New member-am I doing this right?

Hello! I am immensely grateful for this website and like most new members am overwhelmed by the abundance of great information-I also have some chronic health issues that severely affect my cognitive function (mostly ability to process/sort new information and retain new information) so attacking each step of learning about food, home testing, this site etc. is a slow process for me but I am very committed to my fur babies health and am hopeful for your input and experience!

1) did I add the appropriate information in my signature?
2) am I doing the spreadsheet correctly? It has taken me 2 weeks of trying so I only have 2 days of data so far
3) is it possible that user error or dropping glucose strips on ground (yes all of them) could result in super low numbers (if my spreadsheet is readable I had a few readings of 40-80 when my baby seemed to be doing well)

I will have many more questions soon but I am trying to gather atleast 1 week of data now that I have figured out home testing and feeding canned low carb food is essential (no thanks to my vet!) I am definitely having some challenges getting bg despite watching every video and reading every tip the last few weeks but it seems to slowly be getting easier for both of us. Thank you so much!!

 

ask as many questions as you need.

1) yes, signature looks great.
2) I see your spreadsheet fine. One thing that is concerning is that your cat went VERY hypo!!! With the alphatrack you don't want your cat going under 68! That 40 is scary, like could go into seizures and die scary... and tells you that you need to reduce that dose!! Please reduce your dose to no more then 1-1.5 until you have more info! 3 is wayyyy too much. I see you haven't gotten a pmps number. WHY ARE YOU ONLY GIVING ONE HUGE SHOT A DAY? Vetsulin only lasts about 8-10 hours... so th at means your cat is being left untreated for about 14 -16 hours a day. Did your vet tell you to shoot a huge amount once a day instead of a lower amount twice a day? I would do 1. unit twice a day.
3) doubtful dropping the strips caused low numbers.... your cat is being OVERDOSED. My cat doesn't show signs of hypo either when she's low. doesn't mean she's not close to a BIG problem.

 

Welcome! I’m so glad you are hometesting. As Janet said, 40 on an alpha track is scary low. Vetsulin is meant to be dosed twice a day, so by lowering your dose and shooting every 12 hours, Hwy99’s (Love his name!)blood sugar will level out and he will be more comfortable. I’m glad you found us, please ask any questions you have and we will do our best to answer them.

 

I am so freaked out and have been crying for days because Im so afraid to do the wrong thing and make him worse, and it took my vet 9 days to call me back with fructosamine results (which probably isnt accurate since Ive added in canned food now) and just 2 days ago suggested I go to FOUR units once per day!! I told him I wasn't comfortable making any more changes until I had more data-which is really hard, he is supposed to be the professional who knows best after all right?! I just dont have confidence in him though especially as he never mentioned doing home monitoring, or changing food! Hwy is losing .25-.5 pounds per week over last 5 months and I feel so overwhelmed and scared...I have one of those pet insurance policies that covers everything "in house" and am on SSDI so I cant afford to go elsewhere but I just dont know what to do when I cant trust my vet! IDK why only once per day but thank you so much for your insight, I'm going to try to process all these and will try to get consensus that twice a day is what I should be doing, thank you so much

 

Thank you so much! I am so glad I trusted my instincts and didnt increase him to 4 as vet suggested!! He is one of my "foster failures" and efforts to not name him in attempts to not get so attached didn't work but somehow it works perfectly for him now

 

I second what Janet said

 

Hi Heather you have found a safe place to land. We can help you and your sweet kitty to get on the right track.
Vets only get part of one day in learning about diabetes. Most of us have been in your shoes.
Try not to panic and worry about what your vet didnt do and lets teach him what he needs to do. ok?
Its going to be ok.

WELCOME TO FDMB The best site on the planet to help you help your kitty cat!
jeanne

 

take a breath and don't freak out because we are here for you. I can also tell you, your cat's preshot numbers are not that high. I didn't even see a yellow mid cycle number for the first 2.5 months. OK so clearly your vet doesn't know how to treat cats with diabetes. THe good news is WE DO. AND WE ARE HERE TO HELP YOU EVERY STEP OF THE WAY. Thank god you trusted your instincts, because literally 4 units could have been deadly. what time are you doing your shot in the morning? You will want to do that twice a day, 12 hours apart... so like 7am/7pm... and again, drop it down to 1 unit. If after a few days 1 unit proves to not be enough we will recommend to you to go up to 1.25-1.5 units twice a day. You've got this.

 

Here is our beginner's guide to Vetsulin: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-caninsulin-vetsulin.186099/

 

This is our info on going hypo (too low). It has great info... if you can, print it out so you have it handy. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

 

Welcome you should be giving vetsulin twice a day every 12 hours, you DEFINITELY should reduce his dose. Also after feeding him wait 30 minutes to shoot vetsulin
Vetsulin can make his BG drop very quickly as you can see on the spreadsheet
When taking his BG at night you should also be monitoring him
You should be checking him two hours after shooting vetsulin (@+2)
Then maybe @+4, then @+6
Same thing during the day cycle
Then depending if he's dropping low like he has down feed about 1 tablespoon of LC Fancy Feast and check him in 30 minutes to make sure his BG is rising
If not feed again and check
Other days you can check @+3, @+5, @+7 to see how the insulin is working, how long is it lasting
We wouldn't want to see anything happen to him
Listen to everyone here they know what they are talking about, they have many years of experience. Please cut back on the dose and give it to him twice a day
He sure is a cutie

 

How often are you feeding him. You can feed him small amounts during the day, just don't feed anything 2 hours before his AMPS and PMPS test

 

Heather take a deep breath this is all Very Overwhelming when learning how to deal with diabetes. Please listen to the advice this forum gives they are all so Knowledgeable and experienced .
Is there any way you can write things down where you can see so it helps you along with your cats insulin , feeding and testing ? Or try to set a reminder alarm . I know all to well trying to process everything sometimes can make you forget . Make sure you read and print out what to do if Kitty s BG drops and goes hypo Ask this group all kinds of questions you may have

 

OMG I have Alexa remind me of things ALL DAY LONG. hahahahaha

 

Hi Heather and welcome!!

I’m so glad you found us. We all agree about giving your cat insulin every 12 hours. No insulin is made to be given once day. None. It doesn’t exist. So whether your giving him Vetsulin, which I personally don’t think it’s the best option for cats as it was made for dogs, prozync or Lantus like me you give 2 daily shots in 12 hour cycles. Please please trust us on this

I get the overwhelming part completely. I was feeling totally overwhelming when they said I had to home test not once or twice but at least 4 times a day. I had to go away and wrap my mind around it, take quite a few deep breaths - it’s okay to breathe into a brown paper bag too! - and come back and these ladies guided me every step of the way and we’ll do the same for you if you stick with us

great job on the signature, ss, food choice and home testing! You’re doing great

 

Thank you all soooo much! So as I get better with testing I am adding the data I get and for the first time got evening and early morning numbers ( i updated spreadsheet) THANKS TO YOU ALL I got on phone at 9am and persisted in getting some answers and making some changes with Vet so starting today will be doing TWICE A DAY like I probably always should have, and requested to switch to LANTUS and am currently trying to figure out if that is financially feasible. I will probably make a new posting about that whole switch if it happens but so far I can tell you I learned more from 1 posting with you all than I have in the last month! Hwy 99 and I are grateful

 

Thank you so much! Yes, I do write everything down (in fact I am trying to find a more efficient/organized way to record all of these things if you have suggestions-I utilize the spreadsheet but appetite/energy/urine etc. is separate in my journal as I try to understand what is important or relevant) and I do set alarms-great suggestion! I'm currently trying to process/understand which times the bg data is most important to because after weeks of attempting 4-10 times a day at various times of day, my poor baby is is avoiding me dreading the next prick ):

 

A lot of lantus users order it from here. https://rxcanada4less.com/

 

I usually do the preshots them around +4 or 5

 

It’s a 1/3 of the price!!!

 

Your Beautiful kitty looks a lot like my Beautiful kitty Buddy.