My Shiloh - just received diagnosis

My Shiloh is 14. I have been having regular blood work done on her for the last few years, since my last cat passed from kidney disease. Well, today the vet said she is diabetic. Her blood sugar in the office was 421. I will do everything I can for her, but I am doing the right thing for her quality of life?

 

You can do a lot for her!
What insulin are you using? We find that ProZinc, Levemir, Lantus, and BCP PZI last about 12 hours in the cat, allowing for good glucose control with every 12 hour dosing.
For safety, we strongly support home blood glucose monitoring using an inexpensive human glucometer with feline-specific reference ranges (see my signature link Glucometer Notes).

 

Hi and welcome!

You are definitely doing the right thing for Shiloh's quality of life by getting her diabetes regulated. With the right care, regulation of her blood glucose, and a little luck a diabetic cat can have a normal and happy lifespan ahead of them. Treating with diet and insulin (if necessary) is absolutely the right thing to do to keep her happy and healthy.

 

If you're already using insulin, focus on the home testing first. And see my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for other assessments you can use to evaluate how he's doing.
Feeding a low carb, over the counter canned or raw food may drop the glucose from 100 to 200 mg/dL and may drop the insulin dose 1-2 units based on individual's reports here. Pop over to Cat Info for terrific feline nutrition from Dr Pierson.

 

I tried to include her picture in the original post, but it didn't work. My profile picture is Shiloh. I just received the script for the insulin. Vet gave her a dose. Will be starting it at home tomorrow. Lantus, 2 units every 12 hours. How do you home test? My mom has diabetes, so I have a meter already and test strips, but how do you get the blood to test? The vet said her ear or foot, but how? The lancet that humans use I think would scare her with the sound.

 

Oh, she's beautiful! What an adorable kitty!

Do you know how much Shiloh weighs? 2 units every 12 hours is a fairly big starting dose (my vet prescribed Rosa with 2 units every 12 hours when the correct starting dose for her weight was 1 units every 12 hours, so it's something I'm very wary of).

Either ear or paw pad testing is the way to go for testing BG levels in cats. You'll probably need to start out using alternate site use lancets as the bigger gauge makes it easier to get a good enough size drop of blood for a test. My Rosa tolerates the sound of the lancet pen just fine, even for ear testing, but I know a lot of people free hand the lancets to avoid the clicking noise.

There is a link that explains how to home test (which I keep finding and then forgetting to bookmark). I'll go look for it and link it for you.

 

OK, found it. The hints and tips in this really do help!

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/#post-1665

 

Thanks Manx! She weighs almost 13 pounds now. She was 17 a year ago. Can I use a regular human meter for checking her blood? And the paw pad sound awfully painfully.

 

At 13lb, her starting dose should be around 1.4 units every 12 hours. You'll most likely want to round that for ease of measuring for now, though we do adjust doses by just 0.25 units in a lot of cases - but learning to figure out those tiny amounts can be done later. As you don't know yet how Shiloh will react to insulin, I think I'd be inclined to round down for safety and start at 1 unit, especially if she's actually a little under 13lb at the moment. So the 2 units is a little too much really for a starting dose for her - that happens more times than you'd believe with newly diagnosed kitties so you're certainly not alone in being given a higher dose than is recommended. The calculation is 0.25 units per kg of the cat's ideal body weight if she's overweight, or her actual weight if she's underweight or about the right weight.

You can use a regular human meter for checking her blood. Most of us use human meters because the pet ones are insanely expensive (as are the strips for them). If your Mom has a spare meter and strips you can use, that will help with the initial cost - insulin doesn't come cheap so being able to defer the cost of test strips until a bit later can only be a good thing. Human meters do read lower than pet meters, but it's like looking at temperatures in Celsius or Fahrenheit...both are correct, you just have to know how to read them. Ear testing is probably the best one to try first - the outer edge of a cat's ear has hardly any nerve endings and Rosa barely seems to feel the lancet when I test her ears (though she's good with paw pad testing too - I'm not sure either is particularly painful for them).

I see BJM has posted on this thread - if you take a look at the Glucometer Notes in her signature, that explains how to read each type of meter.

 

The paw pads don't have much feeling in them, so it's almost painless .

 

Thanks so much to everybody for all the advice! Even though I expected the diagnosis, the reality is setting in, and I feel very overwhelmed.

 

It is overwhelming to begin with - it's a lot of information to take in and a whole new routine to learn and settle into - both for you and for Shiloh. But you will get there - it does get easier, I promise. And everyone here will be with you to help you through every step of the way.

 

I have a friend that has a diabetic cat, insulin shots for the last six years. Recommended that I keep Karo on hand in case of too much insulin. Any advice on that?

 

Most of us keep some high carb food in (Fancy Feast gravy lovers is good) plus either karo, honey, or sugar (so you can make a sugar and water solution) for low numbers. Though I have heard of people using ice cream, yogurt or similar. Pretty much whatever you've got and would usually have in the house that is high carb and/or has sugar in it and that he'll eat will work.

 

We understand totally, your feeling of being overwhelmed as we've all been there. You feel as tho you're never going to have a normal life again, you will, just a NEW normal. It's gets easier as time goes, you and kitty will both adjust and the fear will subside. This forum is a Godsend, lots of good info and encouragement. One thing to remember, ECID, "every cat is different", so don't expect that all of the info here will work with your cat. But because there's so much good info, you're bound to find things that will.

 

Is there any way that I can find if more experienced FD moms or dads are near me, that I might be able to call on for help?

And I just read on another post, and realized I haven't introduced myself. My name is Rhonda and I live in Central Florida.

 

Rhonda

Start a new post in Feline Health and put Florida as part of the title.
ex. Looking for other FDMB members near City, FL.

 

Thanks BJM. Would you take a look at my most recent post under feline health, first BG test at home?

 

Already did. Here.