Millhouse's Mom-New Diagnosis

Hi, I'm the one on the FB page asking about recent advice from the vet. Quickly, my 10 yr old boy was diagnosed 10 days ago with a glucose of 489. He went from 20 lbs to 15.32 in just 4 months. They started him on 2u twice a day. I've not started testing. Vet did a curve today and these are the numbers: 441 at 8:16 (one hour after his shot), 359 at 11:15, 366 at 2:00, and 515 at 4:30. They want me to increase to 3 units 2x a day. He was on dry Royal Canin SO, so I modified his diet and he's eating 3-4 oz. of wet (FF roasted and Weruva Cats in the Kitchen and about .5 cup of dry per day.) I know I need to test, but am still very nervous about it all. I just feel like more insulin isn't the answer.

 

Hi Angie! I'm glad you made it over here!!

You're right that increasing the insulin isn't always the answer. As I told you on the FB group, increasing too much, too quickly can cause you to bypass what could be a good dose, as well as being very dangerous, especially if you're not testing yet.

Testing isn't something you need to be afraid of! Most of our kitties actually learn to like it! (believe it or not!) The key is to make it a routine first and always making sure they get a special treat whether it's successful or not. I've been testing China for over 5 years and within a few weeks of starting, she was actually coming to her "testing spot" when I started getting the supplies out! She didn't care if I messed with her ears...she just knew that when she let me, she got a special treat!

It's not painful....what most cats object to at first is that you're fooling with their ears at all. The edges of the ears have very few pain receptors so you're not going to actually hurt him.

I posted some testing tips on the group. I hope you saw it and read them. It really does work!

As for your vet...the sad truth is that vets only get 5 hours of "formal" education on diabetes when they're in school....and that covers both dogs and cats! After that, unless they have a special interest in diabetes, they just don't have the time to stay up to date on the latest treatments and protocols. Most vets also see more diabetic dogs, so they tend to treat their feline clients like small dogs...and that doesn't work.

The people here have been living and breathing this disease....some for many years. We have the time to stay up to date on the latest research and have the real life experience to share with you.

Next...diet....the sooner you get the dry kibble out of his diet completely, the better. Kibble is very high in carbs so getting the dry out of his diet will only help control his blood glucose. There are lots of commercial cat foods that are under 10% carbs that are much better.

Learning to test will give you a lot of power against this disease because you'll know exactly how your cat is really doing. Tests done at the vet's office are unreliable because of "vet stress" (just like our blood pressure is higher in the doctor's office, a cat's blood glucose raises up to 200 points from the stress of being at the vet)

How much does Millhouse weigh? There's a formula for what the starting dose should be. It's usually between .5 and 1U twice a day so your vet has already started you at a pretty high dose.

Keep asking questions! The people here are very generous with their time and experience and we all truly want only the best for your "extra sweet" kitty!

 

Thank you. Millhouse has always been very large, upwards to 20 lbs. He is at 15 now. Looking much healthier, ironically. His propensity for UTI is what has me scared to take him off the SO. The last time I tried, he had a UTI within the month.

 

We recommend adding as much water to their food as they'll tolerate. That's usually all that cats require, even those that have a tendency to have stones.

"The solution to pollution is dilution"!!

Feeding a low carb canned diet with as much water as you can add will help keep his kidneys and bladder in the best shape possible.

The starting dose for a 15lb cat would be 1.7U, so we'd probably suggest starting at 1.5U. This is where testing is so important though because the only way to know how he's doing is to test. It takes 5-7 days (when you first start Lantus) to tell how they're actually doing on that dose and if it's not getting them down to where we want them, we go up in .25 unit increments. Cats are small and insulin is a very powerful hormone...a tiny amount of insulin one way or the other can be the difference between good control, bad control or a dangerous hypoglycemic crisis.

After that first 5-7 days, the dose can be increased as often as every 3 days, but how often you increase is based on which dosing method you use. As long as he's getting any dry, you have to use the Start Low, Go Slow method which means holding the dose for 7 days before making any changes (unless he drops too low....under 90 for SLGS earns a reduction in dose)

Love your picture!! I have a soft spot for ginger kitties...my first kitten was a ginger tom. This is the first time in a long time I've had a house without an orange kitty in it.

 

Aw, sweet ginger baby.

The testing stuff seems pretty intimidating. When I started testing Sherlock, I was positive it had to be painful, and sometimes his ears would bruise, and oh, the guilt. But now when I get out his meter, he comes to me and sprawls out in the floor and waits for me to test, and then he hovers until I dispose of things so I can give him his treat. The whole shebang takes me maybe five minutes to do when we're talking test, feed, and dose his insulin, and less than that when I test mid-cycle, so you get pretty quick at the routine with very little time. Sherlock has only been getting insulin for shy of two months now. You'll get it, and you'll feel a lot less anxious about giving the insulin when you've got numbers right at hand for your peace of mind!

 

How's Millhouse doing Angie?

We worry when we don't hear back from someone

 

Wow, thank you...that is really nice of you to follow up
After reading many, many posts here, it's pretty clear people here are very knowledgeable about this disease and very committed to their buddy's health. For that reason, I've decided to heed the recommendation to not increase his units. I'm going to keep it at 2 for now and I did purchase a glucose meter. I'm working up the courage to break it out. I really think he's feeling good for the first time in quite awhile...actually playing and looking alert. I hope to try my own curve next weekend, so you'll be hearing from me soon!

 

Have you read my tips on testing? It's in the Files section of the FB group. I'll bump it for you!