Lunar Threads

Yoda, one of my five kitties, was recently diagnosed as a diabetic. He's an 8-year-old domestic short hair with gray tiger markings. He's a sweetie and even saved my life by retrieving my asthma inhaler from under the bed while I was having a bad attack, so if he needs insulin, he'll get insulin.

Has anyone else here ever had a diabetic pet? I'm still new to all this injecting and blood testing. Fortunately, Yoda is very trusting and will sit there while he gets his shots.

I'm a Type 1 Juvenile Diabetic, but I've never dealt with a Diabetic pet. I could imagine how difficult it is for the pet to receive injections, and I think at some point they will realize the need for the insulin and get used to the routine. Do you check your cats blood sugar, or do you just give a set amount of insulin?

I give him 1 unit of insulin a day, but the vet diluted it in a 1/10 ratio so it's easier to draw. I need to talk to the vet about that, because apparently we shouldn't be diluting Lantus as it's really slow acting.

I test his blood, but not every day. Right now, the vet has me doing 3 tests a day for 3 days so we can get his curve right.

Funny thing...Yoda sits still for the injections but doesn't like the "pop" sound of the lancet when I test. Do you know of any that don't "pop"?

Geez, 1 unit of Lantus diluted? I don't know what the normal rate for glucose in a cat would be though. I don't know of any lancet pens that won't make a sound because it's basically launching from the spring retracting and releasing. Poor kitty.

You would manually have to use a lancet to prick his paw without the sound, but you can't control the depth of the puncture.