Veterinarian recommendation for Pinellas County, FL?

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Daphne and Jayne

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Does anyone have a vet that they can recommend in the Pinellas County, Florida area, preferably close to Clearwater? Obviously, I'm looking for someone with experience treating diabetic cats and who is accessible and open to answering questions, etc. Thanks very much!
~Daphne
 
Elisa and Jagger are in Clearwater and her vet always sounded pretty cool. i don't see her here too much on fdmb but maybe send her a PM and/or see if anyone has a way to contact her?
 
Hey Daphne and Jayne,
My name is Elisa and I also live in Clearwater, by the St Pete Clearwater Airport.

When I was learning to treat my first diabetic kitty, Jagger, I used All Cats Hospital in Largo, right on Indian Rocks Road. Dr Deborah Edwards. Here is a link to their website. http://www.allcatshospital.com/

Although they are very good, they are also very expensive. Once I learned the ropes about insulin and home testing I went back to my old vet. Gateway Animal Hospital in St Petersburg, on 4th St North and 83rd Ave. Dr McLemore is awesome. I told him I was home testing and what insulin I wanted to use and wrote me a perscription. My pet sitter is a vet tech there. I've been going there for 15 years now.

Tell me a little more about your situation and I'll see which one I think is a better fit for you.

Elisa, Jagger, Bianca & Moonshine
 
Hi, Elisa -- thanks very much for your response. Jayne was diagnosed about two weeks ago. She went to the vet for a couple of days for a glucose curve, and they determined that she needed 2 units of PZI insulin twice a day. They also prescribed Hill's w/d. After a week, she went in again, and they kept her for four days to perform further glucose testing. They then changed her dose to three units twice a day. I have not started home testing her glucose levels yet but would like to do so soon. I do feel that it would be helpful to take Jayne to a vet who is familiar with the process. Different vets seem to have such different philosophies as to which type of food is best, what the goal of treatment is, etc. I just want to do what's best for Jayne to help her have optimal quality of life and minimize discomfort.

Thanks again for the information. Any additional thoughts would be appreciated.
 
Daphne,

You don't need your vet's permission or blessing to home test. And it is truthfully, the only way to keep her safe. You need to know before every dose that it is safe to give the amount you have planned and to test mid cycle to see how the insulin is working. With PZI, we really recommend you start on a low dose - 1 unit twice daily, test often and increase as necessary by .5 units. If you increase by more than that and too often, you run the risk of overdose or rebound - a condition where the cat's body produces more insulin resulting in deep lows and highs. This document has a lot of good info on PZI: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799

The other issue with not hometesting is that you rely on the numbers at the vet. Stress raises bg levels and it is the rare kitty that isn't stressed by the strange noises, smell, people and animals. When your kitty gets home and relaxes, the dose based on those stress influenced levels can be too high.

We would love to teach you how!
 
Thanks, Sue. It sounds like three units is quite a lot for the second week... that scares me. I was trying to follow the vet's instructions during the first couple of weeks while I was educating myself about all that's involved with the delicate balance that needs to be achieved. So you're saying that glucose levels should be tested via a glucometer three times a day, correct? I am definitely willing to learn. I've seen that there is a page on this site with videos about home testing, and I looked at all the glucometers at Walgreen's but wasn't quite sure what the differences are. Can you tell me what you think are the best first steps to take? *Edit* I just saw the page you listed, and will start from there.
Thanks again.

Daphne
 
Yes, 3 times a day to start - morning before shot, evening before shot and around 6 hours after the shot. After you get things down, you can do a curve - every 2 hours- to see exactly how the insulin is working.

Here's the video: Video for hometesting and a shopping list

A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 25-26 gauge is good. Any brand will work.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats

If you start a new thread asking for home testing help, you will be inundated with help. We love to teach people how to test!
 
May I ask who your current vet is?

Well first of all I'm sure you've gotten info that Hills w/d is not the best food you should be feeding your kitty. It's a perscription diet usually offered up by vets because you have to purchase it from them. I fed and still do feed Fancy Feast moist food, the low carb ones like Chicken feast, turkey and gibblets, salmon feast...the pate versions. No grilled, no marinated etc. There are many more options. If you kitty s used to dry there are also some options. But the best thing is to switch to all moist food slowly, especially if your not home testing yet.

Next, definitely start home testing as soon as you can. You can do the glucose test your self and not have to have your kitty stay at the vet for days and pay much $$. Plus staying at the vet is very stressful for a kitty and stress causes glucose levers to increase. Which would in turn make the vet think the cat needs more insulin. The golden rule with insulin is start low and go slow. I can teach you how to home test if you need help.

I would recommend All Cats Hospital in Largo to start. They will work with you. Dr Deborah Edwards is very knowledgeable about diabetes. The only thing I didn't like about them is they took my Jagger out of the room to perform tests. I had to insist that any procedures be done in front of me, and they complied. I wanted to know what was going on every step of the way.

Very important, Keep records (glucose numbers) and bring them to the vet every time you go. Write down questions and bring them with you to.

If you have any more questions please feel free to email me.

Elisa, Jagger, Bianca & Moonshine
 
Thanks, Sue and Elisa. Jayne's current vet is Clearwater Animal Clinic. When I mentioned reading online about home testing, the vet tech kind of laughed and told me not to believe everything I read on the Internet...
 
ay yai yai! typical response from old school vetting in all honesty. sorry for being so blunt. :-) there's been alot of info that has come out in the last couple years about how hometesting is the way to go, what's the right diet, etc...... we could dig it up if you'd like to forward it to your vet
 
By the way, Sue -- I read your "Letter from Your Cat" post last week, and it was a huge help to know everyone goes through the same feelings at first. Thank you.
 
Not mine, but glad you enjoyed it. I reposted it because it wasn't getting posted very often and it was so wonderful. It was written years ago by Laura and Rainbow.
 
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