New foster cat

Hi there,

I'm actually not very new to feline diabetes, just new to this site! I have a cat who has been in remission for about a year, and I fostered another diabetic cat for about six months between then and now (he's now happily in a home!).

I now have a new diabetic foster cat, Aladdin. He's a 3-4 year old neutered male, slightly overweight, very friendly. I don't know his exact history - I know he came into a shelter sometime early this year, not sure if he was diagnosed diabetic before or after arriving to that shelter. He got transferred to a rescue group, did horribly in the shelter environment (with BG numbers, anyway), and went to a foster home for 4-6 months - not sure how long exactly. That foster home would have loved to have kept him until he got adopted, but one of their cats hated him and he hated being locked away in a room by himself, so she looked for a new foster for him and that's when he came to me. I've had him since Thursday.

In the past, I've followed an intense tight regulation protocol (not the same as the one I see described on the Lantus/Levemir TR group here) with doses at various times as needed and extremely frequent testing. My current rescue group wants me to keep him on 12-hour dosing, though, and I heard this board is a great place to go for advice on that. He's currently on 0.5u of Lantus twice a day. He's on low carb wet food only (just switched him from prescription dry and wet to a mix of Evo 95 chicken/turkey and Weruva so he can eat with my cats). I haven't done a curve yet because I've only had him for a few days and I want him to stabilize and settle in first.

This cat drinks and pees a LOT. I've had two diabetics before, and they would drink a bit more than usual, but Aladdin drinks a full bowl of water a day and pees 5-6 times a day at least. We started letting him have time out in the whole house instead of just his introduction room, and unfortunately he has repeatedly peed on our bath mats, so we've had to lock him back up in one room for now (washing the bath mats isn't a huge deal, but I'm afraid he'll pee somewhere else). Hoping it is just an initial adjustment thing.

Here are his numbers and doses of Lantus so far (using the Target Up&Up standard meter):
[edit] moved numbers to a spreadsheet here as I've seen on other posts

Let me know how best to use this forum for help on getting him as well regulated as possible! He seems pretty well regulated already, but the frequent drinking and urination has me thinking that he might need some adjustments. Thanks in advance.

Here's a picture of Aladdin:

 

Hi foster mom,
I'm new to forums all together so I'm not even sure if I am replying to your post correctly but I'll give it a try. My boy was diagnosed with diabetes earlier this year and I'm still in the learning process. His glucose is pretty well adjusted.

Have you had full blood work panels done on him? Drinking and urinating frequently can also be due to kidney issues and hyperthyroid. For the thyroid test you need to start out testing his T4. Full thyroid panels can give a bigger picture but right now a T4 reading would let you know if there is a hyper-T issue. If you don't want to have full blood work panels done right now at least do a kidney work up and T4. I think sometimes UTIs or other urinary issues with inflammation can cause drinking and urinating a lot also. You might need a urinalysis in addition to the other tests.

Your Alladin is a beautiful boy.

j L

 

Hi JL,

Thanks for the reply!

I'm fostering him for a rescue group, so I don't have control over his medical situation, unfortunately. I asked for a copy of his most recent blood work results but haven't received it yet. I was told he had bloodwork done in the last few months and that they think everything was normal. The foster coordinator sent an email to the rescue group vet today about the excessive urination when I brought it up as a concern, but I haven't heard if he has replied. The previous foster home (two vet techs) said that he had excessive thirst and urination there as well and that they had previously tested him for a UTI, so it seems unlikely that it's an infection. Depending on what the vet says, he may go in for a urinalysis and bloodwork on Sunday, but if everything was normal recently when he was having the same symptoms, they might not want to spend the money. I'm thinking it is likely that he is sensitive to even slightly increased blood sugar, and even though he's staying at 200 or lower for the most part, he's still shedding a lot of glucose in his urine and urinating frequently, so I want to see if I can keep his BG lower and see if that helps the excessive thirst and urination.

I'll post an update when I hear back on what the vet said about his history!

Thanks,
Jillian

 

Dose adjustments for Lantus are made based on the nadir, the lowest glucose post-shot. This typically happens in the +5 to +7 hours after insulin. If the nadir is above 150 mg/dL on a human meter, you may be able to slightly increase the dose, get better control, and reduce some of the excessive urination and thirst. We typically do increase in 0.25 unit increments, using magnifiers or calipers to help us eyeball or measure the dose.
We have 2 protocols for using Lantus
Tight Regulation
Start Low, Go Slow

You'll want to read them over thoroughly and select one to follow.