Vetsulin dosing advice

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Rascal1

Rascal1

Member Since 2015
Hello, new to having a diabetic cat. It all started back in September, my cat seemed quite sick, vomitted a couple times but was very lethargic. Vet did blood labs on him. At the time glucose levels okay but creatinine a little elevated. Vet suggested I put him on Renal diet for Chronic kidney disease. At the time he was drinking/urining a little more than normal but not much. After putting him on Purina N/F wet and Hill's K/D dry it seemed he started drinking water non-stop and peeing alot. I then had a test on his urine where it had sugar in it. The a fructosamine test came out at 533 mg/dl, quite high.

I have a ReliOn human gluco meter now and started doing home blood tests, not easy .. wow he fights me a ton :( . I have slowly been switching him this past week to an all wet food diet no dry kibble. On his first reading it was 250 before dinner feeding. Next day it was 110 before feeding. Now this morning his gluco reading was 175 before morning meal and 108 before evening feeding. Initially we started at 2 units, then 3 units and finally 4 units/2x a day. I have tried to talk to my Vet but with the holidays here he is insanely busy so it's been a challenge speaking to him directly. Based on recent gluco readings I have dropped his Vetsulin dose to just 2 units, 2x/day. I am wondering if now being on the all wet, low carb food could have such an impact on his glucose levels? I swear it was the crap prescription food that made him diabetic quickly as they are super high in carbs come to find out. Does it seem like I'm doing the right thing reducing his dose? I'ts not like I can talk to the vet all the time and I really ,really do not want to make an emergency pet ER visit for Hypo situation.

As yet we have not had a glucose curve done. Started insulin first week in December. Next question I have would it be more beneficical for me to try to coordinate doing a glucose curve at home or should I bring cat into the vets for this? The stress of the vet visits lately for blood draws has been very tough on the cat.

Thanks for any advice... Don
 
Rascal1 said:
I am wondering if now being on the all wet, low carb food could have such an impact on his glucose levels?
Click to expand...

Yes...going to a low carb diet can reduce the blood glucose up to 200 points, so that's the first thing we suggest doing!

Rascal1 said:
Next question I have would it be more beneficical for me to try to coordinate doing a glucose curve at home or should I bring cat into the vets for this?
Click to expand...

We are huge advocates of home testing here and not just for "curves", but before EVERY shot and again somewhere mid-cycle on the AM cycle and a "before bed" test on the PM cycle (at least).....what's important for you to learn is how low the dose is taking him. (I'm assuming his name is Rascal?)

Vetsulin isn't generally a great insulin for cats, but we have some people who've had success with it. Usually it hits them hard, makes them drop fast and then wears off too soon. Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc are better choices. That being said, I don't have any experience with Vetsulin other than to say that it's important that you always make sure Rascal eats at least 20-30 minutes before giving insulin (so there's food on board when it "hits) and that since we don't have any data on him that we say to not shoot if he's below 200

I can't think of who is currently using Vetsulin but there's a lot of information about it here in this Vetsulin User Guide for you to read up on
 
Hi Don, I'm a Vetsulin user. I really can't give you any dosing advice without seeing more of Rascal's numbers, but just as a general observation I would say that, with numbers ranging between 108 and 175, 2 units 2x daily is too much insulin. Since you are still new to this, I would suggest you not shoot at all with numbers under 200. If you are doing the test-feed-shoot routine, here is a trick you can try: if his BG is lower than 200 at feeding time, stall (don't feed) for 20 minutes or so then test again to see if his BG has risen enough to shoot. And I would definitely lower his dose! Better too high for a day than too low for a moment - a day of high BG won't kill, a moment of BG too low, can.

If you can manage it definitely do the curve at home! Easier on Rascal, and you'll get truer numbers. It also save a vet bill! You can test every 2 hours for 12, or every 3 for 24. Also, you need to find his nadir (the lowest part of his cycle) to help with determining his dosage. We have available a spreadsheet that most of us here use, it is really an invaluable tool to have. It would be great if you could set one up for Rascal.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Keep us posted with his numbers so we can better help you!

Lucy
 
Thanks for the replies, seems that the change in Rasca'ls diet to canned Wellness Turkey wet food has made a huge difference in his blood sugar numbers. On my own accord I lowered his Vetsulin from 4 units, to 3 units then 2 units on Sunday. As of Sunday evening his gluco meter reading was 108 before meal time. I hesitated but gave him a 2 unit insulin shot, probably should not have. Sure enough I think he became mildly hypoglycemic as he was sleeping so hard I could hardly wake him up. Gave him a few treats and he made it though the night okay. I spoke to my vet on Monday and provided some blood sugar numbers to him. He suggested I suspend the insulin for a couple days and monitor his drinking and blood glucose levels. Interstingly enough he's gone 1 full day now with no insulin and I did a glucose check on him tonight before meal time and his number was at 94. This is after being on the all wet food diet for just 2-3 days. Is this possible??
My vet says he could have transient diabetes. He is also not drinking excess water which supports his glucose numbers.

I am now 100% convinced that the diet he was put on beginning end of September pushed him quickly into the diabetic zone. Hills K/D dry food very high carbs and Purina NF wet food which I believe is also high in carbs even though it's a wet food. He may still have CKD possibly but this food sure made things worse turning him diabetic. He immediatley starting drinking/peeing a ton after get onto this food and I had no idea this could happen so fast. I will never feed my cat this crap again in the future. Makes me so angry to think Vets would prescrbe this food to animals which would have the potential to make them more sick!! I don't get it. Sticking to the Wellness canned Turkey and also will try Weruva wet food which is low in phosphorous and carbs. I'm praying that these glucose numbers continue for Rascal as living alone it's not been an easy thing to manage 2x / day insulin shots plus blood monitoring a very awnry cat. I'm so thankful for all the helpful information and finally got me convinced low carb canned diet is the answer to better health for my cat.

Will send an update once I settle into his new low carb diet a little further down the road. Thanks, Don
 
The simple answer is "YES!!" Changing over from a high carb kibble to a low carb canned food can drop the blood glucose 200 points or more!

I'm also really happy that you had the sense to drop the dose when you saw his BG numbers coming down....too many people blindly follow their vets directions and it can lead to a tragedy

You might want to try him without insulin for a day or two and see what happens....Test at your usual shot time, feed, and then test again in about 3 hours...if the number is lower, that means his pancreas is doing at least some of the work!

If his numbers start to rise though, it's important to get him back on insulin as soon as they start to trend up so you give his pancreas the best chance to fully heal.

Good luck with Rascal!!
 
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