Hi Kathy. Ennis and I are not dealing with the same kind of cancer that you and Rae are. But we are dealing with primary cancers in 4 different abdominal organs in a 19YO cat.
Ennis is about 1 year OTJ, but I have always suspected that it was cancer eating the sugar. I started Prenilosone gladly for its anti-inflammatory properties. When Ennis gets to the point of pain, we won't be starting pain killers. At his age and with his cancers, his end is inevitable and there is no reason to prolong it.
Ennis was joyfully on Levemir for 4+ years. Joyfully because it kept him at or below the renal threshold for most or all of the day. Irregular schedule? Yep, that was us. I have memory problems and I would forget to give him his shot on time--many, many times. But Lev is forgiving, Ennis was forgiving, and once I would remember the need to give him a shot, he was always there for me no higher than the high 100s.
So if you need to put Rae back onto insulin, I would suggest Levemir, which is OTC in Canada.
Ennis has been on prednilosone for about a month now and has not yet needed to go back onto insulin. The highest I have found him, I think, is about 102mgdl (5.7 mmol). But I also feed him small frequent meals. He eats every 2-3 hours, even through the night. He always has had this feeding schedule since he's been diabetic.
The pred has been great for Ennis. Before it "kicked" in, he was having severe trouble mobilizing--one of his rear legs would splay out to the side and go completely stiff and he would walk backwards in circles, trying to get "traction." With regular 2.5mg BID pred doses (again a memory problem on my part) and bi-weekly Adequan shots for his arthritis and B12 shots for general health, he is mobilizing quite fine, although he is starting to have short periods of "spasms" a couple times/day.
We are using a liquid compounded pred. Ennis won't take pills, and he doesn't fight the chicken-flavored liquid. It comes from a pharmacy in Houston TX, but I am not sure whether they deliver to Canada, or how pricey the mailing would be. Probably best to find a local compounding pharmacy if you want to try the pred as a liquid.
You are the one who knows Rae best. You need to pay attention to changes in her behavior. A month ago, I knew that Ennis wasn't right. He didn't come into my office during the day, but hung out on my bed. He started going into the litter box about 50 times/day (not an exaggeration). As I mentioned, for over a year I suspected cancer. He went into the vet for his bloodwork and X-ray (we had been doing this every 4 months for about 2 years) and the vet finally saw some darkening of his liver on the X-Ray and the next day, his BW came back with through the roof for liver values. But by then, we had scheduled the CT scan with the specialist that brought the terrible DX the next week.
Is there anything Kathy should look out for that her vet may not have mentioned?
Yes, watch for something being "off" with Rae. It can be the smallest thing, such as more frequent visits to the litter box or requests for more-frequent petting. Cats are subtle about their health. You need to been extra-attentive to her signs.
but most of all it helps her eat .... on a regular basis, even if she is not feeling well. and for a diabetic cat, in remission or not, eating is so important.
Unfortunately, he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a heart murmur, and CRF towards the end of January, and they started treatment with IV dexamethasone. He had been a steroid-induced diabetic, to begin with - one shot of depomedrol back in 2003. I was expecting that he'd be back on insulin, and sure enough, within a day or two, he started having numbers in the mid-200's.