Newbie here!

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Zoeycat84

Zoeycat84

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Hi friends! I've only recently started this diabetes journey and am trying to figure all of this out. Here's the story (I should mentioned were located in Canada):

My cat, Zoey (10 years old) was diagnosed with diabetes about 1 month ago. After some initial ups and downs it seems our ideal dosage is 2 units of caninsulin twice a day. So as it stands now I feed him at 7 (am/pm) and give the insulin at 7:30 (am/pm).

Right now I feed him about 1 1/4-1 1/2 cans of Fancy Feast twice a day (totalling 2.5-3 cans a day).

I just bought a glucose meter - FreeStyle Lite and plan to home test but am COMPLETELY lost when it comes to glucose testing. I know very little about diabetes in general whether it be human or feline. I need all the direction I can get. Just a FEW of the questions I have ( there are much more lol)
1. How often do I need to be checking his BG?
2. Is it necessary to do a curve and if so, how do I do it? Based on the curve how do I know if we've hit our ideal dosages/insulin timing etc?
3. What numbers am I looking for?
4. Am I over or under feeding my cat? He is ~12 lbs).

Thanks in advance!!
 
Zoeycat84 said:
Hi friends! I've only recently started this diabetes journey and am trying to figure all of this out. Here's the story (I should mentioned were located in Canada):

My cat, Zoey (10 years old) was diagnosed with diabetes about 1 month ago. After some initial ups and downs it seems our ideal dosage is 2 units of caninsulin twice a day. So as it stands now I feed him at 7 (am/pm) and give the insulin at 7:30 (am/pm).

Right now I feed him about 1 1/4-1 1/2 cans of Fancy Feast twice a day (totalling 2.5-3 cans a day).

I just bought a glucose meter - FreeStyle Lite and plan to home test but am COMPLETELY lost when it comes to glucose testing. I know very little about diabetes in general whether it be human or feline. I need all the direction I can get. Just a FEW of the questions I have ( there are much more lol)
1. How often do I need to be checking his BG?
2. Is it necessary to do a curve and if so, how do I do it? Based on the curve how do I know if we've hit our ideal dosages/insulin timing etc?
3. What numbers am I looking for?
4. Am I over or under feeding my cat? He is ~12 lbs).

Thanks in advance!!
Click to expand...
Welcome! So glad to hear you are going to home test!

1. At minimum just before the shot to make sure her numbers are high enough to shoot. No food for at least two hours prior to the preshot test. Test, then feed, then shoot.

Ideally you will also get some miss cycle readings. Canisilun peeks around 4-6 hours after injection so that's a good time to get a test in. We keep track using a Google spreadsheet and link them in our signature so others can see the updates in real time. It's so helpful. Take a look at some of the spreadsheets you see for various people.

2. Curves are tests done every 2 hours for 12 hours. It helps you to know when your cats nadir is and how much they are dropping from the preshot.

3. Normal on a human meter is 50-120. So you don't want to see your cat going under 50... That's called hypoglycemia and can be deadly. Being new to the diabetes game it would be pretty normal to see preshot numbers in the 300's, and go down from there after insulin. Cats that drop more than 50% may bounce higher..... We call it a bounce. The only way to know is to test.

4. Sounds like a good amount. Unregulated cats Can sometimes be extra hungry though because they can't utilize the nutrients properly.... If your cat is hungry, feed more. Most of us feed several times a day, just no food 2 hours prior to the preshot test.



What food are you feeding?
 
JanetNJ said:
Welcome! So glad to hear you are going to home test!

1. At minimum just before the shot to make sure her numbers are high enough to shoot. No food for at least two hours prior to the preshot test. Test, then feed, then shoot.

Ideally you will also get some miss cycle readings. Canisilun peeks around 4-6 hours after injection so that's a good time to get a test in. We keep track using a Google spreadsheet and link them in our signature so others can see the updates in real time. It's so helpful. Take a look at some of the spreadsheets you see for various people.

2. Curves are tests done every 2 hours for 12 hours. It helps you to know when your cats nadir is and how much they are dropping from the preshot.

3. Normal on a human meter is 50-120. So you don't want to see your cat going under 50... That's called hypoglycemia and can be deadly. Being new to the diabetes game it would be pretty normal to see preshot numbers in the 300's, and go down from there after insulin. Cats that drop more than 50% may bounce higher..... We call it a bounce. The only way to know is to test.

4. Sounds like a good amount. Unregulated cats Can sometimes be extra hungry though because they can't utilize the nutrients properly.... If your cat is hungry, feed more. Most of us feed several times a day, just no food 2 hours prior to the preshot test.



What food are you feeding?
Click to expand...
Thanks for your reply! I am feeding him Fancy Feast. I was giving DM as per my vets recommendation but from what information I've found on the helpful lists on this site I've switched to ff.
 
Zoeycat84 said:
Thanks for your reply! I am feeding him Fancy Feast. I was giving DM as per my vets recommendation but from what information I've found on the helpful lists on this site I've switched to ff.
Click to expand...
Excellent that's what I would recommend. Just the classic, no gravy lovers (although it's good to have a few on hand in case the bg drops too low. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.
 
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