Rocky is newly diagnosed and I am a bit overwhelmed

[Rocky B>]

Our grey 6 year old male cat was just diagnosed with diabetes. His current blood sugar level is between 400 and 500 now. Right now, we are using the vets glucose monitor to establish the proper dose. I see most here are doing home monitoring so I am also hoping to be doing that soon. Right now I feel a bit overwhelmed so just pressing the button to get reading is helpful for me. I'm not planning on doing that long term.

Cuurently, we are giving him 1 unit twice a day, but haven't changed the diet yet. We just bought a box of Fancy Feast so off the dry food he goes!

One question I have is how much of this to feed a 14 pound cat? The box says 1 can per 2-3 pounds which seems like a lot to me. That would be 6 cans a day. I'm really hoping we can keep from breaking the bank here.

I would appreciate any advice, tips, etc. Thanks in advance.

Gregg

 

[(GA) Gypsy's Parent]

I'm relatively new here. You seem to have made good progress in reading and finding the best major take aways (testing at home, wet food)! The experienced people here can help you with dosing to get Rocky into a hopefully stable situation. There can be a lot of ups and downs, especially when starting out. People don't give advice without having data. Filling out your signature with the info you have will allow people to provide the advice that is best for your cat's situation. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

If you want dosing advice over time, provide a spreadsheet with BG measurements and dosage http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Switching from dry to wet food should not be done until you are able to monitor. My cat's BG dropped from the yellow zone to blue zone (150 pts) overnight. Very low blood sugar or hypoglycemia can easily lead to death. Changes that can lower your cats BG levels should be made gradually and with the aid of a meter.

For $25 I came home from Walmart with a meter, 50 test strips, 200 lancets and alcohol wipes (for insulin vial).

My 10 pound, inactive 16 year old cat is consuming 150-160 kcals per day, while the internet recommends 250. Friskies is a popular choice here as well and that's much less expensive than Fancy Feast.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hi and welcome Gregg and Rocky. Sorry about the diabetes diagnosis, but it's a condition that is treatable and manageable. Yep, it's overwhelming at first, there seems to be so much to learn. But essentially, addressing diet, insulin therapy and home testing are the first order of business, and you are working on that.

It would be helpful if you would create a signature, and then set up a spreadsheet to record & track the testing and insulin data. Then we can see what kind of insulin, dose etc at a glance without backtracking through previous posts.

Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

Set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

One question I have is how much of this to feed a 14 pound cat? The box says 1 can per 2-3 pounds which seems like a lot to me. That would be 6 cans a day. I'm really hoping we can keep from breaking the bank here.

A general rule of thumb for feeding is 20 calories per pound of ideal weight, however unregulated sugar cats can't utilize food properly and are usually very hungry. And EDIC, every cat is different.

My vet recommended about 250 calories a day for my 17# Idjit, so I wrote the calories and carb % in marker on the cans of food and went from there. Friskies pates are also low carb and have lots of flavor varieties, and are less expensive than FF.

Of course he got low carb treats for testing and treats just because he's rather spoiled, but we tried to fill the need. One caution, please don't abruptly eliminate the dry food, a gradual transition is best. An all wet low carb diet change can significantly reduce the blood sugar and you don't want to initiate a hypo event, especially since you are just learning to test.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/transitioning-your-cat-from-dry-to-wet-food.956/ from www.catinfo.org (an incredible website about feline nutrition worth looking at).

Please visit around the board and look into the FAQs forum, and read some information about the insulin you are working with in the specific insulin support group...all from the main menu. Going forward it would be best to ask questions and voice concerns in the Main Health forum..more eyes on that forum so they can help out.

 

[Rocky B>]

I'm relatively new here. You seem to have made good progress in reading and finding the best major take aways (testing at home, wet food)! The experienced people here can help you with dosing to get Rocky into a hopefully stable situation. There can be a lot of ups and downs, especially when starting out. People don't give advice without having data. Filling out your signature with the info you have will allow people to provide the advice that is best for your cat's situation. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

If you want dosing advice over time, provide a spreadsheet with BG measurements and dosage http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Switching from dry to wet food should not be done until you are able to monitor. My cat's BG dropped from the yellow zone to blue zone (150 pts) overnight. Very low blood sugar or hypoglycemia can easily lead to death. Changes that can lower your cats BG levels should be made gradually and with the aid of a meter.

For $25 I came home from Walmart with a meter, 50 test strips, 200 lancets and alcohol wipes (for insulin vial).

My 10 pound, inactive 16 year old cat is consuming 150-160 kcals per day, while the internet recommends 250. Friskies is a popular choice here as well and that's much less expensive than Fancy Feast.

Thanks for taking the time to respond. I started Rocky on FF naturals, and in one day his glucose numbers dropped by approximately 150. I'm glad we are on 2 units per day and not 4. We have the Freestyle Libre monitor from the vet right now so I can just press the button and get a reading. It also shows a graph which is great. I don't have a lot of time to devote to making spreadsheets, etc. so it's helping me to keep things simple. I have learned a tremendous amount already from this forum. I have my own serious health issues to deal with so that's my main focus right now. It looks like we are making good progress already with Rocky so I'm happy about that. Thanks for the help.

 

[Rocky B>]

Hi and welcome Gregg and Rocky. Sorry about the diabetes diagnosis, but it's a condition that is treatable and manageable. Yep, it's overwhelming at first, there seems to be so much to learn. But essentially, addressing diet, insulin therapy and home testing are the first order of business, and you are working on that.

It would be helpful if you would create a signature, and then set up a spreadsheet to record & track the testing and insulin data. Then we can see what kind of insulin, dose etc at a glance without backtracking through previous posts.

Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

Set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. You will see how the trends and patterns emerge, and members can review his/her progress before offering suggestions or advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/



A general rule of thumb for feeding is 20 calories per pound of ideal weight, however unregulated sugar cats can't utilize food properly and are usually very hungry. And EDIC, every cat is different.

My vet recommended about 250 calories a day for my 17# Idjit, so I wrote the calories and carb % in marker on the cans of food and went from there. Friskies pates are also low carb and have lots of flavor varieties, and are less expensive than FF.

Of course he got low carb treats for testing and treats just because he's rather spoiled, but we tried to fill the need. One caution, please don't abruptly eliminate the dry food, a gradual transition is best. An all wet low carb diet change can significantly reduce the blood sugar and you don't want to initiate a hypo event, especially since you are just learning to test.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/transitioning-your-cat-from-dry-to-wet-food.956/ from www.catinfo.org (an incredible website about feline nutrition worth looking at).

Please visit around the board and look into the FAQs forum, and read some information about the insulin you are working with in the specific insulin support group...all from the main menu. Going forward it would be best to ask questions and voice concerns in the Main Health forum..more eyes on that forum so they can help out.

Thanks for the response. I did read about transitioning from dry to wet food. Fortunately, Rocky doesn't need any help with that. He devours what ever is in front of him. I know this is from the diabetes (thanks to all the great information on this forum). His glucose numbers have already dropped impressively in one day. From a high of 500 to a high of 350.
Our other non-diabetic cat, Yoda is having more of a problem making the transition to wet food. I think he is a kibble "addict". He also likes to eat a little here and there so when we feed them we have to make sure that Rocky doesn't gobble down his food then finish Yoda's. It's a bit of a challenge right now. All in all we are making progress. Thanks for the help.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Gregg, nice to see your response. You can see that changing the diet also reflects in the blood sugar levels. Going forward with the insulin therapy, there may be a need to decrease or even increase the insulin dose. That's where the spreadsheet data comes in for most of us because we test manually.

If for some reason you stop using the Libre meter and start testing manually (or just want to use the spreadsheet) we have members that can set up the spreadsheet for you, and all you would have to do is plug in the data.

I hope that you can manage your own health issues as well as Rocky's, and you both travel a path to better health and well being.

 

[(GA) Gypsy's Parent]

Thanks for the response. I did read about transitioning from dry to wet food. Fortunately, Rocky doesn't need any help with that. He devours what ever is in front of him. I know this is from the diabetes (thanks to all the great information on this forum). His glucose numbers have already dropped impressively in one day. From a high of 500 to a high of 350.
Our other non-diabetic cat, Yoda is having more of a problem making the transition to wet food. I think he is a kibble "addict". He also likes to eat a little here and there so when we feed them we have to make sure that Rocky doesn't gobble down his food then finish Yoda's. It's a bit of a challenge right now. All in all we are making progress. Thanks for the help.

My old girl was a grazer lived on Whisker Lickins treats for the last two years. The other cats were on diets. Koi was very smart and I got her a SureFeed microchip access control feeder. https://www.amazon.com/SureFlap-MPF...eeder/dp/B00O0UIPTY?tag=felinediabetesfdmb-20 . Expensive but not many choices and the others had terrible ratings. I tried to get my kidney cat to use it and she's just scared of it and pretty dumb.