Hillary and Hudson

Hi! I'm Hillary and this is my buddy Hudson. I pulled him from a shelter last year because he has a congenital defect in both front legs that make them stumpy and curved and he had a bad mouth. (He got to me with those sweet wrap-around-your-neck hugs!) When I had the dental work done, we discovered he was hyperglycemic on his presurgical blood work, and they had me check BG at home to confirm. (Bg in the mid 300's in general) He was not symptomatic at that time and my vet recommended waiting to treat until he had symptoms. The last few weeks he has started to soak the litter box and has gotten irritable, aloof and started plucking hair out. His bgs are now around 480 so my vet agreed with me that we needed to start treatment. Because of the costs, we will be starting out with vetsulin. He is eating Evo 95% turkey/chicken with a carb count of around 3%. I will have lots of questions as I start treatments, and am looking forward to getting to know you all. Thank you!

Hillary and Hudson

 

Hi I am Jeanne new here also. You will learn so much just by reading post. These people are truly wonderful and so full of help. Not a good pic that my baby max. The love of my life.lots of good info to read so get digging in. And welcome.

 

Welcome to FDMB. There are 4 things that go into managing your cat's diabetes:

1) you! Without your work, none of the following can happen

2) good insulin for cats: ProZinc, Levemir, BCP PZI, Lantus. These generally last 12 hours in the cat. Most other insulins last 10 hours or less, including Vetsulin/Caninsulin and Humulin/Novolin NPH.

3) home monitoring of the blood glucose using an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart ReliOn Confirm or Confirm Micro or the Target Up and UP, matching test strips, and lancets (26-28 gauge, aka alternate site testing)

4) diet -canned or raw over the counter, low carb food.

 

Hi and welcome Hilary and Hudson.

I hope you find this place a great place for both information and support. I recommend that any specific questions you have you post over on the main forum.

May I ask what dose of vetsulin you will be starting on? If you have not yet started him on it yet I would recommend a longer acting insulin such as prozinc or lantus or levemir. A lot of US members send for lantus from Canada and it is a lot cheaper. If you are in the vetsulin then hopefully you will good results.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/insulin-from-canadian-pharmacies.49608/

It's great that he is already on a low carb food. When deciding on the dose with the vet make sure that is taken into account. Do you feed throughout the day?

We do recommend that you test blood glucose at home. It is likely to be lower at home b&q use he is less stressed. Ideally you would take it before giving each shot and during the cycle to check he isn't going too low. We use human meters usually as they are cheaper. He is some tips on how to test.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...best-blood-glucose-meters-august-2013.103511/

I also want to draw your attention to the advice about dealing with low blood glucose readings. If you aren't monitoring hudsons blood glucose it is important to watch for symptoms.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

Can you add the info about food and insulin to your signature.

Best wishes

Sarah

 

Saw your name and had to come say hi from one Hillary to another......welcome to the group.

 

Hi Hillary. Welcome to you and Hudson.

Could you let us know whereabouts he has been plucking his hair from?
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