Niki & Ephalba
Member
Hi all,
I had been posting on the main board and someone recommended I post here as well since my kitty is on PZI. Would you mind taking a look at this thread and give input about adding a second dose? Much thanks in advance!
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9173
Here's my relevant posts if you don't want to read the thread:
My diabetic kitty Ephalba has been stabilized on 1 unit PZI once per day for a couple months now. She (and all my other cats to the woe of my bank account) eat only grain-free Wellness. Her blood sugars have been consistently been 215-230 before her evening shot and I have not done a bg curve (testing is pretty traumatic on her and me and I haven't gotten up the courage). Right now she has a fairly strong acetone smell on her breath but it's the only symptom of ketosis I've seen. Her appetite is excellent, she's cleaning herself, usual activity level and no noticeable recent weight loss. I did miss her shot last night because I got distracted and then fell asleep on the couch. I am of course out of test strips but I'm going to get more this afternoon so I can't test right this moment but likely within the next couple hours. Will ketosis reflect in bg readings anyway? She had the same smell on her breath a few weeks ago and I called the emergency vet but they said not to worry if it was the only symptom I was seeing. Since it's happened again, I thought I'd post here and ask the collective experts. Thoughts?
I ended up taking her to the vet because I just didn't want to worry--it would have kept me up all night. Her ketones at the vet were +1, so not in the danger range, but they gave her IV fluids to make sure she was stabilized. I guess peace of mind had a $193 price tag tonight! I'm definitely getting the meter that reads ketones because it could save me a lot of money and stress. Makes me wonder why the acetone smell was SO strong though and her ketones weren't higher though.
Ephalba went to the vet today and they did a fructosamine test on her to get a picture of her bg for the past couple of weeks. I'd not heard of the test before the vet so hopefully it's actually useful and not a waste of money! I'm also going to do a curve this weekend so between those two pieces of info we should have a pretty good idea if we need to adjust her dose but I'm thinking it's likely. No ketone smell today, so that's good news, and she's gained 1/4 lb in two months, so I'm happy for that as well!
So, I got the fructosamine results back and it was 471. Vet said that indicated the diabetes is being managed well, but my research is showing the number should be below 400. Any thoughts on this?
To clarify, I'm not currently shooting twice a day, only 1u at night--the vet felt the result was good and wanted to wait until after the curve before making any changes. I'm a bit nervous about this because my instinct says to add 1 unit in the morning, but I don't want to end up with a hypo kitty either. What complicates matters is that it's pretty tough to get morning numbers too since it's just me and my dear sweet cat won't hold still for me enough to do it. When we do manage morning numbers on the weekend when my husband can hold her, they are usually right around 200, often between 175-200. Evening number have been reliably 215-230.
I'm doing a curve on Saturday. I think I have the general principles . . . do our usual morning routine, then test every two hours for at least 12 hours. Is that right?
Thanks again for the support--I'm feeling braver lately in dealing with all this and it's starting to feel more manageable. I'm also feeling a bit more positive about the diabetes diagnosis. While we were feeding high quality for dry (Wellness regular and core), four out of five kitties are now on low carb wet (working on the 5th but she is uber stubborn!) and I feel fortunate that we made a change while our cats are relatively young. It might sound a bit sappy, but Ephalba's sacrifice could have saved the rest of our herd from lots of health issues.
I had been posting on the main board and someone recommended I post here as well since my kitty is on PZI. Would you mind taking a look at this thread and give input about adding a second dose? Much thanks in advance!
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9173
Here's my relevant posts if you don't want to read the thread:
My diabetic kitty Ephalba has been stabilized on 1 unit PZI once per day for a couple months now. She (and all my other cats to the woe of my bank account) eat only grain-free Wellness. Her blood sugars have been consistently been 215-230 before her evening shot and I have not done a bg curve (testing is pretty traumatic on her and me and I haven't gotten up the courage). Right now she has a fairly strong acetone smell on her breath but it's the only symptom of ketosis I've seen. Her appetite is excellent, she's cleaning herself, usual activity level and no noticeable recent weight loss. I did miss her shot last night because I got distracted and then fell asleep on the couch. I am of course out of test strips but I'm going to get more this afternoon so I can't test right this moment but likely within the next couple hours. Will ketosis reflect in bg readings anyway? She had the same smell on her breath a few weeks ago and I called the emergency vet but they said not to worry if it was the only symptom I was seeing. Since it's happened again, I thought I'd post here and ask the collective experts. Thoughts?
I ended up taking her to the vet because I just didn't want to worry--it would have kept me up all night. Her ketones at the vet were +1, so not in the danger range, but they gave her IV fluids to make sure she was stabilized. I guess peace of mind had a $193 price tag tonight! I'm definitely getting the meter that reads ketones because it could save me a lot of money and stress. Makes me wonder why the acetone smell was SO strong though and her ketones weren't higher though.
Ephalba went to the vet today and they did a fructosamine test on her to get a picture of her bg for the past couple of weeks. I'd not heard of the test before the vet so hopefully it's actually useful and not a waste of money! I'm also going to do a curve this weekend so between those two pieces of info we should have a pretty good idea if we need to adjust her dose but I'm thinking it's likely. No ketone smell today, so that's good news, and she's gained 1/4 lb in two months, so I'm happy for that as well!
So, I got the fructosamine results back and it was 471. Vet said that indicated the diabetes is being managed well, but my research is showing the number should be below 400. Any thoughts on this?
To clarify, I'm not currently shooting twice a day, only 1u at night--the vet felt the result was good and wanted to wait until after the curve before making any changes. I'm a bit nervous about this because my instinct says to add 1 unit in the morning, but I don't want to end up with a hypo kitty either. What complicates matters is that it's pretty tough to get morning numbers too since it's just me and my dear sweet cat won't hold still for me enough to do it. When we do manage morning numbers on the weekend when my husband can hold her, they are usually right around 200, often between 175-200. Evening number have been reliably 215-230.
I'm doing a curve on Saturday. I think I have the general principles . . . do our usual morning routine, then test every two hours for at least 12 hours. Is that right?
Thanks again for the support--I'm feeling braver lately in dealing with all this and it's starting to feel more manageable. I'm also feeling a bit more positive about the diabetes diagnosis. While we were feeding high quality for dry (Wellness regular and core), four out of five kitties are now on low carb wet (working on the 5th but she is uber stubborn!) and I feel fortunate that we made a change while our cats are relatively young. It might sound a bit sappy, but Ephalba's sacrifice could have saved the rest of our herd from lots of health issues.
