newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

A friend of mine has a female cat who is around 14 years old and was
recently diagnosed with diabetes. He & his wife had another female, much
younger, who was diagnosed several years ago and passed away soon after.
They could never get her regulated, she was constantly being rushed to the
24 hour emergency clinic or spending days at a time in their regular vet's
office.

Although I have no experience with diabetic cats, I've urged them to test
her blood sugar instead of relying on urine strips, or rushing her to the
vet weekly or more often. Kaylee is a very tiny cat bt she's a fighter. He
doesn't think he'll be able to get blood from her for the tests. I was
looking at this site: http://www.petdiabetes.org/ to see how one goes about
testing a cat's blood sugar and it doesn't seem too bad. I have Type 1
diabetes and I've offered them an extra meter & test strips, but he's still
unsure.

He loves his cats - they're his kids. I think he's just very nervous about
the whole blood sampling process. He said that she fights hard just for the
insulin injections. I feel that Kaylee would fare much better if they test
her at home. I used to go to the vet they use and I hate him with a
passion. I think Niamh (their other girl) would still be alive today if
they had seen a better vet who pushed home testing.

I'm going over to their apartment tomorrow to watch them give her an
injection, since we take care of each others cats when one of us is away.
I'm going to bring an extra meter & strips with me just in case. I don't
have any pipettes, though. I'm hoping we'll be able to control her long
enough to get the blood on the strip directly from her ear.

Does anyone with experience find that it's easier to get a sample from a
paw? Any hints or tips?

--
Liz

newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

Take a look at this site:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-home-test.htm

I never did home test our cat -- but this site recommends using the
little vein in the ear. It's easy to see. The message board on that site
is wonderful, they have tons of cat diabetes experience.

I hope she finds a different vet. Cats can be hard to regulate and
sometimes the numbers look as though the cat needs more insulin when it
actually needs less. This is a strange ricochet effect you have to be
aware of.

By the way, have the vet refer them to an internist vet. That's what our
vet did and the internist was wonderful. She regulated his insulin and
helped us all of the way through his trials and tribulations. She didn't
suggest blood testing daily because too many people try to tweak the
insulin themselves and end up messing up the regulation. Cats do not
follow advice very well (eating at the right times and exercising...) so
cannot have as constant numbers as humans.

Good luck to the kitty!

Rhonda

Elizabeth Blake wrote:
A friend of mine has a female cat who is around 14 years old and was
recently diagnosed with diabetes. He & his wife had another female, much
younger, who was diagnosed several years ago and passed away soon after.
They could never get her regulated, she was constantly being rushed to the
24 hour emergency clinic or spending days at a time in their regular vet's
office.

Although I have no experience with diabetic cats, I've urged them to test
her blood sugar instead of relying on urine strips, or rushing her to the
vet weekly or more often. Kaylee is a very tiny cat bt she's a fighter. He
doesn't think he'll be able to get blood from her for the tests. I was
looking at this site: http://www.petdiabetes.org/ to see how one goes about
testing a cat's blood sugar and it doesn't seem too bad. I have Type 1
diabetes and I've offered them an extra meter & test strips, but he's still
unsure.

He loves his cats - they're his kids. I think he's just very nervous about
the whole blood sampling process. He said that she fights hard just for the
insulin injections. I feel that Kaylee would fare much better if they test
her at home. I used to go to the vet they use and I hate him with a
passion. I think Niamh (their other girl) would still be alive today if
they had seen a better vet who pushed home testing.

I'm going over to their apartment tomorrow to watch them give her an
injection, since we take care of each others cats when one of us is away.
I'm going to bring an extra meter & strips with me just in case. I don't
have any pipettes, though. I'm hoping we'll be able to control her long
enough to get the blood on the strip directly from her ear.

Does anyone with experience find that it's easier to get a sample from a
paw? Any hints or tips?

--
Liz

newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

Liz,

I know someone who has lots of experience with diabetic cats. Please
email me and I can get your friend some help. You're on the right
track, testing at home is very important.

Rene

newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

"Rhonda" wrote in message
...
Take a look at this site:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-home-test.htm

That's the site I was looking at, but I didn't get to the message board.
I'll check it out again and pass on the link.

I hope she finds a different vet. Cats can be hard to regulate and
sometimes the numbers look as though the cat needs more insulin when it
actually needs less. This is a strange ricochet effect you have to be
aware of.

Right now she gets 2 units of NPH twice a day. She had been getting 3
units, but he said sometimes her back legs would tremble and it looked like
she would fall over, so her dose was cut back to 1 1/2 units, but that was
too little. Even on 2 units her urine tests are still very high. I know
urine tests aren't very accurate and the results you get don't always
reflect the real numbers at the time, because it takes awhile for the
glucose to pass into the urine and show up on the stick test.

By the way, have the vet refer them to an internist vet. That's what our
vet did and the internist was wonderful. She regulated his insulin and
helped us all of the way through his trials and tribulations. She didn't
suggest blood testing daily because too many people try to tweak the
insulin themselves and end up messing up the regulation. Cats do not
follow advice very well (eating at the right times and exercising...) so
cannot have as constant numbers as humans.

Good luck to the kitty!

Rhonda

I know that he sometimes has second thoughts about the vet, and he said
something about him again last night. This guy seems to think that you
shouldn't bother doing any tests, procedures, medications etc. unless the
cat is half dead.

--
Liz

newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

"Elizabeth Blake" wrote in message
...
A friend of mine has a female cat who is around 14 years old and was
recently diagnosed with diabetes. He & his wife had another female, much
younger, who was diagnosed several years ago and passed away soon after.
They could never get her regulated, she was constantly being rushed to the
24 hour emergency clinic or spending days at a time in their regular vet's
office.

Although I have no experience with diabetic cats, I've urged them to test
her blood sugar instead of relying on urine strips, or rushing her to the
vet weekly or more often. Kaylee is a very tiny cat bt she's a fighter.
He doesn't think he'll be able to get blood from her for the tests. I was
looking at this site: http://www.petdiabetes.org/ to see how one goes
about testing a cat's blood sugar and it doesn't seem too bad. I have
Type 1 diabetes and I've offered them an extra meter & test strips, but
he's still unsure.

He loves his cats - they're his kids. I think he's just very nervous
about the whole blood sampling process. He said that she fights hard just
for the insulin injections. I feel that Kaylee would fare much better if
they test her at home. I used to go to the vet they use and I hate him
with a passion. I think Niamh (their other girl) would still be alive
today if they had seen a better vet who pushed home testing.

I'm going over to their apartment tomorrow to watch them give her an
injection, since we take care of each others cats when one of us is away.
I'm going to bring an extra meter & strips with me just in case. I don't
have any pipettes, though. I'm hoping we'll be able to control her long
enough to get the blood on the strip directly from her ear.

Does anyone with experience find that it's easier to get a sample from a
paw? Any hints or tips?

--
Liz


Liz,

Please check your e-mail. I contacted a friend who is very experienced in
getting diabetic cats into remission, and she has sent you a private e-mail.

MaryL

newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

Liz,
I responded to your email. Please email me back and let me know you've
received it.

Thanks,
Rene

newly diagnosed diabetic cat
 

"MaryL" -OUT-THE-LITTER wrote in message
. ..

Liz,

Please check your e-mail. I contacted a friend who is very experienced in
getting diabetic cats into remission, and she has sent you a private
e-mail.

MaryL

I think Optonline is sending some messages to the spam dump, because I
didn't get it.

--
Liz