New Member 2/27/2022

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T Charlotte

T Charlotte

Member Since 2022
Oliver, Male, Neutered, 10 years old, diagnosed December 30, 2021. Started on Vetsulin but was switched to Lantus on February 19, 2022.
 
Hi and welcome to the site, Oliver is such a cutee:D.

If you can add that information onto your profile signature that would be great,

On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback. There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up. Add info we need to help you:

Caregiver & kitty's name
DX: Date
Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
Name of your meter
Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
Spreadsheet link.
Please put the spreadsheet link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Here is some more information on getting started:

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
 
Thank God I found this forum and thanks to everyone for the warm welcome. I believe this forum is going to save my cat's life. My sweet baby needs all of the help that I can find for him. I knew something was wrong in September of 2021 when he had a sniffle that he could not shake. My sweet husband took him to our local vet. He was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection and sent home with antibiotics. The vet thought he was healthy and wasn't concerned about diabetes even though Oliver was pushing 20 pounds. Oliver recovered from his "sniffles" but over time started to drink large amounts of water, burn through cat litter, was having some difficulty walking, and he was losing weight. He went back to the local vet (his weight was down to 15 pounds) where he was diagnosed with the dreaded "D". Oliver was placed on 3 units of Vetsulin, BID 12 hours. Our vet recommended switching him to a wet food diet. Over the next six weeks, he continued to get worse. We were still burning through cat litter, excessive thirst, and his neuropathy in his back legs was worsening. I did not know about home monitoring nor Libre monitors. After a lot of research online, I read about Lantus being a good insulin for cats. I scheduled a follow up appointment with our vet, and he agreed that the Lantus would be good to try along with the Libre monitor. Our vet only had one other cat that he has treated with Lantus so this is really a learning experience for all of us. The vet recommended starting with 1 unit 1 time a day. It wasn't enough and his BG numbers soared. He agreed to let us go to 2 units and that seemed to help. I still don't think 2 units is enough as Oliver is a big boy weighing in at 16.6 pounds. I would like to try the tight regulation method as I don't want Oliver's BG levels to continue to remain high as his neuropathy is severe; he can barely walk at the moment. I carry him to his litter box and into the family room as he really struggles to move. It is heartbreaking to watch. Is the Libre monitor a reliable way to measure BG? I don't think I have the courage to draw blood and use a home monitor.
 
Poor Oliver his neuropathy sounds awful, are you also giving him methyl B12? Here is some information on that:

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/feline-diabetic-neuropathy-weak-back-legs.178252/

There are several members here who use the Libre, I tried it on Checkers and it only stayed on for 7-9 days. Manual testing seems scary, I never thought I could do it myself but now I do it with ease and Checkers doesn't mind. Here is some information if you want to consider it, it is not bad to be able to do it as a backup.

https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
 
So the good news is his numbers are looking pretty decent, all things considered. With Lantus we want a nadir 90-149 with the more conservative dosing method - which I would recommend until you can kind of get sorted with all the information here and managing his care.

He had a 70 yesterday, so you did the right thing by decreasing dose. I would hold this dose for another week, then ask us to re evaluate. Of course, reduce by 0.25U if he goes below 90 at any time.

We do not do whole unit increases or decreases, many vets do that but remember cats are very small. 0.25U-0.5U increases at most, we'll help guide you with what to do.

A large (and frustrating) part of this is patience. He was diabetic for awhile, his body got used to higher numbers. So now that he's on insulin, it will take him time to get used to the lower numbers and start to come down overall. His midcycle numbers are exactly where you want them to be. Eventually we'd like to see 90-150 ish, but that takes time. And if you choose to try the more aggressive method at some point, 50-120 on human meter.
 
Hi and welcome to the club, I am new to this and learning so much. My Hendrick was diagnosed on 1/5/22. I applaud your initiative in wanting to do tight regulation!

That sounded like the best one to me as well, however it does require a lot of home testing. And I could not imagine how I was ever going to do it, even with my wife helping...and I knew most days she would be at work so I would be doing it alone! Yikes. Seemed impossible.

However -- with a laundry list of tips and tricks and suggestions from the experts here at this forum I now test him all the time, solo, and usually it goes super smooth and takes no more than a couple minutes from start to treat ( I always give a treat after, whether successful or not)

The other day I tested him every 2 hours for an nearly an entire 24 hour period. Blows my mind honestly because it literally seemed like insanity to me when I first heard about getting blood droplets from the ear. And honestly I think all the testing, we have a stronger bond now than before. Even though the ear pokes are no fun it has somehow brought us closer. And my wife says that as she has done it far less than I, he is much more squirmy for her and wriggles around but sits perfectly still for me LOL!

Good luck and trust me with the help from people here you'll be a pro at home testing in no time.
 
You do have the courage! 20 days ago I was terrified and didn’t think I could handle it. Once you get the first few, I promise you that you feel much more in control of the situation! I felt like every shot I gave could be the end, but knowing what her numbers are before I do it, I feel much more in control. It also allows me to see how she’s doing and adjust course!

Just a newbie dropping some encouragement like so many gave me. You can do this!
 
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