Hi, my boy merns <15 yrs old> been diabetic for 2 years on prozinc.. he has been on 5 units nearly 1 a yr and a half. A yr and a half ago we switched from dry purina cat chow to friskies shreds, 3 months ago we switched to fancy feast grilled and pate (1/2 and 1/2) .. well last week 2 hours after shot and food mern comes to the stairs .. meows ..and wobbles down the stairs.. I see his hind leg is twitching and he is confused.. i immediately grab some honey think hypo event call the vet and get the carrier. as i come back with the carrier < less then 5 mins> he goes into a full blown full body seizure , lost control of his bladder amd everything. we raced to the vet and he was still spasming his rear leg.. they put him on dextrose and muscle relaxer, monitored him 4 two days and we got him back xmas eve ..he is on 3 units now. And up till now my vet never recommended home testing.. I bought the alphatrek 2 on my own and brought mern in today for a checkup .. they want 4 days #'s for him and will readjust after that. I'm so mad they really were against home testing and told me several times it was unnecessary.. till this disaster that cost $2700!! .. I'm so mad at the bad advice.. our vet is a top rated vet on long island.. so I'm taking this into my hands now.. and will start my home testing tomorrow morning !!
Wow, that was a very close call Merns had. Switching to low carb food can drop a cat's numbers quite a lot. So glad that you caught the hypo. And good that you are taking matters into your own hands. Here are some tips and videos about hometesting. Hometesting Links and Tips - includes numerous links, instructions, pictures, & videos Now that you are testing, it would help us help you if you could set up a spreadsheet and a signature. All the information in two easy to find places. That is where people will look first before offering any suggestions or dosing advice. And just in case. How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!! jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX There are usually people on the forum 24/7. We can make suggestions and keep you company during a low numbers event. FYI: AlphaTrak strips ($1.00) are expensive and you will be going through a lot more than you think. If the cost becomes too great, you might want to consider switching to a human meter. A lot of people in the US use the Relion meters. Tagging a few Prozinc users for you. @MrWorfMen's Mom @FurBabiesMama
How lucky you were there to get Merns the help he needed. It sounds like the diet change may have been at least in part the cause of the sudden low BG and I'm so glad to hear you are going to be home testing. Home testing is the only way to keep kitty safe. We have a spreadsheet that is very good for tracking the readings you take. It automatically colour codes the readings making it easy to see the patterns of BG that allow you to make appropriate dosing adjustments to keep Merns safe. Unfortunately, monitoring in the vet clinic can be very dangerous as most kitties are stressed out at the vet and therefore the vet's view of what BG levels are often inflated leading to too much insulin being prescribed. Home testing allows you to see what BG is like in Merns comfortable environment and get a real indication of how the insulin is working for Merns. The instructions for setting up the spreadsheet are HERE and THIS document explains how to use the spreadsheet. If you need help setting it up, just holler.
I haven't met a vet yet who truly advocates for home testing as much as this group. It is something I will probably never get over now that I have a cat with diabetes. @Red & Rover (GA) is correct. AT strips are ridiculously expensive, but I swore I would never use a human meter...that was until I realized how often I would be testing. https://www.adwdiabetes.com is a good (and affordable) site to buy supplies from. They don't carry the ReliOn meters, but you can by the strips there. Once you get settled I would try (if possible) to have a backup meter as well.
