UK newbie to boards but not feline diabetes!

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DustyDoo

Member Since 2012
Hello all

We are new to the board although we have been having a peek every so often for advice.

Pickles was diagnosed with diabetes at Christmas. We had no end of trouble from our vet who were just interested in making money and made some horrendous mistakes, from keeping Pickles in all day to do a blood curve and forgetting to do it to (the last straw for us) giving her antibiotics at a dose meant for a horse!!

Pickles was continually "off the scale" with her BG, we have since changed vets and he couldn't be more helpful. He really cares about Pickles and has consulted colleagues across the world about her

Pickles has unfortunately developed neuropathy in all legs :( (mainly due to old vets not doing enough to try to regulate her BG) we have her on Methyl B12 supplements which seems to be preventing further damage

Pickles is now regulated (I use the term loosely!) at between 19 and 24. We are using Canninsulin at a dose of 10 iu - although it was recently reduced to 5 iu due to Pickles getting cat flu (but we now think she's actually had a bad reaction to the high dose)

She is resistant to the Canninsulin but the UK government only endorse this - other insulins are apparently not legal in this country . Our vet called last week to say there may be a possiblity of using another insulin but we will have to sign some kind of disclaimer I don't know what this is because my partner forgot the name as soon as he came off the phone!

Can any UK members give us any advice please and is there a UK user group on here (or can we set one up)

Thanks in anticipation xx
 
There is not a UK forum but that is a nice idea! Yes, people in the UK generally seem to have to use Canninsulin first until their vet will let them try another insulin. I would certainly sign any disclaimer, if I were you, to get on a milder longer lasting insulin. The three we like are Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc.

We would also urge you to test at home. We use human glucometers and test before each shot. This is particularly important with an insulin like Canninsulin which has such a fast onset and had produce such roller coaster results.

What food are you feeding? We like wet low carb foods under the 80-10% range. Here is a list of European foods: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=64843 Food can make a drastic reduction in blood glucose levels so we would suggest you start testing at home first.

I'll send out a few pms and see if a UK member will come advise. Here is an older thread that discusses insulin choice in the UK: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=22&t=11312

BTW, Welcome!
 
Thanks Sue :)

We do home test now, have been since we've been with the new vet, took a while for Pickles to get used to but she's an old hand now!

Pickles is one of those strange cats who would only ever eat dry food so we've had her on Hills MD and sometimes DM. She now follows us for food and will eat chicken or any meat, or aything left around!! but still she will not eat the wet cat food :roll:

Thanks for the links, I will have a look in the morning as I just saw the time - nearly 1 am here

Dusty xx
 
Hello Dusty from another UKer. Sue PMd (private messaged) me so I have only just seen your post, but welcome to the board! There aren't as many of us UKers here as there were a few years ago but we are always happy to help if we can. A lot of the advice you will get from other members is excellent but as most of them are in the US, they will talk in their "language" and FD is a very specific condition so perhaps we can add to that...

You seem to have a good grasp of the basics and I'm glad you have a good vet, but I'm a little puzzled about your comment that Pickles is regulated at BGs of 19-24. These numbers are too high to be termed "regulated" - you are aiming for single-figure digits, in general terms. The dose of Caninsulin you are giving seems high to me, too - and as you say she is resistant to Caninsulin (or at least, she is not responding as well as you'd like to it), I hope the vet is seriously considering other options, and perhaps doing tests to see if there are other underlying issues with Pickles that could make her insulin-resistant?

I sympathise with your problems about Pickles not eating wet cat food but it really is best for her so perhaps you can keep trying. Sometimes a new brand or flavour will tempt these fussy little creatures! Good ones for a diabetic (or any cat in fact) are Whiskas or Felix pouches in jelly (ie not gravy, which has higher carbs).

Where are you in the UK, by the way?

Diana (in Surrey)
 
Thanks, Diana, for joining in. Maybe Dusty can pm you if he has a specific UK question.

I would definitely try to work on a diet change. When we switched Oliver from dry to wet, he came down 100 points overnight. This vet's website has some great tips for transitioning from dry to wet: www.catinfo.org. One idea is if you can find a snack he loves - tiny shrimp or people food like plain baked chicken, you can sprinkle that on top of the wet. It is very difficult, if not impossible, to regulate a diabetic cat while feeding dry food. It's a little like a human diabetic taking insulin while on a diet of doughnuts and potato chips!
 
Thanks Diana and Sue :)

I did say I was using the term "regulated" loosely!! Pickles was "off the scale"" for months before she settled to 19 - 24.

Our lovely vet was back home in South Africa for a week or 2 when Pickles got her flu. The nurses gave us (at a cost of £100) the Canninsulin pen and reduced her dose, we did try to say that our vet was looking into other things for her but they insisted we must have the pen as it's a new Government requirement - hmmm

Anyway, lovely vet man came back from his hols and rang us to see how Pickles was getting on He wasn't too happy about the nurses intervention with the dose and the new pen but hey Pickles was very ill at the time. Anyway, Pickles is having her first dose of Lantus today woo hoo!. She's on a twice daily jab for the first 2 weeks and then hopefully will go down to once a day - and we got a refund for the pen :-D

She will not eat wet food :cry: our other cat is a Felix eater, we can leave her food down and Pickles won't touch it at all, even when she is really hungry and chasing us for whatever food we are eating.

We're on the Herts/Essex border

Dusty xx
 
Hello! I use Lantus and in my experience, it is always supposed to be dosed twice a day as it has only a 12-hour action in cats (half the time as in humans) -- so you will need to dose twice a day to maintain blood glucose control in Pickles for the full 24 hour period. You mentioned in your note below that you were dosing Lantus twice daily for the first two weeks, but then planning to go to once a day -- so thought I would mention that. I would ask the more experienced members of the board to confirm this.
 
I'm confused now!

Doubly so as i seem to have 2 user profiles :?: So I am Pickles and DustyDoo that should confuse everybody!

I'll have to go to the vets with hubby next time i think that's the only way to be sure of what he's been told! He definitely said we were going down to one jab a day though . . .

Dusty xx
 
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