His name is Darren, a sweet loving tuxedo who gives nothing playful joy. Recently he showed symptoms of a UTI. We took him in and the VCA vet, more on the signifigance of that in a bit, said his sugar was 530. In 6 minutes time she presented us with an estimate for $1900. We paid. We used a Care Credit card, but we paid. Sub fluids, flushing, the whole bit. Also, Zenequin. Zenequin can raise blood sugar. So fast forward a few days we bring him home on 1 unit 2x per day. He is still high. Way high. We up it to 2 on a new Vet's advice. Now he is starting to come down, between 150 and 300, where we were aiming. In this time frame he managed in one day to read as high as 448 and as low as 76 after the Vet said 2.5 units. We tried that, did not like his lethargy/nadir, went back to 2. (You find some Vets are not worth the paper their degree is printed on.) Funny thing though, we stopped the Zenequin. And each day as we moved from the Zenequin we have found lower lows on the 2 units. He is eating wet and dry diabetic food, and I curve him. So last night at about 9pm, I check and he is at 297. Still high, but a good number for his 12 hour frame without it. I give him his 2 units and go to bed. Except kitty is restless.
Thanks to my lurking here, which I have found to be the single biggest guide with this whole process, I know that restlessness means the sugar is off. High or low, but off. We test at about 2:50a.m. 35. I am floored and upset, but we immediately give him some Welch's jelly and wet food. He stabilizes, we nap, at this point the whole process is so hard on us we cannot sleep, and when he is ready time wise for his insulin, we check and he is at 80. We do not give him insulin. 2 hrs later he goes to 155. I am going to run him a full 24 without it because he is too low to give it.
Complicating matters is our booked vacation. We hired a pet sitter, who is very experienced, but now we can't give him insulin in a schedule because he is reacting so inconsistently. But I suspect something, one, he is not diabetic but had a bad infection. About half of vets consider this possible. Two, VCA ran scam. Took one reading way too seriously and gave him a sugar maintaining antibiotic. 3, it is possible on the diabetic food he is self regulating. To that end I am going to give him 1 unit later if he is high, and move him to one unit once per day while we are away. The way I figure it, this will be enough to prevent acidotic state, but not so much he would go hypo. I don't know what to do. Please help. Trip is pre booked and much much needed. Thank you.
Thanks to my lurking here, which I have found to be the single biggest guide with this whole process, I know that restlessness means the sugar is off. High or low, but off. We test at about 2:50a.m. 35. I am floored and upset, but we immediately give him some Welch's jelly and wet food. He stabilizes, we nap, at this point the whole process is so hard on us we cannot sleep, and when he is ready time wise for his insulin, we check and he is at 80. We do not give him insulin. 2 hrs later he goes to 155. I am going to run him a full 24 without it because he is too low to give it.
Complicating matters is our booked vacation. We hired a pet sitter, who is very experienced, but now we can't give him insulin in a schedule because he is reacting so inconsistently. But I suspect something, one, he is not diabetic but had a bad infection. About half of vets consider this possible. Two, VCA ran scam. Took one reading way too seriously and gave him a sugar maintaining antibiotic. 3, it is possible on the diabetic food he is self regulating. To that end I am going to give him 1 unit later if he is high, and move him to one unit once per day while we are away. The way I figure it, this will be enough to prevent acidotic state, but not so much he would go hypo. I don't know what to do. Please help. Trip is pre booked and much much needed. Thank you.
