diabetic supplies?

I have an 17 year old cat (Simba) that has had diabetes for about 3-4 years
now, she is doing well. (Or as well as any cat that age with diabetes,
irritable bowel syndrome and failing kidneys can be). I give her 1 unit of
insulin twice a day and she seems to be maintaining well. She's on a minimum
protein diet for her kidneys and so far she's doing ok. She was diagnosed
with the first stage of kidney failure last year! So I figure she's a
survivor. I also add extra moisture to her canned food (which is all she
eats) to help with her bowels.

She drinks like a fish (still) and her litterbox must be kept clean at all
times or she pees on our laundry (dirty or clean) that's left in the laundry
room, where her litter box is.

She keeps surprising me with her resilience (and hatred of the vet! He's
actually frightened of her, as are his assistants as well). She has a
****CAUTION*** highlighted on her chart as a warning to those at the vet's
office that haven't met her before. I try not to take her there unless
absolutely necessary, and the vet also tries to make it as easy as possible
for me to treat her at home. She certainly has personality.

So, good luck with LeMieux, and don't worry, diabetes is certainly easy to
control. Cats can have normal, and long, lives despite the illness. I've
also heard it can disappear without rhyme or reason.

Maggie

"Stuart" wrote in message
. ..
Jamie,

That's wonderful!

Wishing you and LeMieux the best,

Stuart



In article , jamie
wrote:

Stuart wrote:

How did things go with vet?

I picked him up Thurs eve, and the vet walked me through the injection.
She didn't think it was necessarily to test, but didn't object to my
doing so. She just wanted me to give him one unit twice a day and come
back in 2 weeks for a blood test. She thought it would be too much
trouble to my cat to test him.

LeMieux is only prescribed one unit insulin twice a day, and he didn't
seem to even notice that he'd been stuck that night or the next morning.
I already knew, from having injections a few years ago that used insulin
syringes, that sticking with them didn't hurt, so I wasn't squeamish
about sticking him, just a little nervous about doing it the first time.

Friday night I tried the first ear-stick, after studying the online
videos and close-up photos on several sites. He was a little annoyed
having his ear held and warmed, but didn't seem to notice the lancet at
all last night or this morning. I had no trouble getting enough blood
for the Elite strip, both times they were easily filled, with a blob of
blood hanging off the end of the stick, and a little more to pinch off
his ear with the tissue. Tonight I'm going to try it without warming,
because I could have easily filled 3 sticks with his ear warmed.

His bg readings were 102 Friday night and 107 Sat morn, so I didn't give
him any more insulin. I wish I had gotten up the nerve to try the ear
stick before I'd given him the shot Fri morning, because I think he
might
have been lethargic all day because he was somewhat hypo. This morning
he started to resume normal activity, jumping up on my bed several
times,
and lying around the kitchen instead of hiding under the guestroom bed.

He was in the animal hospital 4 days, and I don't know if they actually
ran a curve, (unless they just didn't charge me for every bg test, which
is
a possibility, when I asked for an estimate the first day, the assistant
said she wasn't sure if they charged for all the tests or not.) On the
receipt, I was charged for two bg tests the first day, and one bg test
each of the other days. His blood test before going in the hospital
had a bg in the upper 300s, and all I know of the rest was that he was
around 135 to 140 sometime during the day while getting one unit insulin
first thing in the morning and before the clinic closed at night.

I'm starting to think he had a pretty high stress reaction that jacked
up his levels at the vet, and maybe just changing to low-carb food
(Science diet canned kitted food now as directed, Science diet dry
Sensitive Stomach before his crisis) was enough to bring him down to
good levels because he wasn't really, really high before.

I plan to continue testing for at least the rest of the week, and take
the results to the vet, but it's starting to look like a good
possibility
that he might not need insulin.

I have an 17 year old cat (Simba) that has had diabetes for about 3-4 years
now, she is doing well. (Or as well as any cat that age with diabetes,
irritable bowel syndrome and failing kidneys can be). I give her 1 unit of
insulin twice a day and she seems to be maintaining well. She's on a minimum
protein diet for her kidneys and so far she's doing ok. She was diagnosed
with the first stage of kidney failure last year! So I figure she's a
survivor. I also add extra moisture to her canned food (which is all she
eats) to help with her bowels.

She drinks like a fish (still) and her litterbox must be kept clean at all
times or she pees on our laundry (dirty or clean) that's left in the laundry
room, where her litter box is.

She keeps surprising me with her resilience (and hatred of the vet! He's
actually frightened of her, as are his assistants as well). She has a
****CAUTION*** highlighted on her chart as a warning to those at the vet's
office that haven't met her before. I try not to take her there unless
absolutely necessary, and the vet also tries to make it as easy as possible
for me to treat her at home. She certainly has personality.

So, good luck with LeMieux, and don't worry, diabetes is certainly easy to
control. Cats can have normal, and long, lives despite the illness. I've
also heard it can disappear without rhyme or reason.

Maggie

"Stuart" wrote in message
. ..
Jamie,

That's wonderful!

Wishing you and LeMieux the best,

Stuart



In article , jamie
wrote:

Stuart wrote:

How did things go with vet?

I picked him up Thurs eve, and the vet walked me through the injection.
She didn't think it was necessarily to test, but didn't object to my
doing so. She just wanted me to give him one unit twice a day and come
back in 2 weeks for a blood test. She thought it would be too much
trouble to my cat to test him.

LeMieux is only prescribed one unit insulin twice a day, and he didn't
seem to even notice that he'd been stuck that night or the next morning.
I already knew, from having injections a few years ago that used insulin
syringes, that sticking with them didn't hurt, so I wasn't squeamish
about sticking him, just a little nervous about doing it the first time.

Friday night I tried the first ear-stick, after studying the online
videos and close-up photos on several sites. He was a little annoyed
having his ear held and warmed, but didn't seem to notice the lancet at
all last night or this morning. I had no trouble getting enough blood
for the Elite strip, both times they were easily filled, with a blob of
blood hanging off the end of the stick, and a little more to pinch off
his ear with the tissue. Tonight I'm going to try it without warming,
because I could have easily filled 3 sticks with his ear warmed.

His bg readings were 102 Friday night and 107 Sat morn, so I didn't give
him any more insulin. I wish I had gotten up the nerve to try the ear
stick before I'd given him the shot Fri morning, because I think he
might
have been lethargic all day because he was somewhat hypo. This morning
he started to resume normal activity, jumping up on my bed several
times,
and lying around the kitchen instead of hiding under the guestroom bed.

He was in the animal hospital 4 days, and I don't know if they actually
ran a curve, (unless they just didn't charge me for every bg test, which
is
a possibility, when I asked for an estimate the first day, the assistant
said she wasn't sure if they charged for all the tests or not.) On the
receipt, I was charged for two bg tests the first day, and one bg test
each of the other days. His blood test before going in the hospital
had a bg in the upper 300s, and all I know of the rest was that he was
around 135 to 140 sometime during the day while getting one unit insulin
first thing in the morning and before the clinic closed at night.

I'm starting to think he had a pretty high stress reaction that jacked
up his levels at the vet, and maybe just changing to low-carb food
(Science diet canned kitted food now as directed, Science diet dry
Sensitive Stomach before his crisis) was enough to bring him down to
good levels because he wasn't really, really high before.

I plan to continue testing for at least the rest of the week, and take
the results to the vet, but it's starting to look like a good
possibility
that he might not need insulin.

I have an 17 year old cat (Simba) that has had diabetes for about 3-4 years
now, she is doing well. (Or as well as any cat that age with diabetes,
irritable bowel syndrome and failing kidneys can be). I give her 1 unit of
insulin twice a day and she seems to be maintaining well. She's on a minimum
protein diet for her kidneys and so far she's doing ok. She was diagnosed
with the first stage of kidney failure last year! So I figure she's a
survivor. I also add extra moisture to her canned food (which is all she
eats) to help with her bowels.

She drinks like a fish (still) and her litterbox must be kept clean at all
times or she pees on our laundry (dirty or clean) that's left in the laundry
room, where her litter box is.

She keeps surprising me with her resilience (and hatred of the vet! He's
actually frightened of her, as are his assistants as well). She has a
****CAUTION*** highlighted on her chart as a warning to those at the vet's
office that haven't met her before. I try not to take her there unless
absolutely necessary, and the vet also tries to make it as easy as possible
for me to treat her at home. She certainly has personality.

So, good luck with LeMieux, and don't worry, diabetes is certainly easy to
control. Cats can have normal, and long, lives despite the illness. I've
also heard it can disappear without rhyme or reason.

Maggie

"Stuart" wrote in message
. ..
Jamie,

That's wonderful!

Wishing you and LeMieux the best,

Stuart



In article , jamie
wrote:

Stuart wrote:

How did things go with vet?

I picked him up Thurs eve, and the vet walked me through the injection.
She didn't think it was necessarily to test, but didn't object to my
doing so. She just wanted me to give him one unit twice a day and come
back in 2 weeks for a blood test. She thought it would be too much
trouble to my cat to test him.

LeMieux is only prescribed one unit insulin twice a day, and he didn't
seem to even notice that he'd been stuck that night or the next morning.
I already knew, from having injections a few years ago that used insulin
syringes, that sticking with them didn't hurt, so I wasn't squeamish
about sticking him, just a little nervous about doing it the first time.

Friday night I tried the first ear-stick, after studying the online
videos and close-up photos on several sites. He was a little annoyed
having his ear held and warmed, but didn't seem to notice the lancet at
all last night or this morning. I had no trouble getting enough blood
for the Elite strip, both times they were easily filled, with a blob of
blood hanging off the end of the stick, and a little more to pinch off
his ear with the tissue. Tonight I'm going to try it without warming,
because I could have easily filled 3 sticks with his ear warmed.

His bg readings were 102 Friday night and 107 Sat morn, so I didn't give
him any more insulin. I wish I had gotten up the nerve to try the ear
stick before I'd given him the shot Fri morning, because I think he
might
have been lethargic all day because he was somewhat hypo. This morning
he started to resume normal activity, jumping up on my bed several
times,
and lying around the kitchen instead of hiding under the guestroom bed.

He was in the animal hospital 4 days, and I don't know if they actually
ran a curve, (unless they just didn't charge me for every bg test, which
is
a possibility, when I asked for an estimate the first day, the assistant
said she wasn't sure if they charged for all the tests or not.) On the
receipt, I was charged for two bg tests the first day, and one bg test
each of the other days. His blood test before going in the hospital
had a bg in the upper 300s, and all I know of the rest was that he was
around 135 to 140 sometime during the day while getting one unit insulin
first thing in the morning and before the clinic closed at night.

I'm starting to think he had a pretty high stress reaction that jacked
up his levels at the vet, and maybe just changing to low-carb food
(Science diet canned kitted food now as directed, Science diet dry
Sensitive Stomach before his crisis) was enough to bring him down to
good levels because he wasn't really, really high before.

I plan to continue testing for at least the rest of the week, and take
the results to the vet, but it's starting to look like a good
possibility
that he might not need insulin.