2/17/20 - Bo - AMPS 318 - Hard to regulate cat

QueenGuinevere

QueenGuinevere

Member Since 2020
Hello, I posted for the first time on the main member page, but I know that most of my information will come from this forum, so I will link to that post here. Looking for advice on my extremely difficult to regulate baby:). He's on Lantus, currently at 7.5 units.
 
Hi and welcome. I think you were raising the dose in too large increments at first. Have you read the yellow sticky on TR on this forum? You might have skipped a breakthrough dose as too much insulin can look the same as not enough.

What are you feeding him? It would be helpful if you added a signature including his age, type of meter, food, any other health issues and anything you think would help us help you.
 
Hello and welcome to you and sweet Bo.

To answer one of your question from your other post, there is no maximum dose, provided you start at a safe dose, test to know how low the dose is taking you cat, and increase by safe amounts, and kitty is eating all low carb canned or raw food. What does Bo eat? Any other medical issues? Teeth OK?
 
tiffmaxee said:
Hi and welcome. I think you were raising the dose in too large increments at first. Have you read the yellow sticky on TR on this forum? You might have skipped a breakthrough dose as too much insulin can look the same as not enough.

What are you feeding him? It would be helpful if you added a signature including his age, type of meter, food, any other health issues and anything you think would help us help you.
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Thanks for the advice, I've updated my signature :)
 
Hi and welcome! Carla gave you good advice. I will add that Bo’s SS is missing quite a few pre shot tests. It’s very important to get a test before every shot to make sure it’s safe to give. You are doing a great job testing through the cycle. Bo is making progress. Sometimes it takes awhile. Look at Scooter’s SS. It took a very long time for him.
 
Hi Jen and Bo and welcome to the forum!
What a handsome boy Bo is!
It sounds as if you are just feeding Bo twice a day.......we recommend feeding before giving the dose of insulin and then giving a couple of smaller snacks at say +2 and +4 or +3 and +5 but in the first half of the cycle. You would do this for both the am and pm cycles. It is better for the pancreas to have smaller snacks. To arrive at the amount just divide the am/pm portion into preshot meal and 2 other snacks.
He will remain hungry with having the higher than normal BGs because the nutrients are not getting into the cells. This will improve when the BGs are better regulated.
I'm glad you found us. Keep asking questions.
Here is a useful link.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome to you and sweet Bo.

To answer one of your question from your other post, there is no maximum dose, provided you start at a safe dose, test to know how low the dose is taking you cat, and increase by safe amounts, and kitty is eating all low carb canned or raw food. What does Bo eat? Any other medical issues? Teeth OK?
Click to expand...
I feed him 1/2 can Purina DM pate, and 1/2 can Purina DM savory, for a total of 6oz every 12 hours. Occasionally I substitute a small Fancy Feast pate for one of the above. He likes the taste of FF better, but I know the DM is better for him. No other health issues, he had a UTI when he was diagnosed, but the vet gave him a week of antibiotics to cure. His teeth seem fine, he doesn't seem in discomfort when he eats, and he chews all my socks (I do try to stop this but he can open drawers, the sneaky little thing...)
 
QueenGuinevere said:
I feed him 1/2 can Purina DM pate, and 1/2 can Purina DM savory, for a total of 6oz every 12 hours. Occasionally I substitute a small Fancy Feast pate for one of the above. He likes the taste of FF better, but I know the DM is better for him. No other health issues, he had a UTI when he was diagnosed, but the vet gave him a week of antibiotics to cure. His teeth seem fine, he doesn't seem in discomfort when he eats, and he chews all my socks (I do try to stop this but he can open drawers, the sneaky little thing...)
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The DM is not really better for him. It is a prescription food but it is not better than most of the other canned cat foods. I would save your money and buy ordinary low carb canned food,
The savoury DM is 10% I think so I would look for something lower carb than that....around 4 %
Have a look in this link for suitable food.
 
Jill & Scooter said:
Hi and welcome! Carla gave you good advice. I will add that Bo’s SS is missing quite a few pre shot tests. It’s very important to get a test before every shot to make sure it’s safe to give. You are doing a great job testing through the cycle. Bo is making progress. Sometimes it takes awhile. Look at Scooter’s SS. It took a very long time for him.
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I will try to get some more amps, it's just that he wakes me up at 4am each day and is very difficult to wrangle at that hour when I'm sleepy and he's hungry. I'll work on that. And thank you for sharing Scooter's SS. That gives me hope, I haven't seen any other ss that had doses in high ranges, so I feel loads better looking at this. Really appreciate that.
 
When a cat gets to six units dose, and is on low carb food with no other medical issues, we suggest talking to the vet to discuss testing for a couple of secondary endocrine conditions that can cause a need for higher doses of insulin. The conditions are called acromegaly and insulin autoantibodies (IAA). My girl had both conditions. One in four diabetic cats has acromegaly, though not all get to higher doses. We have another forum with more details on the conditions.

DM is not better for him. The ingredients aren’t anything special. You just want to feed low carb wet or raw,
 
Most of us spread out the food into mini meals. I always gave food before my bed time, so Neko was less likely to wake me early. More smaller meals are easier on the pancreas. That’s what human diabetics do too.
 
QueenGuinevere said:
I haven't seen any other ss that had doses in high ranges, so I feel loads better looking at this.
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Freckles is also a higher dose kitty. We are currently waiting for the Acro and IAA test results to come back. Even though she has a higher dose of insulin, she is looking way, way better than when we started this FD journey. She has gained her weight back, her fur looks better and although she is still ravenous, she is no longer swiping at our hands when we walk by, hoping to score something to eat. Feel free to look at Freckles' spreadsheet as well. We are following Tight Regulation protocol. We use a timed automatic feeder to spread out Freckles' meals.
 
Fancy Feast Classics is a great food for diabetics, much better and cheaper than DM. :) It's good that he likes it! I've read kitties often get bored of the DM quickly as well.
 
Welcome to you and Bo!
The Fancy Feast Classic patés are successfully fed by many of the people here. Recently I have discovered that Fancy Feast Roasted Chicken Feast (minced texture, not quite a paté) has an excellent ratio of protein, fat, and carbs (according to Dr. Lisa Pierson's chart: https://www.catinfo.org/chart/). It can sometimes be hard to find in the supermarkets, but always available online at Chewy.com. I haven't yet tried the FF Roasted Turkey Feast, but it looks like a good bet, too. I have also been trying Sheba Perfect Portions patés (both the chicken and the turkey). They have a pretty good ratio of protein, fat, and carbs. When I shop for a new food to try I rely on Dr. Pierson's chart. I look for one that is low in carbs (under 10%) and that is not too high in fat. Ideally the percentage of protein should be higher than that of fat, but most foods don't fit into that category. If your cat has kidney issues you should also look closely at the phos. content of the food (but that doesn't appear to be a problem for Bo).

Good luck! Welcome again!
 
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Panic said:
Fancy Feast Classics is a great food for diabetics, much better and cheaper than DM. :) It's good that he likes it! I've read kitties often get bored of the DM quickly as well.
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I’m so glad you said that! He loved the DM at first, but is starting to leave some in the bowl now. I was worried he wasn’t feeling good, that’s why I started subbing the FF, and he gobbles that up! Makes sense now. And I save a lot of money too!
 
QueenGuinevere said:
I’m so glad you said that! He loved the DM at first, but is starting to leave some in the bowl now.
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Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe it's because the DM is mainly liver which they get tired of. Can't say I blame them! Hope you and Bo are able to work everything out. :)
 
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