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Lynn & Prudence

Lynn & Prudence

Member Since 2016
Is there a place on here where I can go to read about glucose readings and when to be concerned? I hate bothering everyone here about my cat's readings. Anyway, her reading today was 424 four hours after one unit of Prozinc. Isn't that high? I think I'll call my vet to see if I should up her dose. She seems fine, but I'm worried about her and want her to feel good during the day.
 
The reading could be high, but also food will cause a initial spike and that may be what you are seeing. You should test a few times between doses to get a more accurate indication how well the dose is working.

If you do need to increase the dose, only increase it by 1/2 unit. You should also wait several days to a week before increasing it again. It takes that long for a cat's body to adjust to the new dose.
 
Hi Lynn,

Any chance you could update your spreadsheet with Dear Prudence's test results over the last few days? It will help members to better understand how she's responding to the dose. Also, are you testing mid-cycle at all? In order to understand fully what's happening you need to find out how low the dose is taking Prudence between injections. (@Robin&BB - if you're around could you weigh in on when is the best time to test mid-cycle on Prozinc, please?)


Mogs
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Unfortunately Dear Prudence fights me when I try to get her glucose levels. I have a spreadsheet, but it's so random because of this. I usually give her her shots at 7 am and 7 pm. I had to go to work early today so I gave her shot at 6 am.
 
Critter Mom said:
Any chance you could update your spreadsheet with Dear Prudence's test results over the last few days? It will help members to better understand how she's responding to the dose. Also, are you testing mid-cycle at all?
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Yes, I second that - it would be extremely useful to us.
Lynn & Prudence said:
Unfortunately Dear Prudence fights me when I try to get her glucose levels. I have a spreadsheet, but it's so random because of this. I usually give her her shots at 7 am and 7 pm. I had to go to work early today so I gave her shot at 6 am.
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You might start a thread (with the "?" prefix in front of the title) on Main Health asking others for advice on testing a difficult kitty.

Yes, it can be hard at the beginning when kitty fights you on those ear-pokes; however, I must urge you to persevere so that you can test before every shot and get some tests at other times in her cycles, too.

Getting your Prudence well-regulated is very hard to do without gathering the data that regular home-testing provides: Not only do you risk putting her at risk for an undetected hypoglycemic event at some point after the insulin shot; without ample data you have no real understanding of how her body is processing the insulin - which makes it impossible for you to know whether the dose she's on is truly effective. Also makes it impossible for us to provide you with any kind of reasonable input on dosing (as there's no emerging pattern in the spreadsheet on which to base any sound suggestions).

Prudence was only diagnosed on 4/10; did your vet encourage you to home-test her BG #s? Did the vet give you much guidance at all? Does Pru have any other medical problems right now: UTI/ pancreatitis/ dental problems, etc. Is she overweight/ underweight or just right? What was her BG reading in the vet's clinic? Please help me by filling in some of the blanks in her story. Thanks!:)
 
Hi. Prudence is healthy beyond having a skin condition and being extremely underweight. (My daughter calls her a ferret.) The vet didn't encourage home testing but I bought the items and began doing it myself. However, as much as I have tried to get a consistent reading, she fights me tooth and nail. I have only gotten three readings from her here at home. I have cried about it, feeling quite the failure. Today was miraculous as she stopped moving for two seconds and I got a drop of blood. Very exciting, to say the least. My daughter said I look like I could be on a sitcom trying to get her blood. I've been calm, with treats, playing soft music and she still scratches and fights with me. It's all very disheartening to say the least.
 
It's funny. No wonder I have the rogue cat of diabetes testing. When my youngest was a toddler, she was the rogue kid at the playground. Pushing, shoving... Never cooperating like the other kids. I'm the parent with the gray hair saying, "You're making me insane!" (I'm blonde, though.):p
 
I understand, Lynn - really, I do. (See my black kitty, Bat-Bat, in the avatar?) She has bright red warning stickers all over her chart at the vet's office: CAUTION: FRACTIOUS CAT! In the beginning, I was bitten, scratched, bloodied and ended up with several items of clothing with multiple claw-holes in them.

You're not a failure - but don't give up either just because it's hard right now. Just do your best to refuse to accept defeat: If you persist despite her putting up a fight, eventually she'll realize that you're the "alpha-cat," not her. (At least that's what Bat finally did with me - still won't let anybody else touch her, though!:rolleyes:)

There are really very few nerve endings in a kitty's ears; for them, it's more like a mosquito bite. (Not at all like the pain you get when you poke your fingertip with a lancet - OW! That does hurt.) Are you using a lancing device? As cats often hate the sound of that little click, also the beeping of a meter (you can turn that sound off entirely). I found that poking Bat's ears "freehand" was much better ...
 
Bandit fought me tooth and claw the first few weeks we tested! Here's what helped us:

1. My attitude. I started out being all "poor kitty! I hate to hurt you!", and this made things worse for both of us, because he could sense my lack of confidence. Once I changed my attitude to be, "You're getting this test, cat, whether you like it or not because you need it to save your life!", things went much more smoothly.
2. Blankets, and lots of them. I got a basket that was roughly the same size as Bandit on the suggestion of my vet, who said that ornery cats calm down when they are surrounded on all sides but the top. So Bandit went in the basket for each test, which I lined with fleece blankets, I had another fleece blanket I used to wrap him in so that only his head was free. This kept him from clawing me and trying to escape while I did the test.
3. Get the test as fast as you can. Use a thicker gauge lancet (26-28g), and make sure you're warming the ear to get the blood flowing. Back the ear with a a piece of tissue or a cotton pad so you get a firm poke, and put pressure on the poke spot for 20 seconds after the test to prevent bruising. A tiny bit of neosporin + pain relief in the beginning also helps.
4. End each test with a diabetic safe treat, no matter what it is. My cats like these treats a lot. Any freeze dried, meat only treats will be diabetic safe.

If you establish this as a routine--basket, test, treat, then eventually the cat gets used the routine and accepts the testing. It took Bandit a few months, but now he comes running when he hears the meter beep on and sits patiently in front of me and purrs until his test is done. Keep in mind that testing does not hurt our cats--they have less nerve endings in their ears than people do in their fingers. They just don't like that you're doing something new and strange to them.
 
Critter Mom said:
Any chance you could update your spreadsheet with Dear Prudence's test results over the last few days?
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@Critter Mom - Hello there, Mogs! Just wanted to express my thanks for kicking your first reply off with that "Dear Prudence" moniker.
Now I'll have that Beatles tune stuck in my head all day!:eek: (Not that that's a bad thing, mind you...:D; is about time I had a replacement tune for the late Prince's Let's Go Crazy ... )
 
LOL Robin&BB, I laughed when I read, "Caution, Fractious Cat. The red stickers. LOL So true. They are fractious. And Julia & Bandit, thank you for that advice. I never thought of putting her into something to get the reading. I'm going to try your way this afternoon. Hopefully that will help keep her stationary. You guys are great. Thank you.
 
Hi, a +1 test on Prozinc really doesn't tell a whole lot. The onset of it is generally in the 2-3 hour range. I would base any adjustments on Preshot numbers and Nadir numbers, between +5 to +7.
 
Thank you, Ferndoc. I'm writing all this down. I really don't know what onset or Nadir numbers mean, but I'll go check it out.
 
Onset is when the insulin seems to begin "kick in," Nadir is the lowest reading/point during the cycle.
 
If you click on my signature link and look at 1/8/16 and 1/11/16 you can see how Fern's +2 number is higher than his preshot number and his +4 number is lower. It doesn't happen every time but it is not unusual for me to see this pattern.
 
Thanks Ferndoc. I'm glad to see that 424 is not unusual only four hours after her shot. I'm going to attempt another reading in an hour or two. I'm curious to see where she's at then. I'll have to put my armor back on. lol
 
Just as an addendum, I was able to get another drop from her ear today. (Happy dance.) It was 559, 10 hours after first shot of the day. Julia, if you're reading this, I used a box with a fleece blanket (Tinkerbell) and she behaved like a little princess. Unreal. Thank you so much for your ideas. Haven't heard back from the vet, yet.
 
Hi, Lynn - Just this moment noted this in your signature (italics mine):
Friskies Pate. Half a can in the morning, half can in the evening with dry food "grazing" in between.

We do not generally recommend you feed dry food to a diabetic; it is usually much too high in carbohydrates. (And you might be amazed at how small an amount of dry kibble it can take to raise your cat's blood glucose to unacceptable levels!)

Which dry food have you been giving Prudence to graze on, and how much (1/4 cup measure, etc. or what - # of ounces?) and is this in an effort to keep her BG from dropping too low when you can't be around to monitor? Because if that's your concern, would be far better to use a timed feeder & just pop little bits of (frozen) canned in it first thing in the morning before you have to leave (say, for work) than to let her free-feed on dry.

While she may like kibble, it's really not helpful for a diabetic kitty to have it.
 
Hi Robin. I let her graze because that is what our other cat does. We've had Phantom for seven years and she's always been on dry food with a come and go as she pleases type of feeding style. Then in comes Dear Prudence. We've had her six months and she develops diabetes. It's hard on me, as a mother, to take Phantom's last vestige of normalcy away from her. She probably needs to be put on a stricter diet, too, but she dislikes wet food. Also, Prudence is so dreadfully thin I like to see her eating anything. I'm sure this means it's time to put the Meow Mix away and only serve at same time as Prudence.:( Phantom will not be happy. lol If Phantom ain't happy, ain't nobody happy.
 
Lynn & Prudence said:
It's hard on me, as a mother, to take Phantom's last vestige of normalcy away from her. She probably needs to be put on a stricter diet, too, but she dislikes wet food. Also, Prudence is so dreadfully thin I like to see her eating anything. I'm sure this means it's time to put the Meow Mix away and only serve at same time as Prudence.
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I understand that it's hard to change the feeding schedule when your other kitty, Phantom, is so accustomed to grazing freely through the day on her dry kibble. We all love our fur-babies like almost as though they're human children. But ponder this to put it in perspective: If you had a human toddler at home with diabetes, would you leave a candy dish out just because the other children can still eat candy? I have no absolutely no doubt that you are determined to battle back Prudence's diabetes because you already have her on insulin and have begun home blood glucose testing. Kudos to you :) for taking this on - because that's half the battle right there!

I sincerely believe that more stringent control of portions and type of food (no dry kibble for Pru) is key for getting Prudence's diabetes well under control. The most likely reason she's underweight right now is the uncontrolled diabetes (as evidenced by her high #s). By the time my cat, Bat-Bat, was diagnosed she was painfully thin - this was actually wasting from the diabetes, not (as I mistakenly wanted to believe:() because I'd been cutting back on her rations of dry kibble for a while .... So when I switched her over to canned & began treating her diabetes with insulin, I increased her rations of the canned low-carb food until she'd gained enough to be slender, not bony. (I weighed her daily first; now she gets a weight check weekly.) I was amazed at how quickly her BG#s began dropping!

Now, at around 10.5 lbs (she's a rather long cat with a large-boned skeletal frame) she maintains her slender body nicely on about 2-1/4 to 2-1/3 cans Fancy Feast lc canned (3 oz. per can) every 24 hours. While I don't have a multi-cat household, others here do; I know they can provide you with some great tips on feeding a diabetic kitty when there's more than one in the house. Trust me; Phantom will learn to adjust --- and this will greatly help you restore Prudence to excellent health.;)
 
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