Hello everyone!

My 8 year old Ragdoll kitty, Shadow, is newly diagnosed with diabetes. We almost lost him this weekend because I had been using a home human glucometer. When I finally compared my reading with the one at the vet, I realized that when I thought he was safely under 200, his reading of 175 was actually more like 350! Trying to get regulated with prozinc now. Grateful for others out there to talk to!

 

Welcome Shadow to FDMB! What is your name? How did you almost lost Shadow? When was he diagnosed with diabetes? Anyway, you have come to the right place for support. There are a lot of caring and experience folks here. You will be given a whole lot of information and at first, it will seem very overwhelming however in a couple of weeks, things will start falling into place.

Good Reading: This is a must read. It is an excellent 18 page informative document that covers feline health and nutrition. Don't take short cuts and read it all. www.catinfo.org Also read other postings and their spreadsheets. You will learn a lot more from others.

Home Testing: Here, we all home test. It is mandatory to understand how your kitty is reacting to the insulin and the dose. You will want to test before each shot and some additional test in between the 12 hour cycle. Another reason to home test is to keep your kitty safe. Find a place in your home where you will always perform the test and give lots of hugs before and after testing. There are many videos showing you how to test. Hometesting Links and TipsHere is a picture of where you test on your kitty. http://s106.photobucket.com/user/chupie_2006/media/testingear/sweetspot.jpg.html

Here is another good link on Home Testing:http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-home-test.htm

Meters: There are many meters. There is a pet meter called the Alpha Trak2 and human meters. Some use the pet meter because it is what the vets use so the numbers will match up. The meter and strips are expensive though. Most use human meters that can be purchased at any pharmacy. It typically reads a little lower than the pet meter but we have ways of compensating those lower numbers. Many use Walmart's brand, Relion Micro or Relion Confirm, because it only needs a tiny drop of blood. They cost around $15 and the strips are around 35 cents each.

Lancets: These are used to poke the ear to get blood. There are many different sizes (gauges). It is recommended when you are first starting out to use a 26-28 gauge. Also, it would be a good idea to pick up Neosporin WITH pain reliever to apply on the edge of the ears and don't forget to alternate ears.

Spreadsheets: 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.

Food: There are many reasons why we are here but one is due to feeding dry cat food which is high in carbs. You will want to consider changing your food to wet, low carb food. It is recommended to feed food that is under 10% carbs. Here is a list of cat food to choose from food chartyou will note that the food with fish are lower in carbs however it is recommended that you only give fish once a week due to its mercury content. Many use Fancy Feast, 9 Lives, Friskies, etc. This list can also be found in www.catinfo.org If you are already giving insulin and you have not transitioned to wet, low carb cat food, be sure to test while you are transitioning. This is because by changing to low carb food, it could decrease your kitty’s number by 100 points or more. One last thing, many of us add water to the wet food so your kitty is getting plenty of water to flush out the toxins and to keep them hydrated.

Hypo Kit: Always good to be prepared for possible hypo events which means that your cat has reached dangerously low numbers. It can be fatal, hence, the importance of home testing and collecting data in a spreadsheet. In each of the Insulin Forums are stickie’s labeled Hypo Links. Here is one: How to Handle a Hypo. Please print and post on your refrigerator so everyone in your household is aware of hypo symptoms. You will want to create your hypo kit that would include and not limited to; extra testing strips, honey/karo/maple syrup, high carb food, medium carb food, vet information, etc.

Ketones: Diabetic cats are susceptible to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). It is best to buy testing strips that will measure (if any) ketones in the urine. One brand is Ketostix which can be found at Walmart or any pharmacy. You will want to test periodically unless you continue to get high numbers, then it is suggested to test more frequently. Ketostix typically costs around $10.

Treats: It is always nice to have treats available for your kitty especially when testing or when they decide not to eat. I like using Pure Bites. I have found it at Petsmart and other pet stores. It is freeze dried and the only ingredient is the meat i.e. chicken, duck, etc. If your cat likes it, then I would go to the dog section where it is cheaper than the cat package. It is bigger chunks but no problem in breaking it up. Another option is to use Bonita Flakes. There is a link here somewhere that has a list of low carb treats but I don't have it right now.

Injections: Most folks here use one of these main insulins; Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc. Two hours prior to your insulin shot, you will not want your kitty to eat. Then you will test and then feed. It is best for your kitty to eat a little before your shoot. I shoot while he is eating. The reason why you do not want your kitty to eat two hours prior to your test is because food elevates BG numbers. So you do not want to dose based on a food influenced number. Here is a link on how to give injections.http://www.felinediabetes.com/injections.htm

Note: Please check your insulins as there are some (the harsher ones like Humulin, Novolin, Vetsulin, etc.) that would be best to allow some time after your kitty has eaten before you shoot.

 

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

My name is Shannon and in early September we noticed Shadow had started to drop weight pretty quickly. We took him to the vet who said that they weren't sure what was going on because his liver labs were off, teeth were bad, and blood glucose was high. They weren't sure if the tooth issue was causing weight loss or if he was diabetic. They said that the stress of an office visit could be the cause of elevation. They sent me home with science diet liver support dry and oral antibiotic drops. He seemed to perk up a bit but wouldn't eat the food without mixing with canned. I did some research and ordered some young again dry food and bought some canned nature's instinct. He was eating those mixed but got real good at eating the canned and leaving the dry that was mixed in behind. I also bought a home human glucometer from Walgreens which I think is where things went bad. I started testing his blood with a paw pad stick a couple hours after eating and his numbers were always below 200 although often pretty close. When after about three weeks he started to lose his appetite and more weight, I let him eat some of his old favorite bad cat chow. He ate it up but within a week he no longer wanted that or any of the cans I had bought. His test strip was 205 at the highest so I thought he just didn't want what I gave him. I tried Fancy Feast pate and he ate almost 1/4 can (good for him at the time) and I thought I had found it. The next morning he wouldn't eat or drink. I couldn't get him into a vet and spent the night with an eye dropper trying to push water into him. The next morning, Halloween, I found a vet who would see him. He could barely walk at this point.
She kept him from Saturday morning until Tuesday night. His initial glucose reading was literally off the chart. We don't know how high but >680. Almost all labs were high except proteins. When I picked him up we compared my glucometer with her reading. Mine said 55 and hers read 116!!! Evidently I need to double what my glucometer says. So when I was home testing and thought we were safe we were actually dangerously high. When he stopped drinking it spiked even further.
Anyway, we are now on prozinc 2u at breakfast and 1u at dinner. I'm a little bit worried because his reading before eating was 155 on my glucometer and 150 two hours after eating and 1u. I will call her tomorrow to see if I should up to dose.
Any thoughts?

 

We know that human glucometers read lower than veterinary glucometers.
That is why the reference numbers here are for using human glucometers.
For an AlphaTrak meter, you want to use veterinary reference numbers - there are some glucometer notes in my signature link.

 

We suggest new diabetics not get insulin if under 200 at their preshot test. Your 150 preshots are very low for any dose, but especially for 2 units.

For reference, we consider a cat regulated in the cat is in the low 200s at preshot and double digits at their lowest point, but not below 50 (which is approaching hypo territory)

If he were mine, I would not shoot under 200. I'd get some levels mid cycle to see how low the dose is taking him (lowest point or nadir is usually 5-7 hours after the shot)

We put together a protocol for ProZinc. It is blue in my signature.

 

Thank you so much. I really only tested because he looked a little depleted. Not as plump as when he came home but I know she had super hydrated him right when we left so it may just have been that. I will absolutely use the info in your sigs and am going to check bg at the vet tonight.