Potential diabetic remission?

Status
Not open for further replies.
allie.crain97

allie.crain97

Member Since 2018
To give some background, my baby sawyer was diagnosed in late June and was prescribed 1 unit of lantus u100 insulin twice a day. In august, his glucose curves showed that he was still pretty high (200-300 range) so we upped the dose to 1.5 units (twice a day, so 3 units per day total). This dosage seemed to be working really well for him and he seemed happier and healthier.

Last week, he had a glucose curve done and the vet screwed up and accidentally gave him 1/2 can of food instead of 1 1/2 cans (probably a communication issue on both parts). No surprise that his blood sugar dropped into the low 50s and they had to rub sugar on his gums because he was shaking and almost unconscious. Since the mix up was technically their fault, the vet offered to do another glucose curve for free and I scheduled it for 1 week later to give Sawyer some time to recover from his first (that i know of) hypoglycemic episode. I haven't noticed him behaving any differently after the incident except for the fact that he hasn't been finishing his food. Usually he is VERY food motivated and will inhale anything you put in front of him. This week, he's only been eating ~3/4 of his meal which is very out of character.

His do-over glucose curve was yesterday and the vet told me that, again, his BG went very low. Apparently, he only ate 2/3 - 3/4 of his food and as a result, his blood sugar ranged from 50-70 throughout the day. The vet suggested I go back to the 1 unit dosage (2 units per day) which I've been doing for about a day now. She also mentioned that this COULD mean that hes starting to go into remission, as he is only 6 years old and was recently diagnosed.


I guess my main questions are:

What qualifies as diabetic remission? Am I wrong to be optimistic about his strong response to insulin?

Is there any chance that his hypoglycemia last week could have affected his appetite, BG levels, etc? I'm only concerned because he seemed to be fine on 1.5 units until last week.


Thanks in advance!!! me and sawyer appreciate any info/experiences you guys have :)
 
Hi Allie, are you testing Sawyer at home? That’s really the only way to tell what’s going on. If he’s going that low at the vet, it’s possible he could be going dangerously low at home as well. Hypoglycemic episodes can cause cats to become much more sensitive to insulin. As for appetite, if Sawyer is staying in normal numbers he won’t need as much food, so as long as he seems to feel ok, that may be why his appetite is lower.
 
Sharon14 said:
Hi Allie, are you testing Sawyer at home? That’s really the only way to tell what’s going on. If he’s going that low at the vet, it’s possible he could be going dangerously low at home as well. Hypoglycemic episodes can cause cats to become much more sensitive to insulin. As for appetite, if Sawyer is staying in normal numbers he won’t need as much food, so as long as he seems to feel ok, that may be why his appetite is lower.
Click to expand...
Unfortunately I don't test him at home. I have a glucometer for emergencies but I tried it when he was first diagnosed and wasn't able to consistently get a good sized drop of blood. I would end up pricking his ear a bunch only to have him hide for the next 12 hours and refuse to come out. I figured I would just keep an eye on him since I'm home most of the time and until recently, his blood sugar was really high all the time. I'll ask the vet about home testing when he goes in for his glucose curve and see if they can show me how to prick his paw instead of his ear. Thanks for your response!! That definitely explains the appetite thing.
 
You would consider a cat in remission when he's on normal values without getting any insulin,

The fact that he's needing less insulin could be a good sign but this response can be because a lot of things, but there's no way of really knowing without having some information, that is some glucose test results, unfortunately that's the only information you can have as how his body is responding to insulin.

But I think is important for you to consider that if he needs a dose adjustment and you do not monitor him hypoglycemia can literally kill so please try and start testing him before shooting and to monitor him, we can help you with a lot of tips I do understand that is not easy at the begining really we've all gone through that but they get used to testing and it really becomes easier
 
Last edited:
Allie, as Veronica said, testing is important and we have lots of tips to help you learn. What meter do you have? Some require more blood than others. Be sure your lancets are 25-28 gauge. And it helps to warm his ear before testing (we have several methods for that) Treats and desensitizing techniques will help too. Not sure if you’ve seen this, but there’s some good info and videos
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
Here’s one using the paw pad
 
allie.crain97 said:
To give some background, my baby sawyer was diagnosed in late June and was prescribed 1 unit of lantus u100 insulin twice a day. In august, his glucose curves showed that he was still pretty high (200-300 range) so we upped the dose to 1.5 units (twice a day, so 3 units per day total). This dosage seemed to be working really well for him and he seemed happier and healthier.

Last week, he had a glucose curve done and the vet screwed up and accidentally gave him 1/2 can of food instead of 1 1/2 cans (probably a communication issue on both parts). No surprise that his blood sugar dropped into the low 50s and they had to rub sugar on his gums because he was shaking and almost unconscious. Since the mix up was technically their fault, the vet offered to do another glucose curve for free and I scheduled it for 1 week later to give Sawyer some time to recover from his first (that i know of) hypoglycemic episode. I haven't noticed him behaving any differently after the incident except for the fact that he hasn't been finishing his food. Usually he is VERY food motivated and will inhale anything you put in front of him. This week, he's only been eating ~3/4 of his meal which is very out of character.

His do-over glucose curve was yesterday and the vet told me that, again, his BG went very low. Apparently, he only ate 2/3 - 3/4 of his food and as a result, his blood sugar ranged from 50-70 throughout the day. The vet suggested I go back to the 1 unit dosage (2 units per day) which I've been doing for about a day now. She also mentioned that this COULD mean that hes starting to go into remission, as he is only 6 years old and was recently diagnosed.


I guess my main questions are:

What qualifies as diabetic remission? Am I wrong to be optimistic about his strong response to insulin?

Is there any chance that his hypoglycemia last week could have affected his appetite, BG levels, etc? I'm only concerned because he seemed to be fine on 1.5 units until last week.


Thanks in advance!!! me and sawyer appreciate any info/experiences you guys have :)
Click to expand...

I think if I were you I might consider another vet!...You shouldn't have to worry about them screwing up a curve or misfeeding and inducing hypoglycemia. Additionally as someone pointed out testing at home and doing your own curve is the most accurate way to go. Most cats get pretty stressed going to the vet which drives their BG #'s up. So if they do a curve and recommend a dosage based on a stress inflated BG curve then he could go very low in his stress free home environment.
I too was a bit freaked about home testing because Sketch was a very difficult cat (often took 3 of us to get him in the cat carrier for a vet visit...with him drawing blood from at least one of us!)but with a little practice and the info on here I soon caught on...and so did Sketch knowing he would get a treat every time he was tested! Now he usually sees me get the test kit out and walks over to me or his treat bowl. And after you do test for a while they are actually easier to draw blood from. (I think they refer to it as learning to bleed)
So if possible try to get involved in home testing as it will be best for you and Sawyer!!! By the way, I test on the ear as Sketch is very sensitive about his paws being messed with.
 
Last edited:
I posted another thread about the home testing but I have an alphatrak 2. I've watched every single youtube video out there about it, had many vets do it in front of me, and nothing works. I always warm his ear and put either vaseline or olive oil on it to help the blood pool, then when I prick him i squeeze his ear to get the blood to pool. I'm not sure what size my lancets are but the vets have showed me how to do it with my glucose meter and lancets and it works fine. The other day I was able to get a huge drop of blood and it still didn't work. I tried paw testing the other day as well and it was clear pretty fast that he was not going to let that happen. He does not like his paws being grabbed but sits still when I prick his ear. I'm working on it, but at this very moment home testing is not an option.
 
I know videos are not like the real thing because each cat is different but they give good tips and basically it requires a lot of practice but please don't give up it can literally save his life
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top