UPDATE ON GRAMPS!!!!!

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Catlady38

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UPDATE ON GRAMPS....

I am so sorry it took me so long to give you an Update on him. he is doing great..... I do not have a way to let you know his BG level, because I have no PC access in my BF's home. Where Gramps is.... We have tested his BG, and it has been high. So we have been giving him 5 units twice a day, rt after he eats.... I brush him every chance I get, give him lots of love.

I am going to be taking him to my vet on April 14th, to have a exam, and arrange Dental surgery . I do not think I can regulate his BG until his Dental is done. Also, per the vet. so until this is done I have to give 5 units when he eats well and BG is above 300. When he doesn't eat well or little, 2 units. When I go tonight I will tell u the BG and how much I gave.

I am also noticing he will not eat the Purina DM, so he eats Purina Pro pate 9%. ... If I should not be giving him this, please advice.... Do I read the Crude Protein? On the cat can labels?

thanks Tracy
 
Hi, Tracy.

I saw Gramps picture on the DCIN blog - what a sweet old guy he looks like.

I have been way out of the feline diabetes loop for the last four years, and there may be lots of new techniques and knowledge. I don't know what his background as a diabetic is, but seeing that you're giving him 5 units twice a day without really having much data kind of makes me shudder. That's a lot of insulin- and he may very well need that much, but unless you've got a curve and you find out how low and how high he's going on a daily basis, it could be risky. To do a curve, you need to test him every two hours for at least 12 hours, so you can see how long the insulin is lasting and how effectively it's working. You don't need to do a curve often, but it's the best way to help you know if he is safe with the dosage he's getting. Do you know how they determined that 5 units was the proper amount to start with? It's possible that he could be getting those over 300 numbers from rebound (simplistically, that too much insulin makes the glucose level go higher in an effort by the body to protect itself.) For security's sake, do you have some high carb cat foods (stuff with gravy is good!) and maybe some corn syrup where Gramps is living, just in case of hypo?

Very few cats are enticed by the DM food. Did you change his food, say, from dry to the Purina canned? That can significantly reduce the amount of insulin required. If you look in the "stickies" at the beginning of this Health Board, you will see several listings for foods. The usual practice is to give low carb canned food. (The carbohydrate content isn't listed on the can.) Many people feed the Fancy Feast pates - Tender Beef, Gourmet Chicken, Beef and Chicken, Liver and Chicken, Turkey and Giblets. The Janet and Binky Food Charts have detailed information for all sorts of cat foods, although I don't know if they're up to date. I noticed that there are several other food lists in the the stickies.

It's also helpful to have a spreadsheet to record shots and dosages and tests on. That would make it simpler to keep track of things while you're getting to your computer. There are instructions for setting up a spreadsheet on Google Documents on this site. (If only I'd thought to gather up all these links before I started typing away here....)

It is so wonderful of you to offer Gramps a home. And while it might seem complicated in the beginning, caring for his diabetes will get to be more understandable and easier as time goes on. It's a really good idea to read as much as possible, and to feel free to ask questions about what you don't understand. Just browsing through these boards in your spare time can give you so much information.

Some helpful links (don't know if you've seen these things or not!):

viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887

hypo information to print and keep


http://binkyspage.tripod.com/faq.html

A mountain of information about everything you can think of!


viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

How to make a spreadsheet
 
Good luck with Gramps :)

The numbers on the can really don't help much in determining what food to get :( Here is the chart with the Pro-Plan foods on it http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodOld.html. The date of the chart is old, but I don't believe PP has changed much. As long as you get the pate and avoid Rice, most of the PP are good to feed. I have feed the adult chicken and liver and and the kitten chicken and liver, and some of the kitten fishy flavors in our wide menu selection :-D

Are you on one of the P insulins or one of the Ls? I am afraid that monkeying too often with the dose depending on what he eats if you are Lantus could mess up any hopes of regulation. Lantus likes consistancy and anytime you change the dose it is almost like starting over, especially when you are changing the dose by that much. The Ps are a little more forgiving than the Ls on changing schedules and doses I think.

Hopefully a home, lots of love, and that dental are what he needs to get those BGs under control.
 
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