Spot - New diagnosis and struggling with testing

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otisroy

otisroy

Member Since 2024
Thanks to this community. I've already learned a ton and it's nice to read your stories and know that there are lots of success stories.

We took Spot in last week because he was vomiting and listless. Diagnosis was pancreatitis and diabetes. Glucose was hovering around 400. After three days of hospitalization we brought him home Thursday with a Libre2 monitor. With one unit of Vetsulin twice daily, we've been able to keep his sugar between 110 and 205 on the highest end. That was until yesterday morning when Spot got his teeth on the CGM and pulled it loose. We took him back into the vet with another monitor, but the vet advised just giving him twice daily injections and reapplying the monitor next Thursday.

Thanks to all the amazing resources in this community we switched him and his littermate/brother from Blue Buffalo Blissful Belly canned to Fancy Feast Classic. Before this episode they only got a dozen or so pieces of dry kibble as a treat at night and as a supplement a few times a year when we left them for a long weekend and our daughter watched over them. Switching to a different wet food hasn't been too bad.

I'm less than comfortable giving him injections without knowing what his levels are. We picked up a ReliOn kit today at Walmart. We stuck ourselves several times to get comfortable with the lancer. All seemed good. We've tried several times to get a sample from Spot and have had zero luck. He's a bit squirmy, but he's been a trooper through this.

Can anyone recommend a better lancer with a more fine point so we can more easily target the vein?
 
Testing
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up
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6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with

Try putting a thin layer of Vaseline on the ear so the blood will bead up I have never used the lancing device
 
Thanks so much. We were able to get a good sample with a warm rice sock, a little vaseline and going to the inside edge of his ear. Now, I'm freaked out because his sugar was 101. On the advice of the vet I was ready to just blindly administer twice daily doses of one unit each. If I'd given him an injection, he could have been dangerously close to hypoglycemic.
 
Testing done at the vets office can be totally useless due to the stress response which can raise the blood glucose up to 200 points higher than when they're at home.

If you've also changed to the low carb diet, it's possible that Spot may not need insulin at all. Normal BG on a human meter is 50-120.

If he does end up needing to use the insulin, I'd start at 0.5 unit instead of 1.0. You can always increase if necessary. Keeping good records of his test numbers will help to know when to increase (or decrease!).

Vetsulin isn't a great insulin for cats either. It's no longer recommended by the AAHA. The only insulin they now recommend is Glargine (brand name Lantus, Semglee, Rezvoglar) or ProZinc. Glargine is a human insulin but works very well in cats and is considered the "gold standard". ProZinc is a veterinary insulin that was originally developed for cats (but is now being used in dogs too).

Vetsulin tends to hit hard and fast and then wear off long before the next shot is due. It's actually a much better insulin for dogs (but a lot of vets like to use what they're used to and since they see more diabetic dogs than cats, they tend to treat their feline patients like small dogs).

We have a special spreadsheet we all use to keep track of our cats test numbers. It's one of our most valuable tools and we'll want to see how he's been doing before we can give much in the way of helpful advice. Here are Instructions on setting up the spreadsheet but if spreadsheets aren't your idea of a good time, or make your head spin, just ask for help. There are several people here who can help set one up for you.
 
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@otisroy
I see you put some information in your signature

Spot / 11 yrs old / Vetsulin / Fancy Feast Classic

We need a little bit more
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Bexacat or Senvelgo (if applicable) and dates
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

I see that @Chris & China (GA) gave you the instructions on how to set up our spreadsheet which is great
 
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I'm so grateful for all the help. Spot's BG this morning was 96, with his last insulin dose administered yesterday morning. We'll keep monitoring.

I'm going to pick up some of the CVS pressure activated single use lancets because they look like they may be easier to position in the sweet spot for a good stick.
 
@Bandit's Mom I'm not sure if his vet checked his fructosamine levels or if he just did a blood glucose test.

His glucose levels have been in the low 100's for the last few days so it's quite possible that his BG was elevated because of the pancreatitis episode. I have an appointment, for Thursday, that I made last week to have his CGM (libre2) re-attached, but I think I'm going to cancel it. The ear pokes, even when it takes a couple tries, are way less traumatizing than a trip to the vet and possibly being sedated. We've just gotten back to where his brother(littermate) isn't hissing at him every time he walks by because he smells like the vet's office.
 
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otisroy said:
I have an appointment, for Thursday, that I made last week to have his CGM (libre2) re-attached, but I think I'm going to cancel it. The ear pokes, even when it takes a couple tries, are way less traumatizing than a trip to the vet and possibly being sedated.
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Agree 100%. If you can test with a meter, you might as well save $$ on the Libre. One of the biggest complaints is that it stops working or falls off long before the 2 week period.
 
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