Intro, unregulated acro and guidance needed! Thanks!

(Sorry, this is a long one!)

Hi, Bowdoin my 10yo male Maine Coon Cat (we also live in Maine) was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of December 2018. It was a surprise to all of us because I brought him in for increased appetite/weight gain and noisy breathing at rest/snoring. His labs showed a blood glucose of 286 at the vets which she thought could be attributed to stress. So we brought him in for a urinalysis and he tested over 1,000. She started him on 1u Basaglar/glargine. We are currently at 8u of Lantus/glargine, I switched over to take advantage of the discount card. Unfortunately he is still unregulated, really hungry, drinking and peeing a lot, not himself. It's been almost 4 months and I just want him to feel better.

I initially went into research mode and got totally overwhelmed so didn't post here. I thought I'd never be able to home test. I still have a lot to learn but feel a little more comfortable. I know I could have done some things better but I'm hoping with help from all the knowledgeable people here, that I can get on track.

I did stumble upon acromegaly and thought it sounded like what he presented with. We started sporadically home testing with a pet meter/AlphaTrak2 (which I would like to transition to a human meter) but I needed someone to help me hold him at the beginning so we tested when we could and we still had a lot failures and tears. I'm happy to say that I can now do it on my own with only a few failures here and there. After 3-4 pokes with no blood, I give us both a break. I try to get at least pre-shots and occasional curves with a mid-day when I can but need help with timing, interpreting and dosing. Our vet had us going 2 weeks before increasing dose .5 at a time and then 1 week and most recently the internal medicine specialist told us to go up 1u every 3 days. Which is what I think I read was ideal for timing, not sure about dosing since he is acro.

We finally got the official acro diagnosis this past week. About a week after diagnosis we saw the internal medicine specialist who did an ultrasound and lab work including the IGf-1 that I requested. He tested at 207 (Ref 12-92) but she didn't want to call it until she saw insulin resistance. We just redid the test and he came back somewhere over 300. I have some other information that I'll save for the acro board and I really need help there to come to a decision on what treatment option to pursue.

Diet wise, he had a renal cyst and one kidney removed when he was 2 so he was on Purina NF renal diet, mostly canned with a little dry. Until his appetite increased and then he got more dry. After diagnosis we went to strictly canned but both my vets weren't sure how to balance the renal diet with the diabetic (and pancreatitis) so I had an in depth consult with the Clinical Nutrition Service at Tufts University. The Board certified Veterinary Nutritionist came up with some options for a low phosphorous, medium protein, medium carb diet for his particular needs and I am comfortable with that. It's currently canned Royal Canin Aging 12+. However I do need help with frequency. All vets suggested twice a day at insulin time and a mid day if he absolutely needed it.

I'm not sure if the spreadsheet I've been using is the one that you use here, I think I found it on FB. I still need to input the labs/testing and flesh out the comments. I have my own spreadsheet that I use and had to transfer all the information from. This is currently for a pet meter (which I'd like to change) and Lantus. H.

So point me in the right direction for my next steps and any other information you may need and hopefully I can turn things around and learn even more to help my best bud.

Thank you!

 

Oh my gosh, what a beautiful regal cat! I have a Maine Coon mix and I love those big round paws!

Welcome to you and Bowdoin. Suzan, I'm so glad you decided to post and seek some help from the members who have Acro cats and experience in the area. The spreadsheet is viewable and that will help provide the data they will want to see.

Please do post in the Acro forum, so that the other Acro members can read and respond, plus provide emotional support while you are learning more about this particularly special "sugar dance".
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/acromegaly-iaa-cushings-cats.12/

If you like, you can just copy your message here in this forum, create a new thread there and paste in the message window.

Very best wishes going forward, please give Bowdoin an extra chin scritch from me, just cause he's so handsome!

 

Thank you so much Lou! We also have a Maine Coon mix, I'm partial to those long haired brown tabbies. Bowdoin is what is known as a ticked tabby, I think it gives him a little bit of a wild look even though he is the sweetest boy.

I'll head over to the Acro forum as we try to figure this all out.

 

The Acro forum isn't very busy these days but there's lots of great information there.

I'd suggest posting in the Lantus/Levemir forum instead and tagging @Wendy&Neko

 

I already replied on the acro forum. You will get more dose advice on the insulin forums. Questions about symptoms and treatments are good for the acro forum.

 

@Wendy&Neko @Chris & China (GA) Noted and thank you for this information.

 

Thank you, I hope to learn my way around soon!