Knock-Knock May I come in ?

Hello everyone. This is one group that I never wanted to become a member of. But... here I am.
My name is Susan and my cat's name is Claudio. My daughter picked the name, I didn't. Anyway, Claudio is 13 years old. He is a neutered male. I got him as a 1 week old feral. Up until now, he has always been a laid back cat. More on that in a minute.
On Aug. 25th he was dx'd as diabetic. I brought him into the vet because he was urinating on himself when asleep. He only did that 2x. No other s/s. He weighs 18 lbs, so obviously he's not losing weight. As far as I could tell, he ate, drank water and is using the litterbox as normal. His BG was 300 at the vet. I think that was a little high since he was really stressed out being there.
After doing the BG test, the vet came back and said " He is diabetic. Here's a script for Lantus. Give him 1 unit b.i.d." When I started to ask questions, he quickly dismissed me and walked out of the room. No offers to show me how to draw and give an injection, where to inject, etc. Nothing about home testing, what to look for concerning high or low BGs. Personally, I think he has the GOD complex that some DRs have.
I worked in a hospital on the med/surg floor, so I do know how to draw and inject. But he didn't know that. I also know about the importance of testing BG before injecting. Everyone else who I know who has/had a diabetic pet said they never tested first. They just did what the vet said to do without question. Maybe I'm a little too informed.
Now Claudio has been avoiding me because he does not like being poked. So now I will post all my various numerous questions in the appropriate forums.
Sorry for the long intro and rant.
P.S. I feed a raw diet as per Dr Pierson

 

Hi and yes, Susan, come right in! You are very welcome here. I am glad to read that you are informed, I don't believe there is such a thing as being too informed and with the lack of information and instruction from your vet, you probably saved Claudio's life.

You have probably been looking around on the board at the different forums, and noticed that we use signatures with kitty's info and spreadsheets to record the insulin and testing data. So, here are the instructions for those:

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.

Another thing that will help us help you 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 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/

You can read more information about Lantus and the protocols we use here on the Lantus forum HERE . You can post there with questions about that insulin. You can post in the Main Health forum about more general health issues, such as diet, litter box issues, etc.

I'm very glad you are here and will let us get to know you and Claudio (love his exotic name! and can't wait to see a pic)

 

Thanks for the warm welcome. I will attach a pic when I get someone to help me to do it. I am computer challenged, lol. As for his name, my daughter named him after the lead singer from a band she was into at that time. As for a spreadsheet, that will be later. As I am having a terrible time testing. That I will post on the main health forum.

 

Susan, some of us do have a hard time testing at first, you are not alone in that. Please do post in the Main Health forum about that. I have some information that I hope will help and others will chime in too! This is a very supportive community, and with as many members as there are here/have been here, just about every problem has been covered at some time or another.

 

Welcome. Waving to you from Canada.
JanetNJ (Janet from New Jersey) has put together a very good video about home testing.
How to test your cat's bg at home: Video I made showing how to test your cat's blood sugar
Look forward to seeing you in the Health Forum.

 

You are well enough informed to know that your vet handled it totally WRONG. Congrats to you for following up elsewhere.

Welcome to the "Club", and we'll see you around

 

Welcome Susan and little Claudio. So glad you joined, even if you didn't want to belong, you are here now and I'm sure you will find the information and experience on here invaluable.