Sadly,second time newbie -san jose, ca

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nicholeandwolfgang

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Hi Everyone,
My kitty Wolfgang and I posted on here about a year and a half ago. He was first diagnosed after a bout of severe ketoacidosis in September 08, and had to be tube fed for about 3 months after that. He was on Lantus 2.5 down to 1 unit 2x's daily. Well we took him in for a vet glucose curve in July and he was ok and OTJ!!!!
Unfortunately our honeymoon period only lasted about 6-7 months and we just had to rush him to the vet last Wednesday because he was showing signs that he was under the weather again. Sure enough, he is diabetic again, and began to go into ketoacidosis and hepatic lipidosis. He is now on the Lantus again but 1 unit 2x's a day, of course until we bring him back to the vet again to get another curve done.
I guess I'm here to seek support again because this has just been really hard on us- the new situation being that I am pregnant with our first child and I am also on insulin 2x's a day for my gestational diabetes. Wolfgang is my first baby and he always will be, he is about 15 years old, and my husband and I are both very attached to our cats. Needless to say with all my hormones and strong attachment to Wolfgang, this is breaking my heart. One of our new struggles is that the vet visits can get very expensive, and we are willing to do everything we can to take care of him at home. When we brought him home on Wednesday, we were instructed to give him Subq fluids, force feed him the Science Diet a/d with an appetite stimulant 2x's a day. Of course the vet said that if he is vomiting and or not eating we will have to place the feeding tube again. I really do not want to do this. He shows interest in food and he will take a few bites, but I'm not thrilled with the amount.
Does anyone have any advice? What food we can switch to? How easy is home testing? Does anyone live in our area that would be willing to teach us home testing? They eat Fancy Feast wet food (no gluten) and we feed them science diet dry food (hairball formula)
I know this post is alll over the place, but my husband and I sat down this morning and talked about what is going on with Wolfgang and we both agree that we will do anything for him, but we need to try and keep our costs down with a new baby coming and all. We spent 800.00 last week on the visit just for them to tell us what we already knew. Unfortunately, Wolfgang had a good few days after his vet visit, but now he looks as though he is not doing as well as he was. I have to call the vet tomorrow to give her an update and I already know she wants us to bring him back in for a glucose curve this week. Any advice or words of encouragement would be great....Thanks so much
 
Re: Sadly, back again second time newbie

Where are you located? I wouldn't worry about changing food yet. With the HL, eating is the MOST important thing. Get a smorgasboard from the store of wet foods and try to see what you can tempt him with. Try sprinkling parmesan cheese on it. Try dribbling tuna juice on it. Try plain turkey baby food. That's the most important thing for you to work on right now. Also, since they are used to FF gluten free you really will probably only need to remove the dry. But right now concentrate on eating period.
 
Re: Sadly, back again second time newbie

To answer another of your questions: Hometesting is very easy, after a short time of "frustrating," and it will save you bundles of money (as well as keeping your kitty safe). To get the equipment necessary to start (for free or for postage), look for the link about "newbie kits" at the top of this message board.

Do let us know where you are located. Somebody may be able to help you in person.
 
Re: Sadly, back again second time newbie

I am located in San Jose, CA. Our main focus is his eating right now, and we do force feed him as the vet instructed- but we do not do it as frequently as she said because I like to encourage him to eat on his own first. We also have another cat and sometimes when we don't notice- the food disappears and we don't know who ate it., and then when we are at work we don't know if he ate at all , other than his syringe feeding in the morning that we know for sure he had. We try and get the foods he loves to try and tempt his as you suggested- he loooves those appetizer things I think they are made by fancy feast as well. Thanks for all your suggestions and I appreciate all the help!
 
A lot of members here know more than I do about treatment, but I have gone through all this very recently. When I have trouble getting Tess to eat there are a couple of tricks I use:
1) Chicken, whenever we fix chicken we cook little extra w/ nothing on it and freeze bite sized bits to have on hand. It's high in protein and no carbs.
2) There should be a Trader Joe's near you or any pet store. Look in the dog treat area for freeze dried beef liver treats. Break them up into small chunks so wolfgang won't choke on them and take a few and crush them up tosprinkle on his food. Tess will eat anything with the magic sprinkles :razz:
3) add water to the food to make it almost soupy, a lot of canned food is sticky which seem to be a texture some cats don't like. Added benefit you're getting more water into him to help keep him hydrated and flush the sugars out.

As for testing, we were all where you are right now, scared and frustrated. First thing is to calm down and Wolfgang will too. Just get everything ready (Lancet open or pen cocked, strip in meter, rice sock warm but not to hot (about 15 sec in microwave)) and sit with him stroke him and get comfy. Start massaging his ears, he'll probably start purring and the take the test calmly. Cats sense when we are nervous or upset.

Study the links that the others have posted especially the videos on youTube. That's how I learned to test and there were a few days of frustration but then it clicked. You are ahead of the game as you know how to test yourself. I couldn't manage to get a good blood sample w/ the pen, Many do though. Try several ways and do what works for you. You can get the lancets at any drugstore if you can't get a test w/ your device. not all lancets are equal. I've tried several and really prefer the BD brand, they seem sharper and don't need as much pressure. Tess doesn't even flinch with them, like she did with the others.

If you try hand pricking warm the ear, support it well underneath, aim between the vein and the edge of the ear and hold the lancet at an angle about 45 degrees, then gently stroke toward the prick from both side to "milk" the blood. Neosporin or vaseline applied before pricking helps the blood to bead up and not get spread out in the fur. The neo also helps healing, but apply lightly, Too much and you get that not the blood sample. It gets easier every time, just like every thing else in life.

There are always people her to hold your had or help w/ advice. You'll get through this.

Oh yeah, my one dosing advice. Chocolate, the darker the better. Alwaus makes everything seem better.
 
i've contacted howdygirl on your behalf. she lives in san jose. hang tight and let's see if she can help you learn to home test and give you some pointers. her cat was on lantus too.
if she can't make it, i can. i live in san francisco but go to san jose occasionally...
 
Nicole,

I will be in San Jose area (Santa Clara actually) from Friday to Monday this coming weekend. I can help you learn to test (even bring you a kit). If am a 30+ year diabetic myself and foster diabetic cats (have 5 right now).

My email is XXX and my cell is XXX. I would love to help and and get a kitty fix during my vacation!

Claudia
 
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