? Testing at Home

Hello,

Newly diagnosed as in 2 days ago. I know cats and humans are different but I have a very large and detailed background with type 1 diabetes in humans. I have been a care taker for my mom for 20 years now and she was diagnosed at 2 years old and has had it over 47 years. So I learned the ins and outs of diabetes from a very very young age. Also we figured this diagnosis was coming, he is only 3 years old but his signs were SPOT on, and we found out 2 days ago, unfortunately, we were not wrong. So since the diagnosis I have been researching like crazy.

Anyway... My question... When the vet left the room I brought up to the vet tech about testing his blood sugars at home and she kind of freaked out. She went "oh no! Never, we do that once a week for you until we get his curve. Plus there is no good place to test a cat, you cannot test their ears or anything like that, only the vein from their back leg".

So my question is... how do I present this to the vet at our next appointment? I was going to just go ahead and start testing myself this first week while we wait to see the vet and then when I go in in a week to have them test him again bring in the meter and my log and let them see what I have been doing. Because I don't know how to tell the vet without offending him that I will not treat my cat for the rest of his life and NOT learn how to test him and view his results. I know how illness, life style changes, etc., can effect BG levels and I don't want that going unnoticed for half a year because that is the next appointment to get them checked.

I really am hoping though that that was just the tech and the vet will be on board with me testing his BG's when I want.

Also I am worried about when they do his curve at the vets office... wouldn't it be more ideal for me to do it at home in his home, comfort, setting? Instead of some place he will be nervous and probably not wanting to eat as much when they keep him a whole 12 hours?

 

The vet tech may not be telling the same thing the vet would. You need to ask the vet how they feel about home testing.

But if the vet is against it, you'll just have to hold your ground. Tell them that you have dealt with your mom's diabetes for years and you would never consider giving her insulin without knowing what her blood glucose was first, and you don't know why it would be any different for your cat.

There are LOTS of video's on YouTube showing people home testing their cats that you might show them.

Absolutely!! Curves done at the vet's office are useless due to the stress response. Just like a human's blood pressure is higher at the doctor's office, a cat's glucose will be higher at the vet. A curve also only shows one cycle of one day.

If they continue to fight you on it, you may need to find another vet, but my own cat hasn't been back to the vet for her diabetes since she was first diagnosed. I found this message board the first night she was diagnosed and have followed the advice of the people here ever since. Vets only get 5 hours of education on diabetes in school and that goes for both dogs and cats. The people here have years of real life experience in what works and what doesn't.

When I have to take China in for something else, I just tell them "she's on X units of Lantus and her blood glucose usually runs between Y and Z" and that's pretty much the end of the conversation. If my vet does feel the need to give me advice, I politely nod my head and smile and then say "I'll have to give that some thought"....and I come right back here and do what I know works.

 

Hi again.

Having read your intro post , it may help everyone here if you let us all know what his diet is at present. That will have an impact as you know.

With regard to home testing, just do it. I did.

If you have a mo perhaps think to set up a spreadsheet. That is what helps the folks here to help you.

Yes. You obviously can do a curve at home and you should and will but you also need to be interacting with your vet and practice as they will be the ones that will be working with you and pusscat.

If they will not, then perhaps find another vet practice. For some of us that is not so easy .

I have no idea why it is a vet practice to test BG via the legs when an ear is so much easier and better for both cat and carer. I'd like for someone to answer that conundrum. Blood is blood.

 

Will do! I think I have added most of what I am seeing others add in their signatures. Let me know if there is any more information that is useful and such. As for food I am just starting his switch over to Purina DM, 3/4 cup a day. Right now it is 3/4 cup mixture of DM and diamond naturals, as I am transitioning him over.

Also, yes, I am hoping to do a curve at home but certainly keep working closely with my vet.

 

The type of meter you're going to use....human or pet?

Sounds like that's the dry D/M....that's way too high in carbs for a diabetic cat (despite what the vet may have told you)

No dry food is good for cats. What we strongly recommend is feeding a low carb canned or raw diet. Most of us here feed Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies pates which are a lot more affordable than any of the "prescription" foods.

There's absolutely nothing in those "prescription" foods that's special and if you look at the ingredients, you'll see they're pretty lousy.

Everything you could ever want to know about feeding a cat is on Dr. Lisa's "Feeding your cat" website

 

The meter I have is a human meter, Walgreens True 2 Go. I will add that, thank you.

Good to know! I already have a couple pets on medication that will be for life and adding his food to his diagnosis was worrying me. I will look into those Friskie ones.

 

That's crazy. Of course you want to test a cat. A person wouldn't inject without a test, neither should a pet. Once I started home testing my cat didnt go back to the vet for a year.

I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC at home.