Randy's Vet Visit

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leaveittoweaver

leaveittoweaver

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So we took Randy to the vet on Friday and he had ear mites apparently which wasn't that suprising honestly since he was in the shelter. We had that treated, then found out he also had a gum infection from when they did the dental work at the shelter. So he's on Clavamox for that which he really isn't too happy with us about.

My vet tried to tell me that Purina DM is actually a good diet. I was a little disappointed honestly during this vet visit. Although I had never taken a cat to this vet before. She said that we should do a full blood panel and a urinalysis but they did all that at the previous vet for the shelter(which btw, that vet said they don't have Randy's records because they don't keep them for rescue cats which is a bunch of crap in my opinion). And I honestly didn't feel it was necessary. She wanted to do this because she feels Randy's bgl has been too low(see spreadsheet in cig). I showed her my monitor readings and she said she feels more comfortable with a cat being in the 100's. I'm confused. Is my vet wrong or am I? I thought my readings were right where they should be.
 
Your vet is wrong about the diet and wrong about the numbers.

An OTJ kitty will run anywhere from 40 to 80. Maybe 100 on a stressful day, but it would probably only be temporary. Do you have other cats you can test to see what their normal bg levels are? I don't know what she could mean. A normal cat has normal bg levels - whatever is normal for that cat. What would she suggest you should do to "raise" them?

They are gorgeous readings - beautiful greens!
 
If your vet would be more comfortable with a cat in the 100s then she would hate all 11 of my cats...lol All 11 (10 civies and 1 sugarcat) all run between high 40s and low 60s. I looked at your ss and those are beautiful numbers and you are correct right where they should be. I'm sure she would be more comfortable with a cat in the 100s because then it would still be on "some" insulin and you could still be bringing it in for curves...IMHO.

I'm almost betting that once the infection from the dental is gone, you are going to be seeing even lower numbers yet, thus making her even more uncomfortable. lol

You guys are doing great!

Mel
 
When I first started hometesting, I thought that my metre was broken - it didn't measure anything but upper 20s and +30. I tested my civvies and they are always 4.5 (81) so my limited experience says that your numbers look pretty good.
 
Thanks guys! Yeah she even wanted me to have my meter calibrated against her machine or something too. And all those tests would have ran me an extra one hundred that I didn't have. She didn't say anything about what could be done to "raise the bgl". But none of what she said sounded right to me. I want to start searching for another vet. I wish there was a database of diabetes knowledgeable vets heh.

By the way, does anyone know if theres anything I can do about the shelter giving me Randy when his gums were still infected from the surgery they gave him?
 
Some vets aren't comfortable with a diabetic on insulin being below 100 because they fear the double digit numbers more than they should as they see so many hypo cases. Which we know is a catch-22 - if owners were taught to hometest and how to properly monitor and dose their insulin, vets would see less hypos!

Hometesting and properly dosing the prescribed insulin (ie, using Tilly with Levemir or Lantus) will most likely produce numbers within normal blood glucose range. Some vets just aren't used to seeing that for diabetic cats so they feel 200s are the best range for a cat on insulin.

Gandalf's acupuncture vet also does emergency clinic work and has seen many hypo cases. She is adamant about BGs below 50 being danger zone. It's not that she doesn't know what a normal cat's blood glucose runs, it's that she's seen so many diabetic cats seizing from hypo so she feels a diabetic cat on insulin going below 50 is getting too much insulin.

The reality is that owners like ourselves are in the minority - many, even most, people want to be told what dose to give and leave it at that, then deal with the consequences like hypo if they happen.
 
Vicky & Gandalf said:
Some vets aren't comfortable with a diabetic on insulin being below 100 because they fear the double digit numbers more than they should as they see so many hypo cases. Which we know is a catch-22 - if owners were taught to hometest and how to properly monitor and dose their insulin, vets would see less hypos!

Hometesting and properly dosing the prescribed insulin (ie, using Tilly with Levemir or Lantus) will most likely produce numbers within normal blood glucose range. Some vets just aren't used to seeing that for diabetic cats so they feel 200s are the best range for a cat on insulin.

Gandalf's acupuncture vet also does emergency clinic work and has seen many hypo cases. She is adamant about BGs below 50 being danger zone. It's not that she doesn't know what a normal cat's blood glucose runs, it's that she's seen so many diabetic cats seizing from hypo so she feels a diabetic cat on insulin going below 50 is getting too much insulin.

The reality is that owners like ourselves are in the minority - many, even most, people want to be told what dose to give and leave it at that, then deal with the consequences like hypo if they happen.
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That's so crazy to me. It just seems so ass backwards you know?

Like if possible, I want my cat to not experience diabetes at all, which we seem to have successfully achieved that goal.

It was odd to me though because Randy isn't on insulin anymore, we haven't given him any in a long while, so I wouldn't think my vet should think those numbers are low in that case?
 
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