questions about diabetic cat

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lilgail

Member Since 2013
Hi My name is Gail and I'm new to internet forums of any kind so please bear with me. I have a sweet little female named Sadie, she is about 7 years old and she got diagnosed with diabetes in Nov. 2013 I took her to the vet after I noticed she was drinking an excessive amount of water and urinating like crazy. I have spent a small fortune at the vet and she isn't showing any sign of improvement as of yet. Lucky for me I found this site a couple of days ago and have learned a great deal just by reading the articles etc. I was shocked to read tonight that the insulin that the vet told me to get is one that your site says is not a good one to use, humvlin N. I'm calling her new vet in the morning and have him write somthing else. But I needed some help from your members. I'm not sure if it's from the insulin or not but Sadie now limps, It comes and goes but is happening more often the last week or so. Has anyone out there experienced this in their felines? And if so do you know why it's happening and what to do for her. My poor baby looks awful, her fur looks all scruffy and she has lost weight. I changed vets about 2 weeks ago and the new vet did a blood curve on her and told me to leave her insulin at 2.5 units but now I'm worried about the limping so if anyone can give me some info I would appreciate itm I luv my lil girl and want to get her healthy again,

Thanks for your help in advance,
sincerely, Gail
 
Welcome, Gail and Sadie.

The limping could be diabetic neuropathy - nerve damage from high glucose. Getting her under good control, plus methylcobalamin, a form of vitamin B-12, can help with that.

Humulin N lasts about 6-8 hours in most cats, so control may be better shooting every 8 hours (take the total daily dose, divide by 3, and give every 8 hours.) Alternatively, pick up the food about 6 hours after the shot.

There are Vet Interview Topics in my signature link. (Wht yes, this question has come up!)

Home testing the glucose will keep your cat safe and save you money (no vet curves). Plus, most cats are very stressed at the vet ajnd the glucose can be elevated 100-180 mg/dL. You need an inexpensive human glucometer, test strips, and lancets. Avoid meters with Tru/e or Free in the name; while fine for humans, they read a cat as lower than it actually may be. WalMart Relion. Confirm, Confirm Micro, or Prime have worked well for members here. American Diabetes Wholesale has the Glucocard 01 and mine which are generic versions of the Confirm.
 
Hi Gail and sweet Sadie :-D

It sounds to me like the limping is probably nerve weakness (neuropathy). It is one of the possible signs of uncontrolled feline diabetes. Many of us are using a B12 vitamin compound 'Zobaline' to aid with recovery of this condition.
If you are going to switch insulins, Lantas and Levemir are excellent choices. Feel free to browse the stickies in the insulin groups on this site. Lots of great info there.
We all recommend urgently that you learn to hometest your kitty. It truly saves lives and is easy to do. We will help you to learn how. :-D
Please do check out some more of the stickies though and I know Lantus site here has some great info.
Not sure what you feed Sadie (guessing dry kibble as most of us did??). Dry food is packed with useless carbs (cats don't need these). There is strong evidence supporting the change to a low carb wet food (like fancy feast), and better control of FD. There is some great info nutrition on this site by Dr. Lisa Pierson.
And ask questions as you need to. We are so happy you found us :-D
 
For safety, you must be home testing before changing the diet. (Or off insulin.)

Changing to a low carb diet may reduce the glucose 100 mg/dL which will alter the amount of insulin needed.

See my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for additional assessments you can make to evaluate your cat's health, especially urine ktone testing. Ketones form as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many ketones may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal, expensive to treat, complication of diabetes.
 
Welcome to FDMB Gail & Sadie! cat_pet_icon

Here is a link to some info on ProZinc which is used by other members. ProZinc works differently than Lantus and Levimer in that it is an in/out type of insulin. It makes it easier to adjust shot times if/as needed.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109077

Can you give us more info about yourself & Sadie?
What food does she eat?
Where are you from?

Please pop us a post with an update when you return from the vet today. Then we will be able to help you with everything you need to know about Sadie's sugar-dance. :smile:
 
Good morning Gail & Sadie and welcome to FDMB.

There are four insulins that work well in cats. They are Lantus, Levemir, ProZinc and PZI. Lantus and Levemir are human insulins and you will buy them at a pharmacy. For both of these insulins, ask for a prescription for the pens instead of the vial. Even though the initial cost is higher than a vial, because they are packaged in smaller containers, they actually last longer than a vial. You will receive 5 pens in a package and should be able to use almost every drop. One package of pens will last almost a year, depending on your dose. With a vial, you will end up throwing away more than half of it because it will become ineffective long before you can use all of it. These will use U100 syringes

ProZinc & PZI are both pet insulins. These you will order through your vet's office and you will use U40 syringes

All of these are good insulins and cats respond well to them. With any of them, you want to start at a low dose, 1 unit twice a day. If an increase is needed, you will increase by 1/4 to 1/2 unit with at least one week before dose changes. Don't worry, we can help you determine if you need to increase the dose.

You also want to learn to hometest. This means using a human glucose meter and testing Sadie's blood glucose (BG) levels before each shot. By testing before each shot you will be able to determine if 1) it is safe to give the insulin and 2) if you need to modify the dose. This will also eliminate the need to take Sadie to the vet just for testing.

The neuropathy will begin to clear up once Sadie's glucose levels are under control. The methyl B12 will also help. One of the diabetic cats that I adopted had severe neuropathy when I received her. She could barely walk. Within a few weeks of being on insulin and methyl B12, you would have thought that she was a completely different cat. She was running and jumping over everything.
 
Hi and Happy New Year!! Just wanted to let you all know that I got Sadie's insulin changed to ProZinc started 2 days ago and I can tell the difference already. She is eating better and looking better too. I also got all the stuff I need to check her sugar at home and at breakfast it was 217 which is pretty good (I think) I just wanted to tell al of you who took the time to answer my questions Thanks so much, I'm not sure if I am in the correct place to pass this info on to you. I will get better at this hopefully. But again THANK YOU ALL!!
sincerely
Gail and Sadie( My boy cat Smoky says to say hello too)
 
Hi Gail! 217 is a good preshot number. Still struggling to get my Gypsy down to that!

Next step is to get mid cycle numbers. This is usually between 5-6 hours after the shot. We base dose on these mid cycle numbers so we can see how low the cat gets. Don't want to go down any lower than 50 at mid cycle. What dose are you giving?
 
Mid cycle checks are important because you need to know how low she is going. You don't want her going too low!

What are you feeding her?

Wendy
 
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