Please Help

My name is Brock and my baby boy Danke is a 10 year Male who was diagnosed 1 year ago with Diabetes. To be honest in the beginning my wife was in control handling everything. I really didn't understand the magnitude of this messed up disease. So I really didn't ask questions or help out. She handled the shots, the food, the vet visits, testing and so on. Well now I have seen my baby boy go from this active, healthy, just full of life cat to a lethargic, barley moving, drinking more water in a day then I do in a week, just all around horrible.
ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! I feel so horrible for not understand what this disease could do to my baby and bless my wife for doing this all on her own.
Well things are different now! I have read more on this disease in the last couple weeks then I have in this whole year. I know now, I know how bad this is if he does not get regulated.

They started him of on Lantus which in the beginning he was responding well to but because of the lack of understanding on the Vets side (Not That's She is a bad Vet ) but as he would get closely regulated she would adjust his insulin not .25u like everyone is saying on the threads but 1 or even 2u twice a day. So what happened we couldn't get him regulated so we changed from Lantau to Vetsulin and that was 2 weeks ago. He is still in the high 500s and I can't take it anymore. His hawks are down, he can barley jump. He sleeps next to the water bowl. I just don't know what to do. She also has him on a dry food diet. Which in the beginning he was 20lbs and now he is 12lbs and I can feel his bones but he is always hungry and I mean ALWAYS meowing. My baby boy is big talker. I can have full on conversations with him lol. I never knew I could love a cat so much. I'm crying my eyes out as I write this. Please everyone I'm watching my cat get weaker and weaker, day after day and I just feel helpless. I a
Have read countless stories on here with people in my same situation and their cats have gone from barley surviving to getting back to the cats old self before the disease grabbed ahold of their life. I have never seen such a strong community of people coming together for one reason and one reason only. "To help, to help one another not for money not for fame but for the love in your hearts and the understanding of how this all works" It amazes me and I'm sorry for the long message but I just want to help my little Man out so he can live out the rest of his life. I will do whatever it takes. Here is a quick breakdown of everything!

•Diagnosed 1 year ago
•Started on Lantus
•Started out well but vet raised and lowered at a 1u to 2u increments
•Hawks went down about 4 months ago
•started daily CBD doses 1 month ago
•got off Lantus and switched to Vetsulin 2 to 3 weeks ago
•Still above 500

That's pretty much it! Thank you everyone for all that you do. Thank you very much.

Brock

 

Oh bless your hearts! You, your wife and your sweet fur baby! First of all, will he eat canned food? Get him on a low-carb diet asap. Most of us just use Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies pates. They are inexpensive foods that are very good for our diabetic cats.

Second, you need to test him for Ketones. You can pick up ketone test strips for about $10 at any pharmacy. Just ask the pharmacist. With high numbers for so long, that will be important as soon as you can.

And finally, do you still have any Lantus? Both insulin types can work, but there is a large community of very wise people on here who can coach you through using Lantus and they have had great success with many cats. I believe that is the most popular and successful insulin.

 

Brock, I'm so glad you found these boards. This will be a game changer for you and your kitty if you are willing to follow the things you learn here.

You were right to realize that your vet's methods for changing doses was not the safest/most effective. Large jumps don't help... they can cause hypos, and bounces. it has been our overall collective experience that MOST vets don't have a whole lot of education on the subject. Because there are so many of us here that actually live with our diabetic cats and can learn from each other, it truely is a vast resource.

Lantus is a VERY good insulin... and he could have stayed on that. That being said, the best insulin is the one that works for your cat. My cat was on vetsulin and did very well... and I was fortunate to have her go into remission after four months of careful monitoring and diet changes. I was lucky to have found this group almost immediately after diagnosis.

I see you are not giving anything for your cat's neuropathy... the hind leg weakness. in the next day or two, buy or order some vitamin B-12 methocobalamin. I just bought vita cost b12 meth and opened a capsule that I sprinkled on her food. Many use Zobaline which you can get right on amazon. https://www.amazon.com/ZobalineTM-D...=UTF8&qid=1491694061&sr=8-1&keywords=zobaline It may take a few months of getting the b12 and getting the bg under control to fully recover from the neuropathy, but he can get better! The b12 will slow it down and eventually help reverse it.

The dry perscription food is somewhere around 18 percent carbs. we recommend no more than 10 percent carbs for the food. Most of us feed fancy feast classic or friskies pate. If you can't get your cat on wet, there are a few choices... My personal favorite (and I partially credit it with helping get my cat into remission) is Young Again Zero Carb which is around 1 percent carb... which you can only buy on youngagainpetfood.com. They will send you a free sample if you ask. The other acceptable food is Evo Cat and Kitten in the purple bag at about 7 percent carb. I feed a combination of fancy feast classic morning and evening, and then free feed the YA and Evo.

If you click on the link in my signature below you will see the spreadsheet that we use around here. Its what we use to keep track of our numbers and how we offer advice to each other.

Are you testing at home? If not are you willing to learn how? It is the number one tool you will have to help your cat, and is not difficult at all. I use a pet meter called an AlphaTrak... it's awesome, but the test strips are pricey at about a dollar each. Most here use human meters that are substantially cheaper such as Walmart's Relion Micro. the strips are about a third the price of the alphatrack.

Janet

 

I wanted to add that many vets say you should only feed twice a day.... Most on here don't follow that. We have experienced that they do better on more meals throughout the day and night.... Just making sure not to feed two hours prior to the preshot test so the number is not food influenced. If he's hungry and under weight then feed him! As long as it's low carb which I talked about in my previous post.

 

Thank you so much for the help! Yes we went out for him some fancy feast classics and he ate it all up. He always wants to eat and will pretty much eat anything. Even the dog food at times LOL. He might be under weight to be honest. He was such a big boy before and now he has lost a lot of weight. I can feel his bones. So maybe he should eat more? As far as the Ketones, I will get the rest first thing in the AM. What is the best way to test him and how often?
Also we don't have anymore Lantus but we can order it tomorrow. Is that the best one? Thank you so much for all your help. Also I see spreadsheets but I'm not sure how they work. Where can I find info on the best ways to fill them out? Thank you sooooo much. I feel like there is hope again.

Brock

 

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

Yes, there's hope. You've received good advice about feeding schedules, Lantus, etc.

 

I would say that until he's better regulated, feed him as much as he wants. Diabetics have trouble getting nutrients from their food, so they need more than normal. Later, as his numbers get better and he starts gaining, you can figure out what the "right" amount is.

Here is the link about testing for ketones:
Testing for Ketones: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1quta5WLEjdO0Y_t2dAYSwN84h-LNZWxOdtVsJDKZ16A/pub

Basically you put the little test strip under him while he's peeing...or collect a sample and then dip the strip in it. Wait 15 seconds (for most strips....some are 30 sec., so read the directions). And then look at the little square under a bright light and compare the color with the chart.

And I'm inclined to say order the Lantus if you are willing to give it another try. That's our most active forum, and there are some really great people over there that can help you get re-started, and keep Danke safe.

Here's the link to the Lantus forum, or you can find it on the main page:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/

 

You have the vetsulin so I say give it a try and see how he responds. Set up that spreadsheet and enter any data you have and we will go from there. There's definitely hope!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Welcome Brock and Danke!
I will make the observation, your boy is a fighter if you guys have been at this for a year . The spreadsheet is really easy to use, if you need help setting it up we have someone that can help! You've been given some great initial advice from some of our active members. If finances are tight, I'd agree with Janet to give Vetsulin a try since you just got it a few weeks ago. What dose is he on now, and what dose was Vetsulin started on? I hope your new motivation will be open to home testing. We do push it a lot because it's our best tool for helping our kitties . If you can set up your signature with some information before you head over to the Main Health Forum, it's helpful to other members and those of us with bad memories : http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

Glad you found the forum! It's a support group for YOU and Danke