Romeo Update

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Alpandia

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I'm sorry I've been away and not posting - the last few weeks have been a stress test to beat the band.

My vet's been doing Fructosamine testing on Romeo to see where his blood sugar averages have been. I haven't been able yet to do a successful home test on him. He really hates them, though part of it is probably because I'm so apprehensive in doing them. He tested in the "out of control" level the first time, and after 2 weeks of insulin, actually tested higher. I'm about to cry.

The vet increased him 2 weeks ago to 2 units of Lantus twice a day. He gets his PureBites treats (gotta love the doggie isle - treats are bigger and cheaper than the cat treats for the same damned thing). They also recommended FortiFlora, as he was having a problem with loose stool. The vet also suggested adding AbsorbAid to his food, too, to help with metabolizing and digesting. The nice pharmacist at Target did confirm, though, if you keep the Lantus in the fridge it will last for up to a year. Just got to watch for it to go cloudy - once that happens, get a new bottle.

Since he's still squatting to urinate, his back paws are covered in litter :( which he won't let me at :( :( :( I'm switching over to a pine solution for the litter, which doesn't seem to stick to him. We did have a problem with him having some accidents - probably because he was tired and couldn't get to the litter box. But I added a third litter box and we haven't had anymore accidents. He seems to be the only one using this new box, though, so I might be able to do a urine test for sugar, right?

I managed to find B12 vitamins at Whole Foods, but wasn't sure on the dosage.

Overall, I'm still a wreck. Watching him try to walk kills me. And the fact that even after increasing his dosage his fructosamine levels are still so high makes me wonder if I'm actually doing anything good for him. We will be setting up another appointment in 2 weeks for a recheck and a retest of the blood levels, since I can't do it at home.

Any suggestions on how might be the best way to switch over from dry food w/wet at night to a wet food diet? I just don't want his poor body to have more stress than it needs.

-Stacy
 
Oh Stacy, I am sorry you are having such a tough time with Romeo. Testing at home would not only be more accurate, but would help relieve your anxiety as you could see exactly what is happening with the insulin. As you probably know, the tests at the vet are not as accurate as Romeo is probably stressed there. And a fructosamine test will only show an average over the past 2 weeks, not what is happening every day.

Have you asked if anyone lives nearby? Sometimes just having someone come over and demo the testing will help. Post your city and state if you want some help.

Sometimes a kitty burrito helps at first. We used it with Oliver. We set down a towel on the edge of the couch and plopped him on top. Then we wrapped him up until only his head was showing. I could sit next to him and lightly press him into the sofa arm when he wanted to move, while having his ear there to poke. Then if you give him a treat right after you do it, he does come to associate the treat with the poke.

And you are right, it always is partly confidence. What helped me was to know that he could be in danger if I didn't know his levels, so I had to "put on my big girl pants :mrgreen: " and tell myself I had to do it.

This site by a vet has some great tips on transitioning to wet: www.catinfo.org But don't change over until you are hometesting. It can really alter the bg levels. Oliver went down 100 points overnight when we switched from dry to wet. If we hadn't been hometesting, we would have overdosed him.

Here is the info on the B12. Make sure it is Methyl B12.Neuropathy But that is only part of the equation. Having the levels come down is also necessary to help the neuropathy.
 
Dear Romeo--- you must let mommy test! You will feel so much better....
Dear mommy bean,
Keep trying to home test and if someone is in your area, please let them help at first. My sugar Bean was dx in mid April and I found this site...They helped me with everything! I received my pokey poke kit and started with finding us a special place and putting a towel down on my lap. I bought special treats that Bean only got during testing... we give 2 treats before poke and after. After warming the ear with a warmed rice sak. All the while talking lovvvveee talk. I would hold the lancet pen to her ear WITHOUT the lancet so she got used to the noise. We would hold the paper napkin folded up on the underside of the ear...All of this just so she would associate treat w/ poke time. She did not like this at first and neither did mommy! I was a nervous wreck and she could tell... The more we did the practice run, the less stressed we both were... I finally decided to insert the lancet and we failed several times. If you would like to view her spread sheet at the bottom of the page, you will see that our FIRST successful test was a mess....she was only 27! This site saved my Bean and I am soooo thankful that they pushed me to understand how important it is to home test. I did have to find my big girl pants and keep them on for a while! lol

You could try to cut the front down out of a litter box so that he could access it a bit better??? If he is having problems with neuropathy this might help him. And yes, you can check his ketones with sticks purchased at a pharmacy.

Some kitties will take to new canned food with a bit of tuna water, or some paramesa cheese sprinkled on top. I also used some fora flora and found a vet that sold it by the each as it was a bit pricey for me to buy a whole box without knowing if it would work or not. When Bean ate just wet low carb, her numbers dropped drastically and now she is in remission (I would have never known if I was not home testing)! She has not had insulin since 5/24ish!

Please keep us posted.
 
I'm not sure if there's anyone around here where I am that knows how to home test a cat. Is there a list here of folks and where they are?

He's taken to hiding under things - under the dining room table, under the table in the living room, at the very bottom of the cat tower..... I know he feels safer there, but I'm not sure if he's just "blah" because he's not feeling well, or if he's actually trying to get away from being poked. I haven't even started home testing yet (though I did just get the meter/lancets/etc), and am terrified to start. :(

I want to get the home testing started, though, so that I can start to switch him off the dry food prescribed by the vet and onto 100% wet food. I've got no problem with him eating wet food - he loves it! Plus, it makes it easier to crush up the B12 vitamin and get him to take it, rather than having the wrestling match of trying to get him to take a pill. Even not at 100%, my cat's full of piss and vinegar. I've got no idea where he gets that from....

I did end up getting a new box for him - it's one of those under the bed storage boxes. But he does tend to still head over to the regular box and use it, though he's using the new box, too.

BTW, we did our 2nd fructosamine test after 2 weeks of 2units twice a day... and it was actually *HIGHER* than the fructosamine test that included the last week he wasn't on insulin + the first week of 2 units once a day. What the heck am I doing wrong???????? The vet suggested adding something like Absorb Aid to his food to help him draw more nutrients out of it, but I don't want to start mixing him a kitty coctail with everything at once. I figure I can always add the digestive enzymes once he's settled in with the FortiFlora (way cheaper online than at my vet holy cow!) and the B12 (breaking up a pill and giving him half with each food twice a day).

-Stacy
 
Stacy,
I guarantee that after the first about 3 tests, you'll no longer be scared - you'll realize it's not nearly as scary as you imagine it to be. In may of this year, I still literally fainted at the sight of needles - my doctors and dentists hide them from me so I won't see them. The morning of June 8th, KT was diagnosed with diabetes. The vet showed me how to stick my kitty. The evening of June 8th, I got out that awful, scary looking needle, drew insulin, shook, cussed, shook some more....and stuck my kitty with that needle.

And he never quit purring....

...the next morning, I got out that awful, scary looking needle, drew insulin, shook, cussed.....and stuck my kitty....

And he never quit purring....

NOW we do it twice a day, we test several times a day...

And he never quits purring...

NOW he comes when he hears the meter beep as I plug in a strip....purring.....

You'll get it - give yourself a chance! It's not NEARLY as bad as the imagined horror!

I can't answer your question about why it's higher but when you start home testing, you'll have REAL TIME data, not the old stuff you get from the fructosamine test. You'll also begin seeing what your actions do...

Hugs!
 
We don't really have a list per se but if you give us your general location like just city and state we can usually round up someone fairly close that is more than willing to drop by and give you hand learning to test at home.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
I cross posted over in Community for you so we will see who we can scare up to give you a hand, I know we have several folks in Florida, just not sure who would be the closest for you. :-D

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
You might practice on yourself a couple times. Then you'll know it doesn't hurt very much to a human either. Use the side of the finger tip to avoid any callus and set depth low, unless you're free-handing it.

Mental rehearsal may help too. Picture in your mind, as if you were actually doing it successfully, the steps you will take. Here's an outline to help you picture it.

Prepare - set up the lancet, a small amount of tissue or cotton ball to use as backing, a warmed rice sock if desired, the meter, and a test strip placed loosely in the meter.

Obtain blood - sit down with cat, warm ear with rice sock, push test strip all the way in the meter, pick up tissue/cotton ball and place under ear, grasp the lancet and poke quickly at the outside edge of the ear, just outside the little vein.

Collect - as soon as you finish poking and start to see blood, pick up the meter with strip and gently touch the tip to the blood.

Log - And, then you get results to put in your spreadsheet
 
I live in Fort Lauderdale but I will be in the Boca area on Sunday. If I can be of any help I will gladly stop by your house. Testing BG at home is very important. Unless you test you have no idea what is really going on. If I you want me to stop by on Sunday please PM me.
 
Thanks!! I PM'd you.

I was excited this morning! Romeo tried to climb the cat tower this morning. He's not had the spunk to do so in weeks. It's multi-tier'ed so he go to the first tier and paused for a break (he's still getting very tired doing very little :(). I've got a trunk next to the tower (it holds the Xbox ad Wii crap), so he jumped onto that and was trying to use that extra height to get up higher in the tower. But his back legs are still not working well and he slipped and fell down. Not enough to hurt anything but his ego. So he sulked for a bit, then took up residence under the tower before I left for work.

But it was encouraging that he was trying. I just feel bad that he's not got the leg strength back yet to make it to the top like he wants to. I'm hopeful that the B12 will start to work, combined with getting his blood sugar under control to get him back the mobility in his hind legs.

-Stacy
 
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