Diagnosed this week.

Hi, all. My wonderful 12-year-old kitty, Migoto, was diagnosed just this week and was started on insulin last night. I've been reading about other peoples' experiences on here, and I am so glad that this website exists - I had (and still have) so many questions! There is a lot to learn.

My vet had a 40-minute training session with me yesterday, and a tech showed me how to give injections, and then had me practice with saline solution.

(My vet was really pleased to hear I'd been reading this site - which was recommended to my by a friend.)

I'm so relieved to have an answer for what's been causing my kitty's sudden hunger and thirst, but gosh, there is a lot to learn! Thank goodness it's manageable, though.

Anyway, thank you all for being here. (Migoto is getting 1 unit of glargine insulin twice a day, 12 hours apart.)

 

Glad you found us!

Read, read, read... ask questions... and remember the importance of home glucose monitoring!!!

 

Just wanted to say Hi, and Welcome, you will find alot of information here and ask all the questions you need to. Sounds like you have a great vet! Took time with yiou gave you a great insulin and a nice starting dose. Do you know about hometesting (with blood glucose meter)? That is something we really recommend here. The learning curve is very steep, but you have already learned alot and have found a great resource so keep reading and asking questions.

 

Thank you both! My vet mentioned home glucose monitoring, but I think she was a little worried about overwhelming me with too much information all at once. Migoto goes in on Saturday morning to be glucose tested at the vet's again, and I think I will ask about it then. I'm kind of worried about NOT doing it - I have Karo syrup and emergency numbers in case of hypoglycemia, but I don't want her to ever go through that.

I am still getting nervous before every injection that I'm going to do it wrong (I've only given her 2), but so far that seems to be okay...

 

Everything sounds very good indeed. You seem to have an exceptionally good vet.

I didn't see this mentioned: What are you feeding? The type of food can make a big difference in how kitties react to insulin. By that, I don't mean you need to feed expensive food or prescription food. In fact, there are plenty of grocery-store or pet-store foods that are better and less expensive than prescription foods, unless something unusual is going on.

Are there any other health issues? What did the vet say and how did she go about diagnosing the diabetes? Do you have any lab results (blood work, urinalysis, or whatever) that you can tell us about?

 

I'm currently feeding her Iams Indoor Weight and Hairball Care. It sounds like this is not such a good food. :/ Should I switch her immediately, or would that be changing too many things at once? (This is one of the many things I'm confused about.)

Her blood sugar was 400, and just last July during her physical it was normal, but I don't remember the exact number. So this came on pretty quickly. She had sugar in her urine, too, and those two things (blood and urine test) were what led the vet to diagnose diabetes. I brought her in because she'd suddenly begun acting like she was starving - wanting to eat and drink constantly, and filling up her litterbox every other day. Her kidney and liver functions were normal from the blood test.

 

Hello and welcome! You sound like you are WAY ahead of the curve, and your vet seems to be awesome as far as knowledge of diabetes too.

You've already gotten some good advice and it seems like you're reading a lot, so I won't overwhelm you with much more. I will just answer your last question regarding the food.

The food you're feeding now is dry food, is that correct? You are right in thinking that this is not a good food for your kitty. Janet and Binky's food chart will help you to find a good food that doesn't have to be expensive. You want to look for a food with less than 10% carbs.

You will want to switch foods but I would not do this until you are home testing. Changing a kitty's diet from dry to low carb wet can often change their insulin needs VERY dramatically, and thus the 1u could even be too much. Home testing will allow you to monitor those changes and most importantly, to get the pre-shot (PS) number so you can tell if Migoto's blood glucose (BG) is too low to shoot. Most people will have a "no-shoot" number. This is just a number below which you will not give insulin. For most newbies without any data, this # is 200, but you will want to check with the Lantus people here and see what they think.

The sooner you can begin home testing, the better. I know it's a lot to take in, and we all really do remember how it feels to be where you are. For me, it was only 5 months ago. Read all you can, ask ANY question you can think of, and let us know if you need help with home testing. We have lots of tricks and tips that will make it easier on you and Migoto.

Keep up the great work!

 

Hi there!

Unfortunately, that food contains really poor nutrients...

Chicken By-Product Meal, Corn Meal, Corn Grits, Ground Whole Grain Sorghum, Dried Beet Pulp, Powdered Cellulose, Chicken, Animal Fat (preserved with mixed Tocopherols, a source of Vitamin E), Dried Egg

there is absolutely no actual meat in this, just a lot of fillers! Ack! So yes, you can do a LOT better. Start though by reading Dr Lisa's info at www.catinfo.org, and do NOT change the diet until you are hometesting as you may do too good of a job!

 

Hi there
Because you are not home testing yet - and I strongly urge you to get on that ASAP, you dont have to wait to see your vet for permission to home test - you can pick up a very reliable inexpensive human blood testing meter at Walmart with strips. Look for the Relion meter, either Ultima or Micro, both a Relion brand. Make sure the strips match the meter they are for.

As for changing the food, I would not suggest that without home testing and definitely not cold turkey.

IF you switch the food from dry to wet low carb wet cold turkey you will see a drop in BG levels, and without home testing and shooting blindly - well, it's not safe.
Please read Dr Lisa's website on Feline Nutrition and the section on transitioning to wet food from dry.

http://catinfo.org/

Lots of valuable information in there!

 

Thanks, Sarah! (And everyone!)

My vet is AWESOME. I really wish everyone could have a vet like her. She listens, and doesn't mind a bazillion questions and having to explain things several times. When she first told me the diagnosis I felt so overwhelmed, but after reading and after the session with her yesterday (she gave me reading materials, a list of websites, and told me to bring a notebook to write things down), I feel a little less at sea.

It is a dry food. Thank you for the information and for mantioning the food chart - I will go look, and this will be another question I will have for my vet on Saturday.

You guys are making me feel much less alone.

Edit: I saw Jen and Ronnie's posts after I posted this. Eep, wow, and thank you! I had no idea I was feeding poor Migoto complete junk food. THANK YOU for the info! I may leave a message for my vet today asking her if we can discuss food changes and home monitoring on Saturday, specifically.

 

You're never alone in this forum
Some of us don't sleep!
:lol:

By the way...interesting name Migoto,,,kinda translates to My fat cat in Spanish lol "Mi goto"

 

Ronnie and Sarah are right that you should be hometesting before you change the food. You are correct that what you are feeding isn't very good, but don't change it until you are hometesting. A change to a lower-carb wet food right now could make Migoto's BG drop quickly, which could be dangerous.

So, first priority is to get hometesting going. Only then should you change the food.

 

Heee. "Migoto" means "beautiful" in Japanese, according to a friend of mine, so that's why I named her that. The "my fat cat" meaning makes me giggle though. She was slim until a couple of years ago, but middle age has brought a little...more to her build.

And thanks, all - I will definitely make sure I'm started on the home glucose monitoring and know what I am doing before making any dietary changes.

 

Maybe I missed it, but would you please tell us which insulin you are using, how much you are shooting and how often.

I too emphasize the need to home test, especially when giving insulin AND going to do a food change.

If you are feeding dry food or even a high carb food, BEFORE removing these foods, please make sure of your insulin dose as it will most likely need to be reduced, so as to avoid a possible hypoglycemic situation due to the removal of the dry/high carb foods that will lower the BG’s and reduce the amount of insulin required. Again, another reason why home testing is important.

So, while I say, great for changing the diet, you need to home test and possibly change the insulin amount AT THE SAME TIME. This will help to ensure that you will never need to use that karo (except for baking)!

 

Hi, Hillary - I am giving Migoto 1 unit of Lantus twice a day, 12 hours apart, after meals.

And since Migoto has a blood glucose check at her vet's the day after tomorrow, I am planning to talk with her about starting home monitoring, diet change, and how to know when to adjust the dose/when to not give insulin. There's so much to remember! And the last thing I want to do is something that makes my baby sick, even by accident. :/

 

There definitely IS a lot to remember, but I really feel that between your awesome vet and the wonderful advice-givers on this board ( :mrgreen: ), you are far ahead of where most people in your shoes are at. I think it's a great idea to talk to your vet about home testing and food switch on Saturday. Hopefully she will be on board.

Just a tip: if your vet does give you the go-ahead to start testing and food change, you might want to get a couple of successful tests under your belt before you switch the food. In case the testing is difficult at first, that will be one less thing you will have to worry about: "But I already gave her LC food and now I can't get blood from the ear, ohmygoshwhatamIgoingtodonow?!" It is more than a large possibility that you are not nearly as freaked out as I was when I started home testing. Suffice it to say that it was very difficult for me at first. I say this not to scare you, but to let you know that it's okay if it's harder than you thought, and that we can help. I know what it's like to be so stressed and afraid because I couldn't get the tests in. But your experience might be completely different. I hope it is.

You could even go and get the home testing supplies today and start trying at home before the appointment on Saturday. You already know that your vet is supportive of home testing, so there's nothing to worry about there. Not trying to pressure you into rushing into it, but the sooner you can begin practicing, the sooner you can get Migoto on the food that's best for her. If you do want to get all the supplies, let us know and we can recommend some meters and such.

Don't let your vet try to sell you a special animal BG meter. She doesn't sound like the type who would, but I guess you never know. You can use a human meter. It is much cheaper (MUCH) and the test strips can be found online for cheaper than in the store, and you will be able to get them at any time, day or night. Running out of strips is almost guaranteed to happen, and you don't want it to happen at midnight when you have a possible hypo episode and your vet's office, the only place that sells the strips for your animal meter, is closed.

I will stop giving advice now, and end with this: I love your kitty's name and the meaning. She is beautiful (that's her in your avatar, no?) and tell her not to worry about her extra pounds in middle age. More to love, that's all.

 

Great vet.. really!

 

Hi and welcome to FDMB.

Most of the basics have been covered.
Awesome insulin your vet has started you on :mrgreen: and a nice starting dose too.

One thing to remember-when kitties have their BG taken at a vet office, it often has 'vet stress' included.Can raise kitty's bg anything up to 200+ points. This is a big reason why we advocate hometesting here. Comfort of kitty's home with someone familiar-no stress level (or minor)influence.

I agree with the suggestion of a human glucometer, we used both a one touch ultra and aviva accu check.
Popular one is a Relion? (think that's the one-get in Walmart) Al of these have relatively cheap test strips-named brands especially if you get them of places like Ebay.

Do your u100 syringes have 1/2 unit markings?
Another step here is -start low (you've done that),go slow-we increase in .25u increments. This means you don't miss the ideal dose for your kitty, as well as limiting risks such as hypo (too much insulin)

Lantus is a long acting insulin-if you click on the ISG icon and then Lantus, read the stickies at the top of the page. They will give you lots of good information.Plenty to get your head round and share with your vet on Saturday.

Going back briefly to the vet stress comment-you know Migoto, so will know if/how much he may get stressed at vets.If he loves it-happy days, if not, just bear in mind for your dose and when you change his food.


It's generally safer to slowly change kitty's food from the dry to wet as you can change insulin accordingly and not be met with a massive drop in number.Good to do on a w/e as hopefully your one of the lucky ones and get w/e's off so you can get regular spot checks (sc's)

Good luck

 

You guys are so helpful!! Thank you. Yes, my syringes do have half-unit markings, and yep, that's my baby Migoto in my avatar. She's a really pretty kitty (I might be a leeetle biased ) - all black except for a white v-shaped marking on her chest and a white splotch on her tummy. Even her whiskers are black! And her eyes are a beautiful green.

I have another question (oh no!) - Migoto went in for her blood glucose check today and it was 370. :/ She started at 400, so that's some improvement, but not as much as I'd hoped. I was told to increase her insulin (Lantus) from 1 unit to 2 units twice daily. Is this too much of an increase?

I saw the tech today rather than the vet (the techs are wonderful too, but they can't answer as many questions as the vet, is all) - so at our next appointment (Wednesday) I asked to see the vet because I have a lot of questions (about home glucose testing and diet change, and whether it's okay to be treating Miglet at home - the vet said they recommend a few days' stay for feline diabetics at first because they all react so individually, but I thought that would stress her and me out more - and the vet said she was fine with letting me treat at home).

I know I worry too much but this is all so new. I hope this post made some kind of sense.

 

You are learning fast and asking great questions. And yes, you are right to question the dose increase. Almost all cats have higher bg levels at the vet - it's noisy, it's not home, people who are not the mommy are messing with them, etc, etc. That is one of lots of reasons we advocate hometesting. Dosages based on cats who are stressed at the vet can be too high. Dosages based on bg levels taken at home are much safer and more accurate. We will urge you not to leave Migoto at the vets for testing. Again, the numbers will be higher than at home, and you can do the same thing at home, for much less money, time and stress. Maybe if you are already hometesting by the time the vet wants to keep her, you can show her a spreadsheet of the bg numbers you have collected.

The other reason to question the dose is that, generally, Lantus is increased in small increments - .25 units or .5 units. Have you seen the Insulin Support Group page for Lantus? It is a great resource. The stickies at the top of the page will give you great information on how Lantus works, and how it should be dosed. And reading through the posts by other Lantus users will give you a sense of how it is managed.

If I were you, I would go over to the ISG for Lantus and ask your dosage question there also.

This is a steep learning curve, but you are doing a great job for Migoto.

 

It sounds like you are doing great! Give Migoto an extra pat on the head and a chin scratch, too, for doing such a wonderful job.

I agree with Sue that a 1u increase sounds like quite a big jump. I would definitely also suggest posting on Lantus to see what they think, as they have more experience with that specific insulin. If you move up too fast, not only can it be dangerous for kitty, but you can bypass the correct dose.

As personal experience with higher #s at the vet, let me tell you this anecdote from just yesterday. Buzz was not on insulin at the time, so her BG should have remained relatively the same from hour to hour, apart from outside influences. I checked her at home and she was 355. 4 hours later at the vet, she was 500. Buzz normally doesn't experience much vet spike (she doesn't seem to get too stressed at the vet's) but yesterday was a different story; it was an awful visit.

So again, as Sue mentioned, this is just another reason why hometesting is so important. I know you already know that, just providing some real life experience to go along with it.

Keep up the great work, and let us know of any other questions you might have.

 

Thanks, both of you - for the information and the personal experiences! I will ask my question over on the Lantus section.

I went out and bought a home test kit this afternoon too (with my vet's full approval - I double checked with her and she is still for the 1u increase, but she doesn't mind questions at all). Now to get up the nerve to use it!!

 

To get you started with your hometesting research:

A video on hometesting: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

My favorite site for hometesting info/tips: http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm

 

Thank you!! I am going to go watch the video now.