[01/29/2023 New Member] Cuda's Introduction (HomeTesting Questions)

Hello, I'm Nicolai & my kitty, Cuda (10yr M), was diagnosed with FD recently. Unfortunately, it took 2 hypo episodes & a vet ER visit before I was told about this forum. Since then, my partner & I have been reading as much as we can. I've discovered that we've been doing just about everything wrong. Even though I know it's a learning process & we didn't have much support, I feel guilty and embarrassed about it. Cuda has been my constant companion since I was about 15 yrs old. He took care of me through many rough times & it seems that now it's time for me to return the favor.

My current most urgent concern is with BG testing. Money is tight, so I got a cheap BG starter kit (PetTest Advocate) when he was dx-ed. The 1st issue: the lancing device didn't work. After looking into it & seeing a lot of people saying that lancing devices mostly help with squeamishness, I thought, "that's fine, I'll just learn to test free-hand" (I'm chronically ill, so my partner & I have lots of experience with needles & other medical things). But we ran into a 2nd issue: the lancets seemed a bit dull & the gauge seemed a bit large to me. It seemed like it was hurting Cuda & his ears were bruising a lot. He really didn't like having his ears pricked at all (the vets had the same issue with him; very social, loving cat, good with insulin shots, but *hates* blood work). After his hypo seizure on Jan. 19th, I started testing his BG more & the results weren't really matching up with his symptoms. I looked into it today & discovered that a lot of people say the meter I'm using isn't accurate, so now I'm trying to figure out what meter I should get? I would also really appreciate any advice/resources on how to (if it's a good idea) free-hand instead of using a lancing device & how to get Cuda more comfortable with BG tests (I already give him the only treat he's ever liked & try to be calming & patient, but he just pulls his ears in & runs or tries to bite me/my partner before I can even get the lancet)?

Cuda's Symptoms: polyuria, glucosuria, polydipsia, weight loss, urgent hunger (will stalk & bite us until we feed him), lethargy, reddening fur & oily coat, dandruff, plantigrade stance, hair loss on his legs, excessive grooming

ER Vet's Instructions & Results: They told us to switch his food to Hills Prescription w/d Dry Food & start giving him 1 Unit Vetsulin (he was initially on 3 Units) the day after he was home & check back with our normal vet for a fructosamine check in 2 weeks if he was doing well on 1U. He did have hypokalemia & glucosuria, but no ketones or UTI.

Our vet hasn't been easy to reach, so I'm planning to look for a new one. With the hypo episode, not feeling confident that our vet will answer our calls or our questions & the BG testing issues, we're kind of scared to do anything, so he's just on 0.5 Units Vetsulin at the moment. His FD symptoms got worse when he got home from the ER because we were too afraid to give him Vetsulin for a while. I feel like if I can just get Cuda to do BG tests & get a BG curve with a reliable meter, I'll be able to figure this out, but right now, I'm so stressed.
Anyway, I appreciate any advice given & I hope everyone here is doing alright today.

 

Hi Nicolai and Cuda and welcome to the forum!
It is a big learning curve in the beginning and can be very stressful but it does get better!
We can help you with everything here and we are here 24/7 so please feel free to ask all the questions you like. This is a very knowledgeable and supportive forum.

Glucose meter
I would recommend you get a ReliOm premier meter from Walmart. It costs $9 and a box of 100 test strips so $17.88
I would also get a box of 100 lancets size 26 or 28.
And some cotton rounds to hold behind the ear when you test and afterwards to stop the bruising.
Here is a link to HOME TESTING HINTS AND LINKS
Always give a treat as you test to distract him. It takes a bit of time for you both to get used to the new routine so hang in there and be kind to yourself!
I personally liked to use the lancing device…you might just have to change the depth of the prick.
Expect some failures…it happened to us all but we all learnt to hometest.

Insulin
Vetsulin is not the best insulin for cats. It does not last 12 hours and is a harsh fast acting insulin .
Lantus or ProZinc are much better insulins for cats. I’d look at swapping over to one of those. I personally like lantus….you can get a bio similar version for much cheaper. We can help you with that if you change. Ask when you are ready
It’s important that he gets insulin so don’t just stop the insulin.

Food
Are you feeding Cuda 1/2 hour before the dose?
Because vetsulin is a harsh fast acting insulin, he needs to have food aboard before the dose.
Are you also giving him lots of snacks during both the am and the pm cycles?
What are you actually feeding him now? The food the vet recommended is not suitable for a diabetic cat but don’t try and swap it until you have the home testing sorted out as changing to a low carb diet without Monitoring the blood glucose can cause a hypo. We can help you with that. Here is a FOOD CHART to look for low carb foods. Look for foods that are 10% or under carbs. But remember do not change to those foods yet.

HELP US HELP YOU has a link to how to set up the spreadsheet. It also has directions for a hypo kit and what to do. Print that page off and put it on your fridge.
I can ask @Bandit's Mom to help you if you need help.

I am going to give you two links to how to use vetsulin…but I would really you to think about swapping to Lantus or ProZinc.
Note that vetsulin is also called caninsulin in other countries. And in the first link there is also advice on how to use Novolin N which is not what you are using so don’t look at that part.
INTRODUCTION TO VETSULIN

BEGINNERS GUIDE TO VETSULIN

Keep asking lots of question. Cuda is gorgeous!
Bron

 

Hi Nicolai & Cuda! Welcome to FDMB!

Let me know if you need help with setting up your spreadsheet. It will only take me a minute.

Some people freehand rather than using a lancing device since the clicking sound of the device can startle some cats. Like Bron said, it can take some time with some cats. Just relax and approach it like a game. He can feed off your stress/anxiety. Here is a post by another member with some more tips:
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/9-9-bailey-amps-117-5-62.252712/#post-2851043

 

Thank you so much! I'm happy to hear that the meter isn't too expensive. I tested our current lancing device & it seems like the needle doesn't protrude at all. I looked up the reviews & it seems that a lot of people were saying that. I wouldn't have bought it if I had realized but it came with the set. Is there a lancing device you recommend using?

Food: His current feeding schedule is 1/4 can Friskies Salmon Pate (wet) & 1/4 cup of the Hills Prescription (dry) once am & once pm (1/2 hr before Vetsulin/caninsulin). He also gets small snacks (about 1/8 cup kibble or less) midday & evening. The vet at the ER said we were over feeding him, but I'm not sure if they were correct or not. When I tried to feed him less, he was irritable even more than usual, started losing more weight, & just seemed worse off all around. I've had a really hard time figuring out how to handle his feeding. He often gets very upset & will hunt me or my partner down & bite or claw us unless we feed him a dry food he likes (I figure this is because he feels like he's starving since his diabetes isn't well-regulated). He will not settle for wet food when he gets like that. He's pretty hooked on dry food and he's very picky (we've been through so many different foods at this point). We've tried several times to get him on just wet food (even before he had FD) & he just never took to it. His snacks aren't that regulated and I let him graze for a few hours after I put his meal down. I've gotten a lot of mixed messages on what to feed him, when & if he should be allowed to graze. I was already hesitant about the prescription food, so I'd be glad to switch once we are hometesting.

Insulin: I think switching would be a good idea. I'll do some more reading on it. Should I just tell his vet that I want to switch insulin if that's what we decide?

 

Thank you! This helps a lot & makes me feel a bit more hopeful. I think I was moving too fast for Cuda because I'm so nervous about not knowing what his BG levels are. I'm looking through the Hometesting links now & I think wrapping him up in a blanket might be helpful (especially so I'll have time to put pressure on the ear after). He tends to calm down when he's wrapped up so maybe it will make him feel safer too.

 

Dre started on vetsulin and his whole personality changed-it was awful. He returned to himself when we switched insulins.

 

You are doing great! It. is overwhelming but it gets easier

 

If you buy a ReliOn meter you should get a lancing device with it. You may need to check the depth of the prick. Most devices have a dial on the side to do that.

When a diabetic cat is unregulated they can’t absorb all the nutrients in the food and they will need extra food to compensate. If he is losing weight or constantly hungry I would feed him more. I don’t know how many hours after the dose 12md and mn is but I would be giving a snack at around +2 and +4 of each cycle.
Keep trying the wet food as it is much better for cats.
There are some low carb dry food around in the US. Young again zero carb and Dr Elsey’s clean protein. Also look at Ziwi Peak or Stella and Chewys freeze dried raw food which is low carb. That is a better choice than dry. But remember you need to be testing closely when you do the change over.

Yes I would just say you have been reading up on the subject and Lantis is a much better insulin for cats.
You could print off this article from the American Animal Hospital Association which recommends Lantus and ProZinc for cats and says vetsulin is not suitable for cats.
https://www.aaha.org/globalassets/0...iabetes-management-guidelines-2022-update.pdf

 

Welcome to FDMB.

I hope you're settling in. The front part of this learning curve is very steep. That's the bad news. The good news is that you're doing your research and much of what you need to do to help Cuda becomes routine.

I would strongly encourage you to ditch the dry food. Despite the food being labeled as "diabetic" prescription food, all of the dry diabetic foods are extremely high in carbohydrates. It's like feeding a diabetic child cookies, cake, and ice cream. We encourage a low carb, canned food diet. We consider low carb to be under 10% although most people here feed their cat food that's in the neighborhood of 5%, give or take. This is a chart of most of the canned cat food available in the US along with nutritional information including the carbohydrates. The Friskies Salmon Pate is 3% carb. Bron gave you some good options for something other than the dry food you're using. FWIW, most vets do not get well trained when it comes to nutrition. Most of what they learn comes from the pet food sales reps. Most of the members here feed their cats either Friskies or Fancy Feast as they are in the lower price range.

If you switch to Lantus, you will need different syringes. Vetsulin uses U40 syringes as does Prozinc. Lantus requires a U100 syringe. We recommend syringes that are marked in half unit increments.

Please let us know if you have questions. We're here to help.

 

Thanks so much. I think once I'm able to hometest Cuda more regularly, and we get him on the Prozinc or Lantus (not sure which yet), I'm gonna really focus on getting him off the dry food entirely. Also, I think I saw something about the fish flavors being bad for cats (?), which, if true, concerns me a lot because I can't seem to get him to eat any canned food flavors other than salmon.

 

It is better if you could get him to eat foods other than fish. Keep trying. But he needs to eat!

 

The issue with fish is mercury. Using a food that contains fish is OK 1 - 2 times a week but a steady diet of fish only has the potential to be problematic. I think there may be a newer brand of food that is mercury free but if memory serves, it's pricey.

 

Alright thanks, I'll factor that into what food I try to switch him to. I'm glad he can still have some fish a couple of times a week, since it seems to be his favorite. I might try to find the mercury free food you mentioned if I have too much trouble getting him to eat other flavors, but I really need to try to stick to cheaper stuff if possible.

 

Yeah, I know it'll take a while to really fix his diet. I'm more concerned about getting him to quit the dry kibble at the moment (I'm waiting until I can consistently hometest before I really start trying to change his diet again, though). It's better for him to eat fish flavors than to not eat at all. When he first got diagnosed, my partner and I were panicking cause he was hardly eating anything. It was scary how fast he lost weight & I do not want that happening again.

 

Hey, so I thought of another question: I'm pretty sure I need to switch Cuda off of Vetsulin & onto a different insulin, but I also really need to change his diet. I don't think I should change everything at once (for many reasons), so which of those should I work on first? Or is there another way of changing both his diet & insulin that would be best/safest? Since he's had 2 hypos already, I really want to err on the side of caution when changing any variables.

 

Only do one thing at a time.
I would do the food after you get the hometesting sorted.
Then I would look at swapping insulins. Lantus is an excellent insulin.

Are you feeding Cuda 1/2 hour before the insulin shots?
And giving snacks during the cycles?
Once you are hometesting you will see when the numbers are dropping lower and you should be able to feed him to prevent any hypo episodes.