New UK Members: How are things today?

Hi again to our new UK members (Kate & Basil, Kim & Shakti, ToadflaxBex)

I hope that your kitties are doing better now and that you are making good progress in finding the kit you need to hometest.

Please let us know if you need help and advice ... We're with you on this

Love

 

I am still looking at tests and trying to find a cheapy. Not that I am being tight, just want a good deal. We are picking up my father in laws kit at the weekend. I kind of want to get the same kit he uses, main point being he doesn't test every day so I can use his strips as he gets them free
BUT in the long run, i'll get whatever toadflax needs so if his kit isn't great I'll buy the one I want. I think he has either the freedom freestyle one or the one touch, both look familiar. I have been looking at both of those, as the latter needs less blood so thinking that might be better for a first timer?

Toadflax actually seems a bit like his normal self atm, well maybe not the same, but was watching him grooming this morning and he was on the way back from the vets too. Which was odd as normally he'll just moan all the way there and back!
Also he isn't sloping off up stairs to be by himself, he's actually lying in an arm chair relaxing with the occasional meow when my daughter makes a noise. Its just nice to have him in the same room sleeping rather than lying by his food bowl.
His readings hadn't changed this week. Still at 19 (same from 2 weeks ago)We have been on 8 units for a week, so I guess there hasn't been time for things to start regulating. He was over 30 when we first started 2 months ago, so I guess its looking much better but not what it should be.
What readings do you guys get? I'm interested. All the US ppl are saying theirs are in 100s so I am guessing their readings are on a different scale to UK.
Testing again in a fortnight and vet says if still same we are switching the Insulin. He has tree kinds in stock but he likes to get cats regulated on Caninsulin first then, he'll switch to the slower release PZI, he has an even slower release one, releases it over 36 hours too, so not sure what the benefits are of that one. Anyway thats my news.

 

To turn UK nos to USA nos you have to multiply by 18 !!
We used a sliding scale.

Under 10 NO INSULIN DANGER OF HYPO
10-15 1/2 unit insulin
15-20 1 unit

20-25 2units

But remember that Every Cat Is Different!

Bushey was 35 on Caninsulin and was soon back to the 20's on Insuvet PZI

Mary

 

Hi Simon,
Basil is bit more like himself, other than his back legs, and he seems to be doing ok so far on the insulin (1Unit of Insuvet Lente 2x a day). I, on the other hand, have been in bed for 2 days with the flu! Basil has been keeping me company, though.

I should get my testing kit tomorrow or Saturday, which will be good, as I'm nervous about the food situation. I'm feeding him wet food, but mix some kibbles in with it and when he's really demanding in the afternoon, I give him some (very little) kibbles as well) I just don't want to drop his levels too quickly before I can test. He is going back to the vet on the 1st, so I want to have a good week or so of results to show her.

Mary, do you just adjust the insulin levels yourself based on the readings, or do you confer with your vet?

Basil's BG was 23 when he was diagnosed (which is 414, I guess). What should be the normal range? What would indicate that he might not need any more insulin?

Thanks for checking in.

Kate

 

Hi all,

here is the guideline for numbers:
http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Blood_glucose_level

Don't panic that your cats may be in the last two brackets. A lot of cats start out in this range. What you don't want is your cat in this range for a prolonged period of time. It is a big reason why I am not a fan of Caninsulin. We used it because in Germany it is the law.Only when you can prove it isn't working will they consider other insulins. In the UK it is the cascade efect, so unfortunately apart from the odd UK person your unlikely to be able to access Lantus or Levemir (by far the 2 insulins showing the greatest chance of remission.Slightly skewed by the numbers here using them but also backed up by research)Prozinc seems to be getting positive reports and this is available in UK.
As for the 36 hour insulin-no one on this board has mentioned one. Cats need BID (Twice day dosing)because they metabolise insulin twice as fast as dogs (who usually only have 1 shot a day I beleieve).



Blood glucose conversions (check whether your glucometer takes whole blood or just plasma.Should be whole blood)
http://felinediabetes.com/bg-convert.htm

Ideal bg is under 140 (7.8)for as much of the day as possible. Cats 'normal' bg is anything from the 40's(>2.2) to ~low 100's(>5) depending on the cat! (non-diabetic this is).So if you get your cat off insulin and it can hold these kind of numbers it is a diet controlled diabetic. Never free of diabetes and will need to have low carb for the rest of it's life.
There is no way of knowing if your cat is a type 1 or 2 diabetic. Cats can take anything up to 2 years to get off insulin (the longer time, the less likely). Optimum time is within 6 months.

As for people changing the dose themselves-depends on your relationship with your vet, your knowledge and listening to advice from this board. After a hypo on first shot, I went with this board(fortunate Sweetgrass was around all the time then and when we moved to Levemir had Jojo a vet tech).There are a lot of knowledeable people on this board but I would urge you to inform your selves and not to take just one person's advice.
If you have a vet who knows what they are talking about it's good to work with them, but again just because they have VCM after their name and wear a white coat does not necessarily mean they know more about managing diabetes than a number of people here. Yes a bold statement, but you read enough and spend enough time here you'll see what I mean.
Using both is the best and certainly in respect of other ailments you need a vet you can work with.

Ultimately your cat is your cat-family, best friend, baby-you can see him/her, we can't and you have to be comfortable with what you are doing.
Never underestimate insulin, it is powerful stuff.

Good luck :mrgreen:

 

[Hi Simon,
Basil is bit more like himself, other than his back legs, and he seems to be doing ok so far on the insulin (1Unit of Insuvet Lente 2x a day).]

I really did find that the Methyl-B12 1000mcg tabs helped my Cattro's hind legs to a large degree - look on ebay for the best deals, I buy the 'Jarrow' brand.

All the best, Kay

 

I just managed my first home test (thanks for the pep talk, Simon). It took about 4 little jabs, but we finally got some blood (just Basil's, thankfully) and his level was 12.7. It's 6.20pm and he's due his insulin at 8pm, but I wanted to test him before he ate- and he was screaming for some food. When he was first diagnosed, his first reading was 23, so just wondering what you make of this reading.

~Thanks,
Kate

 

I would say that 12.7 is a pretty good reading soon after diagnosis but I will invite others with greater knowledge than me to comment more.

Congratulations Kate ... Welcome to the Vampyre Club!

Love

 

Kim and Shakti checking in, sorry about the radio silence over the last few days! So, it's been a week since diagnosis...

Shakti is still on 1 unit of Caninsulin every 12 hours, and my husband and I have worked out a system of giving her a tiny quantity of boiled chicken when we give her her shot (and her civvie sister Freya gets a bit too as otherwise it seems too unfair )

Other than that I'm feeding both of them only Whiskas Simply Grilled, 3 sachets (so 255 grams) between them, twice a day (so 6 sachets in total). I'd like to give Shakti a bit more, but as we're out at work all day I can't be sure of being consistent so until we get an automatic feeder they're just on the two meals. I'm going to switch them onto Butchers Classic but - again - am holding fire until I can start blood testing as Shakti seems to be doing well on this regime and I don't want to throw any spanners in the works.

I have bought a Bayer Contour USB glucometer but have not yet summoned the courage to use it...

Generally, Shakti seems pretty well. She's happy in herself, hungrier than usual but wanting fusses every now and then and not sleeping more than usual or hanging over the water bowl. Her fur seems a bit better too - I swear it's softer and glossier on her back (towards the tail, where it was very dry and dandruffy before the diagnosis) and she might even have put on a bit of weight!

I've also got a cold (Kate, you have my sympathy!) so took to the sofa bed this afternoon (had the day off, fortunately); Shakti came and got in with me and we dozed peacefully for a while

 

Kate and Basil

12.7 is approx 228.(1 11/2 hrs before next shot from what you said)

I've checked back and you stated that your on 1u Insuvet Lente BID (Twice a day). That's a pretty good reaction.

Suggestion to help us-can you put this in your signature (look at what Shatki has in theirs.Something like Dx....., 1u Insuvet Lente BID).Meas people know exactly what insulin your on and the dose (until hopefully? you get a spread sheet up and running that you can also link to your signature).

Congratulations on getting the test.It wil become second nature very quickly :mrgreen:
Lente is not an insulin I have used. I know it's not really used a lot now, but if it seems to be working.......
Can you get AMPS, +1, +4,+6, +8,+10 and PMPS-Then we can see what kind of curve your getting and how low the 1u is taking his bg. (Helpful if you can state when Basil ate in relation to +hrs too).



Keep up the good work :mrgreen:

 

Kim and Shakti

Great that your managing Shakti's shots.

Maybe you'd like to contact Simon for help with testing?
It really isn't as difficult as it sounds and it really doesn't hurt kitty.If Shakti is fractious, there are lots of little tips you can use. Something I can empathise with as I had a tiger!!!

You can freeze some food and place this under the fresh, then cats have food for more of the day whilst your waiting for your timed feeder. Unregulated cats are lterally starving as they can't process the food.

Not sure what carb content of Whiskas grilled is-do you know?
Butchers seems to be a brand that cats either love or hate (marmite syndrome :mrgreen: ). I'd try just one tin and see how they fair first.
I will try and remember topost the list I have of UK foods.

Glad that your still on 1u.If you can get those spot checks in (similar times to what I have suggested for Kate/Basil)we can see exactly what 1u is doing to Shakti's bg's.

All sounding positive so far.
Hope your feeling better.Kitty snuggles are always nice :mrgreen:

 

I can't recall offhand what the carb content for Grilled is, but it's on the list of UK foods as being 'okay' - not the best but fairly low carb IIRC. They've eaten Butchers before (I've always varied their food on the grounds that I don't want to eat the same thing every day so why would they) - of course, that's no guarantee they'll still like it, lol.

Definitely going to try the testing, probably not this weekend as we're a bit all over the place, but early next week *fingers crossed*. Thanks for the encouragement!

 

Hi Kim, from Surrey - I'm afraid I haven't been around much, lots going on, but I've been checking in here when I can to see how my fellow UKers are doing and it sounds to me as if you're doing pretty well!

The Whiskas grilled pouches you mention should be OK, yes, and are certainly better than any dry food. There is one type of wet food to be careful with though, and that's the "Good as it Gets" (or something like that, not sure) varieties - they tend to be quite a lot higher in carbs for some reason, maybe more gravy or something (as a rule, forget gravy varieties, same reason - jelly is always better). Having said that, some people like to keep a few pouches of the higher-carb food around in case their cat goes too low, in which case the extra carbs will bring them back up again (hopefully) and is probably a gentler way to treat a potential hypo than honey or glucose.

Butchers is great in that it's the lowest-carb food on the UK market (we think) but it's true your cats might not like it, partly because it is very low-carb and perhaps not as tasty as other varieties. I don't know if you can buy single tins - it used to be just six-packs, and only in Sainsburys or Wilkinsons (may be different now). And I wouldn't worry too much about giving your cats a variety of food - that's what we prefer but not necessarily what they prefer at all! Most cats would eat their favourite meal day in day out, forever.

Anyway, keep up the good work and best of luck with the home-testing - it really isn't too bad at all once you've got the knack!

Best wishes
Diana

 

Diana,

not sure where this 'good as it looks' comes from.(someone else has mentioned)

It was fantastic for Lucky and is only 3.4% carbs.
The only thing to beat it that I could get here in Germany at the time was Whiskas Mmm which was 1% (Lucky hated it).It has been discontinued though.

There are some plant extracts in the Felix, but negligible and Lucky once regulated was in diabetic numbers for 24/7 pretty much.

 

Kate - I'm not sure where the info about As Good as it Looks came from except it was another UKer who swore by the stuff to use when her cat was going too low. If you were OK with it I suppose it's another example of ECID so it's just a matter of trial and error!
Diana

 

So we had a little go at testing tonight. Totally random as it was about 45 mins after his insulin. He was just around and i was looking at the meter so thought may as well give it a quick go. Set the lancet thingy at its shallowest and hardly anything came out, second time I think it hurt him because he kept on swiping at his ear, poor mite, so wiped the blood away lol so tried again on the other ear and eventually got enough It was reading at 21.3 So should the reading go up or down after a shot? I am guessing that is a really dumb question!!!

 

[I really did find that the Methyl-B12 1000mcg tabs helped my Cattro's hind legs to a large degree - look on ebay for the best deals, I buy the 'Jarrow' brand.]

Hi Kay, how do you give it to them? what is the best kind to buy?: sublingual, lozenge, etc? I'll give anything a try as his legs are so bad, poor thing.

Thanks,
Kate

 

Hi Kate,

Cattro won't eat any food that's been doctored - I had tried crushing them and mixing in with food, your kitty might tho? Now I just pop them down her throat! They are quite large but seem fine - no bigger than a Go cat and she will swallow those whole if she can.

You could also crush and mix with something and syringe into the mouth, the main thing is just to get them into the cat. I used to give one or two 1000mcg a day, can't remember sorry, see the sugarpets website for info, Jasper's story I think it is.

Kay