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cimoreneSo Snookums has been getting his insulin injections for a couple of weeks and has learned to come and demand attention at injection time (but not learned to relax and hold still so he has to be held down firmly for 10-15 sec).
It's common for diabetic cats to achieve remission after some treatment. It's also possible for removing carbs from the cat's diet alone to remove the need for treatment in some cats. So while diabetic cat owners online are fairly unanimous about a low-carb ("Catkins") diet, you also shouldn't suddenly go minimal-carb after the cat starts receiving insulin but before blood glucose is being regularly checked, because giving insulin to a cat with low blood glucose can make it dangerously hypglycemic.
So I got the animal blood glucose testing machine in the mail almost a week ago now, but I haven't started actually doing the testing because I have some anxiety about (a) the stabbing of Snookums's beautiful silky little tulip-petal ears with a needle and (b) all the actual mathy stuff, because it's not just testing regularly - once a week or once a day or whatever - it's about determining what the cat's highest and lowest levels are and how long between injections and meals these occur and to do that one takes a so-called "curve" by testing every 2 hours for 12 hours and graphing the levels on a little chart. So stabbing his little ear six times in one day...! That allows you to know when you want to be testing and to do so on several different days before introducing diet changes so that you know what's happening.waxjism the farm girl is much more calm and matter-of-fact about these things and has done the ear-needle blood sample thing before, so I want to proceed under her supervision at first.
It's common for diabetic cats to achieve remission after some treatment. It's also possible for removing carbs from the cat's diet alone to remove the need for treatment in some cats. So while diabetic cat owners online are fairly unanimous about a low-carb ("Catkins") diet, you also shouldn't suddenly go minimal-carb after the cat starts receiving insulin but before blood glucose is being regularly checked, because giving insulin to a cat with low blood glucose can make it dangerously hypglycemic.
So I got the animal blood glucose testing machine in the mail almost a week ago now, but I haven't started actually doing the testing because I have some anxiety about (a) the stabbing of Snookums's beautiful silky little tulip-petal ears with a needle and (b) all the actual mathy stuff, because it's not just testing regularly - once a week or once a day or whatever - it's about determining what the cat's highest and lowest levels are and how long between injections and meals these occur and to do that one takes a so-called "curve" by testing every 2 hours for 12 hours and graphing the levels on a little chart. So stabbing his little ear six times in one day...! That allows you to know when you want to be testing and to do so on several different days before introducing diet changes so that you know what's happening.
waxjism the farm girl is much more calm and matter-of-fact about these things and has done the ear-needle blood sample thing before, so I want to proceed under her supervision at first.
(no subject)
Date: 15 Mar 2019 03:47 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 18 Mar 2019 02:37 am (UTC)The blood testing does get easier over time, but it is so anxiety-making at first. Dreadful's diabetes came out of remission when we were trying to keep him from losing too much weight due to his thyroid issue, and now we're back on twice daily testing for him.
(Most cats don't need testing that frequently, but Dreadful does like to be special.)
There was about a week where I sometimes felt like a terrible monster abusing an innocent feline, but we both adjusted to it fairly quickly and it's now just part of our routine.