Sugar out of control

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Becky posted this to me in a PM. I have welcomed Becky and ET and am reposting Becky's message here so we can help Becky get her boy ET feeling better.

_____________________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________________​

Hello everyone, my beautiful Cat ET Has been diagnose with Diabetes since last year his is 16 years old, we started him on insulin Vetsulin 2 units a day, but last year he almost die within a week or so. he was in the hospital for about 5 days because the doctor couldn't even get the glucose count, finally the glucose stabilized, i was so scare for my ET. When i went to get him the doc. told me that he no longer had diabetes which i found that to be very strange, she should have said it went in remission. well here we are again, since August i started to notice more pee on the cat litter and drinking a lot of water, so i knew right away the sugar was back, but i was so afraid of putting him in insulin that i just change the food for high protein low carbs, to see if that will work, his weight was 13 pounds with in 2 month he has lost 4 pounds he is now 9 pound, so i took him back to the vet 2 weeks ago, she run all blood test and she said everything was fine except the glucose which was at 420, she told me lets put him back on the Vetsulin, so i bought a Alphatrak meter so i can measure the glucose, which i do 3 times a day. First thing in the morning 6:00am before meal then i give him 1 can of Fancy feast and i give him 1 unit of insulin, then a go to work, i get back home at 4:00pm check his blood and some times is at 360 but lately is been at 419 about 5:00pm i given a can of Fancy feast and about 6:00pm give him the other unit of insulin, i don't think this is working for him at all, and poor baby he is always hungry.
i will love to hear for you guys. Thank you Becky

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Hi Becky, me again.

I agree it is very odd that the vet would suddenly say ET no longer had diabetes when hospitalized last year. Were ketones or DKA ever mentioned at that time?

In any event with BG being that high, it would be a good idea to start testing ET for ketones. You can get Ketostix at any pharmacy and test ET while he is using the LB. Some folks can hold a spoon or little cup under kitty to get a sample. Some cats even let their owners hold the strip in their urine stream. Some are shy in which case, some crumpled up plastic wrap where ET usually pees in the box can catch a tiny sample for testing. Just follow the instructions on the bottle of Ketostix.

He's had a significant weight loss and it sounds like he needs to regain some weight. 2 cans of FF would be around 160 to 200 calories which might be enough for a small cat of 10 lbs. but an average cat would need more to maintain their weight. Diabetics cannot process the food they eat properly which makes them hungry all the time so it's fine to leave more food down for ET during the day to eat while you are out at work. I'd also give him more food in the evenings when you are home. Right now, you can feed ET more than he would normally need to keep him more satisfied and it will also help keep his blood sugar more level. For some reason, vets have a terrible habit of telling folks to feed their cat twice daily with insulin shots. That is old school and we now know it's better to spread out food intake across the 24 hours period.

Since you are home testing, it would be great if you would set up one of our spreadsheets to track the blood glucose (BG) readings you are taking. The instructions for setting up a spreadsheet are HERE. It's easy to use but there are short forms on the sheet that may need some explanation so THIS document explains how to use the spreadsheet. We'll need you to plot in the readings you have taken so far as we are very data oriented here. Once we can get a peak at the readings you are getting, then we can start to offer some suggestions to get ET feeling better. If you need help setting it up, just holler.

It would also be helpful for you to set up a signature (the light grey text under my message) with pertinent info about you and ET. You can include your name, ET's age, sex, date of diagnosis, type of insulin, type of glucometer, and the link to your spreadsheet when you get that set up. Also if there is a history of ketones or DKA, please note it here too.

The signature will make it easier for folks to help without having to scroll back to previous posts or to bombard you repeatedly with the same questions over and over. To set it up, hover your mouse over your user name in the upper right corner. A menu drops down and you can select "Signature" from the left column. A text box will open up and you can add the info in there. When you are done, scroll down the page and click on the "Save Changes" button to save and post your signature. There is limited space so it's necessary to keep it brief.

 

[Jerry dutchboy]

Welcome to the forum Becky and ET. This is a fabulous community with generous, compassionate and very experienced individuals. I'm sure you will find it invaluable in your FD journey to get ET feeling better.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Another suggestion is to ask your vet to change insulin to a longer acting one. Lantus, Levemir, ProZinc and BCP PZI work well in controlling glucose levels.