? Do we need a complete physical to confirm the diagnosis of FD?

Reading a lot of posts here on FDMB I learned that elevated BG numbers might be caused by some dental problem, infection or inflammation in the mouth. Felix’s teeth were never adequately checked by a vet, except for a very quick glance. He was diagnosed with FD only after they poked his ear. No other tests were done during that visit – urine and blood were not collected, mouth was not checked. We went for a regular physical and shots 2 months prior the diagnosis, blood was collected then, everything came back normal. I also just remembered that a few months ago he got into a trash can, got a chicken bone and was chewing on it, when I caught him and took it from him. After that incident, it looked like something got stock in between his teeth or something was bothering him. It was a clicking sound he made every time he closed his mouth. I wanted to take him to the vet right away, but decided to wait until next morning and see how he feels, he felt better next morning, he never stopped eating after that incident. Now, when I see his reaction to insulin (today his nadir was 99 after 0.25 AM dose), it makes me think or hope that there is nothing wrong with his endocrine system and his pancreas, but some other problem (maybe mouth infection) could possibly cause the spike in BG and if that problem is ruled out or eliminated maybe there is a possibility of BG to get back to normal, considering that he is still relatively young and was pretty healthy up to this point. Should I just get back to the vet and ask for a proper and complete physical?

 

A thorough physical is important for every cat....and it will also give you baselines so if there's any problems in the future, you have something to compare to.

It looks like he's definitely got some higher than normal numbers, so I suspect he is diabetic, but you've been changing his dose so often it's going to lead to wonky numbers.

Lantus craves consistency and does best when given at the same dose both morning and night. The dose is based on how low it takes them, not on how high the Pre-shot numbers are.

I'd get him in for a good look-over (and complete bloodwork) and try holding the same dose for a week (since you're doing SLGS) unless he drops below 90....if he does, you'd reduce by .25 and start over with holding the dose for 7 days

You DO test enough to do Tight Regulation though so you might want to seriously consider changing your dosing method...TR allows you to change the dose as often as every 3 days instead of waiting a week

 

Thanks Chris. How can I hold a dose for a week if it drops below 90 in a couple of days?

 

If he drops below 90, you decrease the dose by .25 and then hold the new dose for a week.....unless he drops below 90 again