Hello

Hi everyone. I am not only new to diabetes, this is the first forum I have ever joined so not really sure how it all works. I am also from Scotland and not used to some of your terms when I read some of the posts people had put in I'm afraid it looked like a foreign language, so if you use abbreviations in your reply you will really have to explain them to me I'm afraid.

I have 3 cats, Liquorice, Allsorts and Casey. Liquorice is the one with diabetes. She was diagnosed really by accident. She was losing weight however she had a tooth problem and I thought that was the cause. She was also very nervous and I asked a cat behaviour therapist to come to give me advice as we needed her to calm down a bit before she had an anaesthetic. All of a sudden she was weeing in places she shouldn't have and acting very strangely. He gave me some advice but it didn't seem to help, so the vet decided that they would have to go ahead and extract her tooth anyway, because she just wasn't getting any better.

When she went into the vets to have her tooth extracted as she was 10 yrs old they did a blood test and that is when they found she was diabetic. When they called me I was devastated, but I was also shocked when they asked me if I wanted them to treat her. I didn't know that some people decide not to, I just couldn't do that. I had a phobia about needles which I had to get over to look after her, but it was just not an option to do anything but treat her. It took me a lot of time and tears to be able to inject her. The vet nurse was so worried about me she called me every day to check how I was getting on. One of the vet nurses now comes to the house to look after Liquorice (and Allsorts and Casey) when I am on holiday, so at least I know she is being looked after properly.

She was diagnosed in March this year and she is still not really stable. I am using caninsulin. We started at 1.5 units and we have increased it gradually 0.25 at a time. I am now giving her 3 units and I take her back in two weeks to see what the results are. She is such a sweet wee thing, she is definitely MY cat, she is sitting beside me on the desk right now as I type and she sleeps beside me at night.

I have read a few things that have said that if they eat dried food that it is a contributing factor, however, she has always preferred wet food. She does prefer food with gravy rather than jelly though. She has always been a fussy eater and I always buy a variety of food so that I can entice her to eat. Not sure how I should change that?

Where she had a tooth out in March hasn't actually healed yet. When I was with the vet two weeks ago he said it was a bit of tooth or bone that was there and they would have to give her another general anaesthetic to drill it out. However, they wanted to wait until she was stable before doing it. I'm worried about that, I hope it goes OK.

Well anyway, I better go now, just thought I would introduce myself.

 

Welcome Yvonne and Liquorice,

We have a number of members in the British Isles who can reply to your posts in actual time; we used to have someone in Edinburgh. (Some one will know if we still do.) The rest of us will try to catch you in the early morning or late evening. We traded homes in Scotland the spring before this and had lovely adventures in Edinburgh and the surrounding areas. What a beautiful country you have.

It sounds like you and Liquorice are doing well. Sometimes an infection (like a tooth) can cause elevated blood glucose levels. So fixing it may lower the amount of insulin she needs. We will be urging you to learn to hometest. (If you got the needles down, you can do this!) Here is some beginning info that might help: http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm and a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8 It will give you such peace of mind to know what her blood glucose levels are - particularly if they start to change.

Foods without gravy tend to be lower carb. Check out the posts down the page to the British posters - they have lots of food info in them. viewtopic.php?f=28&t=23335 is the last one.

There is a wealth of good information here and people very willing to help if you need it. Just ask!

 

Welcome to the party, Yvonne! You sound pretty harried, but you can never quite tell with these newfangled "internet" devices. ;-)

I'm glad you're a cat person "crazy" enough to hang in there with your girl (hey, we all are!); it's true that there are people out there who either can't or won't treat a cat with diabetes. I think a lot of that is based on outdated information, and a veterinarian's poor work in educating their clients (and, unfortunately, themselves on occasion!) It sounds like you have a very caring staff at your veterinary clinic, and that ought to go a long way in helping you get Liquorice on the road to regulation. (Rufus and I are starting to make some headway ourselves - you can see if you look down in my signature and click on the "Spreadsheet" link. The AMPS and PMPS stand for "AM pre-shot" and "PM pre-shot" and are the results (in US standard) from my testing at those times. The other brackets are for the hours following. The "U" stands for Units Given.)

I'm sure there are more replies on the way with all the important things to know as a "newbie", but for now - know that you landed on your feet by showing up here! This place is a whole big glob of people who care about their cats enough to go the extra mile for them - and yours, too. If there's one thing I've learned since I showed up earlier this month: ask questions! There's bound to be someone who knows the answer around here, or can at least point you in the right direction.

In the meantime - go ahead and catch your breath. You're educating yourself, which is exactly what you need to do for Liquorice (and a great way to prevent diabetes and other health concerns in your other cats), and the very best way to see that she gets as many wonderful years with you as you can possibly squeeze out of her.

 

Hello from 'South of the Border'

Welcome to the sugardance Yvonne and Liquorice. We are 'south of the border' in Essex. Firstly, congratulations on overcoming your fears to treat Liquorice. It is sadly the case that some people opt not to treat a feline diagnosed with diabetes. For people like us, this is just not an option. Commitment on the part of an owner is the greatest asset in treating FD and Liquorice has a good one in you!

I believe that we do have a member of the UK FDMB (Steve & Jock) community in Edinburgh. Last time I heard from him her was there and he logged into FDMB a couple of days ago so he is still active on the board. I have sent him a Personal Message with a link to your post to alert him. You might want to visit his website:

http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Main_Page

Good luck to you and Liquorice. Please keep us updated.

Love

 

Hullo from Hastings
There are a lot of us around
Mary(UK)

 

Hi Yvonne

Welcome, love your kitty names! I am from the UK south but now in the USA so they made me giggle as I love those sweeties!
Sounds like you are doing great, dont be discouraged, its a journey that takes time to adjust to and it sounds like you are doing everything just as you should.
We had our diabetic boy for almost 15 years and 4 of those were with very successful diabetes treatment. We were freaked out at first about the needles too, I still cant get over how easy it became. It will be like clockwork eventually and you will not give it a second thought! Great that you have a reliable pet sitter for when you go on your hols
The reward and bond with taking care of a diabetic kitty is priceless and one of the best choice we ever made.
The people here are amazing and supportive and kind and will give advice wherever and whatever the situation....lifesavers, really.
We look forward to seeing you on the boards just ask, someone will always be here to chat and listen.

 

Hello again,

Thanks to all of you who replied to my last post. It is great to know that there is a host of supportive people out there. I haven't started home testing yet, I suppose it is something that I need to do. The vet hasn't mentioned it yet, maybe when Liquorice is stable he will?

It's nice to know that there are people in my own time zone logging on to the forum too. I live not too far from Edinburgh so it would be great to hear from them too.

I had to take Allsorts to the Vet for testing too. She was drinking a lot, although had no other symptoms. She was tested and they tested her kidneys too but she is fine which is a relief! I think it was the hot weather we were having (that one day of sunshine!)

However my devilishly handsome boy Casey is not so fine. One of the cats in the neighbourhood decided that he was in fact too handsome, so now he is sporting a mauled ear and a sore front paw. (Between you and me he only limps if he sees me looking at him, I think it is for sympathy!)

Anyway, it means that everyone wants to sit on my knee and get cuddles at the moment, which makes housework rather difficult, although I'm not complaining, I know what I would rather do.

Yvonne

 

Sorry my reply was short last night, but it was past my bedtime!!

If you put UK in your heading more of us will see it quickly.

My husband had needle phobia for over 60 years, but when I went into hospital, he took over the care of Jazz Cat, which was just as well as I was away for 5 weeks.

He took over Katy and Bushey Boy, too!

Jazz was 15 when diagnosed and cancer took him 5 years later. I was amazed to hear that cats are called geriactric at 8 years old, Jazz was still a kitten at heart at 19!

Mary

 

Yvonne, waiting for your vet to mention home testing may be a wait in vain. Also waiting till Liquorice is more stable.....could be quite a wait. The best time to learn hometesing is the day you give your first shot of insulin. Please consider buying a meter and start home testing ASAP. It is a lifesaver in many way.

 

Re: Hello UK

Thanks for the advice. I have put UK in the title of this one so hopefully will catch more UK people too. Yes I will buy a meter for home testing. Will my vet teach me how to home test? Do I have to do a blood test and a urine test or just one or the other? Do I need to test every time I inject?

Yvonne
:?

 

Yvonne, keep hoping Steve and Jock will contact you but Mary and Simon have already posted to you. Here is the link for hometesting info and tips.....
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=287
Doubt your vet will teach you.....majority of us taught ourselves.....some of us long before there were any pictures or videos ;-)
You will test every time you need to shoot insulin. You test first, then feed and then shoot. You want to know the bg number, if it is safe to shoot. Then you want to make sure kitty eats before giving insulin.
As for urine testing......here in the States we call it KetoDiastix (tests urine for glucose and ketones) or Ketostix (tests urine for ketones only). You should try and catch urine once in a while to check for ketones and especially if your kitty is not feeling well. Ketones can be deadly.

You will not hurt your cat testing the ear so please try and not let that fear stop you from testing. Just remember.....you only test the edge of the ear.

If you have problems, just post here for help. It will all become second nature to where you could do it in your sleep if you didn't have to read the numbers on the meter :lol:

 

Hi and welcome from Canada

Re having your vet teach you to test blood glucose levels yourself...sorry, nope, you'll have to teach yourself to test or get the help of someone local. Hometesting in the UK used to be terribly frowned upon for some reason, doesn't make a bit of sense. But don't despair, it is totally doable and there are lots of 'how to' guides.

I would strongly suggest getting that tooth taken care of as it can leave your babe prone to infection, pain, etc.

Jen

 

First thing: please put UK kitty in the FIRST post you made so that is shows up in the list of posts. You need to go to the first post, select edit at the bottom left, adjust your subject line, then click on submit.

My vets never mentioned home testing and have never asked me how it's going in all the time I have gone to them. I TOLD them I am testing and why, so they know. I don't think they have many diabetic clients, but I told them they should tell the others to home test, so that their poor advice on diabetes does not kill their clients. It's OK; they are used to my ways by now and are fine with it. I always take them copies of the spreadsheets with the test numbers and they scan the info into my cats' files.

Testing hurt the ears? If it does, then my cats must be tough because they pretty much sleep through the pokes and give me annoying looks when I wake them to test - I am not going to crawl under the bed with a flashlight, so they have to come out from wherever they are sleeping so I can see them to test. Honest, mine sleep through the pokes on the ears.

If you want the vet to show you how to test, maybe you can take your cat and the meter into the office but it's simple to follow from online videos. I did get my vet to show me how to give fluids when my Shadoe had pancreatitis but I just wanted to make sure I was giving them correctly. My vet did show me how to give insulin shots as well on our visit to pick up the insulin and syringes, but other than those two things, this site has been my go-to site for info and instructions.

There are times when it is vital for you to test - before you give any insulin shot. There may be a time when you test and you get a number that is TOO LOW for you to give a shot. Many people have tested and then either skipped a shot or maybe given a half dose, but if they had not tested first, they could have given the regular dose and had big trouble hours later. Best to know the BG number before giving insulin.
Another very good time to test is just before you head to bed; you want to know that kitty is at a safe number before you go to sleep ... nobody wants to wake up to a sick kitty with a very low number and many go lower at nite times.

I admit that I am a testaholic, so if you look at the sheets for my two, you will see many more tests than just 3, but I believe that you can't have too much data! That's my excuse!

When you test, you have peace of mind that you know how your kitty is reacting to the insulin shots.

Testing for ketones is quite important if you are testing and getting high BG numbers. I believe most people are testing for ketones; if you see even a trace on the ketostix, it is critical that you address the problem. Please post online as soon as you have a value register that is not a negative. Ketones are a very serious issue that should be addressed quickly.

You should test for ketones in the urine and also home test blood for glucose numbers to know how the insulin has been working, if it needs to be adjusted or even stopped.

There is a great deal of info on ketones; see below link for just one site of many.
You do not want to get into this situation, so it's best to test and be prepared, just in case.
http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Ketoacidosis

 

Hi Yvonne,

If you go to you tube there are several helpful short videos from diabetic owners of how to home test with either the ear.
We found the films very helpful and you can watch a bunch of times till you get the hang of it all
Just enter" blood glucose testing for diabetic cats" and they will pop up.

Don't feel intimidated, our Tesla didnt even flinch when we pricked his ear to get that little drop of blood and its quick to do after a few tries. We also warmed a wash cloth to massage his ear first to get the blood flowing as directed and he seemed to love that alot!

Good luck and dont let all the info overwhelm you, its much less complicated in practice and your liquorice will be happy and probably look forward to getting his insulin more and more as it makes him feel so much better

You will both do great!!!

 

Crivens!

Awrite Yvonne and wee Liquorice, hou's it gaun?! I love pretending to be a Scot.

I'm late to the party but happy to help. The UK is a problem for diabetic cats because of their medicine "cascade" laws which force vets to prescribe animal meds before human meds. Problem is, there are no good animal insulins left that are very good for cats. Caninsulin is, well, once you start home testing you'll see for yourself. It's designed for dogs, who process insulin at a different pace.

It will work very well (dangerously so) in the first 4 hours, not so well for the next 4, and not at all for the next 4 after that. You will see. And if you just test at shot time it will appear not to have worked at all, whereas in the first 4 hours it could easily be bringing L's blood sugar dangerously low.

Don't take my word for this, since every cat is different. Use the glucose meter you buy to test every 2 hours for a day and graph the results for your vet and for us.

Here's a helpful video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

Another thing you may be doing is feeding the wrong food. There are really good cat foods in the UK for diabetic cats, but unfortunately they are often not the prescription foods your vet may recommend. (I know, I know...) This site has the links you need to educate yourself on the right diet, and it is *very* important for a diabetic cat.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm

Come on back and post again please so we can chat more!
Guid cheerio the nou!
Steve

 

Hello & Welcome!

you have found the right place for help and support ...it's awe-inspiring when people from all over the globe offer guidance and caring for others.

My guy has been helped immensely on the forums here, so good luck to you.

Celi & Binks

 

Hi everyone and thanks for your information. Sorry I haven't been logging on for a few days. Lickie hasn't been very well. The first day she was lethargic and I had to hand feed her to get her to eat. I injected her after she had eaten, but when I came in from work she didn't come to meet me, she looked as though she hadn't got up all day. I hand fed her again and didn't inject her this time. After a couple of hours she was running around again and looked fine. Next morning she seemed fine and came running for her breakfast, I injected her as normal afterwards. That night again she was lethargic. The vet said to see if she would eat something and if she did give her half the dose, she had dinner in bed and I gave her half the dose again a couple of hours later was running around again.

I asked the vet if he thought it could be her tooth and he said no, that wouldn't make her lethargic, but it may put her off her food. He said it could be her Blood sugar was too high, to see how she was and bring her in if she didn't perk up. Well she did perk up and she seems to be fine again and has been fine now for a couple of days. I am taking her in for a complete check for my peace of mind. I have to say that if I was the vet I would be getting a bit fed up of me. They are really good with me, they talk to me every time I have a concern. They have a dedicated diabetuc nurse too and she talks to me when I have a concern too.

The vet is really against me home testing he feels a little bit of knowledge is dangerous and I may make decisions without knowing what I am doing and I am pretty scared to do it too. I know you all do it and it looks simple in the videos and you probably think I'm a big woose. nailbite_smile I mentioned at the beginning of all of this that I had to conquer my phobia about needles when I first started injecting, well, I'm afraid I also faint at the sight of blood! :lol: Not just my own but anyone elses too. I know I am putting off the inevitable and I will get there, it's just a really big step. Yvonne and Lickie

 

you're not a big woose...you are brave for stepping up to help your companion. believe me, i had a ton of anxiety about whether i was doing the right thing or would risk adding to the problems my guy faced, but on joining this forum, you've solved the problem of "a little information is dangerous" the folks here have a vast amount of experience and offer a great amount of support. they have helped me immensely, and as a fellow-newbie, i can say: in my opinion, you have come to the right place for help.

good luck!

Celi & binks

 

All we can do is urge you to learn how. It really can save your kitty's life. If she is going too low every time she seems lethargic, her body and pancreas are suffering.

How about looking at it like this - if it was you, or your child, would it make sense for your doctor to say "Don't test yourself at home. Knowledge is dangerous." ?

 

Welcome back Yvonne!

The lack of knowledge is what I think is a dangerous thing. Both very low and very high blood sugar can cause lethargy. If you don't test, you can't really tell which one it is, so you can easily do the wrong thing and make it worse.

Also note again that blood sugar comes down for a few hours after injection, sometimes quite low (depending on dosage and diet), and then rises again. Depending how long your insulin lasts, it can be low at midday and then dangerously high again by next shot time. You really need more information to get things straightened out.

Calling your vets at all hours won't help, since they won't know (any more than you do) whether the problem is low or high blood sugar, and can easily guess wrong as well. Home testing is the only way out of this long-term.

We all got over the blood thing somehow...

Cheers,
Steve and Jock, (now on a quarter-unit twice daily and in great shape!)

 

Thanks guys!

 

Yvonne, putting off testing Lickie is dangerous. You truly are risking her life because from the sounds of it she may be going too low.
Others here have a different saying but mine has always been that shooting insulin without knowing the bg number is playing Russian Roulette and the filled syringe is the loaded gun. You just have no way of knowing when you shoot if the bullet is finally in the chamber.