Lol I may be in remission!

Header should read Loki may be in remission! Lol Autocorrect!

Loki had a check up yesterday. He's been on Lantus now for 1 year and was due a fructosamine check. He was playing with his sister Lilah and his wand toy right before we went in and seemed to be feeling great. He's 15 but has been playing like a kitten and doing really well for months. We recently moved so this is a new vet. He was unable to do fructosamine due to lack of supplies but did do a glucose test... Loki came up at 56! Way too low but I have not seen any symptoms of hypo so I was very surprised!! He is very hard for me to test at home, the click of the tester scares him and he hides... so I do try daily but only get a reading once in a blue moon so I'm afraid we've been dosing him when we didn't need to... but again, no symptoms he has seemed fine, even better than he had been! The vet told me not to dose him until we come back tomorrow for the fructosamine test and said Loki may be in remission and we just didn't realise it. I put a little maple syrup on a treat for him yesterday and was able to get a test done, he was at 77 then.
With his sugar being so low I would have thought we would see signs of it but he's been his happy go lucky self since the move and we've seen no issues with him. He's an old fella but you'd never know by his fun loving attitude and energy! So I guess we got good/bad news. We may have risked him by dosing when it wasn't needed but he may also be in remission and not need the shots at all anymore. Has anyone else had success with Lantus and found out their kitty is in remission?

 

Hi, and welcome!!

There are a lot of cats that have had very good results with Lantus and gone into remission or that are regulated using Lantus.

It is very dangerous to be shooting without testing at home specially if he's getting some low numbers, so I do really suggest you test at least before each shoot, what dose are you giving?

Usually to ensure a good remision we start lowering the dose to even a drop before discontinuing the insulin but again you'll need to be testing more, my cat hates the sound of the tester so I do not use it have you tried to hand held the lancet I think is better because you can see exactly where you are poking and they do not get startled by the sound of the tester.

If he's not getting insulin you do not have to worry about him going hypo, and to help with his remission you should keep feeding him low carb food and avoid any high carb treats or food, and you should keep monitoring him first once a week and later on at least once a month or if you notice him acting strange, being very hungry drinking too much because cats in remission can start needing insulin again

 

You can hold a lancet in your hand and use it to poke the ear. You do not have to put it in a device. That way, there will be no click.

 

Well, if Loki is in remission then so are you! Here's hoping!

 

Thanks so much guys! We are very hopeful! I am a little nervous that I had to tell the new vet what the fructosamine test was for but here's to hoping it goes well tomorrow when I take him back. Thanks for suggesting using the lansit without the device, I hadn't thought of that! He won't let me near his ears... that's the worse, I usually try his paw. He was on 2 units 2x a day at first, then 1 unit 2x. The vet suggested we not dose him until I take him back tomorrow. He's been hiding under my bed all day, he's miffed I took him to the vet and then pricked him last night, so he's not talking to me right now. I am going to try the test without the clicky devil tonight and see how he's doing. He's eating fine and seems to feel fine today... he just doesn't like me right now lol.

Also, anyone else use the Alphtrax glucose monitor? It usually comes on automatically when I put the strip in but I was having a hard time last night... it just wasn't doing anything, I had to squeeze his poor paw to get another test strip before it worked finally. Testing is worst than the shot for him, I can tell it hurts him!! At least with the shot he got to where he didn't mind it but he hates the pricker!!

 

I have heard that the paw is more painful than the ear. Too bad you cannot get him used to having his ears touched then try those.

I use the AlphaTrak2. Like you said, it should come on automatically when you stick in a strip. It is odd if it did not. I would probably have tried removing it and sticking it back in. If the next strip worked fine, maybe you had a bad strip. Are your batteries getting old?

 

Since you will have to keep testing him every once in a while like forever even if he's on remission maybe if you start training him to accept you testing in his ears could pay off, usually establishing a testing area is good that way he knows he's going to be tested and when you grab him in other areas he knows is for something else, you could start just grabing him and handling his ears, no testing at first just massaging them, and you give him a treat he really loves, you keep doing this until he accepts his hears being handled, then you go to the next step that would be warming his ear a little ( makes easier for blood to come out) still no testing but you keep giving him his treat afterwards, and then the final step you actually test by the time you get to this part he will be used to it and he will also associate all the process with the reward