Just starting - questions for vet?

I go in Monday to get trained on how to do injections. Is there a list of questions to ask the vet somewhere? I'm an over planner and do better when I have all the information available, so I want to make sure I get all the answers I need to start off. Only, I don't know what questions to ask.

 

1. What insulin will the vet be prescribing and what is the starting dose. If it is lantus or levemir ask for prescription for the pens instead of a vial. Both have a limited shelf-life and by using the pens you will be able to use almost every drop. A good starting dose would be one unit, but definitely no more than two at the max. Our motto around here is to start low and go slow. That means starting at a low dose and slowly increasing it by small amounts over a period of weeks. A small amount means by 1/4 or 1/2 unit with at least a week between increases. The goal is to find the optimal dose that works best for your cat.

2. When recommend learning to home test. This means taking a glucose reading before every shot. This way you know if it is safe to give the insulin dose. If you were willing to learn to home test ask your vet if they will be willing to show you. Don't be surprised if your vet tries to discourage it. We can help you learn how to test. The way we look at it is that if your cat was your child, you would not want to give insulin unless you knew it was safe.

3. Don't let your vet try to convince you into buying prescription food. It really is not helpful and most cats tire of it very quickly. We do have a food chart on our site that gives you a breakdown of how many carbs are in the as fed value. Many of us feed our cats either Fancy Feast or Friskies pate flavors. Pate is usually much lower in carbs then anything that has gravy in it.

 

Thanks. I've already switched them (we have another cat) to canned, and I used the list found on here to choose from what was available. I read to stay under 10%, so I found a Meow Mix one in that range. As for the "prescription" food, they want $20 for an 8# bag. For that price, I can buy the hairball fresh lobster.

I asked the vet tech if I should bring a testing meter and she said the vet "didn't recommend" home testing. I work in healthcare (for humans) and not testing before injecting something into a person goes against all medical knowledge. I don't even water my plants without testing to see if they need it, so why would I give insulin to the cat without checking he needs it?

 

You are absolutely right to test first. You don't need the vets permission to do so. A person would never inject their diabetic child without testing and the same should go for our pets. Good for you. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.

 

I agree. You are the best person who is responsible for providing the best care for your cat.

When Witn was diagnosed & I also adopted another sugar kitty Spot, one of the newer vets at the clinic kept telling me that I did not need to test. Which was very ironic since when my first cat was diagnosed, the owner of the clinic was the person who taught me how to test and even provided me with a meter. With the new vet I politely told her that I would be testing before every shot and if she wanted to see the data, I would be glad to send it to her. If I had not been testing, I would have never known that with both cats, on every 3-4 days, one of their pre-shot numbers would be way too low to give insulin. I had to point this out to her. Also, when I had to board them a couple times, I left strict instructions about testing before every shot using the meters I supplied. Included in the instructions was that the vet was not allowed to over ride my request or change the dose without my permission. She was not very happy with that, but did see the same low number pattern that I normally experienced and finally agreed that I know what I was doing.

 

I agree and Had words with my Vet and his tech. When I brought my Reli-On Prime meter in to do a Vet BG that was sent to a lab guess who was more accurate? I was! Well closer any way with 25 pts lower so I deal with it. Knowledge is power.

 

I bet if you did, he'd turn his nose up at it just to show you who's really the boss....LOL

Very smart Jen!! You'll be a pro at this in no time!! Common sense and a little experience with human diabetes goes a long way!!

 

Another question for the vet. I was extra squeamish at first because I was only shown how to do a scruff shot. I didn't like waving sharp things near Nigel's eyes and had visions of his spinal cord getting pierced. I switched to a shoulder (flank) injection years ago using a 1/2" needle, much easier on a long haired cat.
Insulin injected into muscle mass gets absorbed quicker so that's one benefit of a scruff shot. How much quicker I don't know, it never seemed to mess up my numbers with either cat.
Also ask about what follow up checks the vet wants to do, sometimes they over do it. My vet just needed to see printouts of curves. If you use the spreadsheet here your vet can see that over the internet.

 

Our other cat is doing that with the canned food. He's always been stubborn and a lot less food motivated, so switching him to canned is proving...challenging.

Thanks. She mentioned doing a curve in a few weeks, and that I'd need to bring him in every so often for check ups. Other than that, she hasn't said what other tests he would need.

I hate needles so I really don't want to do this, but my husband is even more squeamish. So I get to learn and then teach him.

 

It sounds like you're off to a good start and have gone right past the crying/why me stage. We make this all sound so simple but at one time we all came home with that stunned look on our faces. The hardest thing to accept for many people is that for once all those people on the internet just might know more about this than your vet.
Just be patient and know you're in a good place here. There is no such thing as a stupid question and we don't shame people for making mistakes.

 

One thing I did when switching my cats over to canned was place a handful of dry food on top of the canned food. Each day I reduced the amount of dry food in the bowl. It took a couple weeks before every one switched to canned.

 

Please don't get discouraged, this is doable. When we got the diagnosis I really wondered if we could do this: injections, home testing, changing the diet. We did incredible imitations of Laurel & Hardy routines, possibly even the Three Stooges. It is laughable now, not so much then. However, we persevered. I learned to do the injections and since Idjit's head was in his food bowl, he never noticed. I found a way to feed him/inject at a level that was comfortable for me.
We do double team when we test, DH holds and comforts Idjit, I do the testing and it goes very well. Idjit is a big cat, and does not suffer fools easily. We are older, not so limber (actually creaky) so together we figured out how to do what we needed to do. DH sits on kitchen stool next to the counter holding fidgety Idjit, where there is good light. The height is ideal for me so I can reach his ears and get the test done quickly. He knows what to expect now, because as soon as we finish and he gets down, he goes to his feeding area waiting for his treat.
He has chronic ear irritation also and has to have ears cleaned regularly. We just use the same procedure and he gets his treat. Idjit went into remission quickly so we don't have to test as often, but he knows the kitchen stool and Dad picking him up means "ear work", and knows what to expect: that yummy treat at the end.
Most things worth doing take practice and patience. Be kind to yourself and know that every day you are going to learn more and take good care of Boots.
Read the information, ask questions, realize that there is support here for you.

 

So far, he's been fine with the food change, in fact he's even more vocal at meal times and goes absolutely nuts when we go to fill his bowl. If that's the case, then giving him his shot at meal will be a cinch.

Our other cat is proving stubborn. Husband had him before we met, and he lives up to his name (Simba). He's just as reckless and arrogant as the lion cub. But a little tough love will go a long way.