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Diagnosis: diabetes
2 Jan 2010 02:11 pmSo, Señora Crankypants has diabetes. Her cleaning for Monday is off until we get her under control, but we have to take her in for a urine sample Monday, as well as some instructional stuff and getting the prescription.
- This is where my training in diabetes education and management will come in handy. Thanks, UNC SOP! I'm a little out of date as far as what meters are available, but we don't need anything fancy like Ascensia Breeze. Luckily for me, some kind soul at Walgreens put together a comparison table.
- Our vet likes to use Lantus pens. Except not as pens: they want us to draw insulin into regular U-100 syringes. It's more cost-effective: one box of 5 3-mL cartridges costs $185 at Harris Teeter (and we can get a VIC discount), and one 10-mL vial costs about that. Once you open a bottle of insulin, you're supposed to pitch it after a month. If you're good about aseptic technique, and you're vigilant about checking for precipitate in the cartridge, you can use it longer. I personally wouldn't use it more than 2 months. (In humans, this typically isn't an issue.) So even if the pen cartridges cost more, it's really saving money in the long run.
- Isis should eat food that's <7% carbohydrates. The Evo she's eating is 7% max, which is the lowest carb content in dry cat food. We'll try a few other types of canned Evo, to see what she likes. The one she's eating at the moment (turkey & chicken) is really mushy, and I think she may have trouble eating it. We know she likes Luna's food, which is Innova canned (not Evo), and that has 3% carbs. A trip to Phydeaux is in our future.
- We also need to have Karo syrup on hand in the event of hypoglycemia. Smear it onto her gums, apparently.
- The vet said I can do a glucose curve at home, because she's comfortable with me doing it, since I'm a pharmacist. It's about $170 each time they do it in clinic, and it may require several times to figure everything out, so it'll be another cost saver. Because I feel more comfortable having a glucometer available when giving insulin, I'm going to acquire one.
- Boarding at the vet clinic is $22/day, plus $2.50 if the cat needs medication. They also do a flea treatment on admission for $5. So not too much gloom and doom for vacation travel (there's no way I'm asking a pet sitter to deal with this. Isis hates everybody except me & Ben. Vet staff can deal with it, and if anything goes poorly, they'll be able to take care of it.)
Things to buy:
- glucometer (AccuChek Aviva ($20 at Walgreens) or Active)
- test strips (AccuChek Active $30/50 at Walgreens; Comfort Curve $20/50 at Amazon)
- alcohol wipes
- lancets
- Karo
- Lantus SoloStar
- This is where my training in diabetes education and management will come in handy. Thanks, UNC SOP! I'm a little out of date as far as what meters are available, but we don't need anything fancy like Ascensia Breeze. Luckily for me, some kind soul at Walgreens put together a comparison table.
- Our vet likes to use Lantus pens. Except not as pens: they want us to draw insulin into regular U-100 syringes. It's more cost-effective: one box of 5 3-mL cartridges costs $185 at Harris Teeter (and we can get a VIC discount), and one 10-mL vial costs about that. Once you open a bottle of insulin, you're supposed to pitch it after a month. If you're good about aseptic technique, and you're vigilant about checking for precipitate in the cartridge, you can use it longer. I personally wouldn't use it more than 2 months. (In humans, this typically isn't an issue.) So even if the pen cartridges cost more, it's really saving money in the long run.
- Isis should eat food that's <7% carbohydrates. The Evo she's eating is 7% max, which is the lowest carb content in dry cat food. We'll try a few other types of canned Evo, to see what she likes. The one she's eating at the moment (turkey & chicken) is really mushy, and I think she may have trouble eating it. We know she likes Luna's food, which is Innova canned (not Evo), and that has 3% carbs. A trip to Phydeaux is in our future.
- We also need to have Karo syrup on hand in the event of hypoglycemia. Smear it onto her gums, apparently.
- The vet said I can do a glucose curve at home, because she's comfortable with me doing it, since I'm a pharmacist. It's about $170 each time they do it in clinic, and it may require several times to figure everything out, so it'll be another cost saver. Because I feel more comfortable having a glucometer available when giving insulin, I'm going to acquire one.
- Boarding at the vet clinic is $22/day, plus $2.50 if the cat needs medication. They also do a flea treatment on admission for $5. So not too much gloom and doom for vacation travel (there's no way I'm asking a pet sitter to deal with this. Isis hates everybody except me & Ben. Vet staff can deal with it, and if anything goes poorly, they'll be able to take care of it.)
Things to buy:
- glucometer (AccuChek Aviva ($20 at Walgreens) or Active)
- test strips (AccuChek Active $30/50 at Walgreens; Comfort Curve $20/50 at Amazon)
- alcohol wipes
- lancets
- Karo
- Lantus SoloStar
