So frustrated-- on again off again with the insulin

It's been a while since I've posted here. A little background: our 7 year old Siamese was diagnosed about a year ago and put on Vetsulin. He was on it twice a day for about 3 months when gradually we were able to reduce his insulin to almost nothing, then he was holding in the low to mid 100s without it.

Since that time, he's had really irritating cycles of being fine with no insulin for 4-5 weeks, then inexplicably his numbers will shoot above 200, so he gets insulin again for about 3 weeks. Then another 4-5 weeks off, then back on for a while. He had been totally off insulin since late November-- the longest stretch ever-- but then a few days ago he shot up again! He's now in the 220s every time we test. I think our insulin is too old at this point so we'll probably get some new stuff on Monday.

Has anyone else ever had this happen? I feel like we're in a weird holding pattern here and don't know why he's fine and then not and then fine again for such long stretches of time.

Any insight?

 

Couple of questions:

Are you planning on using vestulin? I ask because the product has been recalled.

viewtopic.php?f=19&t=311

And there is a pending lawsuit: viewtopic.php?f=19&t=1678

So, if you are going to go back on insulin, you may want to consider a different type. Personally I highly recommend the L's - Lantus or Levemir. Please take a look at the isgs to learn about them: viewforum.php?f=9

What type of food are you feeding? I wonder if that may have something to do with it.

How is the cat's overall health? Any other medical conditions, infections, etc going on that could be an explanation for the BG's?

How are the teeth? Cats in need of a dental could throw high BG's.

Hope this helps.

 

I just saw that about the Vetsulin-- that is scary! We will be giving our vet a call Monday to see what we need to do. I have a terrible feeling she'll want us to bring him in, but it stresses the poor guy out so much. I hope we can get out of that.

The only change to his food we've made recently is that we bought some cans of EVO last weekend. I don't know the carb content of that but I can't imagine it would be higher than his usual Friskies or Wellness. I think it is supposed to be high protein/low carb!

He might be in need of a dental. His teeth look okay but I might could get them looked at. Seeing as how we just put a new roof on, I don't really need any huge vet bills right now.

Thanks!

 

Hi Val,

Your insulin is probably too old and you need to know more about diet. Go to the Health Links and read www.catinfo.org then print out Janet's food tables, the Evo is on there. The dental will be pricey, but so is prolonged diabetes treatment so it's better to have it done sooner than later. You also want to know if Sebastian has any other infection that is raising his blood glucose, so a vet visit is in order.

Before you go to the vet read up on the insulin choices available. Cats here have had better results on Lantus and Levemir than on the other insulins, though success is possible on any insulin, it depends on the cat. Check out the insulin support groups forums to learn how cats on each of the insulins are progressing.

 

Yeah, we have been feeding him only stuff from the food list since he was diagnosed. Usually he gets Friskies or Authority from PetSmart but we like to give him a can of really good stuff every other day or so. A lot of it isn't on the list so we have to sort of guess if it'll be okay. I did find the EVO so I guess that wasn't the cause of the jump in numbers.

My husband is going to call the vet tomorrow and see what she recommends we do as far as insulin. We asked her about Lantus a few months after he was diagnosed, and she was willing to give it to him, but ONLY if he would stay at her office for two days for monitoring. We really can't afford that right now. She's not a big believer in hometesting. :roll: