TK says Hi

Hi everyone. I just adopted my kitty TK (The Kitty) from a family member who no longer wanted to deal with him. They thought he had chronic renal failure (based on their close relationship with google) and thought he was doomed to die. My husband and I stepped in, took him home, and 3 months later can't imagine life without him!

Of course, his kidneys are fine. What my family member was seeing was the first signs of diabetes. We just got him diagnosed but he has not started on insulin yet. I'm currently waiting for my vet to return my call. I've worked with animals (wildlife mostly) my whole life, but of course when it's your own animal all knowledge and instinct seem to fly out the window! Hopefully that's temporary.

We already got a home tester which I used for the first time today. He was a champ and, thankfully, an easy bleeder. I gotta admit though that I'm confused by his numbers. His initial wellness visit 2 weeks ago he measured 410. Of course, he was stressed out. So on to our next vet visit, keeping it quiet and easy, and he's 360. Now at home (granted this is based on only 1 time with a brand new meter) he's 205. This seems like a huge range to base an initial dosing suggestion on. And based on a lot of my reading, my vets initial suggestion of 2 units twice a day sounds really high. I'm going to push for a lower/slower start, but almost wonder if I should wait a week and get more data first. I'm a scientist and data nut and this can be a problem sometimes - always thinking I need more information before acting on something, sometimes to the point of never acting. :/

My other hesitation is that I want to change his diet first. He had a hard switch to wet food when we took him in. He was fine with the switch but only reliably ate one food, which happens to be a gravy food higher in carbs than I'd like. He was also getting a kibble snack mid-day to help regulate his weight loss. So now the kibble is gone and I'm re-trying other can foods and some freeze-dried raw. Wouldn't it be better to get his diet re-regulated and his numbers more consistent (what even is consistent in a sugar kitty?!) prior to starting insulin?

And of course there's the other end. Diet changes and home testing is great, but I also know that the earlier treatment is started the better overall for chances of remission and general organ health. So should I just give myself a week, no more? Or is there some flexibility?

Anyway, most of this is to get my thoughts out and organized and not go crazy waiting for the vet to call me back, but I would love any feedback anyone has. This site has been a great source of information and I'm thankful for everyone's input and support of each other.

 

Welcome! Sounds like you are well on your way and already implementing much of the basic advice we generally dispense here in this intro forum , so after you've had a look around feel free to mosey on over to Feline Health for specific questions!

I'll give a couple of brief answers here.

1. Yes, I think changing diet first and getting a handle on his typical numbers at home, and then deciding on a dose and starting insulin is the way to go. You don't want to wait too long, but a week or so won't harm his chances of remission a lot, particularly if he isn't actually in sky-high numbers currently.

2. BG differences as high as a couple hundred points between home-vet aren't all that uncommon-- and this is one of the reasons home testing is so crucial! I think you're right to be wary of the 2U starting dose-- that may indeed end up being too high for TK (but wait and see where he is with some more data and a diet change).

And an answer to a question you didn't ask: if your vet offers you a choice, good insulins for cats are Lantus or Levemir, and Prozinc. Vetsulin/Caninsulin can be used, but is more tricky with cats (works well in dogs).

Welcome again, and see you over in Feline Health when you have more questions!

 

Oh, and good for you for taking TK in!

 

Nan covered what I would say. Good for you for testing at home right away! 200's are low, and 2 u may be way too high of a dose. 0.5-1 u would be a better place to start.... But with a diet change that number could be even lower!

Welcome to fdmb!