Hello from KRams and Xena

Hi all,

My 9 year-old kitty Xena was diagnosed with diabetes about a week and a half ago. She was having diarrhea and I was worried she had lost weight- yep. When she went in for her normal check-up in August, she was just over 9 lbs, an ideal weight for her. When we went in the other week, she was 7.4 lbs!

My vet (new, since we recently moved to RI) did a full blood and urine work-up and quickly got back to me about her glucose level- almost 500 mg/dl, with glucose in her urine. I'd already brought in a stool sample and (no surprise since she's kept exclusively indoors) it was negative for parasites.

Xena had been free-feeding dry food (Purina One Indoor Advantage) for about 7 years. Because we need to address the diarrhea, the vet gave us a course of metronidazole, a probiotic, and told us to feed her Hills i/d food until her intestines recover, and then to switch to the Purina A/D diet. As far as insulin, she prescribed Lantus, 1 unit every 12 hours after food (0.5 units or none if she doesn't eat, 0.5 units if she doesn't eat all her food).

As far as monitoring, this vet doesn't think we need to monitor glucose levels at home. After reading more on this board, I will be picking up a glucometer and doing my own curve. What I know right now is that a week after diagnosis, the vet tested Xena's blood glucose 6 hours after injection and it was about 360 mg/dl, so the vet increased her insulin dose to 2 units per injection. She still mostly has loose stool and we're still feeding Hills i/d but she hasn't lost any additional weight (phew!).

Xena is the oldest of my current kitties (Xander is 5, Deedee is 3) and I've never had a kitty with diabetes before so I'm grateful for the knowledge and support that this message board clearly provides. I'll post an update (and likely some questions soon) on the main forum soon.

 

Welcome to FDMB, Xena is adorable! Love the fluffy belly. Ok, you are here, you have made some great decisions regarding caring for Xena effectively. Home testing is the best tool you have to keep Xena safe, if you are injecting insulin, ALWAYS test first to be sure it's safe to do so. Testing is a learned process for most of us, so don't get discouraged if all is not perfect at first. But it's worth every bit of effort and every minute you spend learning.
The FAQs forum is a good place to find information and links to testing at home.
Please set up your signature so that Xena's information is available with each of your posts:
1. Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters)
2. Another thing that will help us help you now that you've started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. We can all see it and look at it before offering advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/
Diet is important and we can give suggestions for low carb food that is good for a sugar cat. Granted, Xena is dealing with some gastro issues right now and there are more knowledgeable people here that can chime in about that.
Lantus likes consistency, and the advice about raising and lowering the dose like you have been might not be in her best interests. Please read the stickies at the top of the Lantus forum about how Lantus works, and post there for advice. The members there have years of hands on experience with this insulin.
The more you know, the more manageable this new adventure in your life is going to be. You are doing exactly the right things, keep researching and asking questions.