Vet does not want me BG test; why???

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NuJoe

Member Since 2015
My vet does not want me to do BG Testing and I have to wonder why??? She gave me some very bad advice regarding food. I did some research and found some videos on how to test BG. the first time was really easy and my cat Harley didn't complain at all, he seemed to know it was for his own good. I tested him against my vets wishes. I'm tiffed with her for steering me in the wrong direction where his diet is concerned. My kit is a kibble-a-holic and I wanted to make his food and I was again shot down by the vet. I also wanted to start him on a raw diet and she/vet shot me down on that too. I tried him on some commercial raw frozen chicken from PetSmart and to my amazement he loved it!!! I was almost ready to go buy mice from the pet store. ☺ I have to get a new vet because I really don't like being steered in the wrong direction where my cat is concerned. I would love to get some feedback on this situation. Does anyone live in Anne Arundel County Maryland??? If so I could use a buddy or some moral support. Please respond.
 
I don't live anywhere near Maryland, but this entire message board is full of people who'll cheer you on and give you all the support you could want!!

Your vet sounds like he's never going to go along with the changes that you seem to KNOW you need to make, so yes, it's time to find a new vet!!

Everyone here home tests...how else would we know what's going on inside our dear sugarcat's body?? A doctor would never tell a parent to shoot insulin into a child without testing first, and it's the same with our kitties!!

A low carb canned or raw diet is the best thing you can do for Harley!! Carbs are the enemy, so we want to limit them to under 10%. Also, the water in a canned or raw diet is a GREAT benefit to our cats' kidneys and in diabetics, it's their kidneys that take a lot of the abuse so the more water we get into them, the better!

What type of insulin are you on?
 
Welcome to the forum! Sounds like you've gotten a good start on doing your own research. There are a lot of experienced people on here who can help. Glad you're here!
Some vets are not very up to date on feline diabetes. Finding a vet you like and can trust is really important. Someone has some vet interview questions that they can give you if you decide to go this route.
 
Just a thought - Vets specializing in feline medicine might be more knowledgable - I'm told the treatment of diabetes in cats and dogs is very different (supposedly dogs are easy)
If you go to the American Association of Feline Practitioners website (www.catvets.com) - you can put in your zip code and see if there are any near you
 
Chris & China said:
I don't live anywhere near Maryland, but this entire message board is full of people who'll cheer you on and give you all the support you could want!!

Your vet sounds like he's never going to go along with the changes that you seem to KNOW you need to make, so yes, it's time to find a new vet!!

Everyone here home tests...how else would we know what's going on inside our dear sugarcat's body?? A doctor would never tell a parent to shoot insulin into a child without testing first, and it's the same with our kitties!!

A low carb canned or raw diet is the best thing you can do for Harley!! Carbs are the enemy, so we want to limit them to under 10%. Also, the water in a canned or raw diet is a GREAT benefit to our cats' kidneys and in diabetics, it's their kidneys that take a lot of the abuse so the more water we get into them, the better!

What type of insulin are you on?
Click to expand...
 
Welcome to FDMB! I live in Maryland but not near you. However I had a very similar experience with the vet I had used for years. I ended up finding a new vet, the old one and I were just never going to see eye to eye on Squallie's treatment.

My cats all eat low carb Fancy Feast Classic, mixed with Nature's Variety Instinct Raw chicken formula. I never though any of my cats would eat raw, but they scarf it up, lol. A lot of vets do not recommend a raw diet because of the risk for salmonella. Be careful if you make your own cat food, please find a veterinrian-approved recipe and follow it, because there are lots of essential vitamins and minerals that must be added for it to be a complete diet! :)

Lucy
 
Thank you so much for your encouraging words!!! My vet seems to think she knows everything. I'm a trained EMT and have a lot of human medical training and also trained as phlebotomist but I could never get a job doing that type if work and now hospitals are screaming for people trained in the medical field. I was even considering taking some vet tech classes just to learn animal anatomy and physiology especially cats. I've had cats my entire life and it just irked the hell out of me that I want to learn something from a DVM and she refuses to even listen to me.

They wanted me to bring him in for BG curves and I started asking questions about the process and they refused to even let me observe. So I am looking for another vet.

Harley is on Pro Zinc and after I did a few BG test his numbers were still too high so I increased the dosage from 1 to 2 and he seems to be doing so much better. Be only wants wet food and he's up to about 5 3oz cans a day. Presently I feeding him Fancy Feast Classic pate. If anyone has a better idea I'm open to just about anything right now.

Do any of you have any problems with your kits losing their hair??? My boy is a Maine Coon mixed. His brother passed away from this horrid condition. My baby is also getting cataracts.

My primary care doc gave me two different glucometers along with gobs of test strips. My doc also have me a sample of Humulin N but I'm afraid to even try it on him.

There for awhile he had practilly quit eating so I started making him some human grade food and I had some powdered antibiotics to put into the food. I have been reading these blogs all day and my eyes are just about to kill me. And I think it's time to feed my Harley. The poor guy has lost so much of his muscle mass it just makes my heart ache for him.

I printed the recipe and plan to get all the supplements that are required. I don't know where in my area to get range free chickens or even where to get rabbits. I will do a search to see what I come up with.

I live on a fixed income and financials are just more than I can bear. In doing the best I can do and Harley seems to be improving. He has gained back 1 lb 4 oz of the nearly half his weight he lost.

Harley has neuropathy in his back legs.

I'm going to reach out to some of the financial resources to help me with vet expenses and medications.
 
Squalliesmom said:
Welcome to FDMB! I live in Maryland but not near you. However I had a very similar experience with the vet I had used for years. I ended up finding a new vet, the old one and I were just never going to see eye to eye on Squallie's treatment.

My cats all eat low carb Fancy Feast Classic, mixed with Nature's Variety Instinct Raw chicken formula. I never though any of my cats would eat raw, but they scarf it up, lol. A lot of vets do not recommend a raw diet because of the risk for salmonella. Be careful if you make your own cat food, please find a veterinrian-approved recipe and follow it, because there are lots of essential vitamins and minerals that must be added for it to be a complete diet! :)

Lucy
Click to expand...
Thank you Lucy! I printed the recipe crime the web site recommended by Dr Lisa Peirson <<-- May have spelling wrong. I need to get that meat grinder from One Stop Jerky Stop, which was recommended to grind up chicken bones. I can order whole rabbits from the link provided by Dr Lisa. Also the supplements seem to be reasonably priced on iHerb.com.

I'm going to have to find someone to foster Harley because I have to go to Florida to see my sister before she dies. She was just recently DX with stage 3 lung cancer which has spread to her lymph nodes and lyrnax. She's been given 6 months to maybe 2 years and want to see her while she's alive.

All suggestions are welcome.
 
Just wanted to give you some extra encouragement for how far back your sweet kitty can come.

Here's a picture of China when she was diagnosed at less than 8lbs
China before diagnosis.jpg (click picture to expand)

Here's China 4 months after starting Lantus insulin at 14+lbs
China after 4 months insulin therapy_zpsf9fd87af.jpg

I thank the people here on this message board every day for this miracle
 
I'm so sorry to hear about your sister. Finding a good foster can be difficult, maybe you could take Harley with you?

I have never used it but I know most people here use Zobaline to treat neuropathy and it seems to be very effective.
 
NuJoe said:
My vet does not want me to do BG Testing and I have to wonder why??? She gave me some very bad advice regarding food. I did some research and found some videos on how to test BG. the first time was really easy and my cat Harley didn't complain at all, he seemed to know it was for his own good. I tested him against my vets wishes. I'm tiffed with her for steering me in the wrong direction where his diet is concerned. My kit is a kibble-a-holic and I wanted to make his food and I was again shot down by the vet. I also wanted to start him on a raw diet and she/vet shot me down on that too. I tried him on some commercial raw frozen chicken from PetSmart and to my amazement he loved it!!! I was almost ready to go buy mice from the pet store. ☺ I have to get a new vet because I really don't like being steered in the wrong direction where my cat is concerned. I would love to get some feedback on this situation. Does anyone live in Anne Arundel County Maryland??? If so I could use a buddy or some moral support. Please respond.
Click to expand...

Yup, I think I'd be kickin' that vet's butt to the curb.
 
Chris & China said:
Just wanted to give you some extra encouragement for how far back your sweet kitty can come.

Here's a picture of China when she was diagnosed at less than 8lbs
View attachment 16917 (click picture to expand)

Here's China 4 months after starting Lantus insulin at 14+lbs
View attachment 16918

I thank the people here on this message board every day for this miracle
Click to expand...
What an amazing recovery and a great example, too. China is a beautiful girl!
 
NuJoe said:
Thank you so much for your encouraging words!!! My vet seems to think she knows everything. I'm a trained EMT and have a lot of human medical training and also trained as phlebotomist but I could never get a job doing that type if work and now hospitals are screaming for people trained in the medical field. I was even considering taking some vet tech classes just to learn animal anatomy and physiology especially cats. I've had cats my entire life and it just irked the hell out of me that I want to learn something from a DVM and she refuses to even listen to me.

They wanted me to bring him in for BG curves and I started asking questions about the process and they refused to even let me observe. So I am looking for another vet.

Harley is on Pro Zinc and after I did a few BG test his numbers were still too high so I increased the dosage from 1 to 2 and he seems to be doing so much better. Be only wants wet food and he's up to about 5 3oz cans a day. Presently I feeding him Fancy Feast Classic pate. If anyone has a better idea I'm open to just about anything right now.

Do any of you have any problems with your kits losing their hair??? My boy is a Maine Coon mixed. His brother passed away from this horrid condition. My baby is also getting cataracts.

My primary care doc gave me two different glucometers along with gobs of test strips. My doc also have me a sample of Humulin N but I'm afraid to even try it on him.

There for awhile he had practilly quit eating so I started making him some human grade food and I had some powdered antibiotics to put into the food. I have been reading these blogs all day and my eyes are just about to kill me. And I think it's time to feed my Harley. The poor guy has lost so much of his muscle mass it just makes my heart ache for him.

I printed the recipe and plan to get all the supplements that are required. I don't know where in my area to get range free chickens or even where to get rabbits. I will do a search to see what I come up with.

I live on a fixed income and financials are just more than I can bear. In doing the best I can do and Harley seems to be improving. He has gained back 1 lb 4 oz of the nearly half his weight he lost.

Harley has neuropathy in his back legs.

I'm going to reach out to some of the financial resources to help me with vet expenses and medications.
Click to expand...


If you can find the Friskies Turkey and giblets pate, at Walmart sometimes they have it in the larger cans, (13oz) much cheaper. If not you can order it from chewy.com.
 
China Girl is a sweet looking little kitty. Thanks for the post!!! And the info re: friskies 13 oz cans.
Chris & China said:
Thanks Lucy!! I think these 2 pictures say it better than pretty much any words we can say....A picture IS worth 1000 words in this case!
Click to expand...
78th
 
We put together a protocol for ProZinc. It is in my signature. I would definitely use it over Humulin.

Do you have some numbers you have gotten? We might be able to give you some ideas on dosing. We have a great color coded spreadsheet that everyone uses. It is a wonderful tool for you to keep track with his numbers and see his trends and patterns.

The instructions are here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Is he eating 5 cans 3 ounce cans daily? That is a lot of food unless he is terribly underweight. My Maine Coon Oliver weighed 16 pounds when diagnosed (overweight) and went down to 13. I fed him 3 cans of Fancy Feast when first diagnosed and then 2 cans when he was regulated. Too much food can play havoc with the numbers - food raises the blood glucose levels.
 
My cat ate three or four 3oz cans per day before he was regulated. He went from 18lbs to 9lbs... he's around 12.5 now and looking wonderful :) They really can come back from a bad turn.
 
Hi I dont live near you and I am new here but I just want to add my experience - the vets here some 6800+ miles away said that same things to me especially regarding the food and as a result of listenng to the advice of the amazing people here on this forum my Snafu has now been OTJ for ten days and I started to see changes in his numbers almost as soon as I stopped feeding him the prescription food that the vet insisted that I feed him. Even when I told her and showed her my results and talked about my findings, she still told me that if I wanted to give wet food then I should add water to the dry food !! you can check snafu spread sheet his results are all the prood that we need . I now test twice daily and feed Friskies the large 13oz can he gets 3 small meals and the balance goes to the strays that visit in the garden. (we have a problem in this part of the world with poor cats) .
 
She wants to squeeze you for every penny... You start testing and using low carb food next thing you know you won't be visiting her as often and she'll start losing money o_O. Hopefully she's just misinformed like most vets regarding feline diabetes, it still happens! Follow your gut and the great advice you'll receive here, you can't go wrong!
 
@NuJoe I can't add anything much to what has already been said, but I thought I would share this article that a link was posted to by a moderator here. It is a consensus of the treatment regimen for diabetic cats published in the Journal of Feline Medicine this year. It specifically encourages home monitoring.

Let's see your vet argue with that. ;)

My spidey senses are saying a change in vets might be worthwhile - this whole ride is stressful enough without a supportive partner as your vet. You may also consider the "smile and nod" approach....
 
Also should mention - WELCOME!! And good for you getting Harley's BG checked - what a good boy he is!

FYI, if he was a kibble-aholic and you are changing to an all-wet, low carb diet, do be careful to monitor his dose and his BG levels. My Genghis was switched over simultaneously and it is amazing what a difference diet alone can make. Diet alone can lower BG by as much as 100 points.

I am so sorry to hear about your sister. I am nowhere near you - wish I could help.
 
Change to a low carb diet has resulted in drops of glucose in the 100 - 200 mg/dL range, and at least 1 report of a 300 mg/dL drop. The resulting drop in insulin dose has ranged from 1 to 2 units lower as well.
 
Hi There and welcome, there is a wealth of information here. Good thing that you have good instincts about your vet. It is maddening that professional with medical degrees can be so stupid when it comes to helping us help our cats. Not sure what meter you are using for testing as you said your MD gave you two with lots of test strips. Check out how much the test strips are to see if you want to stay with that particular meter. One of the ones a lot of us use is the Relion Meters from Walmart. The Relion Prime strips are 1/2 the price of the Relion Micro, so I switched to the Prime one, now my cost a month are 1/2 of what they used to be as I use about 6 strips a day. It can add up.

I am very sorry to hear about your sister and understand how important it is for you to go see her. About the fostering, do you have any friends that would be willing to come into your home twice a day to test , feed, and shoot the insulin? If not, some vet techs will do it if you can find one in your area. If you would prefer not to deal with your vet's office again, and that is understandable, call other vet offices in your area and see if one of the vet techs can help you out.

Glad you found us and we are here to help, so ask what ever you need to ask.
 
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