Hi, I'm new here!

Hi everyone, I'm Jenn! My princess Jasmine was diagnosed about a month ago. Not a huge shock to us since she has been on steroids for the past year due to asthma. But still, scary. She was put on 2 units of Prozinc twice a day and given a huge dietary overhaul. She's improved remarkably in just a few weeks. I'm hoping these boards will help me learn everything I need to know to best manage her care. Already, it looks as though we are going to need to adjust our regimen.

 

Hi there and welcome to the best place you never wanted to be. I am sorry that Jasmine was DX with diabetes but as you said, no surprise with being on steroids. Is she still on the steroids? The reason I ask, because after going off the steroids, the blood glucose (BG) can go down a lot and sometimes kitties will even stop needing the insulin.

ProZinc is a nice gentle insulin and you can post in the ProZinc Forum and those peeps can really help you with dose adjustments.

I am glad that your vet talked to you about food because the carb intake is very important. We recommend a low carb wet food under 10% carbs and it is not necessary to buy RX food from the vet as a lot of those foods are too high in carbs and not to mention too expensive. Here is a chart we use, the carbs are the 3rd column from the left. You can check your food to make sure it is under 10% carbs. Many of us feed Fancy Feast CLASSICS, 9 Lives, PATE, Friskies Pate and Wellness NO GRAIN. Notice that I have in caps the particular type within the brand because not all flavors within a brand are low carb. Here is the chart:

foodchart

Are you home testing? Here, we all home test. It is very important 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. Here 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 it. Many use Walmart's brand, Relion Micro or Relion Prime, because it only needs a tiny drop of blood. The Prime testing strips are ½ the price of the Micro.

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.

This is a lot of information for you and please ask if you have any questions, as we are here to help.

 

Bobbie gave you some great info. We also put together a protocol for ProZinc. It's in my signature in blue.

 

Hi Jenn,

I just wanted to add my welcome. I'm really sorry you have to be here, but I'm also really glad you found this site. We are one of the many success stories here. After just a few months on insulin, my cat, Jersey, went into remission. I don't think we could have done it without the support and knowledge of the people here.

Shelly

 

Check out my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools - other assessments which may be helpful in assessing your cat while you work on blood glucose testing.