question about foster kitty going 'off the juice'

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hollybee

Member Since 2011
hi all,
We rescued a kitty and her lifelong buddy (both about 10 years old) from the local shelter....the plan was for them to go to our rescue's group home, but they thought in the shelter that she may be diabetic. So, they went to a foster home and with the help of the FDMB we have been testing her and giving insulin (o.5 units AM and PM). She responded so quickly, we are wondering if she is/was really diabetic, or perhaps her high glucose was part of the whole stress package?

They were in the shelter for about 2 weeks and on day 11 they noticed she was sickly. They did a urine test and her glucose was 1000. I took her to the vet on about Day 15/16 and her glucose was 485 via blood. We started home testing that afternoon and her reading was 309.......we have been testing morning and night, and yesterday tested over a 12 hour period, every 2 hours. Here is the link to the spreadsheet:

https://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?key ... utput=html

Her other symptoms when we got her: she had pulled out some fur, there was a lot of pee in the litter box (not that they could really tell if it was from her or her companion), she had some URI issues (one goopy eye) and just completed a round of Clavamox, and when we did the blood panel at the vet her BUN was slightly elevated at 47.

Just curious how to tell if she is/was really diabetic? And, how should I proceed with dosing and weaning her off?

THANKS!

holly and Alex Olivia the foster kitty : )
 
Welcome Holly and Alex Olivia.

These are still diabetic numbers. Generally, we look for our cats to have their BG numbers in the 50 - 120 range on a consistent basis. When we have a cat that is approaching remission, we very gradually taper the dose down based on the cat demonstrating less of a need for insulin. This means that their numbers would drop below 50 and the cat would earn a dose reduction. Ultimately, when the cat is at a microdose of insulin, we stop and then monitor for a 2-week period to make sure that numbers do not rise above the 120 point.

If I may make a suggestion. You really need to be doing more monitoring of Alex Olivia's BG. Please get at least one test during each the AM and PM cycles. Lantus dosing is based on the nadir of the cycle which is typically somewhere between +4 and +8. One curve is a single snapshot of your cat's BG levels on one day. Please read the starred, sticky notes at the top of the Board. They will give you a great deal of information about Lantus and how we approach dosing.
  • Tight Regulation Protocol: This sticky contains the dosing protocol that we use here. There are also links to the more formal versions -- the Tilly Protocol developed by the counterpart of this group in German and the Queensland/Rand protocol developed by Jacqui Rand, DVM and published in one of the top vet journals.
  • New to the Group: Everything you wanted to know about this forum and more. Info on our slang, FAQs, links to sites on feline nutrition and to food charts containing carb counts, how to do a curve and the components to look for, important aspects of diabetes such as ketones, DKA, and neuropathy, and most important, info on hypoglycemia.
  • Handling Lantus: how to get the maximum use from your insulin and what to not do with it!
  • Lantus depot/shed: This is an important concept for understanding how Lantus works.
  • Becoming Data Ready: What data you need in order to be able to work toward remission or tight regulation

Please let us know how we can help. I hope you will post regularly. Alex Olivia's numbers look good and, hopefully, we can assist you in getting her to remission.
 
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