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Caroline Schad

Caroline Schad

Member
Hi all, glad to have found you and appreciate all the info you have gathered.

My cat was newly diagnosed after 2 episodes of constipation that required the vet to administer an enema. The 2nd time they tested his urine and found high sugar levels; then tested blood and it was over 300.

Vet prescribed 3u of Vetsulin 2x/day and seems pretty old school—did not advocate home testing, recommended Science diet M/d, either wet or dry, didn’t seem too worried. Honestly my cat (I thought) is young and healthy and other than the poo back up didn’t have symptoms. Has gained weight since we rescued him though and has always drank a lot of water.

Want to give the vet a chance to resolve but also planning to switch him to wet food only and would like to at least test and understand his levels so I know when he is as risk of hypo.

Haven’t seen much talk about constipation with diabetes, does anyone have experience with this and whether it resolves with treatment?

thanks
 
Hello and welcome. 3 units of Vetsulin to start is way too much insulin. With dry food in the picture, we'd start with 1 unit. Home testing is a great idea. We have a bunch of information and videos in this post: Hometesting Links and Tips

I'm assuming you are in the US, cause of the blood sugar value. A lot of people here get the Relion's from Walmart (Premier?) cause it has cheap test strips and doesn't need a large drop of blood. You will go through a lot of test strips, hence getting a meter that is cheap to run.

Regarding constipation, did you change the food or is he on what he ate before hand? Sudden food changes can cause some GI issues. If he's peeing a lot and not drinking enough that could also do it. Adding water to his wet food and removing dry may help. But don't remove dry food until you are home testing as insulin needs can drop a lot. Here is a website with some information that may help:
https://www.felineconstipation.org/index.html Yup, there's a website for that too!
 
Thank you for the link!

I got the glucose tester and this morning his glucose was 100 so it seems safest to skip the shot. This is only day 2 so I am not sure what to do, whether I should call the vet, get a second opinion, or what.

thanks
 
Can you please fill out your signature
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  • 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)
    • Bexacat or Senvelgo (if applicable) and dates
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
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Here is the link to our spreadsheet so you can record cats BG numbers , the link will also explain how to use it
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

You might want to read all the yellow stickys here about Vetsulin

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-caninsulin-vetsulin.231587/ especially about the starting dose and about changing the dose


Constipation
a lot of members use Miralax , get the generic it's cheaper and it's the same thing
Such as clearlax or any other brand
(polyethylene glycol 3350)
You can start off with an 1/8 of a teaspoon everyday mixed in with the wet food and add water
to it, it's tasteless. See how that dose works for a couple of days, you might have to increase it to twice a day.
 
Last edited:
Caroline Schad said:
Hi all, glad to have found you and appreciate all the info you have gathered.

My cat was newly diagnosed after 2 episodes of constipation that required the vet to administer an enema. The 2nd time they tested his urine and found high sugar levels; then tested blood and it was over 300.

Vet prescribed 3u of Vetsulin 2x/day and seems pretty old school—did not advocate home testing, recommended Science diet M/d, either wet or dry, didn’t seem too worried. Honestly my cat (I thought) is young and healthy and other than the poo back up didn’t have symptoms. Has gained weight since we rescued him though and has always drank a lot of water.

Want to give the vet a chance to resolve but also planning to switch him to wet food only and would like to at least test and understand his levels so I know when he is as risk of hypo.

Haven’t seen much talk about constipation with diabetes, does anyone have experience with this and whether it resolves with treatment?

thanks
Click to expand...
@Suzanne & Darcy
Also see post #3
 
Caroline Schad said:
I got the glucose tester and this morning his glucose was 100 so it seems safest to skip the shot. This is only day 2 so I am not sure what to do, whether I should call the vet, get a second opinion, or what.
Click to expand...
Well done on getting testing going! :) It was absolutely the right move to skip the shot! On here, we recommend that new people do not shoot if below 200. Good thing you knew what his glucose levels were instead of shooting.

I think you definitely need to lower his insulin dose. If you can't get ahead of the vet by PM shot time, try 1.0 units if his numbers are high enough.

This is a link to some information on Vetsulin that may help, including our dosing method for it:
 
Thank you, yes I have read the guidelines and I finally figured out how to change my signature haha.

I'm clear on what his levels should be prior to the shot. Not as clear as what is desired after the shot, but it sounds like under 50 is definitely too low and it will go up and down. Going to try to run a full curve this weekend. Kitty has been a champ so far with all the poking and prodding.

Any suggestions for how to kindly approach a difference of opinion on with the Vet on dosage without offending? He has many years of experience; i don't know why he started my guy so high though he is a big cat (19# but wearing it well probably should get down to 16?)

Thanks
 
Caroline Schad said:
Thank you, yes I have read the guidelines and I finally figured out how to change my signature haha.

I'm clear on what his levels should be prior to the shot. Not as clear as what is desired after the shot, but it sounds like under 50 is definitely too low and it will go up and down. Going to try to run a full curve this weekend. Kitty has been a champ so far with all the poking and prodding.

Any suggestions for how to kindly approach a difference of opinion on with the Vet on dosage without offending? He has many years of experience; i don't know why he started my guy so high though he is a big cat (19# but wearing it well probably should get down to 16?)

Thanks
Click to expand...
You are in a he best hands with these Members, this Forum saves diabetic cats, my Corky is an example of the dedication these monitors and well known members that guide us to a healthier pet, I trust them blindly:bighug::bighug::bighug::cat::cat:
 
Tell you vet that you've started home testing (he should be happy about that), and that he was down to 100 this AM. Tell him that makes you uncomfortable to shoot that low, and could he suggest a lower dose. Most of us eventually stop asking the vet for help with dosing. It's not always true that large cats need larger doses. I've also seen small cats on large doses. We have a saying ECID - every cat is different.

With our Vetsulin dosing method, you don't want him to go below 90. If he does, you reduce the dose by 0.25 units. But that's provided you started at a lower dose and worked your way up, so you aren't too far above a good dose.

Regarding the spreadsheet, you still have to change the access so that people with the link can see it.
 
Hmm, now I wonder how diabetic he really was. Constipation can raise blood sugars, as can just visiting the vet. Normally vets would also run something called a fructosamine test, which would give an average over 2 weeks, to let them know if it was just the one test or he really is diabetic.

Out of curiosity, how many shots of Vetsulin has he received so far?
 
Thanks for the quick reply @Wendy&Neko. Vet gave him 1 shot and I did 1 day (2 shots, 3u ea.) before I got the home testing equipment. Have not given him any today due to low BG. I don’t think he’s had fructosamine if that has to be looked at over time? Only had initial bloodwork Wednesday after the vet saw glucose in his urine, and I am supposed to take him back next Wednesday for a full curve.

Thanks
 
The fructosamine is something that is part of blood work sent out to labs and can usually get the results overnight.

Could you modify the spreadsheet to show the shots you did yesterday? Just add the 3 in the U column for AM and PM. You could add a comment in the Remarks that you didn't test as you didn't get the meter until later.

At this point, I think I'd keep testing AM and PM and post here, but don't shoot. Unless we see his numbers going up over time. Since you are home testing now, you can actually do a curve at home. No need to take him in. A curve is a test every couple hours between shots (12 hours) or every 3 hours for 18 hours. The vet would typically do the 12 hours or slightly less version - depending on how many hours the clinic is open.

Have you switched his diet yet? That can also make a big difference.
 
Good morning everyone,
Still looking good this am.
Yes, I had started switching his diet about a month ago before all this started. A month ago he was 100% dry ; at this point we're at 1/3 lc wet, 1/3 med carb wet, 1/3 dry.

If he keeps on having "normal" results, I will check in with the vet Monday to see what he wants to do at the follow up and ask for the fructosamine for sure.

Thanks
 
Good start this morning, love those normal blood sugar numbers. :D

If he keep staying in the normal blood sugar zone, you may not need the fructosamine. It would have been useful to do at the time he got his diabetes diagnosis. It would have told the vet if he really was diabetic or just stressed/high numbers for the visit. His current string of test values are telling an interesting story. Keep on testing AM and PM over the next couple days.
 
Hi All,
His test results continued to look normal over the weekend maybe borderline high. I have been trying to talk to the vet and asked them to send me his test results from the last visit so I can see what was tested, but so far I don’t have any more info. He seems constipated again so I gave him a small dose of the Miralax with his am food.
I scheduled a visit for a second opinion but can’t get in until end of next week at that vet.
Thanks,
 
Legally you own those test results, you paid for them. You should be able to get them to email them to you.

Regarding Saba - he might be what we call a "broken diabetic". :p We officially call a cat in remission if they go 14 days without insulin and in normal numbers. He's looking great so far.

Try adding a little water to his wet food too, water helps make things move. Miralax uses water so you need to add a little extra when using it. A little extra fiber, like a small pinch of psyllium husk fiber, or plain cooked pumpkin (or babyfood squash) might also help.
 
I would be so happy if he was bad at being a diabetic . Now if I can only get him to poop ‍♀️. Water and a small dose of fiber in his WF this pm.
 
Good morning,
I took Saba for a 2nd opinion yesterday and this vet said he would have tested his fructosamine to confirm and based on my test results he believes Saba's original readings were elevated due to stress.
I cancelled with the old vet and am going to keep monitoring him at home for a bit. His levels were higher when I tested him after his visit yesterday. He got some fluids and a little laxatone to try to move things along and that did help.

So thankful that I found you all and listened to your experience instead of accepting what the first vet told us. I can't imagine what would have happened if I had just blindly given him the shots as prescribed.

Thanks,
Caroline
 
That sounds like a much better vet visit! This makes me so happy. :) Good luck with the new vet and I hope Saba continues to do well.
 
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