Please help! Newly diabetic kitty

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Lisa Lisa Lisa

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Hello wonderful community!

I need some help. My 17 year old kitty, Oscar, was just diagnosed with diabetes and I am overwhelmed with information. I am in Canada.

I just picked up my insulin pen. It says Basaglar KwikPen on it.

They tried to sell me the prescription Royal Canin Diabetes kibble, but I declined as everything I’ve been reading says that is not only a waste on money, but also not the best option for a diabetic kitty.

I was told to feed my kitty just less than 1/2 a cup of the kibble, twice a day, 12 hrs apart and then to give my kitty 3 units of insulin from the pen after each meal.

so now I’m home with the pen, and no idea what to do. I can go buy Friskies or fancy feast canned food no problem, but I don’t know how much to feed or how much insulin to give.

Oscar is 12.5 pounds.
If anyone has any guidance I will be forever grateful as right now I am scared to do anything….

Thank you all so so much in advance from myself and Oscar.
 
Welcome to the FDMB. How was it determined that Oscar is diabetic? What was his blood glucose? Did they run a fructosamine test which is an average of his glucose over the past two weeks? Does he have any other health issues? How are his teeth? Has he been on a steroid? What is his current diet? Did the vet mention whether there was presence of ketones? What caused you to go to the vet?

I know I’m asking a lot of questions but we need information to decide how we can help you and know that we can.

if he will eat canned food it’s much better for him.
 
Hi Tiffmaxee!!

Thank you so very much for your response ❤️

We took Oscar to the vet because he is 17 years old and was showing some mobility issues in his hips and he started peeing on the floor very frequently.

The vet found high levels of sugars in his urine, so they did bloodwork and from that, his diabetes was confirmed.

He has had urinary tract infections throughout his life and has been on Royal Canin urinary Tract SO food for many many years to counter that.

His teeth aren’t great. One of the back ones is basically rotting and he is on a medication for that as our vet said pulling it would be risky.

He is not on any steroids and there was no mention of ketones from the vet to me.

No fructosamine test was done. He was just diagnosed on Friday and we were able to pick up his insulin today.

I hope this helps!!!
And thank you so much for taking the time to respond!!
 
Is there a vet dentist near you? They usually will take care of dental issues that regular vets won’t attempt. My diabetic elderly cat did have a tooth pulled without issues. If rotten that tooth may be causing pain. Often after a dental the bg returns to normal. Do you get a copy of the labs? What was his bg? Is the RC dry or canned?
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Ask the vet to prescribe either Lantus or Prozinc. If he suggests vetsulin, tell the vet that is not recommended for cats any more but he American Veterinary Association.
 
Hi everyone!

Thank you so much for the warm welcome and for all of your responses. I really appreciate it!

I had no idea the tooth could potentially be causing his blood sugar levels to be unstable. Very interesting. I did a quick google search and it looks like the closest dentist is about 4 hrs away from me, so definitely worth looking into.

as for the lab results, I did not get a copy, but I will call my vet tomorrow and ask for one. Hopefully they will share it with me. If I get his BG from it, I will let you know.

He has been on the dry RC urinary tract SO food forever. The vet said it makes him drink more water and pee much more which in turn helps avoid getting UTIs.

After his diagnosis, we were told to get him off that and use the dry RC diabetic kibble. But everything I’ve been reading says go with a wet food pate such as Friskies or fancy feast if he will eat it, and he definitely would…. I just don’t know how much insulin he would need if I go that route as I’m guessing it won’t be the same as the 3 units the vet prescribed me with the “special” dry food.
 
3 units of insulin is too much to start with. If you are feeding a dry food we recommend starting with 1 unit. If you are feeding wet low carb food we recommend starting with 1/2 unit.
If you are using a pen I would suggest buying syringes so you can give smaller doses. We recommend increasing in 1/4 unit increments.
The syringes you will need are U100, 3/10, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm, insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings on them.
I will post below how you get the insulin out of the pen with the syringe.
Yes low carb wet food is much better for all cats. Even those with urinary tract issues. Dry food has 7% moisture in it and wet food has 78% moisture in it. Dry food does not encourage cats to drink! They do have to drink more because there is so little in the dry food but that is absolutely no reason to feed them dry food! Well done researching it all!
 
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Ok! Am I able to buy those syringes at a regular pharmacy? Also, what could happen if the dose is too much or too little and how would I know if and when to adjust? I’m guessing I’ll have to learn how to do a curve? Please excuse me if I am totally off base with what I’m saying. I’ve been trying to research, but am still learning all the methods and terminology etc !!
 
We have 2 dosing methods here
DOSING METHODS which you can follow and we can help you. You can post daily here and we can help you until you are able to do it yourself. Doesn’t matter how long that takes. If the dose is too much the BGs will drop too low. If it is not enough, the BGs will be too high.
Check your local pharmacy for the syringes. Otherwise online.
 
Thank you all again for all the information and support. This is a really wonderful community!!

I think the SLGS method seems the most simple for me to start with. I need to get a blood glucose reader correct? Does anyone have a particular one that they recommend?

Also, I got the blood work results from my vet and tried to upload the photo below but it says I do not have permission to do that for some reason.

It says glucose serum 22.7
Would that be what you are looking for?
 
You can’t upload. It’s broken unfortunately and won’t be fixed. You need to copy and paste.
His bg is higher than normal even allowing for the stress from being at the vet. Will he eat wet food? Low carb wet food will help bring down his bg. The dry he’s eating is high carb.
I’ll share a link for you to set up a signature and spreadsheet. Hopefully someone will be along with suggestions as to what meter and syringes to buy.
 
Thank you!! Oscar will eat wet food. I was trying to figure out if any of the wet food I currently have is low in carbohydrates and suitable for my kitty, but is it dry matter carbs or wet matter carbs in which the number must to be very low? I plan to cut out the dry food completely.

I will try to get my signature and spreadsheet going. Thank you so much again for all the help ❤️
 
You will need to slowly cut back in the dry food and add wet food. You don’t want intestinal upset. So since you will initially be feeding SLGS you would start with 1 unit. You could hold off on insulin while you make the diet change but it could take a couple of weeks to go completely low carb. We have a food chart for Canada. Let me find the link.
 
Tiffmaxee,
You are amazing!! Thank you, thank you, thank you! I will post what my plan is as soon as I look at the charts and decide on a wet food to use :)
 
Hello again!

ok, so I purchased the wet Friskies pate cat food and I think I am ready to begin.

Does this sound correct:
Give 1 unit of basaglar and then feed the Friskies pate right after. Repeat every 12 hrs. Do I just feed him as much as he wants to eat? Or should it be a regulated amount?

Once we have started, how do I know if that is a good dosage amount for him? Is the only way to buy a BG testing kit? If yes, does anyone have any recommendations on a good one that isn’t crazy expensive? I am in Canada.
Thank you all again for all of your support!
 
The routine is that you test, feed, and shoot. With Basaglar (glargine) you can do all of this within a few minutes. However, you really, really need to get a glucometer. Without testing, you have no idea whether it's safe to give insulin. You also will have no idea if your cat needs a dose change unless your testing at home.

If you have switched your cat to a low carb, canned food diet, with SLGS your starting dose is 0.5u.

The headache is that in Canada, you don't really have inexpensive options for test strips. (In the US, people often buy the Walmart Relion brand meter because the strips are cheap.) Other members have mentioned that the Canadian pharmacies often have promotions that allow you to get strips inexpensively. I'm tagging a few Canadian members: @Wendy&Neko
@Christie & Maverick

You might also want to check prices on Amazon. They sell test kits and strips.
 
Welcome Lisa :)

Sienne is correct, the test strips in Canada can run around $80/100 strips (or more) depending on which province you are in. Sobeys used to have a weekly sale/promotion for a different brand each week for $68 and sometimes a promo to buy a meter, get the first box of strips free, but I haven’t really seen that in quite a while. We’ve had some Canadian members go to Shoppers Drug Mart and use their PC optimum points to buy strips, especially with the use points get points offer that comes up frequently.

That said, there are a lot of different and good human meters available at all Canadian pharmacies; several years ago I settled on the Freestyle Lite because it required a smaller blood drop than some of the other human meters.

You can also find the BD ultra fine syringes over the counter at Canadian pharmacies, they have both 6mm and 8mm needle lengths.
 
Hello from BC. I used to get my best insulin supply prices from Safeway pharmacy, of all places. Costco also a good place and sometimes London Drugs if you are on the west half of the Country. They also occasionally have a "get a free meter when you buy 100 test strips deal". Freestyle Lite require the smallest blood drop, which can be handy when learning to do blood testing. And I've seen their strips on for $75. Some people shop for test strips on eBay for good prices. I live close to the border so mainly cross border shopped. The look on the border guard faces when asked what I was bringing across and said "diabetic blood glucose test strips for my cat" was priceless. :p

In addition to the food list above, this food list is for mostly the US, but a large number of them are also available in Canada. You want something under 10% carbs. As Elise (tiffmaxee) said above, make sure to transition your kitty slowly from dry to wet food.
 
Thank you Sienne & Gabby and to my two fellow Canadians too!

I am actually quite close to the border as well, so it would be an option for me to cross and buy the glucometer and strips in the USA, or to even have them sent to a mail pick up service just across the border if that’s possible. I’m sure the look on border guards face would be worth it alone

Im so nervous to start all this and scared to do it wrong and harm my kitty. I am still in the process of a slow transition from his dry kibble to just the Friskies. I have not given any insulin yet. Next step is to get a glucometer. I will look into all the options above and then I am sure I will be back here with more questions. Thank you all for you help and patience!
 
If you are not going to start the insulin straight away I would recommend you test the urine for ketones just to make sure none appear. To do this you need to buy a bottle of Ketostix from a pharmacy and follow directions on the bottle
 
Lisa Lisa Lisa said:
or to even have them sent to a mail pick up service just across the border if that’s possible
Click to expand...
That's what I did. I shopped at https://www.adwdiabetes.com/ and had them ship to a mail box on the other side.

Getting a meter locally as a backup is a good idea. I had first the Freestyle, then a Bayer. You do want something you can use in an emergency if you are ordering test strips on line and waiting for them to arrive.
 
Hi all. Quick unrelated question: is there a dog diabetes forum like this? I have a friend who would love to find one for her diabetic pup.

thanks so much!
 
Hi again everyone.
So I have a question about the glucometer lancets… mainly to my Canadian friends…

I ordered the Relion Platinum Glucometer along with 200 test strips from Walmart in the states. I picked them up from a parcel shipping place just across the border without issue.

Now, I realize that I needed to buy a whole bunch of lancets for the glucometer (it only came with 10)
I am guessing these are specific to the brand of glucometer I have.

I tried to order the Lancets online and have them sent to the same shipping place, but it doesn’t appear that Walmart will ship them. I have to go directly to the Walmart and pick them up myself. Maybe this is because they are needles? I’m not sure. Any feedback on this? Can I get them somewhere in Canada? Or is the price astronomical. I googled the relion platinum glucometer lancets and could only come up with places in the states.

Also, I can only use each lancet once, correct?

thank you so much!
 
If you freehand, you can use any brand lancets you want to. Start with some that are 26 or 28 gauge. Another option if you want to a use a lancing device, is talk to a pharmacy and see if they have a spare one around. London Drugs gave me a free lancing device when I bought test strips there. Then I discovered free hand with the lancet was easier for me.

Use each lancet just for one blood test. Like syringes, the tips become duller with use.
 
Hi! Ok so I just took Oscar’s glucose level for the first time. I can’t post a picture but my Relion Platinum meter says 341 mg/dL….

I’m confused by this… Is there suppose to be a decimal point in there?

should I still start with 1 unit of insulin?

he’s eating Friskies pate
 
I kept this spreadsheet on my computer and referred to it for conversions.

Is he only eating Friskies pate now? All the dry or SO is gone? If yes Friskies, you'd start at 0.5 units when following SLGS for dosing.
 

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Hi all,

Thanks for clarifying the different units of measure. I guess my glucometer cannot be changed to mmol/L as I cannot find it in the settings anywhere. I will use the chart you shared. Thank you!

Oscar is eating solely the Friskies pate now.
After the conversion, his first glucose reading was 18.9

unfortunately, I am not confident enough to use a regular needle. The vet gave me an insulin pen. I can only go up or down by 1 unit. Is it ok to start at one unit with the pen?
 
We typically make changes by 0.25 units at a time, which you cannot do with a pen. What are the issues with using a syringe? Maybe we can help.

If you were to start with 1 unit, then you couldn't make changes after that without a syringe.
 
I guess I was just nervous to use an actual needle that I could see. It felt scary and foreign.

I gave 1 unit of insulin this morning (as suggested earlier), via the pen and realized that it is also a needle and not much different than a syringe… I was under the impression it was more like the glucometer pen or an Epipen.

Anyhow, I gave him the 1 unit, without issue I think…
Grabbed the scruff of his neck and put it in… pointed the need sort of towards his body. Is that correct?

After administering, I looked at the pen I noticed that it was at zero. I thought that I forgot to turn the dial to 1 so I gave it to him again. That’s

That’s when I realize that the pen clicks back to Zero after the insulin has been administered. So after all this ordeal, I ended up giving him two units of insulin.

Is this really bad? I feel terrible. This is all so overwhelming and I’m messing it up!

here are his glucose levels from yesterday to now.
His first insulin dose was 2 units this morning at 7:30am

Aug 4th 7:30 pm 18.9
Aug 5th 7:30 am 14.9 - 2 units given (by accident)
Aug 5th 9:15 am 7.6

should I test his glucose level again at 11am?
Is he going to be ok?
 
I love this board and the excellent advice and support it provides but I feel I need to say this about the insulin dosing: please ask your veterinarian. There is SO much opportunity in this thread for inadvertent misunderstanding meds, doses, glucose levels etc.

My cat (and you should NOT give based on my cat or anyone else’s) is 12.7 pounds. He was just started on Glargine (bio similar to yours). His starting dose was 1 unit every 12 hours. His actual starting dose would have been 1.5 U but he’s old and fragile and we both wanted to avoid hypoglycemia. 3U seems high BUT I don’t know the health of your pet, I don’t know his blood sugar (and potentially ketone) results at your vet…I think it’s wise to call your vet and confirm it’s supposed to be 3 units and not one unit. You can tell him you’d prefer to start lower, tell him someone said 3U sounds high or whatever. I don’t recall the initial dosing recommendations in an article I read in a veterinary journal, but weight of cat and level of sugar went into the calculation.

IMHO (and I’m NOT a DVM just a simple MD) I wouldn’t wait around changing diets, buying different syringes etc because that blood sugar isn’t getting any lower. If his needs change as his diet changes you can adjust the insulin dose. You’re going to be testing him so will see if his numbers drop. If you are starting at 1U that’s less than prescribed but certainly well within the formula my vet used. I also say if you’re uncertain about injections then starting with the pen might be an easier lead in for you —there’s not likely to be an adjustment right away so you can work up your courage to syringes. IMHO whatever it takes to get insulin into kitty then that’s better than not getting insulin into kitty.
I’m just worried there’s starting to be delays over syringes, delays over food, delays working up courage to inject. I get the worries.
 
you aren’t the first to ever do this. Please don’t beat yourself up. The low point is probably coming around 4-6 hours after injection from what I’ve been told but every cat is different. Get some karo syrup or honey out. Get some high carb food out. IMHO call your vet for his advice also. He’d rather know he may need to deal with this now rather than perhaps have you rush through his doors.
 
From the history above:

preshot 14.9
+1.75 7.6

Looks like you have some action, I’d feed some medium carb food now and test again in 30 minutes.
ETA since you appear to have given more insulin than usual, and there has been a steep drop, I’d watch this cycle very closely, usually 1 hour is fine, but I am concerned with the extra insulin given and no SS to see or compare on how your kitty usually does.
 
tiffmaxee said:
Here we don’t talk times. So +2 is 2 hours after insulin.

I’m making another request for a spreadsheet when you can start one, Lisa.
Click to expand...
I know. That’s why I pointed out she’d already posted +2 but without knowing her time zone it’s difficult to know at what “+” she is at the moment. I’m sure she appreciates your advice
 
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