Meatball 2/22 AMPS 478 3u PMPS 373 3u

Discussion in 'Prozinc / PZI' started by Molly, Feb 22, 2010.

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  1. Molly

    Molly Member

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    Feb 6, 2010
    I talked to the vet today. (I've decided to keep her as my primary b/c she is very communicative and open to new ideas. She has called me three times since my initial visit ... I put a call in to my old vet on Friday AM when Meatball had high ketones, and still have not heard anything from her!)

    Anyway, they are doing a urine culture to see if Meatball may still has some infection .. this will take a couple of more days. But they also did a urinalysis, and she was surprised to find that he did not have any glucose in his urine, which she said is very uncommon for cats with diabetes. Because of this she thinks that Meatball may be getting too much insulin. She advised me to start testing is urine at home for glucose, and whenever there are two days in a row without glucose, to lower the dose of insulin.

    I know I have almost nothing to go on, but based on his BG reading tonight, it seems like moving up in the dosage is helping.

    I have not heard anyone on the board talk about this as a possible way to determine if more or less insulin is needed. Is this a common practice? Does anyone else do this? Does it work?

    I am going to cross post this in health as well. I can pick up some glucose test strips tomorrow if this method is legit.
     
  2. Gator & H (GA)

    Gator & H (GA) Well-Known Member

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    Jan 3, 2010
    Testing by glucose only is not a good way to manage DM. You should ask your vet why she said this.

    You can read my post on the old board about the reasons I was told to use glucose in the urine as the method to control DM.

    http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/r ... ?8,1644784

    Funny thing is I think home testing BG is easier than trying to grab urine.

    I was told this by a well known [to this board] Vet [& endocrinologist]. I put under a lot of pressure about it too. Haaa, anyway the vets. I've literally developed gray hairs this last year and I'll take the opportunity to blame the vets pushing me over the edge.... :smile:
     
  3. Nancy and Cody

    Nancy and Cody Well-Known Member

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    Jan 1, 2010
    Molly,
    I'm no expert but
    I thought I had always heard that the renal threshold where kitties start spilling glucose in the urine was somewhat varied, but typically around 250-300. Since your numbers are all well above that, something doesn't make sense.

    You can buy ketodiastix which have 2 little boxes on the end - ketone at 15 sec and glucose at 30 sec. They are just like your ketostix, same brand and bought from the pharmacy, about the same price. Cody always tests positive for glucose- usually maxed out and he gets fluids everyday. (He has acromegaly and we are having trouble getting him regulated)

    thoughts that come to mind:
    is your meter accurate? test your own blood or test solution
    vet error
    LRS has diluted urine and caused some fluke reading

    I dont know - doesn't really compute to me confused_cat
    If you want to try another meter with cheap strips I started using this one $34 for meter and 100 strips.
    http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... FM-14.html
     
  4. Joanna & Bix (GA)

    Joanna & Bix (GA) Well-Known Member

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    Dec 28, 2009
    Interesting, I have never heard that either. My impression was once you are testing their blood, there is no longer any need to test their urine, unless you are curious about the renal threshold aspect of it, and/or don't trust your meter.

    There used to be an "alternative testing" forum - I don't think it got carried over to the new board (?) - for those who were not able to do blood tests for whatever reason. If you are bored :lol: you could do some digging on the old forum/old board and see if they have any useful info there.

    It does seem pretty weird that he wouldn't have any glucose in his urine with the BGs you are getting, although personally I'd be more worried about keeping the ketones out of his pee than getting glucose back in it :lol: .

    Do you have a civie you can test? Maybe your meter runs high? (Just grasping at straws here.) I have found it useful myself to test a civie here & there just to have a sense of what a "good" # is on my meter.
     
  5. Molly

    Molly Member

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    Feb 6, 2010
    Sorry, let me clarify: she was not suggesting that I stop the BG testing, but rather to ADD urine glucose testing to our bag-o-tricks. Will I be getting repeat results? or is there info to be gained from the additional test?
     
  6. Gator & H (GA)

    Gator & H (GA) Well-Known Member

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    Jan 3, 2010
    It sounds like BG and urine testing conflict with each other? Why BG test if you are going to use urine as the method to guide your dosing? I mean more testing [testing urine glucose and BG] can't hurt anything [information is power] but it's just which one you are going to use to guide your dosing that matters.
     
  7. Molly

    Molly Member

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    Feb 6, 2010
    Just tested my meter:

    Boss (civie): 80
    Meatball: 339
     
  8. Nancy and Cody

    Nancy and Cody Well-Known Member

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    Jan 1, 2010
    Do you have any idea what his bg was at the time or the hours before the urine test?

    If I was a betting woman, which I'm not :D , I'd put my money on vet tech error or really dilute urine from the fluids.

    No it is not really a better way to test for sugar. Its a crude way to make sure the sugar is not really high, a few hours earlier.
     
  9. Nancy and Cody

    Nancy and Cody Well-Known Member

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    Jan 1, 2010
    The strips are similar to the ketones - with about 5 different colors representing no sugar to a lot of sugar- pretty crude, but awesome if it shows no sugar. That would indicate the kidneys are not being forced to clear the excesses, I guess
     
  10. Molly

    Molly Member

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    Feb 6, 2010
    it was 435 @ 8:00pm, and we got his urine sample taken at about 9:00pm.

    that was kind of a weird day as far as eating. His appetitie had perked up from Friday, but he did not eat the usual amount of food in the morning, so I let him have it to nibble at all day -- which is why I think his number are not very curve-like on Saturday.
     
  11. Molly

    Molly Member

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    Feb 6, 2010
    Also, I asked the vet specifically about the fact that I had been trying to get him to drink as much water as possible, and had given him fluids, I think at about 5 or 6 pm that evening. She said that should not make any difference. Hmmm...
     
  12. Nancy and Cody

    Nancy and Cody Well-Known Member

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    Jan 1, 2010
    I agree, hmmmmm - doesn't compute, go get the strips and we can hear more about it another day when you test him.
     
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