VERY FRUSTRATE/ CRITICAL CAT/ TRIAD PROBS ETC

[judithfouse@cox.net]

confused_cat This is my first post, so let me begin by apologizing for my ignorance. I have a sick cat, Fuzzy, waiting on me to do another glucose test, so I have to scurry away. I have been reading some of blogs and know that there are some tools out there for recording my glucose results, but haven't found them yet, though I have done some searching. Can you help me out by giving me a link to the spreadsheets? Thanks so much. By the way, I use glargine and Alphatrac ii but am trying out the Free style because I ran out of strips and couldn't wait two weeks for vet to get me some more. I think Fuzzy is doing the bounce back thing where too much insulin and liver pumps sugar back into system and am trying to track and adjust accordingly. Gotta run take care of Fuzzy. Looking forward to being a part of this great blog site. Judy

Ok. I'm back. I searched and found the protocols I need on your website.

But the real problem for me is that Fuzzy has been in crisis with pancreatitis, dehydration, high blood sugars, not eating, kidney problems and infectgions. Just came off antibiotics and I have on appetite enhancement meds, has heart cadiomegaly, is on benazypryl, Lasix. Just started on sam-e. He had a crisis situation a couple of months ago and I thought all was well. The dr increased his insulin dosage from 6 units of glargine twice a day to 7 units twice a day. I am force feeding him hills AD, offering him k/d kibbles which he nibbles on infrequently. He was constipated, but now more regular after I gave him tiny dosage of glycerine suppository twice. I have him on 6 units right now and am testing blood sugars every 2 to three hours. I gave sub cu liquid iv twice in last week. Yesterday he was very dehydrated but today, after sub cu, not dehydrated. Still doesn't want to voluntarily eat. I tried to get him off the force feeding, but when he didn't respond well, put him back on it. about 1 can ad per day plus some kd kibbles (very few since he refuses mostly) . He had blood sugars 685 and over 700 two nights in a row, but blood sugars around 300 during day. I suspected rebound since he is not eating right. But since starting force feeding up again and sub cu, his blood sugars have been around 300 yesterday and today under 300. Last predose blood sugar was 156. I reduced dosage by .5 to 6.5. blood sugar was 221 at 1 am. going now to give him some ad to carry him over to morning to avoid hypo. This is driving me crazy. And to top it off, his regular doctor had a family emergency and is out for several weeks and the vets I now have to talk to won't agree to my suggestions and are afraid to make any changes because they are unfamiliar with his case. They don't seem to recognize the critical condition he is in right now and I am very frustrated.
I know I need to do chart but haven't figured out how yet.

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hello Judy, and welcome to you and to Fuzzy!

Gosh, Fuzzy certainly has (or has had) a lot of health issues going on there.
(Pancreatitis, kidney problems, inappetance, infections, dehydration, heart cadiomegaly. Oh, and diabetes too!)

And you're using Glargine/Lantus, currently 6 units (every 12 hours?).
And Alphatrak meter usually (but trying Freestyle?).
Force feeding him hills AD, offering him k/d kibbles

May I ask how much Fuzzy weighs? Is he a big chap?

Yes, it's possible that the insulin dose is too high. (That 6 units certainly is a high dose, although some cats do need high doses.) And your theory about Fuzzy dropping low and bouncing may be correct.
But there are a lot of other factors that could mess with his blood glucose levels, for example; diet, inappetance, dehydration (and recovery from dehydration), constipation, infection, meds....
So, we probably need to see more data to try to get a picture of what's going on.

Yes, a blood glucose chart/SS is a great idea. And there are some smart people here who can help you to set that up pretty quickly. (I'm not one of them! :lol: )

Could you possibly set up a 'signature' with some 'in a nutshell' info in there, for example; date of diagnosis, type of insulin and dose, type of meter (especially important if it's the Alphatrak meter as it reads a bit higher than the meters made for humans (which most of us use)), what you're currently feeding Fuzzy, and any current health issues folks need to be aware of.
That will help folks enormously if you need help in a hurry.
To add a signature just go to 'User Control Panel' (top left of the page), then click on 'Profile' and then 'Edit Signature'.

Re switching to a Freestyle meter, well, I think there are some Freestyle meters that have caused folks problems (inaccurate readings?) so you may want to wait and see what meter other folks here suggest. Are you in the US?

Eliz

 

[Deb & Wink]

Hi Judith and sugarkitty Fuzzy and welcome to the message board.

Directions on how to set up our standard formatted color coded spreadsheet are here. The directions are from over in our Tech Support forum. One step the instructions left out is you need to change the Share options to "anyone with the link" to give us read only access.

You may not have found that forum yet, we have a lot of them. ;-) ;-) If you could get that Spreadsheet setup and enter your most recent weeks worth of test data, that would be helpful. Work backwards on entering your test data as you have time.

Then, once you start testing, you record the data on our spreadsheet - a grid for storing the numbers. Instructions are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.

We're happy to guide new members and here in the Feline Health forum be try to get you started with some of the resources you may need to help your kitty get better.

I don't want to overwhelm you plus want to wait for your feedback on the questions member Elizabeth and Bertie asked you. Once we have those responses from you, we'll go from there.

Hang in there, we're here to help however we can.