Stinky - a new Diabetic cat

Last year about this time I adopted a (supposed) 16 year old black cat from the local SPCA. My heart broke seeing he was there.

After a rough time for a bit (he had a URI) and suddenly losing one of my other cats to cancer, he had settled in. Loves to be petted.

Last week I caught him peeing on the carpet. Saturday he was diagnoses with diabetes.

I started treating him today. he seems to like the special food. I gave him two shots of insulin (note to self: the needles are sharp and can make my thumb bleed!)

I'm reading what I can. He's a very loving guy and I want to make him happy and comfortable.

 

He looks like a sweetie. Bless you for adopting an older kitty. We have a wonderful diabetes plan: wet low carb food, home testing and a mild, long lasting insulin. Those three things have meant regulation and sometimes remission for many cats.

Let us know how we can help. Ask any questions you have on the Health forum.

 

Hi Tom, welcome to you and Stinky. I love black cats, have a few of them myself. I also learned early on how sharp those needles are! As Sue said, home testing, insulin and a good low carb food is the formula for regulation. Read all you can and ask all the questions you think of.

 

Thanks. I am not sure I am testing the first time or if I will let him spend the day at the vet.
They gave me a bag of food (that he likes so far) and some cans. I might try those tomorrow. He generally seems to like dry food better.

I appreciate all the help. This is new for me.

In addition to him, Tasker (the brother of the cat I lost last year), was diagnosed with kidney disease last week. Sigh.

 

Sorry about Tasker. Here's a great resource for CKD http://www.felinecrf.org/index.htm

Learning to home test is easy and we'll be glad to teach you if you'd like. It's the best way to see how the insulin is working and to keep Stinky safe.

 

Thanks! This is all so new to me. With two of them it's a little overwhelming. Tasker just turned 16.

Throw into this that I am single and can be gone for 12 hours a day between work and the gym, it's a challenge.

The vet showed me how to test and I have the equipment. The hard part might be finding a vein. Everything is black on Stinky!! The vet tech had a hard time.


But I'll definitely look here for help. And I hope it gets easier as I go along.

You have been great for a new guy who just started here. I greatly appreciate it.

 

You don't actually aim for a vein, but the area between the vein and edge of the ear. Here's a pic of the sweet spot as well as some videos
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

Hi Tom and Stinky, welcome!
I loveeeeeeeeeeeee that picture of Stinky, he is the cutest and looks just like my other cat Minnie
Indeed, bless you for adopting a older kitty.
What insulin is Stinky on?

 

Lets get you set up to post over on the Health Forum.
(And take a look at the Secondary Monitoring Tools in my signature; you may find them helpful)

You'll need to edit your signature, and start a spreadsheet.

1) Editing your Signature (it helps us give you feedback)

In the upper right corner of the screen, within the dark blue bar, you will see ID, Inbox, and Alerts

Click on your ID.

On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature.
This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback. You are limited to 2 hard returns, so separate pieces by | or -.
This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
Add any other text, such as your name | cat's name | date of Dx (diagnosis) | insulin | meter general location (city and state/province) any other pertinent issues like if there are any food issues, history of DKA, hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, allergies, IBD, etc.

Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.

2) instructions for the spreadsheet are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning, pre-shot, test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening, pre-shot, test)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

The nadir is the lowest glucose between shots. There is a general period when it will happen which is specific to the insulin being used and testing then helps make sure your cat doesn't go too low.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.

 

He is on Lantus