Fennec- diagnosed, rescued, slowly recovering

Three weeks ago we rescued our lovely boy Fennec (he looks a bit like the fox) from an acquaintance on Facebook. He was newly diagnosed with diabetes and was going to be euthanased because of this. I'd had a diabetic boy before, who had died a year previously, so with that experience we persuaded our acquaintance to let us take Fennec. Unfortunately, it turned out that he had been unwell for a long time and when we picked him up (having never met him) he was in ketoacidosis and close to death. After a lot of time in a combination of our vet and Glasgow Vet School, and a lot of stress for us, he pulled through.

However, we're now having some problems with our vet. Fennec was started on Caninsulin, which I knew wasn't going to be great for him, and after a week of us administering it three times a day and supplying our vet with the curves, they agreed to swap him to glargine (Lantus). The vet insisted that Fennec be admitted for the day to get him started, on 2 units, and we reluctantly agreed. When he was discharged back to us, at 7pm, we were told that they had used a 1ml syringe to draw up 2 units, and the vet had drawn this up with 3 units' worth of sterile water 'to make sure he got the full dose'. I'm a nurse (for people) so I checked this, to find that Lantus must not, under any circumstances, be diluted. Not surprisingly, Fennec 'hadn't responded as expected' and was really unwell again.

Three days into the Lantus regime Fennec's much better again, and this forum has been fantastic in giving me the confidence to know I'm doing the right thing for him, and to know what to expect over the next few days. We're back at the vet tomorrow to see one of the partners, and we'll be raising serious concerns about the vet that treated Fennec on Friday. Thanks very much for all the information!

 

Welcome to FDMB.
You may find it helpful to print out some of the sticky posts in the Lantus forum about how to use, store, and dose it effectively in cats, as well as 2 different protocols - Tight Regulation and Start Low, Go Slow.

 

Thanks, I've already had a look and it's been really helpful. We're starting low (ish) and going slow

 

It's so wonderful that you were able to rescue Fennec and save his life! Hes adorable, and I'm glad he's doing better. Good luck with his treatment.

 

Our spreadsheet instructions are here. If you look at the signatures of the members here, you will see a link to their kitty’s spreadsheets. We keep track of all our tests. This is basically a place to collect data and help you to determine patterns, doses, etc. It also aids those that may be helping you to better understand your kitty. By setting up a spreadsheet, this should also show the vets and you the trends and patterns. So awesome that you are taking Fennec in.

 

I've had a look at the spreadsheet and, once I've got my head round it, I'm sure it'll be useful! At the moment I'm using the Diabetes UK app on my phone, as this draws lovely (but basic) graphs of the curves which I can then send to the vet- it was two of these that finally persuaded her to swap Fennec to glargine.

 

That app sounds really cool. So, if you do start using our spreadsheet, your vet will also be able to view it online at anytime too.

 

Hi there Jenny and Welcome. Don't let the spreadsheet scare you it really isn't hard once you understand it. Maybe this will help


AMPS is the AM Pre-shot test (always test before shooting to make sure they're high enough to give insulin)...then the U column is for "Units" (how much you gave)

The +1, +2, +3, etc are for how many hours since shooting...so +2 is 2 hours after the AM shot, +9 is 9 hour after, etc.....Since we're all over the world here, saying "he was at 148 at 8pm" doesn't tell us anything...we need to know how long since his last shot

At the end of a 12 hour cycle, it's PMPS time! (PM Pre-shot) and the whole thing starts over

 

Thanks for the advice regarding the spreadsheet. I may give it a go this weekend! We're taking it easy with the testing at present, sticking to pre-shot and +6 hours. Fennec was very stressed by a full day at the vet on Friday, with no insulin for 24 hours (it didn't work after the vet diluted it), and a further pointless trip to a clueless vet on Monday made things worse. He also has an active herpes infection (runny nose, lots of snot) which was made worse by the stress and is having an impact on the effectiveness of the insulin. He's a very complicated boy!

 

Don't mean to hijack this thread. But how does a vet view it online? Would they have to sign in then look for specific post?

 

Hi Jenny, so great that you rescued Fennec! (What a cute name, I love Fennec Foxes!) Poor little guy has really had a tough time of it, hasn't he? If you use our spreadsheet you can email your vet a direct link to it, so he/she can have it right there at their fingertips whenever you need them to see it. It's especially helpful for phone consults!

 

Just email your vet the link, then they can view it any time! It's wonderful! My vet checks Squallie's SS every week, just as a routine.

 

Do they have to have Google account to this Google sheets app?

 

No. Just go click on your name in the blue bar at the top of the page, and on the drop-down menu click "Signature." At the top LEFT-hand corner of this box will be an icon that looks like a link in a chain, click on this and it will open a bar for a URL - just put your vet's email address in that bar and click on "Insert" or whatever it says to enter, and you're done! You will probably want to call your vet, though, and let them know you've linked it for them.

 

@woodsywife I mis-spoke! The chain icon is in the top LEFT corner of your signature box! Sorry, a little dyslexia kicking in this morning...