Diamond's vet almost has diabetic diet and Lantus figured out

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by krazy4kritters, Mar 22, 2018.

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  1. krazy4kritters

    krazy4kritters Member

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2018
    I'll try to make this short and to the point but, I tend to ramble on and on when talking about cats. :rolleyes:
    I've been taking my cats and droolers to the same clinic for over 20 years, (longer than the three current vets have been there). There have been times when I tied a different clinic for various reasons but always came back. I'm generally quite happy with them. Dr. "A" bought/took over the clinic about 2.5-3 years ago. She was a practicing vet at the clinic for quite a while. Dr. "B" has been also been thee for some time and is supposed to be the go to cat vet. Dr. "C" has only been there about two years. I don't have a whole lot of time in with him.
    Initially we saw Dr. C when I took Diamond in. I was highly positive he was diabetic because of the onset of neuropathy. Dr. C didn't agree but would wait to see what his blood work showed. The two days it took to get the results I was researching feline diabetes. I found this site and joined. Thank God for that! Wouldn't you know it, blood work confirmed what I said. Dr. C gave me the names of three insulins but recommend Lantus. Told me there was a better chance of remission. Never explained anything about the insulins, such as Lantus being depot and how it works. I told him I would like to home test. He said that was good but no further discussion. We also discussed diet. Diamond is a big boy, currently weighing in at 23 lbs. His top weight to date has been 27 lbs. I told him I had switched to an all canned diet and he was eating about 10-12 oz a day. His suggestion was to give him 3-4oz day for weight loss. Good thing I'm not clueless about how much a cat need to eat. I'm giving him a pass on that. I have to assume he misunderstood something. Next up, Dr. B.

    The following day I had to bring Diamond in for a urinalysis to confirm Dx and be taught how to shoot. At this time I had decided to go with Lantus. I also told her I wanted to home test and even brought all my testing stuff with me. All she did was show me on his ear where to stick him and I could find videos on the Internet. Never told me when or how often to test. Also didn't tell me any more about Lantus. And when I told her I had hopes for remission, the look on her face and body language was not very encouraging. She asked me if I was feeding canned food. I told her yes, I just switched to all canned from previously feeding dry in the am and canned at night. I explained until just recently I wasn't really looking at the carb, fat and protein percentages. Her response was "canned food is canned food unless it has cheese or something like that". I didn't even bother arguing with her. About 5 years ago I stumbled upon catinfo. I was extremely interested in homemade diet. When I brought it up with Dr. B back then she told me she was familiar with Dr. Pierson and the site. I could tell she wasn't a fan. Anywho, we kinda ironed out how much he should eat. Nothing about a follow up visit.

    I was pretty pissed at how this all went down with these two. I felt pretty much on my own. Thankfully, I was not because I found FDMB and all these wonderful knowledgable people! I was almost out of Lantus and decided I should go in and talk to Dr. A. I wanted to share my concerns and make sure we were a team. Binder and iPad in hand I made an appointment and saw her last Thursday.

    When she started reading Diamond's chart and found out he was diabetic and had not been back since Dx, she was sort of freaking out. Told me she would normally have had him back in a week for a glucose check. That is when I explained my concerns about Dr. B and C. I told her I was home testing. That calmed her down a bit. She asked if I had his numbers. I got my iPad out and showed her Diamond's SS. I told her I was following TR. I also told her about FDMB and said it was full of great info. Of course she said I'm sure there is some not so good info too. That made me mad! She asked how I dosed 2.75 and I told her. As she is looking at the SS she was trying to tell me I was changing his dose too often. Again, I told her I was following TR. She started to tell me changing doses every 3 -4 days wasn't good. At which point I snapped back at her, "It's a published protocol"! She backed off then. Plus, look at his SS. I never changed doses that early. If anything it took me longer.

    On to diet. I was prepared to argue the point on canned food not all being the same. I printed a copy of The Carnivore Connection to Nutrition in Cats by Debra Zoran to give to Dr. A. I also had my printed copy of Dr. Pierson's food chart to show her. In the past her recommendation for weight loss regarding food was calorie based. Always dry. She would tell me corn and grains were not bad because the cat would feel full faster. Smh
    I'm happy to report she has jumped on the wet food diet bandwagon. But, I don't think she yet understands the carb values in the food make a difference when feeding a diabetic. At least I do.

    She told me she had a pet meter in back that was fairly inexpensive. If my meter crapped out I could get that one. I told her the strips were like a $1 a piece and that was too much. She told me once he is regulated I only need to test like 2-3 times a week. Cats are not little people. There BG is not going to change drastically if your feeding the same food.
    Alas, she's almost got it but needs some help. Thank-you FDMB for having my back! :bighug: :kiss:
    I warned you it would be long. o_O
     
  2. Kris & Teasel

    Kris & Teasel Well-Known Member

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    Aug 17, 2016
    Great story and hurray for standing your ground! :D
     
  3. Stacy & Asia

    Stacy & Asia Well-Known Member

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    Oct 2, 2017
    So sad they just threw a box of syringes at you and sent you off. That was similar to my experience when Asia was diagnosed, they gave me very little info, I asked about testing and they said I could if I wanted to, they didn't say anything about having her back in to check numbers or see if the dose was correct. I'm glad I found this community too! If they had been more hands on or controlling about it, it may have taken me longer to get here.

    I agree with your vet on this! :p This is a peer reviewed board, what we have in common is we all have (or had) a diabetic cat. Not every thing is black or white and people have different opinions on things. Even when it comes to facts, some people are more informed than others. People want to help and share their experience with others, it's well intended but doesn't mean you always get sound advice. Just as with most things, you use your brain and try to figure out what makes sense and what info you push to the side.

    Not to mention vets are humans too. They have a lot of good info and some not so good info sometimes too! ;)

    You can't really blame them about wanted to dictate the dose, that is what they are trained to do and they don't often come across caregivers that are so involved or willing to learn enough to take charge, it's likely an entirely foreign concept to most vets. Put the shoe on the other foot: could you imagine being prescribed a medication and going back to your doctor and saying "I read this and that and I've decided instead of taking one pill a day like you prescribed, I'm going to take 2, every 12 hours and sometimes less or more depending on the parameters defined in this paper I read about it"? :joyful:

    Overall, it sounds like Dr. A will be a good partner with you on the FD journey, you really can't ask for more than that. They don't need to be perfect or even well versed in FD, so long as they are open minded and willing to work with you.
     
  4. krazy4kritters

    krazy4kritters Member

    Joined:
    Jan 18, 2018
    I am satisfied after talking with her. I’m hoping Diamond’s SS will speak for itself. I’m wondering if she is going to freak when she sees his green numbers. She was talking about hypo hitting around 79. I think she was thinking about pet meters. I’m hopeful Diamond and I can show her some things she can pass on to other sugar baby ‘s caregivers.
     
  5. PussCatPrince - GA

    PussCatPrince - GA Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Nov 25, 2017
    She'll freak. To a vet that is a danger zone. They prefer yellows .
    Mine wants me to skip a dose if Ty hits below 250. Erms. That would be a nope.
     
  6. Stacy & Asia

    Stacy & Asia Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Oct 2, 2017
    Vets generally don't like to see those green numbers (there are exceptions, my current vet is quite happy with Asia's SS). The fact that you are home testing frequently should put her mind at ease. They usually like higher numbers because they are often assuming home testing isn't happening, and if it is, a lot of vets will suggest things like you only need to test once a week?! :confused:

    I hope your vet doesn't freak too much and if she does that you can calm her down with your SS and the protocol. ;)
     
  7. Larry and Kitties

    Larry and Kitties Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    My one vet does not like the geen BGs since she commented that a lab blood test results for my Bun Bun included a 78 for glucose. He is on about 1.1 units Levemir and PS' are typically a little over 100 on a human meter.
     
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