living room so she can sleep with us. I'm praying she will feel better and these problems will go away.
 
2 units is a high starting dose. Typically cats are started at 1 unit. You will want to get a reading prior to the shot and with no food at least 2 hours prior to the preshot test. The order is test, feed, shoot. Vetsulin usually peeks at 4-6 hours after injection so that's when you will want to catch mid cycle numbers to see how low it goes. To answer your question, yes, the bg tests are always important and the best way to keep your cat safe.


You should start giving your cat b12 methylcobalamin for the neuropathy. That along with lower numbers will help.
 
So I should decrease to 1 unit? I thought only low reading like <50 were trouble but she has been listless and staying behind the sofa all day, it's not right.
On my Relion Micro meter she tested 288 +2 hours after eating , 241 +4 hours after eating and now 210 +6 hours after eating.
Should I have corn syrup on hand just in case? I have honey and dry food with carbs (that my other cat eats). What is best?

The neuropathy was breaking my heart. Reading about b12 methylcobalamin gives me hope. I asked my vet about a med for her neuropathy and she told me there was one option that required compounding and wasn't always effective. I'm so grateful for this board and the information you have shared. I'm going to CVS now to try to get it.

After reading your response and doing a "find" on b12 methylcobalamin I see you've said the same thing before. Thank you for being patient with me. I've really tried to read everything I can to be prepared but it's so much.
 
Pjmuellner said:
So I should decrease to 1 unit? I thought only low reading like <50 were trouble but she has been listless and staying behind the sofa all day, it's not right.
On my Relion Micro meter she tested 288 +2 hours after eating , 241 +4 hours after eating and now 210 +6 hours after eating.
Should I have corn syrup on hand just in case? I have honey and dry food with carbs (that my other cat eats). What is best?

The neuropathy was breaking my heart. Reading about b12 methylcobalamin gives me hope. I asked my vet about a med for her neuropathy and she told me there was one option that required compounding and wasn't always effective. I'm so grateful for this board and the information you have shared. I'm going to CVS now to try to get it.

After reading your response and doing a "find" on b12 methylcobalamin I see you've said the same thing before. Thank you for being patient with me. I've really tried to read everything I can to be prepared but it's so much.
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Since she's not going too low during the day 2 units is probably fine. Just keep an eye on the numbers. Good job switching to the Fancy Feast (remember no gravy, just pate) If you have honey on hand that's all you need to have on hand just in case, no need to buy corn syrup too.

Many use the brand Zobaline for the b12... the benefit of that is that it also has folic acid in it. It can be found on amazon.com https://www.amazon.com/ZobalineTM-Diabetic-Cats-60-tabs/dp/B008G3LI2M/?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20
I used Vitacost capsules just as a precaution but my cat didn't have neuropathy symptoms thankfully.

My next suggestion would be to set up a spreadsheet of your readings so you can add it to your signature. This way we can see the readings in real time and offer advice when you need it. Here's info on setting that up. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
 
Thank you again! CVS didn't have the b12 methylcobalamin and I thank you for giving me the specific info to get it.

I've been patting myself on the back for getting the lowest carb food (0 or 2 carb Fancy Feast, she's been eating Savory Salmon Feast Classic and Fish and Shrimp Feast Flaked). I read today I should only be giving a few fish meals per week. Ugh! I will order non-fish food. I am really trying hard to learn and do the right thing. I hope I can get it figured out in time.

Asking for help here was the best thing I have done. Thank you.
 
Pjmuellner said:
Thank you again! CVS didn't have the b12 methylcobalamin and I thank you for giving me the specific info to get it.

I've been patting myself on the back for getting the lowest carb food (0 or 2 carb Fancy Feast, she's been eating Savory Salmon Feast Classic and Fish and Shrimp Feast Flaked). I read today I should only be giving a few fish meals per week. Ugh! I will order non-fish food. I am really trying hard to learn and do the right thing. I hope I can get it figured out in time.

Asking for help here was the best thing I have done. Thank you.
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any fancy feast classic is under 10% carb... have you looked at our food list? http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf I use a variety of flavors.
 
You're off to a great start! Good for you for jumping right in to testing. It took me a while to accept I had to hurt my baby. But guess what? He didn't care, I was the problem. I too would recommend testing pre-shots and at least once around 6 hours. I 2as all the way up to 5 units of Vetsulin too fast and now backing off to 1.5 7nits, we have found what I hope to be the right dose. I was confused at the suggestions here differing from my vet's advice but I do believe the kind people here have a lot more experience. So I found a way to approach the vet explaining that I have read a lot since Tugger's diagnosis and "was wondering...". This has worked well. Good luck, you have found the right place!
 
"Since she's not going too low during the day 2 unitd s is probably fine. Just keep an eye on the numbers. "
What is the threshhold to be alarmed? She's still behind the sofa.
 
Pjmuellner said:
"Since she's not going too low during the day 2 unitd s is probably fine. Just keep an eye on the numbers. "
What is the threshhold to be alarmed? She's still behind the sofa.
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The threshold to take action when you test BG at home is 50 on a human meter and 68 on a pet meter. Take action means get some higher carb food into her in small amounts to "steer" the BG away from even lower levels that could produce a symptomatic hypo.

If you're not testing BG at home, you likely won't see symptoms until the BG is very low (can vary with the cat): staring, wandering aimlessly, disorientation, yowling, incontinence, seizing, etc. The BG can be physiologically low enough to cause subtle damage before these symptoms show up.

Cats getting insulin can feel unwell if their BG is too high, too low or spiking and diving. Some insulins agree with a kitty more than others. It's a little early to know whether Vetsulin agrees with your kitty or not. Some of them need time to get used to exogenous insulin.
 
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