another newbie

Hello everyone,

I've just found this board, after getting off the phone with our vet. Odie has just been diagnosed with diabetes. We go in tomorrow morning to learn how to inject him and do at-home testing.

Odie is an 11 year old orange tabby. He started having health issues 14 months ago. Eventually diagnosed as inflamed bowel disease and pancreatitis. Getting him stabilized was quite the ordeal. After 50 (yes, seriously) types of food, many medication changes, and me monitoring/measuring everything about him, we got him stable. He stable on Dexasone, Pepcid AC, and Chlorambucil, and he eats Fromm's Salmon dry food. His internal medicine vet has been great.

In December, he started limping badly, avoiding putting any weight on his left rear leg. More tests/xrays, and the vet decided there was something wrong with his knee although nothing was really visible on the xrays. The result was Codeine for a month and Flexadin supplements. The limping decreased considerably, although he still does not have a normal gait. During this time, he started drinking and peeing excessively. I'd been warned this might be a side-effect of the codeine, so didn't worry too much initially. The excessive drinking/peeing continued even after the codeine was finished. I stopped the Flexadin too just to see if it made a difference, and he was still drinking/peeing, so off to the vet we went.

Now he's been diagnosed with diabetes, probably caused by the Dexasone. We have to treat the diabetes, and try to switch him off of Dexasone to something else that will control the inflamed bowel disease. I have a feeling it's going to be a rough few weeks/months. In my reading frenzy tonight, I read about peripheral neuropathy, so now I'm wondering if that's what's going on with his back leg.

I just feel like - "here we go again". I am Odie's only human parent. My boyfriend helps out, but does not live with us, so all of the managing/scheduling/worrying falls to me.

Anyway, I just wanted to say hi... I suspect I'll have lots of questions in the next few weeks. Any advice is much appreciated!
Thanks
Odiesmom

 

Odiesmom,

You are already way ahead of the game because you are going to be home testing and it sounds like you have been reading many of the great resources here on the board. Good for you and yay for your vet. You would be surprised at the number of newbies that come here and their vets have not told them about home testing.

There are links somewhere on the main site to pictures of some kitties with neuropathy - I will look for them - maybe that will help you figure out if that is what is going on with Odie.

This disease is totally manageable and before you know it, it will be part of your everyday routine.

You may want to consider a diet change - although with IBD, I understand that may be difficult. See Dr. Lisa's site http://www.catinfo.org. for information on feline nutrition. Many folks here have positive results upon switching to a low carb diet. Please do not do this until you are home testing, though, as you may see a significant decrease in Odies insulin needs.

This link will take you to Janet & Binky's food charts where you can find the carb and protein content. http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html


Ask lots of question, there are many knowledgeable folks here.

Welcome to the sugar dance.

 

Found this link on Neuropathy - not the one I was thinking of and you may have seen it already. But a good one none the less.


http://www.felinediabetes.com/weak-back-rear-legs.htm

 

hello Odie's mom (may we know your first name?)

welcome to the FDMB! It's gonna be overwhelming at first, but I will tell u feline diabetes is manageable. Many of us here juggle work, family and kitty health issues plus a multiple pet household.
I'm sorry you've got all this on your plate, this board has a wonderful caring, support community.

So you're going in for a vet visit. Gonna throw some questions, this will help others offer suggestions...

first off - yai for home testing!

Any idea what insulin your vet may suggest?
Odie eats strictly Fromm's Salmon dry food?
Do u have any BG numbers that the vet took recently?
How did your vet diagnose diabetes? Meaning which tests were done?
Did your vet check for ketones in the urine?

I know you'll get lots of feedback here, it's late in some areas, so hang in there, check back if u can for updates.

And most importantly, give Odie a big hug - we've all been there at the beginning of this, through health issues, long nites, but in the end, it's all about a happy healthy kitty....and just know you have this board for support and lots and lots of reading.
Ask questions, and read all you can, but also take a deep breath.
:YMHUG:

 

Thanks for the quick replies

A few answers that I know so far:

- Any idea what insulin your vet may suggest?
She is suggesting Lantus

- Odie eats strictly Fromm's Salmon dry food?
Umm, well in terms of cat food yes. :roll: He is incredibly persistent at getting human food. I try to keep it to a minimum, and I keep boiled boneless/skinless chicken in the fridge/freezer and often will give him tiny amounts of that instead of whatever we're having. He will eat/grab the strangest things if he can get his paws on it though.
He also absolutely refuses to drink water. He gets a mixture of 2/3 water + 1/3 skim milk.

- Do u have any BG numbers that the vet took recently?
His blood sugar was at 20 today (which I guess is 360 by US measurements)

- Did your vet check for ketones in the urine?
Yes. I don't know the numbers at this point.
But they did urine tests and she did say there was too much sugar in his urine.

As for changing his food... I realize we may need to tackle that again too. It's going to be a challenge that's for sure. He's soo picky and to find something that works for his digestive system too - ugh! I've tried so many can and dry foods, raw foods, home-cooked foods... We'll see what happens. Does anyone happen to know the carb levels for Fromm's dry foods?

Oh, and just to add to the complete picture, he weighed 13.4 lbs (6.1kg) in December, and as of today is down to 12.1 lbs (5.5kg).

 

Just dropping a quick note to say hi and welcome.

I think you are way ahead of the game and will have things under control before you know it. Your vet seems completely on the ball (home testing, lantus, etc).. let her know that some random stranger off the internet is impressed with her knowledge.. haha .

Between her help and this board you are armed with some fantastic tools in caring for your handsome fury family member.

I noticed you used world standard units (you'll learn the not so useful life skill of multiplying and dividing by 18 with ease around these parts ), where are you from?

Ask lots of questions!

 

Deep breath

Ok, heading to the vet to learn how to do all of this.

*deep breath* oh boy.

 

Hi From Calgary

Not sure if there are any others in Ottawa but let us know how things go today!

 

Ok, so we're back home with supplies.

I've now tested his blood at home twice and given Odie his first dose of Lantus (2 units).
His blood sugar at the vet's at lunch time was 19.6 (353), at 8pm (pre-insulin) it was 16.4 (295), at 10pm it was 10.6 (191).

I also got him some Fromm Salmon and Tuna pate canned food. Gave him half a can just before the Lantus. He wolfed it down enthusiastically. You have no idea how much of a relief that was. My options in terms of what I can feed him are very limited because of the IBD and because he's extremely picky. So when he happily ate this one tonight, I had tears of relief.

The glucose testing is going to take some practice. His poor ears. It took me about 10 tries to get it right the first time at home. The second time, I got it in 2 tries. But I can see all these little mini-bruises. I feel so bad. Next one is in 35 minutes. I figure I'll do it every two hours through the night and tomorrow. I realize that it would be more accurate hourly, but his ears would be so messed up! I'll do an hourly one in a few days, when I'm better at it.

 

Glad you got testing!

A couple of things...

1. it is better to start at 1 unit or even 0.5 units twice a day...2 units may be a bit much...

2. to lessen the bruising, put pressure on the spot after you've tested

3. you do not have to curve tonight! Get a spot check or two and then leave it till morning, as it can take a few days for the lantus to really kick in...

Jen

 

Thanks

I suspect the 2 units is because his other medications are likely to make him insulin resistant. I will keep it in mind though.

I'll see how it goes with the testing overnight. Again, because of his other health issues and how he's had strange reactions to other medications, I think I'd just feel better knowing that I'm keeping a close eye on him at first. I don't think I'll sleep much anyway, I might as well get numbers to ease my worry.


PS... I forgot - no ketones in his urine according to the vet's results. Glucose was at +3 and protein at +2 in the urine analysis.