luz and Junior

Hello everyone.
I am new to this site and I am here because Junior was just recently diagnose with diabetes. There is so much information out there but its so contradicting. I just recently switch my little man from dry diet food to wet food. He will eat a bit but isn't necessarily crazy about it. If it wasn't for Catinfo.com or this forum i would have been at a complete loss as to what to do. I was told by my vet that is ok to keep him on dry food which is so bad for him from what I have read. Its frustrating to see how doctors are not as knowledgeable as i would like them to be. My doctor just wrote him a prescription for 2 units of insulin twice a day. I was suppose to start today but decided to hold of till tomorrow because i read that i should see what his glucose level is prior to administering the insulin. I am so worry that i will give him too much insulin and he will go into shock or something. Help!!!!

 

Welcome. The diagnosis can be overwhelming at first but it's a quick learning curve, and there are loads of very experienced people here to help you.
Testing his glucose level before giving insulin and a few times during the cycle will help tremendously.
Post any questions in the health forum.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/.

 

Welcome! Junior is a very cute boy. Your feelings are correct about the food, the insulin dose and testing blood glucose. You've come to the right place to get help and support. When you post on the health forum, please tell us how old Junior is, whether he has any other health problems, what food you are feeding now and what insulin has been prescribed.

You're very wise to wait until you know more before giving him a dose of 2 units twice a day.

 

Junior is a tabby cat. Approximately 12 years old. I found him outside and one day he came to me very sick and I felt bad and took him to the doctors and they informed me that he had feline leukemia. This was back in 2005. I then decided to adopt him and keep him as an indoor cat. He was given medication and antibiotics and two years later he was retested and was leukemia free. Once again a year after that he was retested and was negative. He had been healthy since then with the exception of developing Crystal in his urine. He has been on veterinary prescription moderate SO dry food since then. About two weeks ago I switch him to fancy feast chicken classic and he doesn't really like it much. I am thinking of switching him to daves 95% protein because it's very low on carb. Low phosphorus too. The vet put him on 2 units of lantus insulin twice a day. The pharmacist told me to use the pen with the needles attached but a coworker told me that it's safer and better to use the separately syringes that don't cap on to the insulin pen

 

Ain't that the truth!

Your co-worker gave you a good recommendation. In order to keep a kitty safe and to optimise their path to regulation it is best to adjust the dose in tiny increments - typically 0.25IU. By using a conventional insulin syringe to draw the dose from the insulin pen cartridge it will make it much more straightforward for you to fine tune Junior's dosing to suit his particular needs. I posted a link to the Lantus & Levemir stickies on your other thread. When you read through the stickies you'll find more information about this.

Lovely pic of Junior; he's a cutie!


Mogs
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Junior isn't eating. What do I do. Dave 95% protein. Prior to that he was on fancy feast chicken classic and was barely eating one 3 oz can

 

Do you have any of the food he used to eat before the switch to FF? Maybe try giving him a little of that? Even if it's higher than ideal carbohydrate-wise it's food and kitties need to keep eating because of the way that their metabolisms work; doubly so when a kitty is being treated with insulin. I suggest you give your vets a ring ASAP to update them with this development and see what their advice is for insulin dosing.

Have you already given Junior his insulin dose? Also, please can you confirm whether you have a glucometer to test Junior's BG at home.


Mogs
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I will be testing him for the first time tonight with a glucometer brand AlphaTrack2. I do have a bit of his old food left ( veterinary moderate SO) dry food. Not good for him but I just need him to eat a bit so I. CAn start him on insulin.

 

The Alphatrak is a glucometer calibrated for animal use. (I use an Alphatrak.) Human and animal meters use different BG reference ranges. When you get a moment please add that you use an Alphatrak to your FDMB signature so that members will be able to properly understand any BG numbers that you post.

Is he showing any signs of nausea at all? Here is a link to a page with nausea symptoms and treatments:

Nausea, inappetence and vomiting - symptoms and treatments

Is he showing any signs of interest in food (e.g. sniffing it/licking it then walking away)?

Did you manage to speak to your vets? I strongly recommend you give them a call ASAP to ask for advice on how to proceed. I'm very concerned about Junior going off his food and if you could get a vet to check him over today I would. I think that you should get Junior tested for ketones as a matter of urgency, too.


Mogs
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Junior will smell the food. Eat a very small amount and walk away. He is not nauseas. He is drinking small amount of water n is going to bathroom regular. I call that vet to ask if it's ok to give him insulin since he is not eating very much. she said as long as he is gracing it's ok. I guess I'll have a better understanding once I check his glucose tonight. He had a urine test done over the weekend. Glucose in Uribe but no ketones thank god. I will check his Urine tomorrow again

 

If he's prone to crystals in his urine, add extra water (warm) to every meal to help keep him hydrated.

 

I'm glad you were able to get hold of your vet for advice.

Good news on the negative ketone test over the weekend, but keep in mind that ketones can develop quickly in diabetic cats (and they're more vulnerable to them when they're not eating enough and not getting enough insulin). For now I'd suggest testing ketones once a day as part of Junior's regular monitoring routine.

In case you've not found them yet, here are some helpful links on home testing:

Home testing links and tips (inc links to videos)

Testing and injection tips (has a very helpful diagram of where to find the testing 'sweet spot' on the ear)

When starting to test you need to really warm the ear for quite a long time to encourage blood flow to the test area. You may find it easier to aim the lancet tip by leaving the clear plastic cap off the lancing device. The lancets have a bevelled side and you need to make sure it is facing towards you. (Twist the lancet around in the light to see the bevelled side more easily.)

Here is a short list of testing tips I've posted before (sorry for the repetition!):

1. Smear a thin film of Vaseline over the test area then warm the ear thoroughly (can take much longer than you think in the early days).

2. Wrap a 1" strip of folded kitchen paper around your index finger then wrap the ear around the finger in a similar fashion.

3. Hold the ear and paper support in place with light-firm pressure from your thumb and middle finger so that the skin of the ear is taut. (Helps reduce head movements, too.)

4. Make sure the bevelled edge of the lancet is facing you then poke at a slight angle to draw blood sample.

To make testing a positive experience it's good to give a little diabetic-friendly treat after all tests (successful or unsuccessful) and be sure to give little Junior lots of praise and fusses.

Did your vet give you a "no shoot" number (i.e. not to give insulin if BG test is below that level). Just in case your vet didn't give you this number we usually suggest that if your preshot test is 200 or less to post on Feline Health asking for suggestions about whether it is safe for you to give insulin. If all is well and it's OK to give the insulin per your vet's instructions it would be great if you could also get a BG test about +3 hours after the injection to see how Junior's BG is responding (a mid-cycle test).

Important Note: When using an Alphatrak meter your kitty's BG should not go below 68mg/dL / 3.8mmol/L. If you get a reading at or below this level you need to intervene with carbohydrate to bring numbers back up to safe levels. I recommend you read through the hypo guide as soon as possible so that you'll be some way familiar with what to do should the need to intervene arise. (Note: The reference numbers in the How to Treat Hypos document are for human meters: where it mentions 50 or lower, you need to use 68 on the Alphatrak as the 'action' threshold.)You can ring your vet for advice and also post here for help any time numbers may be on the low side. If in any doubt give glucose/honey/karo first and then seek help (doubly so in the early days while you're learning).

I'm about to sign off (I have chronic health issues and I'm very tired - overdid it a bit today and sorry I'm rambling a bit now) but we have members around the world so there's usually someone online. If you get stuck with anything be sure to post for help. The Feline Health (FH) board gets more traffic than the Welcome board so if you don't get an answer here try posting on FH.


Mogs
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I am very confused with the spreadsheet. I think i downloaded it correctly. I am even more confused with the fact that I just did Juniors first ever Glucose test with the glucometer and it read 133. I did it again and I got 131. This doesnt seem normal. I am holding of on giving him his first insulin injection till i call the doctor tomorrow. I even took it as far as pricking myself and checking my glucose to see if it was working properly and it worked. I just looked through his medical records and his blood glucose at vet in February was 230 and they didnt tell me anything was wrong. At that time his urinalysis was normal. His current blood glucose at vet on 11.25.16 was 519 and his urinalysis showed 1000 glucose in urine strip. I am so very confused. Can someone please help me. I am wondering if i did something wrong. I am using the Alphatrack2 glucometer

 

Hi @luz,

I replied to this query on your other thread over on Feline Health. Here's a link to the post:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/luz-and-junior.169271/#post-1837091


Mogs
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