Stray cat with Felv and diabetes...

[Konstantina]

Hi everyone! I'm Konstantina from Greece and the stray cat i rescued 9 months ago has deveoped diabetes... But let me tell you the whole story! When i first saw Antoinette she was in a very bad situation. Due to the fact that i deal with many strays and my finances are in a very shape i didnt have the "luxury" to run the tests needed in order to find out what was actually going on with her so my vet advised me to start giving her antibiotics because she seemed to have either FIV or Felv. Even though we tried more than one antibiotic, and cortizone she didn't seem to get significally better. She was lethargic and her reflexes were quite low... So, approximately two months ago our vet suggested she has diabetes. We tested her and her readings hit the sky! (We also found out for sure she has Felv) More than 600 mg/dl! First we tried two brands of human insulin -to keep the cost down- but she didn't respond to them! So now we're giving her shots of Caninsuline for the last two weeks -about 7 units, twice a day- but her readings aren't satisfying... The point is she doesn't eat the right food, she only its Friskies cans which i suppose inhibit her treatment... Is there any chance she could show improvement while she's eating the wrong kind of food? Do you know any recipes for homemade food that is suitable for diabetes?
Sorry for my long post but i'm new at this and i don't have the means to take her to other vets for a second opinion and after reading some of the posts here i realised that the food is a very big problem...
Thanks in advance!

 

[Dyana]

Good morning Konstantina, and Bless You for caring for Antoinette, and the other strays.
7 units of insulin sounds like a lot to me, but I don't know Caninsuline, except I've heard it works better in dogs.
Are you home testing her blood glucose?
The Friskies canned food that are the classic pates are low in carbs. I'm wondering if she will eat those.
Hopefully, you have those in your country.
I am praying for your little girl to get better.

 

[Misterbeesmom]

Offhand i dont know if the friskies you are giving her are high in carbs. Are you using the kind Dyana above mentions? Can you get Fancy Feast? There are certain FF flavors that are good, and others that are not. Others on here can direct you on that, as i'm not sure which is which.

Making homemade is an option. There are sites that teach about feeding raw or lightly cooked meats/organs. If you're interested i can dig up my favorites on that. I feed my cat raw.

Thank you for taking in and loving that very sick kitty. Very kind you are!

Can i ask which human insulins you were using? I dont know caninsuline very well.

I'm not sure if felv contributes to difficulties in getting good diabetic control.

Are you testing with a glucometer at home?

 

[Dyana]

I did a search on Greece and there is a member Papaioannou Mary who lives there. She only posted a few times, but she may be able to help you find what you need. You can try to search her name and then send her a Private Message. Please Note, dosing information is not to be discussed via PM, only on the FDMB board.

 

[Konstantina]

Good morning Konstantina, and Bless You for caring for Antoinette, and the other strays.
7 units of insulin sounds like a lot to me, but I don't know Caninsuline, except I've heard it works better in dogs.
Are you home testing her blood glucose?
The Friskies canned food that are the classic pates are low in carbs. I'm wondering if she will eat those.
Hopefully, you have those in your country.
I am praying for your little girl to get better.

Thank you so much for your reply. After reading some posts, 7 units sounded a lot to me too so i started reading more about diabetes. Even though we're home testing the readings are usually high and i'm afraid it's all due to the food. She should be eating special food but she doesn't like it at all, can or dry...
I'm gonna do some more research on the commercial food she might like and probably start looking for home recipes too!

 

[Konstantina]

Offhand i dont know if the friskies you are giving her are high in carbs. Are you using the kind Dyana above mentions? Can you get Fancy Feast? There are certain FF flavors that are good, and others that are not. Others on here can direct you on that, as i'm not sure which is which.

Making homemade is an option. There are sites that teach about feeding raw or lightly cooked meats/organs. If you're interested i can dig up my favorites on that. I feed my cat raw.

Thank you for taking in and loving that very sick kitty. Very kind you are!

Can i ask which human insulins you were using? I dont know caninsuline very well.

I'm not sure if felv contributes to difficulties in getting good diabetic control.

Are you testing with a glucometer at home?

Hi! I'm living in Greece and i suppose the cat food brands may have some different products here. The point is how important is nutrition in diabetes. Could a bad nutrition undo her insulin therapy?
As for the human insulins i can't remember the brands... i think one of the was humulin...
Right now my main concern is the food... as i have seen a slight improvement even with the high readings, but i would like to do a proper therapy!
Thanks you for your kind words!

 

[Konstantina]

I did a search on Greece and there is a member Papaioannou Mary who lives there. She only posted a few times, but she may be able to help you find what you need. You can try to search her name and then send her a Private Message. Please Note, dosing information is not to be discussed via PM, only on the FDMB board.

Thanks for your help. I will look her up. Right now my main concern is my cat's nutrition and how it affects her therapy, because if it does there's no point in giving her bigger doses...

 

[Misterbeesmom]

Hi! I'm living in Greece and i suppose the cat food brands may have some different products here. The point is how important is nutrition in diabetes. Could a bad nutrition undo her insulin therapy?
As for the human insulins i can't remember the brands... i think one of the was humulin...
Right now my main concern is the food... as i have seen a slight improvement even with the high readings, but i would like to do a proper therapy!
Thanks you for your kind words!

Nutrition is important, but what is more the focus here for diabetics is the carbohydrate load of any particular food. The carbs have an impact on managing BG. I dont know what the carb % is in what you are feeding her now, but you definitely want low carb. If you are feeding high carb food now and swtich to low carb, kitty would probably need a decrease in her insulin. All cats are different but people do caution on changing diets from high to low while kitty is on insulin, especially if kitty parent isnt testing at home.

As far as nutrition goes, an unregulated diabetic kitty isnt able to absorb and process all the nutrients of the food, so my understanding is the carb load and getting good BG control are essential in kitty getting better nutritional value from foods.

 

[Dyana]

I agree with Jen. I think some of the higher carb Friskies canned foods are as much as 28% carbs. If you all of a sudden changed her to only 6% or 7% then the current dose of insulin may be too much for her and she could drop too low. I would test her blood glucose often while making a food change. And sometimes food changes can take time. If she doesn't like the lower carb food, you could try slowly transitioning her a little bit at a time, by adding a teaspoon of it to the food she does like..

 

[Konstantina]

I agree with Jen. I think some of the higher carb Friskies canned foods are as much as 28% carbs. If you all of a sudden changed her to only 6% or 7% then the current dose of insulin may be too much for her and she could drop too low. I would test her blood glucose often while making a food change. And sometimes food changes can take time. If she doesn't like the lower carb food, you could try slowly transitioning her a little bit at a time, by adding a teaspoon of it to the food she does like..

The thing is i have to be frugal with the testing strips since i can't afford to spend lots of them... This means long intervals between readings and having to "guess" and judge by her mood... This makes things a lot more difficult but i have to make it work...

 

[Konstantina]

Offhand i dont know if the friskies you are giving her are high in carbs. Are you using the kind Dyana above mentions? Can you get Fancy Feast? There are certain FF flavors that are good, and others that are not. Others on here can direct you on that, as i'm not sure which is which.

Making homemade is an option. There are sites that teach about feeding raw or lightly cooked meats/organs. If you're interested i can dig up my favorites on that. I feed my cat raw.

Thank you for taking in and loving that very sick kitty. Very kind you are!

Can i ask which human insulins you were using? I dont know caninsuline very well.

I'm not sure if felv contributes to difficulties in getting good diabetic control.

Are you testing with a glucometer at home?

Hi! i forgot to ask you for some recipes earlier! If you have any suitable for a stubborn and picky diabetic cat i would appreciate it!

 

[Misterbeesmom]

Hi! i forgot to ask you for some recipes earlier! If you have any suitable for a stubborn and picky diabetic cat i would appreciate it!

These are raw recipes, which my kitty loves. They esssentially all follow the same model, that is the %'s of certain ingredients to meet the nutritional needs of kitties.

All super low in carbs, as they have no veg, fruit, grain.

http://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.org/balanced-raw-food-recipe-with-nutritional-analysis.html
http://www.catnutrition.org/recipes.html
http://feline-nutrition.org/nutrition/easy-raw-feeding-for-the-busy-person
http://www.catinfo.org/?link=makingcatfood
http://pawesomecats.com/2015/08/24/balanced-raw-recipe-for-cats-supplements/

 

[JanetNJ]

Friskier is fine to give but not the varieties with gravy. It must be the pate type.

My cat is on Vetsulin which is the same insulin yours is on. 7 u is an extremely high dose. Most cats get 1-3 units. Can you take a reading 5 or 6 hours after the shot to see the number?

 

[Konstantina]

Friskier is fine to give but not the varieties with gravy. It must be the pate type.

My cat is on Vetsulin which is the same insulin yours is on. 7 u is an extremely high dose. Most cats get 1-3 units. Can you take a reading 5 or 6 hours after the shot to see the number?[/QUOTE
Unfortunately the ones with the gravy is among the few things she will eat... There is no Friskies pate here in Greece, but i can try the pate type of some other brand... I may have to resort to chicken or something like that since i can't afford to feed her only pate... as she is hungry all the time!
Yes, the dosage seemed too high to me too that's why i started reading about feline diabetes and gathering info...