1 Month Since Diagnosis!

Hello all! I'm Cassia, kitty is Kineta (named derived from kinetic energy ). Kineta was born July 2014 from a barn kitty in Washington so my baby girl is almost 5 years old now!

She was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of March 2019. We are on 3.0u Lantus insulin and are hometesting with AlphaTrak2 pet meter. Miss Kineta gets tested between 7:30 and 8 AM and PM every day right now after she eats, before she gets insulin.

It's been almost 1 month now....it's a process. We're working on it slowly but surely!

I must have been in denial about all the typical signs of FD before her diagnosis, and looking back now, they were there: PU, PD, furious appetite, weight loss despite eating a lot. Our journey started with a trip to the vet at the beginning of March 2019 due to behavioral changes - lethargy, disinterest, and also weight loss. We got a basic blood panel to give us a starting point for treatment. The next day we found out that she did have high BG so I took her in to try to get a urine sample to check for glucose to confirm diabetes. Well... tank was empty, so we'd planned to have her come in after the weekend to get a urine sample. We didn't make it through the weekend... Friday evening she had vomiting and diarrhea, which continued through Saturday and Sunday and she had stopped eating. Sunday evening we packed up and headed to the emergency vet since she was getting dehydrated and something was obviously amiss. We spend most of the night at the vet getting diagnostic tests done - blood chemistry panels, urinalysis, x-rays, the whole shebang. Results over the night and next two days that she remained hospitalized confirmed dehydration, UTI, diabetes, and pancreatitis. She also had indications of inflammation - enlarged liver, gall bladder, and spleen, and excessive gas in her intestines. She received fluids, anti-nausea medications, pain meds, anti-inflammatories, antibiotics, insulin, and glucose monitoring. I started hometesting and insulin injections as soon as we got home. Over the next few days she nibbled on her food here and there, but wasn't intaking enough food for subsistence, so we made an appointment with our regular vet. We stopped taking Metronidazole that we got from the emergency clinic (icky icky ICKY for kitties) and started with a topical appetite stimulant (Mertazapine) she also got subq fluids and Cerenia (anti-nausea) injections to help her feel well enough to start eating again. She remained on Amoxicillin til the last drop in the bottle. The not-eating was the biggest concern. We tried different textures, flavors, different bowls, plates, feeding locations, cans, dry food, pouches, treats, people food, everything! Eventually we found some pouches of food and treats that she ate! Woo Hoo! A win! But I knew that was not a sustainable diet. At this point she needed to eat ANYTHING so she could get her weight back (she had lost about 2 lbs in 2-3 weeks and was at a low of 6.75 lbs when our target weight is around 10lbs). I spent days worrying and stressing and researching and being a helicopter mom. I started losing hope that she'd get better. It was a very rough few weeks for us. Lo and behold, a few days after stopping the Metronidazole, starting an appetite stimulant, and providing a buffet of foods... a miracle! She started eating! And with good appetite! I cried! Soon enough, she had excellent appetite, she was playing again, and being her crazy self!

Once we got our appetite, weight, and energy back it was time to start to try to regulate her diet and see how the insulin is working. Currently: she still will not touch anything from a can, nor will she touch any pate - chunky only! I will keep trying canned food here and there to see if she'll take to it since I know that's going to be better for controlling her BG (we have Purina DM chunky canned and friskies shreds canned which she was eating before her diagnosis).
Right now we have reached a compromise:
1/4 cup of Hill's W/D dry (will probably get off this once we empty the bag) and 1 pouch of wet Natural Balance Platefulls food for breakfast and dinner with 2 temptations treats after each shot.
We also have Purina DM dry that I give her 1/4 cup before bed. I was doing this to help her gain weight and so that I could sleep without her pestering me. We are going to try to wean her off of this extra meal soon.

It's been a slow process and I'm trying to be patient with it and do what I can. We will be doing our first glucose curve this weekend! You can see from her SS that her BG has been pretty high...and bounces here and there. I've attributed this to her food intake, which was a little crazy there for a bit, and her body adjusting to different medications, being off medications, adjusting to routine and insulin injections, adjusting to food, etc. We have *finally* started to get in a routine with regular feedings, consistent food, consistent BG checks and insulin injections. I didn't want to change any variables before the glucose curve this weekend. She'll have been on 3u Lantus for a week with consistent feedings/food intake. Once we find out how her BG tracks throughout the day I'll start to adjust from there. Our regular vet said not to go over 3 units, that if we're getting that high of a dose and not seeing a good response that maybe a different insulin will be more effective for her. Our next vet appointment isn't for another month where we'll recheck blood chemistry and do another urinalysis to compare with our last values from Mid-march.

For all the new sugar kitty momma's and poppa's out there - do not get discouraged in the first few weeks! It's a lot to take in, a lot of changes to your routine, a lot of ups and downs, a lot of vet consultations, a lot of research, a lot of thinking the worst, and a lot of small victories. Hang in there! It's going to be a slow process, be patient! <3

 

Welcome Cassia and Miss Kineta. Wow, you both have had quite a time. I'm so glad Miss Kineta is feeling better. It's wonderful that you have set up the spreadsheet and the signature. I see that you have visited the Lantus forum and been reading the information there and that's great. There are many experienced Lantus users on that forum and I think they would be very interested in your story and could be helpful with suggestions and input about dosing and trying to get more testing data going forward. If it's possible, could you begin testing more between the insulin injections? I have learned here that dosing is based on the lowest BG in the cycle, not the pre-shot numbers, so that the best dose is not passed over. Keep reading through the stickies in the Lantus forum.
Please post in the Lantus forum so that they can get to know about Kineta and help that elegant kitty girl (love the avatar, she's so regal!) feel even better.
I am so glad to read that you are willing to see this through to the very best outcome for Kineta, it really is a slow process sometimes, but well worth it. Best wishes.