Sassy Diagnosed last Week - Intro & Questions

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Sassy1815

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Hi everyone

I’m so glad to have found this board. The information I’ve found has been incredibly helpful and is giving me some hope.

My kitty Sassy is 9 years old and was diagnosed last Tuesday. We took her in to the vet for diarrhea, but they did her Wellness and blood testing exam as well. Her glucose reading was 497, which was probably elevated some since she HATES being at the vet. She currently weighs a little over 7 pounds.

It’s been a difficult and emotional roller coaster so far. Luckily the internet has a lot of resources.

She had been on dry food her whole life, but is now eating the Purina DM canned food. Luckily she seems to love wet food so switching her over was no problem. She is currently on 1 unit of Lantus 1 time per day (started her last Friday). We just got the glucometer and test strips and will start bg testing at home tonight. The vet wants her to come in to do a curve a week from now, but I think we need to be testing her at home sooner than that, as her numbers will likely be off at the vet.

Behavior-wise, she’s acting normally for the most part, but her neuropathy seems to be getting worse. I have ordered some methylcobalamin, but it hasn’t arrived yet. It’s so hard to watch her lay down so frequently, not be able to back up well, and not be able to scratch her ears. She isn’t walking on her hocks quite yet, but I’m worried that it will come to that.

Is there anything more I can do for her in the meantime? Should I be calling the vet about the neuropathy? It seems like it got worse a lot faster just in the past week.

Thanks everyone – I’m grateful for any advice
 
Wow! For a stressed out bean (person) you are doing a great job! It took months and lots of stress for me to start testing! So give yourself a bit of a break ok? :-D

As to what you can do....

1. Purina DM canned is an improvement as it is a decrease in carbs, but there are better foods (better quality ingredients) so eventually either your cat may stop liking DM (common) or you may want to tweak the diet. For now, don't stress it.

2. lantus is a twice a day insulin, so I would strongly suggest talking with your vet about doing 1 unit twice a day starting NOW or even 0.5 units twice a day. Otherwise you aren't going to see an improvement because Sassy will run high twice a day, and Sassy's body needs to build up a store of lantus.

3. hometesting - yes, start now as it can take a bit of time to get the handle of it. A weekend is perfect if you don't work.

4. I'd also be testing Sassy's urine for ketones, as they are a possible side effect in newly diagnosed cats, and they can be a nasty complication.

5. Don't stress the neuropathy as all the other things you are doing will help with that, it will just take a bit of time.

Does this help?

Jen
 
Hi and welcome!

Jen has covered the waterfront so well that I have only two pieces of additional information.

First, take the time to study, not just read, www.catinfo.org It's a gold mine of information.

Second, visit the Lantus group under Insulin Study Groups and read the stickies there. Lantus works differently from most of the insulins vets are used to working with and many are benefiting from the work being done in this forum.

As Jen noted, you're well ahead of the game. Keep us posted on how you and Sassy are doing!
 
Thank you both for your replies! I had all last week to cry and be completely overwhelmed, so this week has been more productive in terms of doing research on feline diabetes and get a course of action in place.

We did our first bg test tonight and it went surprisingly well. Thanks for the pointer to the Lantus forum - I'm setting up a spreadsheet now.

Thanks again!
 
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