Information overload

Hi everyone,

my cat (well, technically he is my sister's cat) has had slightly elevated blood glucose level for the past 2 months and i had immediately switched him over to home cooked food with high protein, high fats, minimal fibre and minimal carbs

he has been losing a lot of weight including muscle mass and fat so today i brought him to a new vet and his blood glucose reading was 22mmol/L. this evening we started our first (and very low) dose of Lantus.

between the home cooked diet and trying to get his vitamins and supplements right and now the insulin injection, i'm basically worried we are going to screw things up. i've been researching like crazy to find out everything that i can and am honestly feeling quite overwhelmed right now. it's stressful enough with my dog diagnosed with epilepsy, now we have a diabetic cat whose illness seems much more tricky to manage.

so i'm hoping someone can provide me links or answer some questions i have:
- is it necessary to self test for blood glucose level multiple times daily especially before his meals? this wasn't something the vet spoke to me about.
- what is a good brand of glucometer to get?
- will suddenly adding on vitamins/supplements (such as Vitamin B, E, Taurine, Fish Oil, Bonemeal) affect how much insulin he will require?
- do u guys adjust the amount of insulin your cat requires based on your self testing or are adjustments strictly done only after consulting a vet?
- is hypoglycaemia a constant possibility even with regulated feeding and dosing?
- is there a buffer time that we can do the insulin injection? example if we normally jab him at 7am and 7pm, can i once in a while do his jabs 1 or 2 hours earlier/later. reason being my sister and i both work in the events line and sometimes we are put in situations where we may have to be out of the house by 6am and may not make it home by 7pm


sorry for such a long post and i appreciate any help or advice that you can share.
thank you in advance!

Joanne

 

Hi Joanne,

being new to all this myself, I might not be able to give you a lot of info but a few things I might be able to answer.

Okay, testing the blood: eventually it will be a tool for you to feel more secure when it comes to using Lantus (since it is a long time insulin for nibblers basically).

- Testing every two hours is only meant to be done when your vet wants to see how the glycose level change over the course of a day. As for myself, I am only testing twice. In the morning at 6:30 am and at 6:30 pm. Depending on the glycose level I use Lantus or I don't. My vet told me that I should NOT ever inject Lantus when the glycose level is below 200. So I just checked and Shorty is on 121, so I won't use Lantus. The treatment might change if we reduce the insulin even more but he is already on only 1/2 a unit and at the moment this is what I was told. Had I not checked just now and injected the insulin, it would have been likely for my cat to experience a hypoglycaemia this night.

- I got my glucometer from the vet, its called pet-check. Since my vet trusts it, so do I.

- About the added supplements and vitamins, I am not sure, as far as I know, only carbs have a big impact on the glycose level. I would check this forum more or ask the vet.

- I do not adjust the amount of insulin after self testing. As far as I know the amount might change when the weight of the cat increases. I would only change it after consulting the vet!! Having experienced hypoglycaemia once I am too scared to experiement - his level was 20 and he had to get 10 ml of glycose to get him up to 88 again.

- Is hypoglycaemia a constant threat?? Well... I think only when you don't self test and/or inject insulin when your cat's level is below 200 - check with your vet though to be sure.

- about the buffer time. My vet told me that the 12 hours are to be followed but Shorty usually only needs one dose a day. Either he is below 200 in the mornings or in the evenings. (Just realized that things are calculated different in your country, so you will have to keep that in mind) I did not need to inject him the recommended 2 times daily as of yet. Therefore I also didn't have to follow the 12 hours precisely.

I hope people with more experience here will be able to give you some more tips.

Best wishes,
Janet

 

Welcome to FDMB.
We test pre-shot to make sure it is safe to give insulin.
We test, when possible, between +5 to +7 hours post-shot to see how low the glucose is going. With a pet meter, you want that to stay above 68 mg/dL.
We find human glucometers with pet-specific reference ranges more economical as test strips are less costly for human meters. I use a WalMart Confirm Micro, myself.
We have 2 protocols for using Lantus, in our Lantus/Levemir forum.
Our go to site on feline nutrition is Cat Info. I feed mine Friskies pates.

 

Thanks Janet and Felicia,

Another question i had is, my cat tends to struggle, i know some cats may take a while to get used to it, but for now even treats don't keep him still very long.

so i let him have a bit of Rescue Remedy 5min before his shot to calm him a bit. Do you think there's any potential issues in doing this long term?