Griffin

Hello Everyone,

I am Griffin's mom (humans call me Moe).

Griffin was diagnosed with diabetes almost a year ago. Our vet has always been great at balancing the expensive cost of vets care and treating our animals so I followed his lead.

We spent two or three months on pill to start (blood work showed that it was not working) then came the move to insulin.
Vet gave us an initial dose to start with from his last blood work and said to come back in a month to six weeks for a check up on his level and adjust his insulin levels should his symptoms not seem to clear up.

When picking up his prescription food one time I mentioned that he still seemed to be drinking a lot but his energy was back up (his low energy, drastic weight loss and lots of drinking is what sent us to the vet in the first place), the vet said to increase his insulin does without seeing Griffin and that is where it has remained for almost 10 months with no follow up visits.

During our initial visit I asked when I should be feeding him and giving him his shots, I was told that whatever works for getting the shot into him is good enough. He has been getting his insulin and food at the same time.

I wish I had trusted my gut 10 months ago instead of my Vet, I wish I had been proactive then and done my own research.

Griffin has started loosing weight again and his water intake has started to increase again this week, which led me to this website.

We live in a small town with one vet and I feel like this is a journey that Griffin and I will be navigating on our own. I also feel like the worlds worst mom for not trusting myself more when my gut told me that this wasn't how this should work. I feel bad that my boy has been suffering and I didn't know it.

Griffin's Mom (Moe)

 

Welcome to the forum Moe.

It certainly sounds as if your vet is not familiar at all with treating FD, Pills do not work with our sweet kitties. Many studies have been done and shown them to be ineffective in treating FD.

These statements alone would be enough for me to get a new vet if possible. If you cannot get another vet then it is time to for you to become more proactive in Griffin's treatment with the help of the wonderful people on this forum.

Home testing is crucial for any pet parent giving insulin to their furbabies. We can certainly help you with getting started on that, as well as figuring out a proper low carb wet food that is suitable for a diabetic kitty. Unfortunately many of us have found that the vets that we trusted to help our kitties, ended up knowing very little about the proper approaches for treatment.

For more detailed information you can post your questions on the Health Forum:

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

where there is a lot of "traffic" so more people will see your questions. We can help you set up a spreadsheet to record your test results once you start home testing...the sooner the better.

When you post on the Health Forum please include the type of insulin you are using and what dose Griffin is on, as well as what dose changes have been done and any other health problems that may have been diagnosed along with diabetes.

You are no longer alone in your fight against diabetes. We are all here for you and for Griffin.

 

I wish I had know that a year ago, so glad I found this site. I am heading out to buy my first glucose metre today - very nervous (not to use it but to try to figure out how to manage this on my own (so to speak) )

Glad to know the information is out there (here) and we have found a place where we are not alone.

I see you are from Canada - what metre do you use?

 

I am using the Free Style Lite meter and the Alpha Trak 2 pet meter. The pet meter is very expensive because of the cost of the strips. Both meters are made by the same company and the strips require a very small drop of blood to do the test. In Canada, most pharmacies will give you a meter for free when you buy a box of strips. The strips are always what end up costing the most, rather than the meter. You would need a meter, test strips for that specific meter, and lancets. I use the Free Style lancets by hand without using the lancing device that comes with the meter. My two do not like the clicking sound the lancet device makes so it is easier for me to just poke by hand.


ETA I am in Winnipeg and all meter strips here are about the same price. Some of the other Canadian members order on line to get cheaper prices.

 

Welcome, Moe and Griffin.

I'm very glad that you've found FDMB; it is a great place to get help for diabetic kitties - and moral support for their humans!



Correct link for the Feline Health forum:

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

Most people here test using human glucometers and a cat-specific blood glucose reference range. Popular among US members here are Walmart's Relion Confirm or Relion Micro. (Both only need a small sample size and the strips are affordable.) If you can get hold of the meter we can help you learn to home test really quickly. You'll need lancets, too (26-29 gauge). Also when you're picking up supplies grab hold of some urine ketone test strips, e.g. Keto-diastix / I think Relion do them as well. It's important to check urine for ketones regularly as part of a normal monitoring routine for diabetics. It's a good idea to get some Vaseline or Neosporin ointment (not the cream version); a little film on the ear makes it easier to get the blood sample.

A lot of members here successfully manage their kitties' diabetes treatment with minimal supervision by their vets. Mary Ann has already told you about some of the tools and educational resources available at FDMB. There is also a huge amount of combined experience among the members here. We'll do all that we can to help you and your boy.


Mogs
.

 

Oh, yeah ...

Here are some more .


Mogs
.

 

Aww..Thanks for correcting my wrong link Mogs. I will edit my post.

 

I used the Free Style Lite metre as well. There is a cheaper metre (available online, only in Canada). It requires a larger droplet of blood. I used it as a back-up metre. I found it read higher than the Free Style Lite, so stayed with the Free Style Lite. With the possibility of low numbers and hypos, I'd rather have a metre than read lower than higher. Every metre has its variance, and cannot necessarily be compared.

Here is the link for the metre with cheaper strips. http://www.diabetesexpress.ca/free-...r-with-purchase-bravo-test-strips-p-2456.html

(While strips are expensive in Canada, insulin is much cheaper than in the US. And it will be cheaper to buy at a pharmacy or Walmart /Costco than to buy from your vet. You don't need a prescription for insulin if you tell the pharmacist it is for a cat. Only humans need a prescription.)

 

Thank You all very much for the warm welcome ALL of the information to get my boy and I started.

 

I checked out your log sheet - thank you for sharing. That is a lot of information and a wee bit overwhelming. Did you learn that all here (feels like a completely new language) and how long have you been doing this? I am hoping to learn fast as we are already a year behind the eight ball (as they say).

 

Mogs...who is Critter Mom...has always had an amazingly detailed logging of all information....it is the envy of many people here. However most of us can't do the same or don't have the time. The more information the better, but it is not necessary to have that much, especially at the beginning, unless you feel you want to. Feline diabetes comes with a new "language" which can seem rather overwhelming at first, but as you go along the "buzz words" start to become part of your everyday conversations. Baby steps are best at first so that you don't overwhelm yourself and if you have questions or don't understand something...just ask!! We were all new at one time and that is what this site is for to support and educate. You will be amazed at how fast you start to pick up on things as you go along.

 

Thank you, I would love some help on both of these points as I am not sure what I should be tracking (I will begin with doing the BG curve this Sunday) and I have never fed any of my animals wet food except as a treat (Thanksgiving, Christmas, Birthdays, Vacations) so I know nothing about good quality wet food. I have always fed a food with no by-products, low grains like blue buffalo, Wellness ect. Until the vet said he needed prescription diabetic food. I would have love to have feed the cats raw but they never took to it.

 

Most of the members on here in both Canada and the US use Fancy Feast pate or Friskies pate wet foods if there are no kidney problems. The prescription foods the vet sells are not actually "prescription" and are really not any better than the ones I mentioned. The dry food, prescription or not is a poor choice for diabetic kitties, as it is high in carbs, no matter what type it is, and can cause other health issues as well. If your kitty (s) will eat wet food then that is the way to go. HOWEVER if you have been feeding dry food as the regular diet, FOR SAFETY'S SAKE DO NOT MAKE A DIET CHANGE UNTIL YOU ARE HOME TESTING. There have been a good number of cases where a kitty that was on a dry food diet and was changed to a low carb wet food diet had their insulin needs drop substantially, just from the food change, and in some cases (not always though) they were able to go off insulin in a short time period because of eliminating dry food. Raw food is great, but if your kitties are not keen on it, then look at feeding all your kitties...diabetic or not...a low carb wet food...but ONLY ONCE YOU ARE HOME TESTING.


ETA The Fancy Feast or Friskies would have to be the pate style and not the ones with gravy. Also the Friskies Indoor Cat pate with the green lid is NOT a low carb food. It is actually quite high in carbs. The rest are fine running around 10-12%, which is a little higher than I prefer but still a better food than the dry.

 

I have good news; the standard FDMB spreadsheet is much simpler than mine. (I customised my one to include a lot of secondary monitoring info needed for other health issues. I have serious memory problems so need help with keeping track of things.) I learned an enormous amount here thanks to the kindness and generosity of FDMB members who share their experience - both in the forum stickies and with day-to-day support on the discussion boards. I also received help from members here in terms of pointers to other reputable cat health and nutrition websites for additional help.

Have a look at Tuxedo Mom's spreadsheet to see the amount of info in a more typical spreadsheet (not nearly as 'busy' as mine!).

To save you a bit of digging around, here are links to forum stickies with instructions on how to set up and understand the spreadsheet, plus a link to the FDMB glossary to help you bust some of the jargon here. Just pop back to this thread and click on the links when you're ready to use them.

Spreadsheet set-up instructions

Understanding the spreadsheet grid

FDMB Glossary

If you need help setting up the spreadsheet, just holler and someone can do the techie bit for you. Thereafter it's just a question of filling in the boxes with daily results and remarks. Even the colour coding is automatically done for you.


Mogs
.

 

Hi Moe and Griffin. Welcome from a fellow Canuck in Ontario. You are in good hands here and will get the help you need to get Griffin feeling better. I am one of the folks Mogs mentioned that manages my girl's diabetes without much if any assistance from my vet. The vet gets updates from me just in case I need her at some point but otherwise, we manage on our own.

Here is another Cdn. food chart you may find helpful. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...0KlRA2ZVTk_tYNVRaoG_3Dfy64/edit#gid=964479244

So glad you found us. Where in Ontario are you located? I am in Toronto.

 

I'm in Ontario as well.

What insulin are you using? And what is the dose?

 

Another Canadian here. I'm in Ottawa.

 

We are in Wasaga Beach.
Insulin is Caninsulin
Needles U-40
He gets 2 units twice a day - feed at the same times as his shots.
Got our first meter today and did a test before his regularly scheduled shot to see how he would handle it.
Result = 27.4 mmlo / 493.2

 

Don't feel bad about what you've been doing. We all started somewhere and, over time, decided we needed to do things differently so we came here to FDMB. There are fewer people using Caninsulin (also called Vetsulin) than the human insulins, Lantus and Levemir, or the cat insulin, ProZinc. However, there are general FDMB principles that apply regardless of the insulin you're using: home testing of blood glucose is done before feeding and giving insulin (to know that the dose you're planning to give isn't too high for the BG level); at least one BG test is done when the insulin is expected to be having peak action (so you have some idea of how low the dose takes your cat); data is recorded in a spreadsheet so that patterns become evident over time that will aid you in making dosing decisions. The spreadsheet, once set up, is the tool that allows other FDMB members to see your cat's numbers and give advice on how to proceed.

There's a lot of info here to absorb. Don't try to do too much at one time. Feel free to ask any questions you have on the General Health forum where it will be seen by more people. There is a forum for Caninsulin users but I believe the group is small. Someone there will be able to give specific Caninsulin advice.

 

I know Wasaga Beach fairly well. In-laws cottage was up there and I have friends in that general area...Barrie and Sayner which are not that far from you.

Unfortunately, the board for Caninsulin is not used anymore and people posting there are re-directed to the Health Board. I think the number of folks using Caninsulin dwindled enough that there just wasn't much traffic on that board. By using the Health board where the majority of folks check for posts, help is always at hand because as Kris says, many of the principles of using insulin are the same no matter what insulin you are using. We've had a bit of a influx of Caninsulin (Vetsulin in the US) users join us over the last little while, so experienced support/help is available.

Great job getting a BG test already. Give yourself a big pat on the back because that's a huge step forward and for many, one of the biggest hurdles to get over.

One last thing. Not sure when you took the BG test tonight but going forward, make sure you withhold food 2 hours before getting that pre-shot test. You want a reading that is not food influenced. Once you test, you can feed Griffin and then wait 20 - 30 minutes before giving the insulin. That way, you ensure that the Caninsulin, has food to work with.

Can we get you to start posting over on the Health board because this forum is peer reviewed for accuracy and safety and this particular board is really only meant for a meet and greet. We'll keep an eye out for you on Health and if you have any problems setting up the spreadsheet, just holler over on Health and we'll get ask our tech wizardess to assist you.