My senior cat gets a new diagnosis

Hi everyone. I'm mom to Akila, a 14.75 year old Egyptian Mau. 3.5 years ago, I was devastated when she got a diagnosis of severe heart disease and was told she probably had about 6-9 months to live. I've spent most days since then wondering if I would find her gone when I get home from work that day, or telling myself THIS time is definitely the last bag of litter I will ever buy for her. Every extra day has been a gift. But in the meantime, my poor kitty (who already had asthma from about age 5) was piling on the meds, and had a mysterious wound on her right paw that we couldn't figure out. Fast forward to today, we still have never gotten the now-diagnosed pemphigus on her paw (an auto-immune disease) under control, and she was taking about 7 different medications 1-2x per day.

Then, diabetes. Wow, we just keep wondering how much more she can take and keep on trucking! Just before Thanksgiving, she was diagnosed with a BG of 360-ish and started on 2 units/2x per day of Lantus. Well, 2.5 days later, she went into severe hypoglycemia and nearly died. The vet was giving me "the Talk" to prepare me for her imminent death when the vet tech alerted him that her BG was 20 and he rushed off. Later he came back to give me the Talk again, that while she was no longer convulsing, she may not recover. A few hours later, he told me she had recovered, but she might be blind. And a few hours later she was happily at home eating and getting regular administrations of simple syrup till midnight. And she didn't go blind.

So that was my introduction to diabetes in my cat! We are currently on 1/2 unit 2x per day and I just got my glucometer yesterday. She ranged from about 230 right before a meal to about 180 4 hours after meal/injection. Now I'm getting down to the serious business of taking charge of her treatment instead of just passively accepting my vet's advice, and I stumbled upon these forums! I'm looking forward to finding answers to my many questions, as well as questions I didn't know I had!

 

Hello,

Wow, your little kitty seems not to know the word quit! You can ask any questions you may have in the main health forum as well we have a really robust Lantus forum you can post in.

Yeah, for home testing! That is fantastic and the best way to keep you kitty safe. Lots of vets really don't understand FD unfortunately but you are here now.

One thing I will add, we do use a spreadsheet here to keep track of readings and it really helps the experts here if you are ever looking for dose advice. You will find the instructions for that in the tech support forum. If you need help just give us a shout.

Other than that, there is lots of reading material here, so please take full advantage of that!

And as a side note, we have some people here that have dealt with heart issues as well as FD. You will be amazed at the bundle of knowledge.

Welcome.

 

Welcome! It sounds like you and your baby are fighters. You have come to the right place to get lots of advice and support.

 

Hi and welcome to you and Akila. We have a lot of members who have cats with a variety of health issues in addition to diabetes. If you have any questions about any of Akila's health issues, please ask them on the Health forum. The knowledge on this board is amazing.

 

Welcome! What a little fighter she is!

 

Your cats a fighter!

Very irresponsible of your vet to perscribe such a high dose to a newly diagnosed cat. 1 unit is the recommended staying dose. Shame on your vet.

Are you home testing now?

 

Welcome to the forum. And I see you have already created a new thread on the health forum.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/extreme-hunger-vocalizing.188522/

 

I was wondering about that! He said it was a normal dose, but from the little I've read so far, it seems high, *esp* to start!

And yes, just started home testing, with an AlphaTrak I got on Friday. Tomorrow, since I'll be home all day, I'm going to do my first full 12 hour curve.

 

Welcome to you and your Miracle Kitty!

 

Awesomeness.... That will make all the difference.

 

Welcome aboard!