Taytayandtimmy
Member Since 2019
I have a 12 year old cat named timmy! He was diagnosed with diabetes back in June. So it’s been about 4 months now. And he is on Lantus. He lost a lot of weight since he wasn’t diagnosed for a little while. He was rather over weight to begin with. He’s currently at 13 pounds and finally getting some meat on his bones. He was our family cat for 10 years and when I moved out he came with me. My mom was free feeding him dry food for majority of his life. When he started losing weight I got him an automatic feeder and thought the regulated meals were helping. Then I noticed him drinking tons of water. Then I noticed him peeing outside the litter and I knew something was up . We’ve had a difficult time with the vet telling us many different things, and I feel I’ve had to go to the internet to learn as much as I have about this. He had a few scares where he dropped very very low. They started him out at 1 unit and I wasn’t home testing at this time. I took him in and his levels were still high the following week so they increased him to 2 units. The following week I noticed he seemed very on edge and skiddish so I brought him in again, and keeping in mind he hates the trips to the vet. This time I saw the owner. I had told him I switched him to fancy feast food but he is still getting 1 small snack in the morning of dry food from his automatic feeder, so I can keep sleeping since he likes to wake up around 5 am. The vet told me to cut out the dry and move him up to 3 units. At this time thank god I decided to start home testing. The vet hadn’t even explained the importance to me. They wanted me to keep going in to spend $ on the tests. Shortly after this timmy dropped down to 2 mmol/l. I give his shot around 1030 am and 1030 pm since I work in the evenings. He dropped to 2 mmol/l around 830 pm. I called the vet and they were closed, I called the animal emergency and they couldn’t help me because he’s not a patient there. So I gave the corn syrup and some food and got him up to 5.7 mmol/l. I decided to skip the shot because at this time I was so uneducated and had no clue what to do. The next morning after his shot again dropped scary low so I called the vet in a panick and they told me to drop it down to 2 units again and if his glucose levels read under 12, to skip his shot because she thinks he’s going into remission. I proceeded to do that. So he was mainly getting one shot a day. And this was going fine, just after the skipped shot, by the next one, he was reading higher. Anywhere from 14-18 Me and timmy moved a couple weeks after this so his levels were higher due to stress. But then he started dropping low again. He dropped as low as 1.9 and almost gave me a heart attack. I got on the phone with the vet and again the only one available was a different vet. She tells me it makes no sense why the other vet would say to give the shot if he’s over 12, because then he’s getting 2 units if he’s over 12 and that’s too much. So she says only give his shot if he’s in the 20’s! Timmy goes crazy when his levels are too high. She said to check if he’s showing signs, like urinating frequently and drinking water. But all I’m thinking is of course he will be showing signs if he’s in the 20’s? At this point I’m so fed up with the back and forth phone calls and not being able to get ahold of them then spending a fortune to take him in. So I’ve taken it into my own hands. Timmy is now on 1 unit 2 times a day. And he hasn’t dropped low again in weeks. I’ve gone through so many strips it’s costing me way too much money so I’m testing him 2-3 times a day. Always before his shot and sometimes mid day. Now, lately he’s been reading anywhere between 15 and 9. One night he even read in at 6. He gets half a can at 6 am, no shot. Then at 1030 am he gets 1 full can followed by one unit. Then at 1030 in the evening he gets another full can and 1 unit. I wonder if it’s strongly recommended he’s not on dry at all. Since I have the feeder and he keeps me up from 5 am to 1030 am everyday since we stopped using it, even after his snack he’s still up. So I’d like to use his automatic feeder just for the morning. But it’s ok if not. I’m curious if I should be skipping any shots if he’s under 12 still? I’m curious if he’s getting enough food with 2 and a half cans a day. Or if I should switch to 3 cans. I just have so many questions it can be so overwhelming but he’s my world and I’d give it all for him! I worry so much that he’s gonna drop low when I’m at work. It’s a constant fear of mine. It’s so discouraging to hear the word remission used so many times just for it to not be true.
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