Frustrated

Hi. My kitty, Dugal(age 9) was diagnosed about 5 or 6 months ago. When I got the diagnosis, I just started crying. I knew how difficult this can be to manage. I've had a megacolon kitty in the past so I knew I was up for it but upset. Dugal also takes medicine for high blood pressure once a day. He has a 3 legged brother, Rudy (4); he has an older brother, Parker (14), who also takes meds for high blood pressure and an older sister, Minnie (16), who takes meds for her thyroid and her skin.

Dugal started on Vetsulin with very little control of his diabetes. I do home blood glucose testing and was even texting my vet at night to see what to do. During this time, he had to be hospitalized because I made a mistake. I took his blood sugar and it was 122 but then gave him a full dose of insulin. I was just so used to it being in the 400s! He was given IV glucose and was fine but his bg did get down to 37. I felt awful and was afraid that animal services would take him away from me! (I may be a tad dramatic but I certainly learned my lesson.)

He was then accepted into a clinical trial for an oral medication for diabetic kitties. His glucose was controlled while on the study but since it is an experimental drug, he wasn't able to continue it after the 60 day study. Luckily, all his other tests look great.

Now, we have been using Lantus for about a month. I still home test and he has been back at the vet office a few times for curves. He is up to 4 units twice a day (UGH!). In the past week, his bg has ranged from 680 to 69. In the last few days, I started mixing in a can of wet food with the dry (with 4 special needs cats, I'm not sure I can afford to do all wet) and I'm seeing some results. While not great, I haven't seen a bg over 399 for the last five days; he was consistently in 400s and 500s in the past.

Last night, I contacted our emergency vet (where he was on the clinical study, so they have his records) because his bg was 122 (and then 137 when I retested because I thought I did something wrong) and we were 14 hours since his last shot. I was instructed to give his 4 units (I was scared but I did it). Today, he went into our regular vet (they will take over his medical care after completely released from the study AND it's a heck of a lot cheaper) for a curve. He was fasted overnight and his reading was 63 (10 hours since last injection) and then 137 (12 hours post injection). My regular vet called my emergency vet and they agreed to just give 2 units. Tonight, he was at 280 at 10 hours post injection so I texted my vet and we came up with a plan to give him a good meal and then give the 4 units.

I didn't realize how much I had to say. My poor kitty. He does an amazing job with his sticks and injections. And he is super loving to all the veterinarians and vet techs wherever he goes. I'm so lucky in this respect. I just want to get to the point where I'm not freaking out that he is going to go into a diabetic coma; if he is sleeping too soundly, I wake him up just to be sure!!

I'll read over the information. Thanks for being here.
Lisa

 

Lisa, it would help if you posted on the main health forum http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/and in the lantus http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/forum where there are more people to help you with ideas.

 

Lisa

Welcome to the forum.

It sounds like Dugal has been through a lot of varied treatments but has not been given a regular protocol to properly treat his diabetes. One of the most important things a petparent can do is to learn to do home testing and gather data on how their kitty is responding to the insulin and dose. There are lots of very experienced people on this forum that can help with advice and insights into Dugal's treatment plan.

To get more specific information you can post on the main Health forum at

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

There are a lot more people who frequent that forum and you can get lots of information about home testing and best protocols for treating your kitty's diabetes.