Lantus Noob and Food Questions - Hedwig

Hey guys -

I am extremely nervous to start injecting Hedwig with insulin. I think years of rescuing and dealing with hypoglycemic kittens (which you'd think would prepare me) have really just made me fearful of anything like that happening. Add my very poor financial situation (lost my job caring for injured boyfriend and Hedwig got sick right after so zero income) in case something happens. I live in Portland, Oregon and it's become so ridiculously expensive here that it's a pretty big concern for me.

The first thing I have to mention is that Hedwig is also being treated for hepatic lipidosis/fatty liver disease. Aside from Pepcid AC, Clavamox and Ursodiol I have to get her to eat food and pretty much all she will eat is Fancy Feast - my vet suggested getting her to eat anything to heal her liver is better than trying to stick with what we were doing which she simply wasn't into. I don't really feed her fish and she is mostly into poultry as she turns her nose up at everything else (hates lamb, rabbit, bison, beef).

My first question is; any suggestions on better/higher quality food that would be good for a diabetic kitty who also has fatty liver? Of course she likes gravy stuff, which her BG usually hovering in the 200's sometimes 300's I haven't worried too much about feeding her some and found Sheba has a gluten free gravy-ish one she likes here and there. I would love some food advice/suggestions. She doesn't at all eat dry.

In fact when my other kitty, King Tut who has since passed, was diagnosed with cancer, we had swapped out to raw. Hedwig had been fine with Rad Cat for nearly 2 years until she started vomiting it. I switched with success to Stella and Chewy's which she then started having issues with not too long ago so now we are canned only. I have access to a couple local pet stores, New Seasons, and Fred Meyers. It's just trying to keep things palatable for her while she heals and something she can benefit from that won't be too upsetting to her tummy. As I discovered this issue when she vomited up pure blood about two weeks ago now, I'd like to avoid another super scary incident like that.

My second question, those with lantus experience... How have your cats done? We are starting at half a unit so it's pretty small, but I am very nervous about any changes. Primarily also quite nervous to sleep. I don't want to overwhelm her system so I have staggered starting her meds by a couple of days also coinciding with my need to now obtain an echocardiogram (for myself). I currently can't work due to all of the time and dedication her care takes - so I'm staying with her and keeping her monitored as much as possible. I feel a bit crazy with so much and really not much in the way of any assistance. Hence the being scared to sleep bit, I am incredibly overwhelmed.

Any experience stories, thoughts or ideas with lantus would be more than welcome.

Apologies if anything seems super scattered, I've been pretty exhausted with my life turning upside down and not getting enough sleep. I sincerely appreciate all of the help.

Many thanks and all the purrs,

Stef and Hedwig

 

Lantus is an excellent insulin for cats, so you're starting out great!!

As far as food goes, what's important is to feed a low carb canned or raw diet....and Fancy Feast Classics are perfect!! Also Friskies pate's and 9-lives pates are low carb and affordable.

You do need to avoid the higher carb Fancy Feasts, but if you stick with the Classics (no Gravy Lovers, Medley's, etc) you're doing good.

Also, no dry food....they're all high in carbs and contribute to dehydration and with kidney disease coming along with diabetes so much, we want to keep as much water in them as possible.

Another thing that's really important is home testing. Since you live in the US, you can go to WalMart and get a Relion Confirm or Micro meter (about $15) and strips to go with it ($35.88 per 100) By home testing, you'll be keeping your kitty safe, as well as saving the costs of curves done at the vets office

Now it is important to keep a "hypo kit" ready in case you need it.....This is where the Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers are great! The "gravy" part is high carb, so if your kitty drops too low, you can pop the top, put it back and "squeeze" the gravy into another bowl....usually a teaspoon or two will bring their blood glucose up to a safe level. Keeping a bottle of Karo/honey/syrup around the house is important too.

Where are you getting your Lantus? A LOT of us here are getting our lantus from Canada because it's 1/3rd the price it is here in the states. If that's an issue for you, here's the Information on Canadian Pharmacies that tells you where to order from

There's all kinds of great information in the Stickies in the Lantus/Levemir Forum (Stickies are the posts that stay at the top of the forum)

 

Thank you for your reply! I do let her right now have a mix of classics and gravy for her fatty liver because as my vet said, to get over this she needs to eat and she'll eat that mostly, it's thankfully not raising her BG much more than it has been so for now, I kinda have to get whatever I can into her. I haven't done dry food in about 3 years now and before that it was a very limited kibble that was the most closely resembling 'raw' with extrusion method and ingredients. I'm very particular to what my kitties eat which is why feeding her FF is so not up my alley. I have zero intentions of going back to dry and any time anyone has suggested it, it's an automatic nope. Also, Hedwig was the easiest to convert from dry to wet/raw.

I was thankfully gifted not one but two AlphaTrack meters for Hedwig back in September from a couple of lovely people, one who had recently lost her diabetic kitty. So I am good there, I had actually tried to obtain different meters but none would work nor could I find a relion anywhere in Oregon (who knows). I have been testing her since she was initially diagnosed in September, but where she was just food managed for the time being due to my home situation. I would like to learn to do paw pad testing because I feel like a real ass constantly pricking her poor kitty ears.

I do have some karo and honey on hand, from rescuing I have always kept karo on hand and I actually use honey for myself. Good to know on the gravy meals though, she totally digs that stuff so that may be easier if it happens. I have this idea in my head that it's super scary and I just hope to not have to have too many issues (I mean don't we all?) with it.

As for the Lantus... I needed it ASAP and was able to get my local Fred Meyers to price match with Costco at 260$ for the vial. I also had to special order her needles, because no one around my part of town carries what I need and those were 30$ for a box of 100. Fundraising is literally the only reason she's where she's at now and how I was able to get the Lantus for her. I will absolutely look into the Canada Pharma. I used to live in France and spent a good bit of time in Canada (I am from Alaska) and it always amazes me how absolutely and utterly expensive medication is in this country.

Thank you so very much for the information, I will go over the stickies and see what more I can glean. I know I'm working with my vet and looking into a fructosomine test for her, as well as, trying to make my own glucose curve.

Cheers!

 

Sounds like you're off to a good start then!

We have a very useful spreadsheet that we use here that can really help us to help you. Most everyone has the link to their spreadsheets in their signature so if you need some advice, we can see how your kitty has been doing. It's really a very valuable "tool" in our "toolbox"

Here are instructions on setting up the FDMB spreadsheet....Holler if you need help with it! It's really easy though....you just enter the numbers and it color codes the cells for you.

Just a note....it's nice that you have the free AlphaTrak, but do you realize how much the strips are for it? Most of us here test at least 4 times a day, and at about $1 per strip, it's not very affordable.

If you don't have a WalMart near you, you can buy the exact same meter from ADW....Their Arkray Glucocard01 is the exact same meter as the WalMart Relion Confirm....Arkray makes the meters and WalMart just slaps their "Relion" brand name on it!

They have a 10% coupon code too....it's MISSU10

 

Just wanted to add a welcome
and say that if you want to keep costs down it would probably make sense to get one of the human meters that Chris has suggested, the test strips for the Alphatrak are much more expensive, one of the reasons that a lot of us use the human meters, and keep the alphatrak as a back up.

Gill

 

Also for the future purchases ADW has much cheaper syringes than a box for $30.

 

Hey guys!

Thanks for all of the valuable input.

Human glucometers... I have purchased several recommended ones (including the Relion) in the last many months before having the alphatracks gifted to me. Not one of them worked at all with her, I even had a vet who has a diabetic cat and having experience with calibrating a human glucometer for a cat, run into a wall. I have no idea why. I did everything right, confirmed it with assistance. However, after three strikes I just figured I'd have to go about a different route and then, again, I received the AT's as a gift. I do know they have expensive test strips. At this point I'll just deal with it I guess until some magic happens. I can't return open glucometers here so now I have a few for humans I'm trying to give away to any humans who need them. I dunno if there is some disconnect in this state or what, but I sure didn't expect this much difficulty. Someone had mentioned to me in the past it is likely I may need an older one, as the newer ones seem to be the ones that don't work.

What is ADW? I know I don't do too much online anything due to theft here, if that is an online thing. I know I just got what I could from Fred Meyers when I picked up my Lantus for her so we had something to start with. I'm happy for suggestions though since I really haven't a clue what ADW is.

This is so complex in so many ways, it's scary. I actually can't find my Karo back up for today so I must run to the store and get another bottle, just in case. Though the vet mentioned at .5 units, I should have a pretty easy start. <3

 

ADW warehouse is an online store. I'm not sure if you can but a friend who has similar issues has her stuff delivered to work.

 

Also, can anyone explain the spreadsheet to me? Oi. I get setting it up (that's the easy part), I'm a bit confused to the +1, +2... My brain looks at it and says this is testing each hour??

 

Oh good to know! Thanks! I can't work right now due to my injured boyfriend (I lost my job caring for him) and Hedwig getting sick literally right after he had surgery and her requiring so much medication through the day. However, we stay at a friends house because she's happier here, it's above her business, I'll see if she's okay with my sending things here. There is theft here sometimes too. The influx of people has created a bit of a problem here so thefts are crazy high even for businesses. Sometimes you can set up to pick things up, so I'll see what I can do with that.

 

ADW is American Diabetes Wholesale....an online site that sells diabetes supplies

The spreadsheet works like this:

AMPS and PMPS are the AM Pre-Shot and PM Pre-Shot
U is "Units"

Then the +1, +2, +3, etc....are the number of hours since the shot....so if you test 4 hours after the shot in the morning, it goes in the +4 cell on the AM cycle...if you get a test 2 hours after the PM shot, it goes in the +2 cell on the PM cycle

Each cycle is 12 hours, so after the shot, you have up to 11 hours of "+" numbers to put test results into....once you get past +11, it's time for the next cycle!

You ALWAYS test before shooting to make sure they're high enough to get insulin at all (AMPS and PMPS)

You don't have to test every hour....It's important to test somewhere mid-cycle (like +5 to +7...which is 5 to 7 hours after the AM shot) and then at least a "before bed" test on the PM cycle to make sure it's safe to go to sleep. Most cats go lower at night so it's important to make sure they'll be OK overnight

We use the "+" system here because we're all over the world. We're all in different time zones so it makes it uniform

 

Thank you so much! I guess I wasn't too far off. This is so effing nerve wracking. If it wasn't for the fact I am in such a bad spot financially and kind of alone, well it just adds to my stress. My vet said she's pretty confident as her BG is up due to her eating whatever, just to get her to eat, that I shouldn't have too many issues. I am hoping that is the case. I am off to grab my karo and a couple more cans of food for her. Then I'll set up the spreadsheet and start her first shot in the next hour. I never in a million years thought I'd be having to do this. Not after so much with my other kitty who was always sick. Oi. :/

 

Hope the first shot went OK. Or maybe you are waiting till morning, I can't see how many units you have shot on your ss?

Just wanted to say you are not alone, you now have a new 'FD family' all over the world, we are here for you.

 

Aww! Thank you!! The first shot... Oh lordy. I put it under the lantus forum and she's at .5 units to start. I am still laughing, my finger is still sore. I am updating my chart here in a moment as 2 hours have passed so I'm going to poke Hedwig again (hopefully not myself as well) and see if I actually managed it. I think I did...

I feel a lot better having this forum, the first vet (we are now on vet 5) was just like this is what you do, see ya. I was beyond uncomfortable. Now I have all you lovelies and a great vet who even e-mails me on her day off (she has a difficult diabetic kitty too), so once I fully comprehend the support system I have, I think it'll make it easier. <3