Please help! My Boots was diagnosed diabetic

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momincaz

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Hi all. My name is Kelly and my 7 year old Boots was diagnosed diabetic the beginning of this month. I'm so happy :-D to have found this board! I have switched him (and my two other kitties) to Wellness Core Grain Free, Chicken, Turkey & Chicken Liver formula, wet food, totally. My vet had wanted me to put him on Purina DM but, I didn't read many good things about it. She ran a BCG on him on Jan 4 after I gave him his first dose of 1 unit of insulin. His numbers were 457, 465 & 390 over a 5 hr period. I kept him at the same dose, twice a day and on Jan 13 she ran another BCG after his shot and his numbers were 538, 531, 499, 486 & 450 over an 8 hour period. If really concerned because I feel his numbers should have gone down and not up. He does stress out when being put in the carrier, the car and going to the vets but, I thought I would see some improvement. Anyway, she upped his dose to 2 units of Prozinc twice a day and he goes back for another curve on the 27th.

His water consumption and litter box use has definitely decreased over the past two days.

On top of this, I am so anxious when I have to give him his shots. It takes me an hour just to prepare myself. I can't imagine having to test him at home and having to prick his little ears...definitely have a needle phobia. I am going to try and find a good video of home testing and at least try it for him.

Ugh, I'm just so stressed and worried about him and really don't understand the increase in the #'s. Anyone ever heard of that happening?

Thanks for any input in advance...Kelly & Bootsie
 
Hi Kelly and Boots! Welcome to the FDMB! There are a lot of friendly knowledgeable people on here who will be more then happy to help you so feel free to ask lots of questions.

First don't panic. You can do it. I'm not familiar with how Prozinc is dosed or its characteristics so I will let someone more knowledgeable about Prozinc help you with the dosing and explain what is going on.

A good video that shows you how to test his BG at home is: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-1I5AdwUBU or http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ6iXetR398. Typically the numbers will be higher on a BG curve done at a vet's office then done at home, in part because of the stress associated with going to a vet so it is worth it to learn how to home test.

You don't need a specialty feline BG meter. A human one works just as well and is what most of the people on here use. If you are looking for a meter, the Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro is fairly reasonable for the meter and the strips. It is reliable, needs very little blood to work, and is a popular meter that many people on here use.
 
Hello Kelly and Boots and Welcome! Eddie and I are new, too! There's a steep learning curve and it can be overwhelming at times, but with the information available here, and the guidance of so many wonderful people, you'll get the hang of things :)

High BG numbers can be caused by a lot of things. If you're just getting started, it can take a couple days for kitty to get "settled" in to the dose. High numbers, especially in the middle of his cycle, can mean that the dose is too low. Or, kind of counter intuitively, high numbers can mean the dose is too high. Is there a possibility of an infection? That can also significantly raise BG.

Home testing is really the key. We discovered early on that Eddie's dose was too high once we started testing, and his insulin needs change sometimes daily. Being able to home check his BG will give you a better sense of control over Boots' disease, and will give you a better understanding of his needs. Home testing can seem impossible at first, but you will get the hang of it! There are a million great tips listed throughout this website, and lots of forum members who can also offer tips and advice.

Eddie uses ProZinc as well :). There are several very kind and knowledgeable members that also use ProZinc and can offer specific dosing advise. Once you get your feet on the ground, I encourage you to start posting in the ProZinc section of the board. Each type of insulin has it's own little support community.

Welcome and I look forward to learning more about you and Boots and trying to answer any questions you might have.

Jen and Eddie
 
Vet stress can raise the glucose 100 to 180 mg/dL. Testing at home will give you a better idea of his true numbers. Use an apple and practice testing and injecting on it. Also mentally imagine the steps you'll go through testing and shooting your cat ("covert rehearsal") this may help you feel more comfortable about the process.

The dose may have been raised too high, too fast. If a diabetic cat experiences a sudden drop or a drop to an unfamiliar level, the body may react with hormones which release stored sugar (glycogen). Then the glucose level is higher and seems to call for more insulin - but if you hold the dose for a few days, it can settle back down into better numbers. We suggest increments of 0.25 units at a time so you don't miss the best dose. The nadir, or lowest glucose level after a shot of ProZinc is roughly +5 to +7 hours after a shot.

The syringes for ProZinc have a red cap and seldom measure half units. A work around for that is the use a sturdy ruler with millimeter markings, line it up with the syringe barrel's 0 and note how may tick marks it takes to get to 1 unit.

See my signature link for some Secondary Monitoring Tools for some additional assessments you may wish to make.
 
Thank you Will, Jen & Gracie for your responses. You have all convinced me to at least try to monitor his levels at home so, I will purchase the meter today. I think I will feel much less apprehensive about this knowing there are such helpful people on this board! I was looking and touching his ears this morning and he purrs even louder so, hopefully it won't be a traumatic thing for him. I was unable to actually see the vein at the edge of the ear so, will look for it with a flashlight.

I agree with you all, seeing his numbers and recording them daily will give me and the vet a much greater understanding of where he is. Will head to local Kinneys today to obtain the meter, lancets, pen, cotton balls and Neosporin. What do each of you use if you don't mind sharing?

Wow, when they told me it was diabetes, I was relieved. How naïve I was!

Thanks you so very much!
 
momincaz said:
What do each of you use if you don't mind sharing?
Click to expand...

We use the ReliOn Confirm from WalMart. The meter itself is only like $10 bucks, and the strips are reasonable. There is another ReliOn meter that has even cheaper strips, but we use the Confirm because it requires a very tiny amount of blood. We use the lancing device that comes with the ReliOn kit, but replace the blue cap with the clear one that comes with the device so we can see where we are poking. Many here do not use a device, and use the lance to poke by hand. For some the device works easier, and for others hand poking with the lancet works easier.

Some testing tips we found to be very helpful in the beginning: 1) Some places say you are aiming for the vein, but you are really aiming for the area between the vein and the edge of the ear where there are lots of capillaries. 2) Warm up the ear. You can use a sock with a little bit of rice heated in the microwave, or a pill bottle filled with warm water. Warming the ear helps the blood flow so you can get a drop of blood more easily. Over time, your kitty's ears "learn" to bleed, so you don't have to warm them as much, but this is really important when you're starting. 3) Treats. Whether you get a successful test or not, always treat your kitty so he associates the testing with good things. 4) Keep some of his favorite treats inside your testing kit. We keep freeze dried shrimp inside Eddie's kit, so his supplies all smell like treats. He goes to sit in his testing spot and rubs on his box when he wants a treat. 5) Keep it a positive experience. No more than three pokes at a time. If you are unsuccessful, reward kitty (and yourself), and try again later. 6) At first, as you're learning, you will probably see some bruising. This goes away. To help with the bruising, apply pressure with gauze or a cotton ball to the poke to stem the bleeding.

Keep us posted!
 
Most people here use the ReliOn from Walmart because its strips and the meter are the least expensive. If you get another human meter, stay away from meters with Tru in the name as they seem to read lower. and pick one that sips and takes a tiny sample. You can buy the strips for most meters on ebay which will cut the cost.

Also get 25-27 gauge lancets as they seem to make a big enough hole at first.

Here is our protocol for ProZinc which may help and raise questions. Ask away.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109077
 
I use a Relion Confirm from Walmart, with the ultra-thin lancets (33 gauge) and free hand the poking. Clyde doesn't seem to mind. :smile:

I like that meter because the strips are reasonable and there have been times when I've gone through 10+ strips in a day and the local Walmart is convenient. I can run there and be back home in less then 15 minutes.

Not to scare you but 10+ strips in a day is not a normal amount of usage, but things can happen where you use more then two strips a day for example: you don't get enough blood for a sample and need to retest, you get an off the wall value (high or low) from your testing and want to retest to confirm, you are half asleep when collecting garbage and throw out the new strip container instead of the empty one and don't realize it until after they picked up the garbage (unfortunately I have done this and had to replace an almost full container of strips :smile:), his BG drops too low and you need to monitor it as you try to bring it back up to a safe level.

Bunni9's tips are right on! The only thing I can add is do it in a consistent manner and place so it becomes a routine for both you and Boots. If he knows he's going to get a treat, after a while you may find him waiting in the position for the testing because of the association with a good thing. I also would suggest to try and alternate ears so they have a chance to heal.

I typically did poke, check, treat. Even if the poke was unsuccessful, Clyde got the treat before I tried it again.
 
Hello Kelly and extra sweet Boots! Welcome to FDMB!

I also used the Relion Confirm. It really needs a tiny drop of blood. My girl got tested in the kitchen on a towel. She got so used to it that when I got home, she'd trot right over to wait for me there!! Found her there in the AM too. Heck, she'd hear me unzip the case for the meter and come running!! Having a designated spot really helps.

Don't stress about it. Honestly, I thought I'd never be able to do it but in a few days it was all routine.
 
Welcome Kelly and Boots!

I also use a ReliOn, the Prime. It does require more blood for testing than the ReliOn Micro/Confirm, but the strips are about half the cost. I started with the Micro and once Michelangelo's ears "learned to bleed," I switched to the Prime. I also use a lancing device because I was never able to consistently poke with a lancet. Using a device might also help you with your needle phobia. ;-)

Here are a few more ear-testing tips that might be of help when you start testing. I also wrote this up for help on creating a conducive environment for testing that might give you a few more ideas.
 
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