May not be starting insulin!

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Nikki_Renee

Nikki_Renee

Member Since 2015
I joined this forum a few weeks ago after my previous vet told us we needed to start insulin. At the time we were feeding dry w/d prescription food. I immediately got online to do some research and found this site. I was advised to switch to friskies special diet classic pate since he has issues with urinary blockage as well. We were a little reluctant to switch at first but are now so glad we did. When he first went to the vet his BG was 460mg/dL. After switching his food he now typically stays between 180-230mg/dL with an occasional high number between 270-300. We recently figured out that the high numbers were do to the fact that he has been sneaking the dog food. We still haven't started him on insulin. We had some issues with our vet and it came to our attention that he didn't have our pets best interest in mind. We have since switched to a new vet who doesn't think we are going to need to start on insulin. He wants us to document him BG for the next two weeks now that we are keeping an eye on him around the dog food and then bring in the data.
 
Well hopefully if you can keep him out of the dog food, he'll continue to come down!

180-230 isn't horrible, but (depending on the cat) it can still be above renal threshold which means it's hard on their kidneys

Happy to hear you found a vet that you're more comfortable with too!
 
Chris & China said:
Well hopefully if you can keep him out of the dog food, he'll continue to come down!

180-230 isn't horrible, but (depending on the cat) it can still be above renal threshold which means it's hard on their kidneys

Happy to hear you found a vet that you're more comfortable with too!
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He said he prefers their BG to be below 200, but will take anything under 230 with him not being on insulin. I think a lot of it is going to depend on the 14 day average at the end of these two weeks.
If he's averaging around 200 then he probably won't start insulin, but if he's averaging the 230 numbers then he probably will. Let's just hope I can keep him out of the dogs food. He's sneaky!!
 
Cat Ma said:
Have you had success today keeping your cat out of the dog food? Diet really does make a difference!
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I have not. During the summer when it's so my dogs become grazers. Today I had to take nemo to the vet to get weighed. He weighs 17.9lbs. That's down 2 pounds!! I thought I'd feed the dogs so they could eat while we were at the vet. I put their food in their bowls and then went to get Nemo's blanket in the next room. I was gone for maybe 10 seconds. In that time Nemo had ran the dogs off and was eating their food. Between that and the stressful trip to the vet (he hates going), his numbers were very high today. I'm not sure what else to do to keep him out of their food.
 
Something to calm him i.e. Rescue Remedy, calming chews, etc before the vet could help keep his numbers lower. Can you keep him in another room when your dogs are eating? Keep him distracted?
 
When you have a moment, could you add a few tidbits to your signature? It will help us give you feedback without having to go look in all your past posts.

Editing your Signature

In the upper right corner of the screen, within the dark blue bar, you will see ID, Inbox, and Alerts

Click on your ID.

On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature.
This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback.
This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
Add any other text, such as
your name,
cat's name,
date of Dx (diagnosis)
insulin
meter
general location
any other pertinent issues like if there are any food issues, history of DKA, hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, allergies, IBD, etc.
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Always click the Save Changes button at the bottom when you have changed anything.
 
Cat Ma said:
Something to calm him i.e. Rescue Remedy, calming chews, etc before the vet could help keep his numbers lower. Can you keep him in another room when your dogs are eating? Keep him distracted?
Click to expand...

Thanks for the advice on the calming stuff. He gets so stressed. I try to feed Nemo and the dogs at the same time so that he is eating while they are. It's typically not a problem because the dogs will eat all their food at once. Lately the dogs are taking a lot longer to eat. I fed them tonight at 7:30 but their bowls weren't empty till 11:30. I can't keep them seperated that long.
 
BJM said:
When you have a moment, could you add a few tidbits to your signature? It will help us give you feedback without having to go look in all your past posts.

Editing your Signature

In the upper right corner of the screen, within the dark blue bar, you will see ID, Inbox, and Alerts

Click on your ID.

On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature.
This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback.
This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
Add any other text, such as
your name,
cat's name,
date of Dx (diagnosis)
insulin
meter
general location
any other pertinent issues like if there are any food issues, history of DKA, hepatic lipidosis, pancreatitis, allergies, IBD, etc.
Click the Save Changes button at the bottom.

Always click the Save Changes button at the bottom when you have changed anything.
Click to expand...

I quickly jotted down a signature. Should I still be making a spreadsheet even though I'm not using insuli? I thought I could use food amounts instead of insulin amounts but he gets fed 4 times a day not twice. 7:30am, 7:30pm, once between those meals, and then right before bed. There isn't always an exact time for the between meal and bed time meal.
 
The spreadsheet is a good way to track behavior and any glucose tests you take. You can make notes in the right hand column.
 
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