New Member

Hey y’all! New member here for my partners cat Sylvester. He was diagnosed in June 2019 and we are still figuring things out. His vet gave him lantus and he was on 3 units bid until a recent episode of vomiting and not eating. The vet had us up his dose to 4 units bid! We went on a trip about 2 weeks ago and left him at a boarding facility that had medical staff to care for diabetic cats. This other vet told us while he was at the facility (1 week) he did not have an appetite so she gave him cyproheptadine/ dropped him to 1 unit bid. She said that we should keep him on that dose which we have but recently he hasn’t has any appetite again. We finally invested in a home meter to check his glucose but I am really unsure how to do/where to start. I just want to get our fur baby happy and healthy.

 

I'm glad you lowered the dose. 4 units is a really high dose, and was raised too quickly. The dose should be raised in 0.25-0.5 increments. For specific dosing advice of lantus please write on the lantus section of the forum.

Testing at home is the best tool you can use. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.

What are you feeding?

 

Hey! He currently eats purina pro plan true nature. I know we should switch to wet food but we are still investigating affordable wet foods.

 

Hiya and welcome onboard.


Good that you bought a home testing bg meter.
Have you had any succesful bg tests yet with it?

We start low and go slow.

We do the bg tests like this when we do a full bg curve, which is always the best start to see how the insulin and food is working


A.m pre-insulin

+2-3 hours after a.m insulin

+ 5-6 hours after a.m insulin

+7-8 hours after a.m insulin

+ 9 hours after a.m insulin

+10-11 hours after a.m insulin

+12 hours, P.m pre-insulin


When you get the Spreadsheet going you will see it is set up in the same + Hours way.


This is the blood glucose chart so you can see the full bg spectra.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-convert.htm

70-105 in bg is good numbers

110-235 in bg are okay numbers

235 is the renal threshold and no bg numbers above that are good

 

Hey thanks for the help! We have tested him twice so far once last night pre insulin 287 and this morning pre insulin 270. He wouldn’t eat this morning so we haven’t given him any insulin yet.

 

Here is the link to Vet Lisa Pierson's Food Chart were you are going to look for a high protein, moderate fat and 5-6 % max 10 % carbohydrates wet foods that are the best for you.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

There is a wide selection.

 

Thank you so much!

 

This is instruction link to how you set up the Spreadsheet
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Once you are done you link to it in your Signature.

 

And ask as many questions as you like.

 

Too soon to have Ashlee ask for dosing advice on the Lantus forum. Spreadsheet needed first.

Vets wouldn't make suggestions to you over the phone if they had never seen you or your cat before. It would be like driving with our eyes closed to do the same without the SS and more info.

Hi Ashlee! Hi extra sweet kitty Sylvester. Is he a Snowshoe?

 

Fancy Feast pate style foods, Friskies pate style foods are lower cost food options, readily available in the USA. Both <10% carbs.

Please, do not change the food until you get better at home testing. A food change from high to low carb can drop a cat's BG levels 100 basis points or more.

Hypo kit? Do you have one?

Risky to not give any insulin. Not enough insulin + not enough food + infection/inflammation is the classic case for developing ketones. Which can lead to DKA, where you cat would have to go to the vet hospital for 'intensive care' type treatment. Get some ketone testing strips at any pharmacy/drugstore and test his urine.

You need to try and get some food into Sylvester. Hand feed him if necessary.

He may have pancreatitis or something else going on too, causing him to not eat. Would you describe his other symptoms for us please?

 

Thanks Deb and Wink! I am going to start a spreadsheet sheet for him today but we don’t have a lot of data since we just started testing. I guess he is a snow shoe!! I never knew that but after looking at pictures he definitely looks like one!

 

Most on here feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. I feed weruva just because my cat has kidney issues and needs low phosphorus.

 

Yes! We did hand feed him yesterday but are having the same issue today. His main symptom is not eating I tried to give him some cyproheptadine this morning but he vomited it up.

 

Try another dose of the cypro
Call your vet
Try hand feeding again
Test for ketones
Describe other symptoms (posture - meat loafing position)

 

Here are some links for you. Please check the Hypos document to see if any symptoms match what you are seeing.

Check the pancreatitis primer to see if symptoms match what you are seeing. Pancreatitis is a medical condition that is often seen hand in hand with diabetes.

• FDMB Spreadsheet Instructions
  
• Understanding the Spreadsheet/Grid
• How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
• Pancreatitis: A Primer On Pancreatitis

We are not a substitute for your vet. We are laypeople that have extensive knowledge about diabetes in cats. Think of us as an adjunct to your vet.

 

Got it.
We only have 1 dose of the cypro left but will definitely try it and are going to hand feed him. I’ll have to go get the ketone strips. He hasn’t been meatloafing mainly just curled up napping.

 

And we are going to the bet first thing in the AM!

 

Cypro side effects include sleepiness or in some cats excitability and a vocalizing. Upset stomach or vomiting with cypro so give with a bit of food or small treat.

Plus a cat sleeping is not an unusual occurrence.

 

Sienne and Gabby (GA) has suggested that there are many more experienced users of Lantus/Levimir on the Lantus ISG. You may want to think about posting over there.
Lantus / Basaglar (glargine) and Levemir (detemir)

Hope your car is doing well.