Struggling to regulate

Hello everyone
I'm Louise and my cat is Tabby, he is about 13 and was diagnosed with diabetes in January. He was started on Caninsulin but after a few months of trying varying doses with not much success, we have recently started on Lantus.
I am ok with the injections now and am able to test at home successfully, finally, but my cats numbers are not vey good and am not sure my vet knows exactly what she is doing!
Am beginning to panic that we will never get sorted.
Good to find this group and hear other people's stories and learn how to deal with diabetes.

 

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info,
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir
- And home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!)

See our Lantus group for more info on working with Lantus.

 

Thank you

I am very committed.
Tabby is only fed wet food now, prior to diagnosis he ate mostly dry food.
He just recently started on Lantus.
I have a human glucometer - SD Codefree (I live in England, I don't think I can get the ones you mention)

 

Hello Louise and Tabby, and a warm welcome to FDMB
Waving 'Hi' to you from Surrey!

Well done you, for hometesting. Great job! What sort of blood glucose numbers are you seeing?

Eliz

 

Hello
His numbers are between 340 and 420 on average

Louise

 

At what point during the insulin cycle did you get these numbers, Louise? Just before giving insulin? Some hours after giving insulin?
And what dose of Lantus are you giving?

 

We've got a number of UK folk who have identified low carb retail foods. Ordering from ZooPlus is one way to get them. Elizabeth can tell you more.

Since you're home testing, we'll be able to give you better feedback if we can see the numbers. Can we get you started using our grid to record your glucose tests? It will help us give you better feedback. Instructions 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)
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.

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

 

They are just average numbers, he has only recently started on Lantus after previously being on Caninsulin, so at the moment he is only on 0.5. so for example just prior to his insulin this morning he was 396, then 3 hours later he was 432 and then 9 hours later he was 360.

 

Thanks for the spreadsheet. Yes am familiar with Zooplus, have been ordering food from them, all advice and tips I am grateful for. I appreciate your help.

 

We test before we shoot.
Whenever we can, we test around the likely nadir, which is sometime +5 to +7 hours post shot for Lantus, though this can and does vary.
We might get a before bed test to see if intervention to raise the glucose may be needed.
We test anytime the cat's behavior is 'off' or indicates possible hypoglycemia.

 

Hi again Louise,

Here is the link to a draft (work in progress!) food list for UK folks. All of the foods are deemed to be 'diabetic friendly' as they should have less than 10% calories from carbohydrates. The first two columns on the list give the name of the food and the flavour/variety. The second column says where the food can be bought. And the third (yellow) column shows the percentage of calories from carbs. You'll see that there are quite a few foods from Zooplus on the list.
When you open the document look along the top and click on 'UK Food List - Draft B'.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml#

If you do switch to lower carb foods then do be aware that Tabby's blood glucose may drop as a result of that. So, it's good that you can hometest and will be able to monitor.

Eliz

 

Hi
Thanks very much, wish I'd found this site sooner, he is actually on food from this list but only after me trawling the internet for hours trying to find low carb food. This spreadsheet is so helpful
Thanks again