8 month old Burmese Kitten recently diagnosed with Diabetes

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Wazza hall

Wazza hall

Member Since 2018

Wazza hall
Some advice would be appreciated!
Our 8 month old Burmese kitten has just been Diagnosed with diabetes after being rushed into the vets on Thursday with DKA, took 4 days to get his Glucose and ketone levels back to somewhere near normal ranges and he was released last night.
Going to call the vets this morning as his glucose levels still seem high.
They were 17.8 when we left the vets and steadily climbed to around 28 before he got his insulin at 9pm and then began to fall again but the lowest reading we got was 22.4 at 1.30am but have gone back up to over 27 this morning.
He is receiving 1iu of glargin 12 hourly and eating at the same time as recommended by the vets!
Have all intentions of going to see a feline diabetes specialist asap but only got the boy home last night!
Any advice would be greatly Appreciated!
 
Are you home testing your kitties blood sugars? If so, what type of meter are you using? Oh, and welcome! :) Where are you located? What is your cat's name?

With Lantus (glargine), the cat does not need to eat all of their food the same times as the shot. It's OK to spread the meals out a bit if that's what he's used to.

Most of us here use a spreadsheet to keep track of our kitties blood sugar values. It helps us with deciding the doses. The instructions for the spreadsheet are here.

Lantus is a depot insulin, it will take a few shots to really see how he's doing on this dose. For more information on the Lantus depot and Lantus in general, head on over to the Lantus/Levemir forum and read the yellow starred Sticky Notes on the top of the forum.
 
Hey Wendy
Were located on the Goldcoast and our boy is an 8 month old Blue Burmese called Chilli.
Yes we are testing at home at this stage
Chilli has a diabetic sensor on his back and we scan it with a freestyle libre flash glucose monitering system that gives the glucose level.
The machine itself keeps all the records but I'm still writing it all down
Was hoping someone would say he could eat in between his shots as he is starving and used to having 3 meals a day and not waiting 12 hours between meals lol
He's driving me mad for food.
His levels today have started off high and didn't become readable by the machine until 3 hours after his shot and the lowest they went was after 5 hours at 22.4 but there now creeping up every hour.
The vet said to try 1.5 iu this evening if they stay high and it seems like they are just concerned as were very new to all of this so please excuse my ignorance but were on a steep learning curve.
Thank you for responding
 
Last edited:
Wazza hall said:
Was hoping someone would say he could eat in between his shots as he is starving and used to having 3 meals a day and not waiting 12 hours between meals lol
Click to expand...

Yes, he CAN eat!!! Most of us feed several small meals instead of just two big ones.....it's easier on the pancreas to deal with anyway!!

The only time you really don't want him to eat is the 2 hours immediately before shot times so that when you get your Pre-Shot tests, the number isn't influenced by food. Other than that 2 hour block, it's fine to feed him several times a day!
 
Chris & China said:
Yes, he CAN eat!!! Most of us feed several small meals instead of just two big ones.....it's easier on the pancreas to deal with anyway!!

The only time you really don't want him to eat is the 2 hours immediately before shot times so that when you get your Pre-Shot tests, the number isn't influenced by food. Other than that 2 hour block, it's fine to feed him several times a day!
Click to expand...
Phew
What a relief as the poor little man will go crazy.
Got to go back to the vets in a week to discuss insulin doses but just from his reading on day 1 it doesn't look right to us but like i say steep learning curve fir us on day 1 of having the boy home.
 
Welcome! We all know this is very overwhelming in the beginning. You will soon be a pro at this diabetic cat thing. I suggest going here (the link at bottom of my post and reading all the yellow sticky posts. This is the Lantus and Levimir group. You will learn a lot about dosing. Are you feeding a low carb wet food? If not, I strongly encourage you to change kitty over to one. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/
 
krazy4kritters said:
Welcome! We all know this is very overwhelming in the beginning. You will soon be a pro at this diabetic cat thing. I suggest going here (the link at bottom of my post and reading all the yellow sticky posts. This is the Lantus and Levimir group. You will learn a lot about dosing. Are you feeding a low carb wet food? If not, I strongly encourage you to change kitty over to one. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/
Click to expand...
We are indeed and thanks for the heads up.
Will go on the lantus group as we need all the help we can in this early stage and yes pretty overwhelmed but we will get there.
Thanks for the response really appreciated!!!
 
Ann & Liz said:
Just to add when you do change to low carb keep a very close eye on blood glucose at the point of change as the level probably will drop more than you are used to.
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Will keep an eye on it but since he's been home he hasn't been below 20 yet so hopefully that does make it drop!
 
Wazza hall said:
Will keep an eye on it but since he's been home he hasn't been below 20 yet so hopefully that does make it drop!
Click to expand...
It's just best you are at home to keep an eye and test when you change food as you really do not want a hypo or low numbers without you being close at hand.
 
Love-Paula aka Woodsywife said:
Sorry for all the questions.

The site says you need a script. Did the pharmacy you used accept it from the vet?
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No problem Paula
The Emergency vets that Chilli was at gave us that one to use for the 1st week but i don't think it's what we will be able to use going forward as the sensor can only stay in one spot for two weeks before it has to be removed so the poor little man would end up with baled spots all over him each time it was moved lol.
Pretty sure plenty of places sell them though.
Expensive way of doing it though as the sensors are about $90 and only good for a short period of time.
What meters are other people using for there diabetic cats as were in the process of lookng for one and with the wealth of knowledge there seems to be on this forum seemed like a good idea to ask so we don't waste our money on one that no good?
 
Love-Paula aka Woodsywife said:
Have you ever compared the reading of the sensor to readings from regular meter?

How does the sensor stay in place?

Here is the working link if anyone is interested.

https://www.freestylelibre.us
Click to expand...
I know they did at the vets and it seemed pretty accurate!
My understanding of it was there is a small needle underneath tha slides under the skin which is how it gets the reading and then the back of the sensor is adhesive so it sticks on.
Thought it would come off when we get home as chillis little brother loves to jump all over him but it seems to be staying on pretty well.
This system is what alot of people use now for human diabetes.
Very high Tec!
 
If it's working it could be a solution for many. I know Olive's ears are sore from all the poking.

Most people use the Wal-Mart brand meters. Confirm or Micro take the smallest size blood drop. Strips aren't to bad cost wise. The other Wal-Mart one is the Prime. It's uses a bigger drop of blood but cost of strips is much cheaper.

I use micro and just received my strips. 200 for just over $71. Sometimes you can find cheaper on the web. I don't know which sites are trustworthy though, so I just get them from Wal-Mart and when getting 200 it's free shipping to my door.
 
Wazza hall said:
What meters are other people using for there diabetic cats as were in the process of lookng for one
Click to expand...
Most of us use a human meter. It’s actually recommended if you decide to follow the TR protocol. It’s easier for others to give you advice because we are used to human meter readings. ReliOn micro and confirm are popular. They are inexpensive and the test strips as well (at least in US. I’ve heard they are more expensive in Canada).
 
krazy4kritters said:
Most of us use a human meter. It’s actually recommended if you decide to follow the TR protocol. It’s easier for others to give you advice because we are used to human meter readings. ReliOn micro and confirm are popular. They are inexpensive and the test strips as well (at least in US. I’ve heard they are more expensive in Canada).
Click to expand...
Yeah sorry ment to say its one of the latest ones that people use on themselves as i realise most meters and even the insulin the cats gets is the same as the human stuff.
 
Hi @Wazza hall
Welcome
Just reading through your thread and noticed you said you live on the Goldcoast. Is that the Goldcoast in Queensland?
If so I can highly recommend an excellent vet who knows a huge amount about feline diabetes and who has written papers about it as well.
His name is Rhett Marshall and he works at the Cat Clinic at Mount Gravatt. Also I know someone who went to Marcus Gunew who works there as well, with a diabetic cat and they said he was excellent.
Here is the link.
http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/

And the link to their staff
http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/meet-our-staff

Also if you live in Australia the blood glucose monitors are different to those available in the US. Let me know and I will point you in the direction of a couple of good ones. Just tag me.
Bron
 
Bron and Sheba said:
Hi @Wazza hall
Welcome
Just reading through your thread and noticed you said you live on the Goldcoast. Is that the Goldcoast in Queensland?
If so I can highly recommend an excellent vet who knows a huge amount about feline diabetes and who has written papers about it as well.
His name is Rhett Marshall and he works at the Cat Clinic at Mount Gravatt. Also I know someone who went to Marcus Gunew who works there as well, with a diabetic cat and they said he was excellent.
Here is the link.
http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/

And the link to their staff
http://www.thecatclinic.com.au/meet-our-staff

Also if you live in Australia the blood glucose monitors are different to those available in the US. Let me know and I will point you in the direction of a couple of good ones. Just tag me.
Bron
Click to expand...
Thanks for the response Bron

Yeah Rhett has been recommended to us by a few people and aiming to get up to see him next week if he has an appointment available.
Were looking at different glucose moniters at the minute so if you have thoughts on which one would be best that would be great!
The boy was back at the vets yesterday as his levels are staying very high.
His insulin level is now at 2 units every 12 hours and this morning for the 1st time his level was under 10 but 8 hours later its now at 17 so still some working out to do i think.
The fact that were still battling with a urinery infection isn't helping i dont think but it's still early days and fingers crossed we will get the boy sorted sooner rather than later!!!
 
Hi @Wazza hall

Am very glad you are going to see Rhett Marshall.
It sounds like your kitty....is his name Chilli....is responding to the insulin if he is coming down under 10. It is quite normal to go back up higher at the end of each cycle....12 hours. It is going to take longer than a couple of weeks to get it all under control and perhaps a lot longer. It is something that can't be rushed so don't get disappointed or disheartened if the blood sugars are up and down for a while.
Having a UTI will definitely send the BSL higher. Hopefully that will be sorted soon.

What sort of diet are you feeding? A low carb diet is what diabetic cats need. If you need any help with that yell. If you haven't started on a low carb diet yet, you will need to change over to one CAUTIOUSLY as it can lower the blood sugars quite a bit. We can help you there.
Do you have some honey available in the house in case Chilli drops really low?

Below are a couple of options for a BSL monitor. They are human monitors which most of us use. I know you can get the feline monitor now ( by Abbott) here in Aust but the test strips are very expensive and I wouldn't advise it. Test strips will be an ongoing cost and you want to buy a monitor that has test strips that don't break the bank.

This one is a kit that has everything you should need to start testing. I haven't used this one but others have and say it is good. You can buy the test strips on eBay when you run out of the first lot. Much cheaper on eBay.
http://www.davidjonespharmacy.com.au/accu-chek-performa-meter-lancing-device-100-test-s

This is the one I used and found it very good.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ABBOTT-...ETONE-READING-MONITOR-METER-KIT-/181682283855

These are the test strips for the Optium Neo. I bought them on eBay for half the price as the chemist. This is the buyer I always used. She is very reliable . Make sure you are buying 100 strips and not 10 or 50. Also make sure you are not buying the lite strips.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FREE-NE...323196358125?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

Theses are the lancets you will need to go with the Optium Neo.
https://www.amcal.com.au/abbott-thi...MI5ai88PXw2gIVlAsrCh0Ygg7vEAQYASABEgJtNvD_BwE
 
Bron and Sheba said:
Hi @Wazza hall

Am very glad you are going to see Rhett Marshall.
It sounds like your kitty....is his name Chilli....is responding to the insulin if he is coming down under 10. It is quite normal to go back up higher at the end of each cycle....12 hours. It is going to take longer than a couple of weeks to get it all under control and perhaps a lot longer. It is something that can't be rushed so don't get disappointed or disheartened if the blood sugars are up and down for a while.
Having a UTI will definitely send the BSL higher. Hopefully that will be sorted soon.

What sort of diet are you feeding? A low carb diet is what diabetic cats need. If you need any help with that yell. If you haven't started on a low carb diet yet, you will need to change over to one CAUTIOUSLY as it can lower the blood sugars quite a bit. We can help you there.
Do you have some honey available in the house in case Chilli drops really low?

Below are a couple of options for a BSL monitor. They are human monitors which most of us use. I know you can get the feline monitor now ( by Abbott) here in Aust but the test strips are very expensive and I wouldn't advise it. Test strips will be an ongoing cost and you want to buy a monitor that has test strips that don't break the bank.

This one is a kit that has everything you should need to start testing. I haven't used this one but others have and say it is good. You can buy the test strips on eBay when you run out of the first lot. Much cheaper on eBay.
http://www.davidjonespharmacy.com.au/accu-chek-performa-meter-lancing-device-100-test-s

This is the one I used and found it very good.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/ABBOTT-...ETONE-READING-MONITOR-METER-KIT-/181682283855

These are the test strips for the Optium Neo. I bought them on eBay for half the price as the chemist. This is the buyer I always used. She is very reliable . Make sure you are buying 100 strips and not 10 or 50. Also make sure you are not buying the lite strips.
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/FREE-NE...323196358125?_trksid=p2349526.m4383.l4275.c10

Theses are the lancets you will need to go with the Optium Neo.
https://www.amcal.com.au/abbott-thi...MI5ai88PXw2gIVlAsrCh0Ygg7vEAQYASABEgJtNvD_BwE
Click to expand...
Thanks for that Bron
All advice is greatly Appreciated as were very new to this and although my partner is a Registered Nurse diabetes is not something she deals with all the time.
Yes chilli is our boys name.
We currently have him on hills science md diet as recommend by the vets and he's been on it for quite a while.
Our main concern with his level is he is always over 25 before his insulin shot which on average drops down after about 3 hours and steadily goes down for a 6 hour period and on 2 units it going down to around 3 to 5 but then just gradually goes up afain to be over 25 again for the last couple of hours before his shot again.
Our biggest drama is if this doesn't change shots during the day and night are not really an option for us with work etc.
In the process of doing the spreadsheet thing so we can get some advice of the many experts in dealing with diabetes on this page.
Not sure if the hills stuff is the best choice and looking at other options at the minute as that stuff is pretty expensive and not necessarily the best way forward so other options from anyone about what they feed there diabetic cats would be great.
Thanks for the links on meters etc, the accu check one was the one we were looking at so thats good.
Will look forward to responses from people with any other helpful advice
Thanks again Bron!
 
cat_wings>oHi again,
In relation to the food, are you giving the Hills MD canned? Like this:
https://www.petcircle.com.au/produc...MI2uvcts_y2gIVWQwrCh3fHgVmEAQYAiABEgId-_D_BwE
The above is ok as far as carbs is concerned but the dry in that food is too high. Canned and wet food is much better for diabetic cats as it is much lower in carbs and has much more moisture in it which all cats need.
There are plenty of brands which you can get over the counter which are much cheaper and very suitable for diabetic cats. You do not need to buy a prescription diet for them.. Have a look at this link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...anned-food-suitable-for-diabetic-cats.134090/

In relation to the shots and BSL, if Chilli is dropping to 3 or 5 at about the 6 hour mark, that is showing he is responding very well to the dose you have him on and you would not want to increase it. The onset for Lantus (glargine) is about 2 or 3 hours so he is on target there. When Sheba fell out of remission and had to have insulin again, she was consistently high for ages. And if she dropped low she would still go up high at the end of the cycle. It took time to get things in a better range of numbers.
Insulin is a hormone, and is not like a medication that can fix a problem straight away. Insulin takes time.
We all have had to buy patience pants in our journey with FD!:banghead:;)

When we increase or decrease a dose, we do so in 0.25 increments so we do not go past the correct dose and the most important thing we all need to do while treating a diabetic cat is to keep them safe. A lot of vets increase and decrease in 1 unit increments which we think is too much.
Also to keep in mind is when you go to a lower carb food, the BSL will probably drop lower because the number of carbs is lower than usual which kept up the BSL....if that makes sense. And you have to monitor it closely while you do the changeover and adjust the dose accordingly. Best to do that sort of thing when you are at home for a couple of days and can watch the BSL.
I would encourage you to join the Lantus page (below link) as everyone uses Lantus or levemir and are very active on that page and you will be given lots of support. Get your Spreadsheet up and running and put in all the numbers you have taken up til now. That will give us an idea how Chilli is responding.
Don't be discouraged. We all felt overwhelmed with it all in the beginnings and felt we could not cope, but feline diabetes is a very treatable disease.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/
Bron
 
Wazza hall said:
Hey Wendy
Were located on the Goldcoast and our boy is an 8 month old Blue Burmese called Chilli.
Yes we are testing at home at this stage
Chilli has a diabetic sensor on his back and we scan it with a freestyle libre flash glucose monitering system that gives the glucose level.
The machine itself keeps all the records but I'm still writing it all down
Was hoping someone would say he could eat in between his shots as he is starving and used to having 3 meals a day and not waiting 12 hours between meals lol
He's driving me mad for food.
His levels today have started off high and didn't become readable by the machine until 3 hours after his shot and the lowest they went was after 5 hours at 22.4 but there now creeping up every hour.
The vet said to try 1.5 iu this evening if they stay high and it seems like they are just concerned as were very new to all of this so please excuse my ignorance but were on a steep learning curve.
Thank you for responding
Click to expand...

Hey! I'm not in Oz but in New Zealand.
Emigrated here from the UK . Then looked to Melbourne but bit too old to emigrate again.

Anyway just saying hi & welcome.

Please find your way to the lanctus forum per the link Bron gave you.
 
PussCatPrince said:
Hey! I'm not in Oz but in New Zealand.
Emigrated here from the UK . Then looked to Melbourne but bit too old to emigrate again.

Anyway just saying hi & welcome.

Please find your way to the lanctus forum per the link Bron gave you.
Click to expand...
Thanks
Yeah that's our next move.
 
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