New to this .. I’m freaking out and very discouraged HELP

Heyy guys !!! My 11yrs old cat MONEY lol was diagnosed with diabetes on may7 2021 . I am soo scared for her and love her soooooo much . She has been my best friend for the last 10+ yrs and don’t want to live without her My vet suggested using a freestyle libre for at home testing and lantis as insulin. I also changed her diet to DM . I went threw a 14 day cycle testing every hour and sent all curbs in daily . We first started at 1u . At this point I was feeding 1/2 can morning 1/4 a midway and 1/4 at night . Vet suggested to eliminate midway snack then went to 1.5 then back down to 1 and then down to .5. After the 2weeks he told me to instal another freestyle cuz we still hadn’t regulated her .. 4days later it falls off . Now I received a email from him sayin I need a specialist because the insulin isn’t working on her !!! I’m sooo discouraged and I’m soo worried for her . I sooo want her to be ok !!!! All in all I’ve spent over 1200$ on everything not to mention meds because the freestyle chemicals burnt her skin . Now I’m being told that I need new insulin and new curbs and the specialist test that’s 250$ . I still have more then half a vile of insulin but now he wants to change to another one !!! What should I do ???? HELPPPPP

 

Hi, Roxy! Welcome! Back in March, I was exactly where you are now. Go ahead and pull the 911 out of your thread title clicking on "Thread Tools" and then clicking on "Edit Title," and let's talk. I'll craft a post now.

 

Ok it’s done ... can I ask why u asked I removed it ?? I haven’t gotten any help and I’m freaking out

 

Okay, so. This is a scary place to be, but here are a couple of things I've learned over these last few months:

1. These folks know what they're doing. They're incredibly good at helping these kitties, because they've all been where we are right now. And they've shepherded sooooo many kitties into either places of 1) remission or 2) good regulation.
2. There's a phrase you're going to hear around here a lot: ECID. It means, "Each Cat is Different." This obviously means that, despite there being some basic tenets to working with a diabetic kitty, there are going to be variances. You're going to need to learn A LOT about how your cat responds to food and insulin, and you do that with very close monitoring and documentation. The first thing you should do is start a spreadsheet. Put all the data you can in it. This is the first thing you need to read. Do all of the things in that post: daily threads, making a spreadsheet, making a signature with all of the important "at-a-glance" info. This is a very active board, and if Money ever goes hypoglycemic on you, that's the time to put a "911" on your thread (and only then). Someone will see that you're in immediate trouble and they will swoop in to help ASAP. But you have to help us help you-- get that info set up so we can see all of it as quickly and efficiently as possible.
3. My kitty (Zen) is on a Freestyle Libre and we love it, but he constantly pulls it off with his teeth. We also had one just fall off after a couple of days-- it's a pain. But if you're trying to get into tight regulation, it's extremely helpful. We found luck by putting TWO shirts on him-- one that was tighter and one that was looser but a little thicker. That seems to keep him from being able to get his teeth around it as well.
4. Food is EVERYTHING when dealing with diabetes. I see that you've switched to DM. That's great. Is Money eating dry food? If so, we should talk about how to help her transition fully to wet food. It's better for a lot of reasons. My vet didn't really know this, and it's common for dry food to really set a diabetic cat back significantly.

Okay, I think that's a good start. Breathe. Welcome, and l can't wait to see Money's spreadsheet and we can all talk about next steps to help her!

 

@Bandit's Mom or @ tiffmaxee or @JaxBenji Can you help this person get set up?

 

Emily, you sound like a pro. You will be invaluable to this site. Let's get him/her some help with the spreadsheet and signature.

 

First, take a deep breath. If you're freaked out, Money will be freaked out. Feline diabetes is manageable. The front end of the learning more than overwhelming but like Emily noted, it will become routine.

FYI - I removed the 911m - or we did so at the same time. We reserve that for a life threatening emergency.

There are a few things that will help us to help you. First, the Libre is useful but many cats can't tolerate it or it falls off. It sounds like you have test results. We are huge fans of home testing. It will be cheaper if you get a Walmart brand meter and strips -- Relion brand -- and learn to home test. You'll also need to get 28 gauge lancets. Ultimately you will be able to use a thinner lancet but you need to "teach" Money's ears to bleed. You will want to set up a spreadsheet that tracks your kitty's test results. Having that data is the only way we can safely make suggestions. The link at the beginning of this paragraph will provide instructions on setting up a spreadsheet and adding some information about you and Roxy to your signature.. If you can transfer even a portion of the Libre data to your spreadsheet once you have it set up, we can be far more helpful.

Lantus is an excellent insulin for cats. Along with Prozinc, it's recommended by the American Animal Hospital Assn. Tell your vet you was to wait a bit longer. Also ask the vet if he's familiar with the Tight Regulation Protocol. This is one of the methods we use here and is described in the dosing methods sticky. If you have not been following something that vaguely resembles the information in the sticky note -- either Tight Regulation (TR) or Start Low Go Slow (SLGS), you haven't given Lantus a chance. Remember, you are paying your vet. Generally, we don't advise caregivers to change insulin after a 2 month trial. Diabetes management is a marathon, not a sprint.

You may want to try a lower carb food. The DM canned food is around 7% carbs. While we consider low carb to be below 10%, most of the caregivers here generally feed around 5%. Fancy Feast pate style foods are very popular (and a lot less expensive than DM). This is a chart that lists most of the canned foods available in the US and their carb counts.

What other questions can we answer?

 

The hardest part about starting out with Feline Diabetes is all you have to learn, but that's what we are here for, to answer questions. We all remember how hard and stressful this is in the beginning. As you may have discovered already, not all vets are up on the latest in feline diabetes, and in all likelihood have treated more dogs than cats on this disease.

You do NOT need to go to a specialist, at this point in time. There are a few things you can do that will help us help you better, and they are listed in this post:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Other things to change are the food - no need so spend extra money on expensive low quality vet "prescription" foodf, as Sienne mentioned. Also, we find it's better to feed more smaller meals and not just two meals a day. That's what vets used to do for the older style insulins, but not the newer ones like Lantus. That was a good choice of insulin by the way. Since your cat is hopefully getting two shots a day, the amount of food she gets after each one should be similar too.

The majority of us here home test our cat's blood sugars manually, using human blood glucose meters. That saves time and with a little practice becomes very easy to do. Once the cat learns testing means a treat, they look forward to it too. Here is another post about home testing, including some videos to show how it's done. Hometesting Links and Tips - includes numerous links, instructions, pictures, & videos

 

+1 to getting a human meter, by the way, Roxy. Even though we have our kitty on a Libre, we still got a human meter because we sometimes have to double-check the Libre's accuracy when our kitty is very low or very high. The only thing the Libre saves you from is having to do ear pricks at regular intervals. Anytime there's some kind of an event (very low or high), you absolutely must do an ear prick.

 

@Roxy450 Another thing to mention is Lantus can last many months if stored properly and depending on dose you are giving. You do not need to replace it unless it goes bad (becomes cloudy or has floaties in it). Keep it in fridge on a shelf, not the door. In a cup is good so it's not knocked over. Getting a script from vet and sending to Marks Marine in Canada is so much cheaper than buying from vet or human pharmacy and the script is good forever. Box of pens or cartridges is best bang for your money.

Try to breathe a little easier. Keep checking in here. There is a lot to learn but FDMB has your and Money's back.

 

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-mon-fighting-fd.247271/#post-2797972
Previous post

 

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops

 

Where do you live ? If you live in the US
You can buy a human meter at Walmart
The Relion Prime 9 dollars
Relion Test Stripe 17.88 for 100 strips
Buy 26 or 28 gauge lancets any brand
Cotton rounds
Once you get the knack of it it's easy
Give Money a treat every time you test him any freeze dried treat is OK
Just Google freeze dried treats
I read the chemicals burnt his skin from the Libre, poor baby

 

VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar
Here is a video of one of our members testing her kitty
She is using a pet meter, but we suggest using the Relion Prime human meter
The strips for a pet meter are very good expensive
Our numbers are based on human meters