Recovery

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To All The Folks at FD.com: In July 2008 Mugsy was diagnosed with diabetes. His symptoms had existed since about April (about 3 months). He responded poorly to the insulin and his glucose and ketone counts continually increased. By the beginning of July this year his glucose was well over 500 and ketones off the chart. His condition was so poor I was convinced he was dying - he probably was. Then I got my own computer and stumbled upon this site. In 3 1/2 weeks his glucose has dropped to 114 and ketone count is negative! This all came about because I changed his diet to gluton free/grain free as was recommended. His insulin injections are half what they were and he is a healthy and happy 7 year old neutered male. Thank you. I have shared all of this with my vet who is anxious to learn more as he has more diabetic cats. I also shared it with a friend with a diabetic cat and no computer. She is making the changes too. Thank you for all of us. You have saved many lives.
 
Hurray! It is so wonderful to see posts like yours. It means all the time we spend on the computer is worth while. Please stick around and pay it forward by helping others. It is often so hard for newbies to take advice from the internet over their vet's advice and personal success stories really help.
 
This IS a great site, isn't it?!
My baby was saved because of this site and all the smart, caring people here, too.
Sounds like you have a good vet that wants to learn - good job in showing him, and your friend - way to go!
 
Mugsy - that's his name - is doing Great! He's like a new cat! I feed him 1/2 can of Fancy Feast 5 - yes five - times a day and I have reduced his shot to 3u BID (100cc syringe). My friend's cat - Jake - is doing well too even though he shares their house with 4 other cats. His owner hasn't quite had the success I have had but, Jake still eats dry food when he can. Our Vet is doing what he can to learn about cats and diabetes (I sent him all of my literature and the this URL) because he saw how Mugsy responded and has several more cats to treat. We're doing all we can and it seems to be working. Good luck to you all.
 
Good news!

Question for you for my own sake perhaps...you say he's down to 114...is this prior to or after his shot? Are you testing at home? What insulin are you giving???? Just curious :)
 
Thanks for sharing I just love a good success story and delighted to here how well Mugsy is doing!

Mel & Muse (GA)
 
In answer to Jen & Squeek: Mugsy gets two shots per day and I have him tested at the vets while I do Ketone strip tests. He was tested about two hours after his morning shot each time. Update: This week his count was back up to 238 but, I discovered I had been accidentally buying one flavor of food that contained gluton and am remedying that now. My friend's cat, Jake, is also doing very well and after several years of unstable is now at 115 and seems to be stableizing. She may be able to reduce his dose more. We both have been using Vetsulin so, we'll see what happens when we have to switch.
 
Mugsy had a lapse - his glucose went up to 236 - because I grabbed the wrong cans (they had gluten). He's better now - his last test was 123. Got to watch those labels! I'm including his picture this time....meet Mugsy.
 

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Pleae, if he is going that low you absolutely need to be testing blood glucose levels AT HOME. you've no clue if those numbers at the vet clinic are relevant if they are skewed by vet stress. You have no idea each day when you give a shot whether it is safe or not, and it is dangerous. There is a recent member who just started testing after the cat has been stable for years...turns out the cat doesn't need insulin at all right now.....if she hadn't started testing she could have killed her cat.
 
Thanks for the warnings and advice...I'll take it to heart. He thinks he's handsome, too and loves to hear it. As for his insulin: he's not out of the woods yet but close. I have reduced his BID to 3 u ea using a 100c syringe and hoping to reduce more. I will be careful about possible hypo but, right now I have to trust the test the doc does...and I have him do it often. Thanks.
 
Please read some of the recent hypo posts.(viewtopic.php?f=28&t=23912) In most cases, the person was relying on numbers from the vet, which as we have said, are often influenced by stress and much higher than the tests at home. Hometesting just makes this disease so doable, and so safe. The cat also made it through the hypo situation because the poster was testing at home and could keep up with the changes happening. If not, they might have had to try the emergency vet in the middle of the night.
 
Congrats on the success you have seen!

I also have a question-
you mention 3u in a 100cc syringe, and you mention vetsulin.
Do you mean you use u100 syringes? or do you mean the volume of an empty syringe is 100cc? or ???

I was just curious, because vetsulin is a u40 insulin and most vets sell it with u40 syringes. (I wouldn't want you to accidentally be using the wrong syringes.)

And it was recalled last fall (in the US) and very few vets still have it available. What insulin are they going to switch you to?

Vetsulin typically produces a steep drop in blood glucose, followed by a steep rise, so one test at +2 is giving you only a tiny piece of info. Blood glucose changes continually over the course of a day in many/most diabetic cats, especially those on short/medium acting insulins, like vetsulin. For this reason, you really, really should test him at home.

I love my vet, but they charged me about $90 for a day at the vet to do a "glucose curve", which included about 3-4 readings. At home I could get those readings in less than a minute, while he's napping, for about $1.20. and they are more accurate because he's not stressed out. If you want to see how often I test, click on the spread sheet link in my signature line... Cody has a high dose condition called acromegaly, so disregard our unusual doses. Once you get the hang of it, it is nothing to get a quick test. he barely wakes up or notices!

There is more we can do to help, so give it a try! Many people use the Relion Micro or Confirm meter from Walmart or Sams because strips are inexpensive and available and you only need a tiny drop of blood. :-D
 
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