Jack, big ol' yoyo boy

Hi, I figured I should actually post something after having lurked for years now for info.

My big boy is Jack, I adopted him in 2011 at approximately 6 years old. A couple of years ago he lost several pounds really fast and got his diagnosis. He was nice and stable for about 9 months when we had a terrible hypoglycemic episode, stumbling and sniffing and not seeming to recognize that we existed, even after being picked up. At the time I did not have a meter, so I have no idea how low he had gotten. He went without insulin for another 6 months before he was showing signs of the diabetes being back.

Since then I've been testing him regularly (though not writing anything down, bad me) and he was doing great. The past couple of months however, the way he's responding to the insulin has changed. His curves are much longer and seem to have their nadir around +12, for weeks on end his glucose at that point was in the low 100 range. The vet changed his dose to once a day and each time it's been upped his next curve seems to be higher! We're working on it, hopefully we can figure out what on earth is going on with his numbers.

t

 

I'm glad you decided to post and get some help and information to get Jack feeling better and staying safe.

If you have been visiting the board and reading along, you have probably noticed our signatures at the bottom of every post, as well as the spreadsheets we use to record insulin and testing data.

We do recommend consistent testing, and it's great that you are doing this. We can better help you if you will create the signature, set up the spreadsheet and plug in as much data as you can. Your meter should be able to provide some recent past data.

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.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

I have learned here that since a cat's metabolism is faster than a human's they do better with insulin dose 2 X day, 12 hours apart. As soon as we know what kind of insulin Jack is on, we can refer you to the appropriate insulin support group so you can learn more about how that insulin works, and why twice a day dosing works better.

Let us know what he eats, when and about how much. Diet is an important component in diabetic treatment.

Jack is an adorable kitty, and we will help you all we can to figure out what's going on and get him feeling much better.

 

I'd set that up before posting, actually! I appreciate the welcome and info, but I feel like I already covered most what you've mentioned in either post or signature. I'll be heading over to the Lantus group for some help in figuring this out.

 

Ack, maybe I haven't had enough this morning??? Sorry, I just kept looking at that picture of Jack..and I love it!! He's so fuzzy and soft looking, and totally missed signature and SS.

I think you should post in the Lantus forum and get some input from those members. I really think you are going to see better results from twice a day dosing, the Lantus just does not last 24 hours in a cat.

You can copy and paste your message from here to there to include the background you provided.

Again, very sorry that I messed up. I'm glad you and Jack are here!

 

I want to rub Jack's belly! Welcome.

 

He is definitely a fuzzy belly kinda cat. Most of the time you can rub it, too!

 

Jack looks just like our first diabetic orange boy, Brady. Love that belly!

I just wanted to make sure that you knew, in case you were curious about your earlier readings, that you can access the most recent 250 test results directly from your AlphaTrak. See page 31 of the user manual: https://www.zoetisus.com/products/dogs/alphatrakmeter/pdf/alphatrak-2-user-guide.pdf

Welcome to you both!