BG constantly high

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Mackenzie Obermeyer

Mackenzie Obermeyer

Member Since 2016
Maytons blood glucose level is constantly between 250-450, usually in the 300s. I don't understand why his numbers won't go lower. Could it be he isn't getting enough insulin? Or maybe is his type of food preventing him from going lower? We feed him dry DM, I have seen that most people say wet is better.

About a month ago he wouldn't eat much at all and the doctor said try to feed him 1/4 cup for meals before insulin. Now he always wants to eat!! His weight for the dry DM says give him 1/2 - 3/4 cups... but that seems like a ton. We feed him breakfast, lunch, and dinner all at a bit over 1/4 cup. Plus we give him like a tablespoon of food whenever he is meowing at his bowl (about 4 times a day), and then we put some in before bed. It seems like we feed him a lot throughout the day, but should we be giving him more based of this information?
 
As long as you continue to feed high carb dry food (which the dry DM is), you're going to either have to give higher doses of insulin or see numbers you don't particularly like to see

Just as with human diabetics, if you don't lower the amount of carbs in the diet, you have to increase the medication/insulin

Will Mayton eat canned food? If he will, that's the best thing you can do for him, but don't switch from a high carb food to a low carb one quickly and make sure you're testing often enough .....dropping the amount of carbs can really bring their numbers down fast! We've seen cats here that had their numbers go up several hundred points just by eating 3-4 pieces of kibble

Dry is also dehydrating to the body and a cat's kidneys are it's weakest point....and in diabetics they're even more fragile.....adding extra water by feeding a canned diet helps keep those precious kidneys working as best they can
 
Chris & China said:
Will Mayton eat canned food?
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It's hard to say because he has eaten dry all of his life (he is about 11). They only time we have given him wet was when he was first diagnosed, but he would never stick to one type of food. Almost everyday he wouldn't eat the one he ate the day before.

Now that he loves eating again, hopefully that won't be the case this time. Our other cat eats classic fancy feast (he doesn't have diabetes). Would that be okay to give? Or is there a kind of wet food that is better?
 
Keep the dm for in case you need to steer low numbers higher. It's considered a medium carb food. Try to get him to eat the ff classic. If he really won't go for it, ask this company to send you a sample of their zero carb dry food. It is less than 1% carb. Youngagainpetfood.com.
 
So we gave him the usual dry DM for breakfast. His BG this morning was 306. We figured we would try to ease him into wet by giving the wet food for snack and maybe lunch time, but continue to give dry for breakfast and dinner. Then in a couple days try moving in some wet food for breakfast and dinner. He is so picky that he wouldn't eat the wet food unless I put the bowl into his normal bowl haha! He only will eat out of the automatic feeder bowl for some reason. Anyway he ate half of the wet food we gave him so hopefully he likes it!
 

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Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
So we gave him the usual dry DM for breakfast. His BG this morning was 306. We figured we would try to ease him into wet by giving the wet food for snack and maybe lunch time, but continue to give dry for breakfast and dinner. Then in a couple days try moving in some wet food for breakfast and dinner. He is so picky that he wouldn't eat the wet food unless I put the bowl into his normal bowl haha! He only will eat out of the automatic feeder bowl for some reason. Anyway he ate half of the wet food we gave him so hopefully he likes it!
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Love this photo of your cute boy!
 
Awww he could be my sister's cat's twin! They are so funny when they get set in their ways! :rolleyes: I think adding the wet for snacks is a good way to start. Once you start giving some for breakfast and dinner check his levels more often to make sure he's not dropping too quick.
 
Yesterday night I gave him some grain free food, and some dry food too. Then he threw it up...guess he ate too fast. Today for his lunch I just gave him the grain free food. His pre shot 40 minutes ago was 244! So lower than usual! Tonight's dinner was the grain free food with a little dry food in it. I stopped him before he ate too much and threw up. I plan on giving him the leftovers around 7... so 30 minutes after he ate. I will do a test on him +2 because I'm a little worried. I didn't put a lot of dry food in there (like 10 pieces) so I'm worried he will go too low.
 
Hi Mackenzie !!! My guy Elmo can be picky too and I found sprinkling a pinch of Forti Flora on his food works every time. Check it out at your vet ( and u can get it online) . Maybe get a few little pouches at vet to see if it tempts Mayton . Worth a try .
 
Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
Yesterday night I gave him some grain free food, and some dry food too. Then he threw it up...guess he ate too fast. Today for his lunch I just gave him the grain free food. His pre shot 40 minutes ago was 244! So lower than usual! Tonight's dinner was the grain free food with a little dry food in it. I stopped him before he ate too much and threw up. I plan on giving him the leftovers around 7... so 30 minutes after he ate. I will do a test on him +2 because I'm a little worried. I didn't put a lot of dry food in there (like 10 pieces) so I'm worried he will go too low.
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Which grain free food. Remember grain free doesn't equal low carb if they substitute grains with things like potatoes.
 
His +2 was 332 so I'm not as worried now. Would you say that since it has potato starch that it is not a good choice? Because it seems like he was liking this type of food, and he is pretty picky.
 
Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
His +2 was 332 so I'm not as worried now. Would you say that since it has potato starch that it is not a good choice? Because it seems like he was liking this type of food, and he is pretty picky.
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Starch is a carb so it's not the best, especially if potato starch is high on the ingredients list. Will he eat Fancy Feast or Friskies pates?
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Will he eat Fancy Feast or Friskies pates?
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I just gave him some salmon classics Fancy Feast which he ate. So that's hopeful. He is very unpredictable because sometimes he will eat it but the next day he won't. Also, he is super weird about eating... I have to put new kibble in his bowl in order for him to start eating! There will be some sitting in there from earlier or I will put some fresh wet food in and he won't touch it until I do the motion of putting new kibble in the bowl! So is it okay to put like 2 or 3 pieces into his wet food?
 
Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
I just gave him some salmon classics Fancy Feast which he ate. So that's hopeful. He is very unpredictable because sometimes he will eat it but the next day he won't. Also, he is super weird about eating... I have to put new kibble in his bowl in order for him to start eating! There will be some sitting in there from earlier or I will put some fresh wet food in and he won't touch it until I do the motion of putting new kibble in the bowl! So is it okay to put like 2 or 3 pieces into his wet food?
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There are freeze dried meat treats you can get that are great for diabetic cats. You might try using those on top of his wet food. One brand is Pure Bites, available at Pet Smart stores. Orijen also makes them.

Until you check those out, you can try a very few regular kibbles if that's what it takes to get him eating.
 
Last question for tonight... can you leave out a spoonful of fancy feast over night for the cats to eat? We usually leave out kibble or they will meow in our faces at 3am... which isn't the best.
 
Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
Last question for tonight... can you leave out a spoonful of fancy feast over night for the cats to eat? We usually leave out kibble or they will meow in our faces at 3am... which isn't the best.
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Do you have more than one kitty? If so, it's hard to know who's eating the food you leave out. That aside, the Fancy Feast or Friskies pates are fine for any kitty that doesn't have allergies or a sensitive tummy so by all means leave some out at night.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Do you have more than one kitty?
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Yes we have one other cat. He eats the chicken classic fancy feast. We will leave a spoonful of the chicken and a spoonful of the salmon out tonight. It doesn't really matter who eats it since they are both acceptable choices for Mayton. As long as they aren't hungry at 3 am!
 

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Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
Yes we have one other cat. He eats the chicken classic fancy feast. We will leave a spoonful of the chicken and a spoonful of the salmon out tonight. It doesn't really matter who eats it since they are both acceptable choices for Mayton. As long as they aren't hungry at 3 am!
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Look at those two cute kitties! Great photo! Try leaving out the wet food. They might gobble it all up but it's best for Mayton not to have kibble.
 
Kris & Teasel said:
Look at those two cute kitties! Great photo! Try leaving out the wet food. They might gobble it all up but it's best for Mayton not to have kibble.
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Yeah... just put some down and they already ate half of it! I took it back up and plan on giving it back in 30 minutes. Thanks for all of the advice tonight!
 
Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
Yeah... just put some down and they already ate half of it! I took it back up and plan on giving it back in 30 minutes. Thanks for all of the advice tonight!
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You might have to check out those Pet Safe automatic feeders that many on here use - one for each kitty. You can put small meals in some or all of the compartments and set the times at which they open. I don't use them but many people here do and can give you advice on which ones to buy, etc.

Pleased to be able to help ... :)
 
Kris & Teasel said:
You might have to check out those Pet Safe automatic feeders that many on here use - one for each kitty.
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We do have 2 automatic feeders that we used for the past 10 years (before he got diabetes) they only are for dispensing dry food though. It is just one big tub attached to the bowl. In fact that's the only bowl Mayton will eat out of haha! We always have to put the bowl of wet food into the automatic feeder bowl or he won't eat. He is so picky!!
 
Mackenzie Obermeyer said:
We do have 2 automatic feeders that we used for the past 10 years (before he got diabetes) they only are for dispensing dry food though. It is just one big tub attached to the bowl. In fact that's the only bowl Mayton will eat out of haha! We always have to put the bowl of wet food into the automatic feeder bowl or he won't eat. He is so picky!!
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Yes, I remember the photo you posted of that. The feeder type I'm referring to has several little section and it rotates, opening one section at a time. People adapt it to feed wet food by doing different things like putting a small washable container into each section, freezing wet food in small chunks so it's fresher hours later, etc. You could post asking for advice about this.
 
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