OTJ for 15 months, now reading 314

Hello all,
The last time I was on this board was awhile ago and I was able to get my prednizone induced kitty OTJ within 2 weeks time. I am very grateful for all members. I have a few questions and truly hope someone can provide insight.

1. From members experience what is the gentlest insulin: Shadow has transient diabetes and last time I was shooting fat zeros that would bring him from 315 to 40 on humalin and PZI.
2. Which Glucometer is most accurate: I was using a Relion last time but wonder if others have had good experiences with other brands. I would like to have 2 different reliable meters for round 2.
3. Shadow has been diet controlled with Chicken and low carb fancy feast, should I begin to free feed him once I start shooting?
4. Is there a higher traffic area that I should post this on?

I learned alot really fast last round and have lost some of it as I haven't had to use it in awhile. I will be looking around on the new site, but it has changed since I last used. Any assistance is appreciated I will be tracking him for the next few days and if numbers continue will need to visit the vet and start shooting.

Jeanice and Shadow

 

Hi Jeanice,

Is there anything different/changed that might be causing the numbers? Bad teeth? Getting into dry food? UTI? Is Shadow showing other signs of FD or just the high BG numbers? I would have the vet look for something that might be causing these higher numbers and maybe a round of antibiotics or somthing will clear it up.

As for your questions I can give you my not so experienced opinion

Many of us use Lantus or Levimir because it is a longer lasting gentler insulin that leads to flatter curves instead of high and low swings many of the shorting insulins will give. Lantus also has a great track record for resulting in remission. We used Lantus and had Smokey off of the insulin in 3 months. Probably could have been sooner if I'd found the boards sooner and ditched the hard food completely sooner.

Meters. I think the Relion is used by quite a bit of the board, but most brands work fine. We used the Aviva and it worked fine, but the strips were very expensive unless I got them from eBay. I don't think two meters would be a good idea. They all have a bit of variance, but the trend is what you watch. If you are switching back and forth on meters, you might see a swing that has nothing to do with the cat and everything to do with the meters.

We found scheduled meals were best while on insulin. We knew that the food was gone long enough before the tests to know we weren't seeing food spike. If you aren't home to watch for dives, then free-feeding might be a good idea.

I think any board has more traffic than this one :?

 

Hello,
Shadow just had an UTI and was on antibiotics for 10 days. I waited a few days to retest. He has been slowly climbing since May. Shadow is 12 years old and really doesn't act like he did before. He plays and jumps up on counters and is lethargic at times. Only recently have I seen an increase in clumps of litter in the box but there are 2 other cats in the house. Water consumption hasn't increased much. Vet did say his teeth were bad. How does that contribute to high BG? I just fed him chicken and it lowered him from 314 to 274 but this number is still really high. Thoughts are appreciated. Thank you.
Jeanice and Shadow

 

The fact that feeding brought the numbers down sounds encouraging, the body is able to produce some insulin on its own.

The need of a dental often triggers higher BGs because any infection can cause that number to go up.

I would discuss the dental and the possibility that the infection might not be gone yet with the vet, but agree that number still seems high. Talk to the vet about how long you want to wait to investigate other issues before starting insulin. You might be lucky and find a short time on a small dose of one of the long-lasting ones like Lantus or Levemir gets those number back in range and gives the body time to heal and get working again.

Good luck.

 

Melanie is right-on about the link between the need for dental work and increased BGs, from what I've read.

I would also encourage you to post on the main Lantus board, or the Health board. A ton of people have experience with problems like this one.