| Sparky:Feline | |
|---|---|
| Male brown tabby, weight 5.7 kg. | |
| Born | Nov-1992 |
| Dx | Apr-2006 |
| Oral meds | : |
| Regulated | May-2006 |
|
Regulated between 60 and 150 | |
| Remission | May-2006 |
| Insulin | Lantus |
Sparky has hyperT and diabetes insipidus (DI). He is on oral medication (neomercazole) for his hyperT and b.i.d. injections of DDAVP (desmopressin) for the DI.
On April 23, 2006 he was due for blood and urine tests re his hyperT and DI. Because I have one cat with diabetes mellitus, I automatically check urine for glucose and ketones. On this occasion, I checked Sparky's for no other reason other than I can... It was ++++glucose. I immediately tested his blood and it was 27.8 mmol/L (500 mg/dL). I was shocked that I had yet another sugarcat.
Sparky is not actually my cat but my 81 year old mother's cat - she and her cats live with me. Since moving in with us in April 2004, Sparky has been totally raw fed on a lamb mixture. Switching his diet to low carb was not a problem, deciding on which insulin to use was more the issue.
I started him on hypurin bovine isophane insulin, an insulin similar to NPH. I use it as a booster insulin for my other sugarcat who is on fixed doses of lantus and sliding scale hypurin. The hypurin gave Sparky great response but very poor duration. Since I have lantus in the fridge, I decided that with Sparky being newly diagnosed, I'd follow the Rand protocol fairly closely. Her protocol is based on the cat's weight and BGL.
His first curve was done May 1,2006:
Preshot 15.9 1.5 iu lantus and food
Hr 2 15.0
Hr 4 6.6
Hr 6 6.5
Hr 8 9.4
Hr 10 15.1
Preshot 13.0 1.5 iu lantus and food
Based on his PS numbers, I increased his lantus to 2.0 iu b.i.d. and maintained the same injection and feeding schedule. By May 15, 2006 his BGL's were consistantly between 3.1 - 7.8 (55 - 140). I continued to give 2.0 iu b.i.d. until May 22 when his a.m. PS was 6.4. (115). I gave only 1.0 iu on that occasion. His +6 that day was 2.4 (45). His p.m. PS was 4.8 (85) and I decided to withold the insulin and see what happened.
I did a curve on May 23, 2006. He had been insulin free for 24 hours when the curve was started.
a.m 7.8
Hr 2 6.5
Hr 4 7.1
Hr 6 3.8
Hr 8 5.1
Hr 10 6.1
p.m. 4.8
I did not restart the insulin but I do monitor his blood and urine daily. I do BGL's once a day at different times each day.
Since June 1, 2006, his BGL's have been under 6.0 (110) without insulin despite a dental and minor surgery to remove a small growth in his mouth.
I consider Sparky to be in remission at this point in time.
Update... Unfortunately Sparky developed several other endocrine problems which had an impact on his FD and he required insulin once again. I can't remember exactly just when he relapsed.
Sparky went to the Rainbow Bridge in August 2009 after living on "borrowed time" for several years. Vale old friend.