Introducing: Zephyr!

Hi all!

I've been wandering around the forums for about a week now and I'm so glad I found this space/wish I'd found it earlier.

Zeph is a 7.5 year old Siberian. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the end of June, right before we left town for two weeks. Due to the travel we didn't get him up and running on insulin until 1.5 weeks ago. He is on Lantus, and we're currently doing .5 unit every 12 hours.

We weren't told to get a glucometer, and instead were told to get keto-diastix, which don't give us anywhere near the information I'd like. I was planning on getting the ReliOn Prime so we can do proper glucose testing before his shots, but the online reviews aren't great. I feel like that's the most common affordable option I've seen here, but does anyone have strong feelings about it?

Zeph has no ketones and his BG was around 430 when he was diagnosed. The only indications we had of his diabetes was weight loss. Of course, we didn't catch the diabetes for a bit because he ALSO had a mast cell tumor on his leg, which we thought might be responsible for the weight loss. After the successful removal of the tumor, he was still dropping about .5 lb a month! Since we started him on insulin, he's already up almost a half pound, so that is a huge relief. He is currently just over 10lb, and is his best self around 12lbs.

We are grateful that he's responding well to insulin and are hopeful that remission is in his future!

 

Welcome. There is the Relion Premier series meter
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-BLU-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/535063483
It includes one with bluetooth syncing to your phone, one the speaks the BG reading and a plain one. The series seems to have replaced the Relion Confirm meters. The Premiere uses more blood than the Confirm (0.3uL) but same as the Prime (0.5uL).
what are you feeding? Low carb canned is best and those can be the low-carb Friskies or Fancy Feast as well as others. A prescription food is not required.
Regarding the mast-cell tumor, make sure that you periodically check to see if other tumors erupt since sometime they do. That happened with my BunBun

 

Good morning and welcome to FDMB. Many of our members report that they haven't been advised to get a glucometer and test at home, but we have found it's the best way to keep our sugar kitties safe and know how the insulin is working.

Sorry you and Zephyr have had to deal with the mast cell tumor on the leg, and I'm so glad to read about the successful surgery.

Many of our members do use the ReliOn Prime because of affordability and availability, I haven't read any complaints about it. I use the ReliOn Confirm, which now has been discontinued, and when I am out of strips, I plan to move to the Prime, for both husband and Idjit.

If you have a few minutes would you create a signature so that Zephyr's info is available when you post?

1. Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.
2. Another thing that will help us help you when you get started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

It does feel like a ton of bricks fell from above when you get that diagnosis and are learning what treatment is all about. But it doesn't stay that way. You can post on the Main Health forum with questions, concerns and issues. More eyes on that forum and you will get quicker responses. We will help all we can.

 

Sorry! Created my signature after my post so guessing it didn't show up! He's eating low carb canned food (heart to tail) and we give him a bit of freeze dried raw food to replace his cherished dry food.

Thanks for the glucometer suggestions. I'd really like something that doesn't require as much blood, for both me and the cat! So I'll use that as a guide post

And yes, we frequently check for new bumps and lumps to make sure the cancer it isn't making a come back!

 

Thanks for the welcome! Signature made!

I will definitely set up a spreadsheet once we get the glucometer. My husband loves Excel, so any excuse for a spreadsheet is a gift to him!

When we first go the diagnosis we thought there was no way we could do this and even tried to re-home him. Now that we're in it and learning more it feels like we may be able to manage this after all. It's so helpful seeing so many people who are solving this!!

 

Welcome to you and Zephyr!

I too was hesitant about the ReliOn prime because of the reviews but I have had no problems with it!

It did take me a few tests to figure out how to use the darn thing properly, but once I did it’s great lol. I considered a few different options when I was first switching from a pet meter to a human one, and that one was the cheapest one that didn’t require too much blood. Some of the freestyle meters require less blood (0.3uL compared to 0.5uL for the ReliOn prime) but the strips are just so much more expensive

 

The following give some attributes of BG meters
http://main.diabetes.org/dforg/pdfs/2017/2017-cg-blood-glucose-meters.pdf

 

Thanks for your first hand knowledge! I was looking at the Nova MAX, seems like the test strips are somewhere in between the cost of the ReliOn Prime and the Freestyle and it only requires .3uL. But if the Prime works, that's half the cost of the Nova MAX strips. And honestly, I haven't pricked my cat yet so I don't know how much of a difference it will feel like between .3uL and .5uL...

 

Super helpful list! Thanks for this! Great to see so many options broken out like this!

 

Welcome! Zephyr is a real handsome man! We're new here ourselves.....this forum is such a wonderful resource. Crossing fingers for a future remission for your boy.