My Aurora

[ximenle]

Hi everyone! This is my beautiful Maine coon mix Aurora, aged 13ish (the towel was a gift from a friend):

She was diagnosed late December of 2017, and reading the forums and the main page was a huge help for me in figuring out her treatment and care. She's doing well so far on lantus and wet food, though she loves kibble so much that she gets a tiny spoonful of Hills dry food as dessert after she's eaten enough wet food. She's good about her injection and even reasonably well-behaved when I have to prick her ears for bg test. The only problem is that she sometimes goes off hunting for any tiny crumbs of food around the house, and next thing I know, her bg spikes. Does anyone else's cat do that? How do you prevent it, other than testing all the time? (Which I can't do, because I work outside the house).

Anyway, I mostly wanted to say thanks for all the guidance I've gotten from this board--I've picked up so much crucial information about hypoglycemia, dosing, feeding, and not panicking from you guys. I don't know how much time Aurora and I will get (she's starting to develop kidney problems, and she's also just getting old), but you've definitely helped keep her alive so far.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Hello and welcome to FDMB. Your Aurora is indeed a beautiful girl! Was your avatar specially done because that kitty pic bears a very good likeness of Aurora!

So glad you have found the information here helpful. This is truly is an amazing community and we're delighted to have you join us.

The hunting for crumbs around the house suggests perhaps Aurora's appetite is not being satisified with the amount of food she is currently getting. Diabetics cannot process their food intake as efficiently as a non diabetic so they are often hungry and need more food than a non diabetic. If you are currently feeding 2 meals a day, you could try splitting up her daily food portion into 2 meals and a couple of snacks to try to even out her food intake a bit more hopefully satisfying her between meal hunger. I encourage you to post that question over on the Health board HERE where there is more traffic and more folks to offer suggestions/solutions.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hello and welcome. I'm so glad you have had a chance to find useful information here on FDMB to help provide diabetic treatment for Aurora. She's a real beauty!

It would be very helpful to see Aurora's pertinent information each time you post and you can create a signature, then you don't have to keep repeating the info.
1. 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 time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.
2. Another thing that will help us help you further since you are BG testing at home 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/her 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/

Regarding your little furry vacuum cleaner's BG spiking, let's bring that question to the Main Health forum so more members can see and respond. This Introduction forum is only the welcome mat and more members monitor that Main forum to help and answer this type of question. If you like, you can just copy your message here and paste it into a new thread there. Please use wording in the title indicating that you are a new member and then a brief specific question.

So glad you are here and I'm looking forward to following Aurora's progress.

 

[ximenle]

@MrWorfMen's Mom: Thanks for the suggestion! I can't split her food up because I don't work from home, but I wondered if hunger might be the problem, so I've recently started increasing her food supply, plus giving her extra at night. It's very helpful to know that extra hunger is a common issue--I'll try giving her a little more food and see if that works! Also, yeah, the avatar is based on a picture of the two of us--it was commissioned by a friend as a gift, and I love it.

@Idjit's mom Thanks for the advice on forum etiquette! It may take me a couple of days, but I'll definitely set up a full profile. And the spreadsheet is a great idea--I've been writing down her numbers and insulin dosage by hand, so I've already got some numbers to feed into the spreadsheet.

I'm going to be busy with Passover stuff for the next few days, but once I have some free time I'll set everything up and then post to the main forum. Thank you both for the warm welcome and advice!