New Member - Binky

Hello all!

My 12-year-old Binky was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of March. We are currently doing 1 unit of Lantus twice a day, and we're still figuring out the best dose for her.

We'd had a rough cat winter - we lost our 15-year-old Sully to cancer in January, and immediately afterwards, Ashe (18) started to go downhill due to digestive issues. He's still with us and needs some support, but he's doing alright.

I noticed about a month after Sully's passing that, wow, I was still scooping a lot of pee for being down one cat. Ashe is on sub-q fluids, so I thought it was him, but figured I should bring Binky in just in case...

And so, here we are. I was upset when I got the initial diagnosis because Binky is not a people cat. She is (or at least was) a cat's cat. I took her in as a stray for Ashe back in 2007 because we had lost his brother in December of 2006. So, she's my cat's cat. And hasn't been overly friendly with people, just content to do her own thing and get affection from Ashe. For years she was known as "Couch Cat" because she had made a hole in the couch, and she'd hang out there quite often.

I was worried that all the human contact would stress her out so much that I wouldn't be able to control her diabetes, and we'd just manage as best as we could, but it would be short.

Turns out that's not the case. She's not nuts about being poked, but she does it for the treats. And since treating her, she's become much more outgoing an affectionate, to the point where it's a little inconvenient. Like waking me up at 3 am for head and chin scritches kind of inconvenient.

We did our second curve today, and she did super well. I didn't have to extract her from the couch or pluck her out of the cat tree or anything. Shake the bag of treats, and over she came.

Other health issues that Binky has: feline herpes, urinary crystals and stones (she's on Royal Canin SO wet food), and she has a heart murmur. And she needs a dental cleaning, but the vet wants to get the diabetes under control before we do that.

Thanks for reading all that! I look forward to learning from all of you and becoming an expert in feline diabetes!

 

Hi Megan and Binky and welcome to FDMB.
I'm sorry you lost Sully...it is always so hard losing our kitties.
I see you have your SS up which is fantastic, and the signature, and you are going to test the blood sugars! Wow you are well organised. That is great.
Could you put in your signature that you are using the Alphatrak meter please as it makes a difference to the numbers, thanks. Also it would be good if you could list Binkys other ailments, meds and food type. We look at the SS and the signature for information when we help people.
Lantus is a great insulin for cats and 1 unit is a good starting dose. We increase and decrease in 1/4 unit increments so that we don't go past the best dose and it is safer for kitties. Are you using syringes or a pen?
I can't see any numbers yet in the SS. If you could add all the ones you have done so far, that would be a great help. And if you look to the far right of the SS you will see the remarks column. Use that to tell us about when/what you fed, how Binkie is, any issues etc.
I'm going to send a link to the foods and the carbs content. I can see that the Royal Canin SO is 20 carbs which is high. FD Kitties do best on food that has 10% carbs or less.
This is the welcome page so you might like to post over on the main forum or, as you are super organised you could go directly over to the Lantus page where all the Lantus users post. Ask all the questions you like. We are happy to help.
A lot of vets want to get kitty regulated first before doing a dental but often it is the need for a dental that is stopping them being regulated!
Here is the link to the food info
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...fEUz9YmzMGMxkmcBk6uRR0/htmlview#gid=113878384
Bron
Would love to see a photo of Binky.

 

Welcome! You will find a lot of support here. Sounds like you are already getting the hang of testing! Good job! Amazing what they will do for treats, isn’t it?

Are you using low carb treats? There are freeze dried chicken, fish, etc. those can be a little pricey, a lot of people cook a plain chicken breast and chop in treat sized pieces and freeze and then take out a little at a time to keep in fridge for testing treats.

 

Hi Bron!

Thanks for the heads up on the signature and spreadsheet! I linked everything together last night, and will be working on filling out the spreadsheet (and keeping it up to date!).

For the insulin, I'm using syringes, and it's working out quite well.

As far as the food - the vet and I both realize that the food she's on isn't the best. I have tried to get her off the food a few times in the past 6 years, switching to grain-free high quality cat foods because her coat sucks with this current food. And the results were pretty consistent - within 3 days she was peeing blood and miserable. I felt awful. I have tried to at least find the active ingredient in the urinary SO, but I haven't had a lot of luck. It would be great if it could be given as a supplement or something!

I hope to upload a picture soon - my computer fell behind in syncing with my phone, so we're catching up!

Nice to meet you!

Megan