Newbie needs help

Discussion in 'Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH' started by Drea03, Feb 3, 2019.

  1. Drea03

    Drea03 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2019
    Hello. I have a 14 yr old kitty who was just diagnosed with DM last week. I work at a vet office so I found out pretty quickly from his symptoms and tests. I did a UA which was almost normal except high glucose. Next day we did a full blood panel including fructosamine just to see what’s been going on the last 2-3 weeks. All good except glucose was 384 and fructosamine was mid 300s. Also lipase was elevated so we put him on amoxicillin. He’s been fed a can in morning and LID dry measured out for the day. I immediately switched to no dry and wet/freeze dried raw which he’s had before. Wet is low carb and high protein I’ve made sure. Doc was thinking his numbers werent high enough for insulin but I insisted instead of glipizide which doesn’t seem to have much success. I wanted ProZinc but wouldn’t be able to order in time to start him ASAP so I went with vetsulin. I did a Home glucose curve 3 days ago. We started out with 2 units. His levels dropped too much. No insulin that night. His numbers have been so scattered. He’s not cooperating as much now. Tired of being poked understandably. I’ve been feeding 280-300 calories a day (about 2 cans and half a cup freeze dried raw) He’s a little over #16. Maybe I’m not giving this enough time to see better results? I’m not sure if it’s too early to bump up the insulin a little? Going to talk to doc again tomorrow. I’m just trying to do-the best I can to make him feel better. Yes I have a good background and good vets for advice but I’m here to seek advice from others going through this themselves. I don’t have a fancy spreadsheet yet but I have a picture of his numbers I’ve been able to get. I’ve been using Alphatrak 2 but looking to buy something else as the strips are pretty expensive for the alpha. Any advice is much appreciated. I’ve read through a lot of posts already and this forum is great! Thank you.
     

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  2. Kris & Teasel

    Kris & Teasel Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Aug 17, 2016
    Welcome! I'm sorry your post wasn't seen sooner. It seems you have things well in hand but there are a few comments/suggestions I can make:
    • One week really isn't enough time to get the dosing sorted out. It can take many weeks or longer.
    • You can get a good picture of how he's doing without doing frequent curves (more below).
    • Yes, 2 u seems too high and 1 u too low right now. You have options between those: 1.25 u (eyeballed), 1.50 u (easy if your syringes have half unit marks) and 1.75 u (eyeballed).
    • It's best to hold a dose 3 to 4 days at least before changing it.
    • Our spreadsheet is easy to set up and use so I encourage you to do that. We all look at patterns of data on it to decide what advice to give.
    Here's the basic testing routine that, over time, will give you good data to assess dosing and isn't as onerous wrt testing:
    1. test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe
    2. test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes
    3. do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture
    4. if indicated by consistently high numbers on your spreadsheet, increase the dose by no more than 0.25 u at a time so you don't accidentally go right past a good dose
    5. post here for advice whenever you're confused or unsure of what to do.
    Here's the link to our spreadsheet:
    http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

    It would be helpful if you set up your signature as follows:
    • click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
    • click on "signature" in the men that drops down
    • type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using /glucose meter you're using/what he eats/any other meds or health issues he has.
    I hope this helps. :)
     
  3. Drea03

    Drea03 New Member

    Joined:
    Feb 3, 2019
    Thank you for your reply. I do think I’m being a bit impatient with seeing better numbers already. I just hate to see my baby boy not feeling himself. I updated signature to help with information. Thanks.
     
  4. Cris-Merlin(GA)& the pack

    Cris-Merlin(GA)& the pack Member

    Joined:
    Jan 6, 2019
    Hope Milky is doing better. @Kris & Teasel covered the basics, a week is to early to know but keep going with somewhere midway between 1 and 2 units. Vetsulin can work very fast so it's better to be careful. As for meters you can use human meters no issue. Most people here do. Keeping a good eye on Milky hope it all goes well.
     
  5. Sybil and Zoe

    Sybil and Zoe Member

    Joined:
    Oct 16, 2018
    I have had good luck using the alphatrak 2 meter with the Insulinix Freestyle strips (not lite) with the alphatrak meter set on 38. I got that from others advice here. It has been pretty close to the alphatrak strips reading and MUCH cheaper. They run about $30 for 50 verses the $50 and up for a bottle of 50 strips of the alphatrak (vet charges $90) :eek: I use vetsulin because it is by far the most affordable insulin and Zoe was started on it. I asked Vet about Lantus and it can be $300 vial so no way is that affordable, and that is why they put her on Vetsulin. Interestingly, Zoe was diagnosed in Oct 2018 and started on 3 units. I am a nurse and over a period of time I bumped her up to as much as 5.5 units and she still stayed in the 300 range. She has had one episode of low reading since diagnosed, but basically her nadir sits in the 200's, and pre shot in the low to mid 300. I recently took a 4 day trip in January and kenneled her at the Vet. They put her back down to 3 units (of course they managed her food better and she was not able to scarf her sisters food while there). I have left her at 3 and she runs low to mid 300s. I have ordered a microchip feeder ($139):arghh: for her sister so that Zoe can no longer get double amounts of food and if I didnt give a few Temptation treats daily she probably will be lower on the BG scale. Bella is so finicky I hope she will take to the new feeder when it arrives seeing how expensive it was to purchase. Zoe is like the puppy in 101 Dalmations who is always saying "Im hungry, Im hungry mommy" She is about 13 lbs and should be around 9lb I think. I purchased a timed food bowl for her I havent set up yet thinking she might do better with smaller more frequent feedings. She is basically on FF pates and we still struggle with days that both turn their nose up at the flavor that day. I must say I would never choose to do otherwise because of her diagnosis, but man is managing a cat with diabetes an expensive venture.!!! LOL. I will say that because of her early training with her favorite food in the whole world-- temptation treats---she comes to me every morning and evening for her ear prick and insulin voluntarily without the treats now as reward. She is such a sweet kitty! (no pun intended).
     

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