Aloha from Kaua'i

Aloha from Kaua'i!

I have just come back from our vet - our 10 yr old female cat Mochi was diagnosed 2 weeks ago with hyperthyroidism and diabetes - in addition to her pre existing IBS (for which I was giving her prescribed prednisone).

So starting last week my husband and I have learned to give her twice daily injections - I am still hesitant and nervous since she squirms as my husband holds her - but we have gotten better at it.

Today she spent the day at the vets in order to monitor her levels - they are still very high 4.5 I believe - so we are increasing her dosage from 1unit to 2 units as of tonight.

We are hoping to find a vet tech willing to come to our house - since we had already paid for airline tickets to the mainland for my husband's Mom's 95th birthday - worse case scenario he will go and I will stay home with Mochi (and our other 2 cats) - all our cats are indoor only - and I am calling one of the vet techs tomorrow to see if we can hire her to come to the house twice a day for medications/injections.

We will do anything for Mochi - but it does turn your life into quite a regulated day - for now my husband and I are doing her injections in tandem - but we will each have to figure out how to do it solo - I have no clue how that is going to work! Mochi eats and drinks and acts completely normal - the only reason I initially took her in was she seemed to have lost weight - which she did - 1 lb since January. Good thing we did since we found out all these issues. I am very stressed over this and don't even like leaving the house for any length of time - I guess I will learn to live with it - as will Mochi - Aloha and mahalo for letting me share.....

 

Welcome
Are you sure that 4.5 was the right value? That appears to be the non-USA scale and corresponds to 81 in USA scal. 81 is a normal, non-diabetic BG.
MNost of us here test our cat's BG using a human meter since ti is less expensive than going to the vet and vet stress can rails BG by 100 USA points or higher.
What are you feeding? A low-carb, commercial canned is beest. No reason for vet prescription food.
What I do is inject two of my cats when they are finishing their food. That way cat is distracted by eating.

It is likely that the prednisone is causing the elevated BG/diabetes. Also. it is better to give cats prednisolone vice prednisone since cats have to convert the prednisone to prednisolone.

 

Hello to you and Mochi.

It may be that you're finding insulin shots difficult precisely because you're trying to hold Mochi while you do it.... Many cats don't like being held or restrained in any way. But fortunately, it is not necessary to do this.

The insulin shot should not hurt the kitty at all. You're not injecting into muscle. You are only lifting some loose skin with one hand, and depositing the insulin underneath the skin with the other hand. And if you're giving shots into the scruff of the neck there are very few nerve endings there.
Many of us give our cats their shots while they are eating. My cat doesn't even look up. He's far more interested in the food!
Have you tried giving the shot while Mochi is eating? And if so, what happened?

Be aware too that cats pick up on our stress. The more relaxed and 'matter of fact' we are about giving the shots, the more relaxed our cat is likely to be.

Are you OK with handling syringes..?
I was very nervous of giving shots at first (I had a fear of needles). But I found it helpful to practice on oranges. I'd draw up water into the syringe and inject it into the orange, and then I'd do the same again, and again, and again... And my hands got 'comfortable with the process' by doing that.

Regarding Mochi's blood glucose level at the vets, as Larry said, can you confirm what the level was, as the number you quoted is a normal number for a cat.

Welcome aboard!

Eliz

 

Aloha!
Check out my signature links Glucometer Notes and Secondary Monitoring Tools for some useful information.

 

Aloha.....

Thank you for the replies - I am probably getting Mochi's blood sugar numbers wrong - since I'm not terribly educated on all of this yet, and I was just trying to remember what the vet said - I know he said it was very high last week and the numbers he was quoting were 3 something - yesterday it was 4 something - he said that in itself wasn't a huge deal since it can fluctuate, but the 1 unit of insulin needed to be increased, but since you can't increase it by much without the cat having bad issues, we are doing 2 units starting last night....And yes, I am also thinking the prednisone is possibly the cause, we knew the possibility going in, but it was the only thing that would stop her non stop vomiting. So we are now using something I had to order specially from Roadrunner Pharmacy in AZ instead of the prednisone - budesonide. I don't know why the vet didn't go to that first, but the fact is that is what happened - he is an excellent vet despite being here on such a small island (I even did a phone consult with a well known Cat vet. in Philadelphia when she first started treatment to make sure our vet was doing the best thing).

Also I have tried to do her injection while she is eating - I put out her favorite treat in her bowl, but as soon as she sees me with the needle, she heads for the hills.

My BIG problem right now (and I am very discouraged about this) is that I have had zero success in finding someone to do her injections while I am on vacation in June for 7 days.....as I said, we booked our airline tickets before her diagnosis (my MIL's 95th birthday party)....and now I have called many vet techs as well as others with zero success. Boarding her is not an option at all. It looks like at this point, I will have to cancel my vacation and non refundable airline tickets and send my husband on our vacation by himself.

I have to have someone who is completely knowledgeable about injecting cats and the importance of it to diabetes - not to mention being a trustworthy person since they will be coming into my home twice a day.

Mochi is home today and happy - my husband did her injection this morning and he is getting very good at it......hopefully I will get better soon also.

Discouraged about no vacation this year though.......Mochi is worth it, but I sure wish I could find someone to help out.

 

I responded on your other post. It is helpful to us if you stick to one post for an issue so all the answers are in one location.

 

I have used budesonide on three or more of my cats. It usually has little effect on BG. Thus, it will likely reduce Mochi's insulin needs. Therefore, home testing BG is important, especially in your case.

 

Aloha from Kaua'i.....

Boy I need to read up more - what is BG and why should that be tested at home?

For now I am taking her back next Tuesday to the vet for them to check her levels to see if the 1 unit increase in insulin has made a difference and whether it needs to be adjusted more - my understanding from reading is that it can take a few weeks before an effective dosage is determined.

The vet has said nothing about any type of home testing for anything.

I did notice today a marked decrease in her water drinking - she has been drinking a ton of water but today she took in the normal amount - I was home so I was able to watch her. That hopefully is good news.

Thanks!

 

'BG' just means 'blood glucose level'. You may also see people here refer to their cat's "numbers" and that means the same.
Most of us 'hometest' (ie. test our cats' blood glucose at home) to monitor the effect of the insulin in the cat's body.
.

 

Home testing helps keep your cat safe.
A test before shooting let's you know if it may be safe to give insulin.
A test when your cat seems 'off' let's you determine if the glucose is dropping too low which may be fatal.
A test identifying high numbers between shots helps you determine if additional insulin may be needed.

 

Aloha from Kaua'i......

Well my vet hasn't talked with me about this yet - but she is still going to his office once a week (tomorrow is second time) to have her BG tested - we are still in early days and they are trying to find the correct dose of insulin for her.

As I said - early days yet!

 

Just an FYI - glucose tests at the vet's office may be elevated from 100-180 mg/dL higher than those at home. Be very cautious about increasing the dose based on tests done at the vet.
Home testing can save you money by allowing you to do the curves yourself - serial blood tests from pre-shot to pre-shot, every 2 hours.

 

Aloha from Kaua'i

At this point I have to trust my vet and what he is doing is right - he has been treating Mochi since she was 2 months old and I also have paid for a specialist in Philadelphia to check all her medical records from here (which were faxed to them by my vet, who was happy to do it) to make sure he is doing the most current and recommended treatments for her.

If he at some point says I need to do the BG tests at home once he gets her dosage right - I will certainly follow his instructions. I only want to do the best for her and as I said before if that meant not taking a vacation - that is what I would do.

I gave up a vacation when my 20 yr old cat was getting to the end of her life - my husband went without me and I stayed to care for her. I am sure that people here can understand - my cats are my children and I would do anything for them - luckily my husband is just as crazy as I am about them! I am glad I don't have to cancel this one but I would have sent him and stayed home if that was the best option for Mochi.

 

When you have a moment, could you add a few tidbits to your signature? It will help us give you feedback without having to go look in all your past posts.

Editing your Signature

In the upper right corner of the screen, within the dark blue bar, you will see ID, Inbox, and Alerts

Click on your ID.

On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature.
This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback.
This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
Add any other text, such as
your name,
cat's name,
date of Dx (diagnosis)
insulin
meter
any other pertinent issues like if there are any food issues, history of DKA, hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, allergies, IBD, etc.
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Always click the Save Changes button at the bottom when you have changed anything.

 

Umm... Spreadsheet? Ok. I am lost too... Help please. Thank you

 

Signature looks good!

We use a grid to record your glucose tests. It helps us give better feedback. Instructions are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.