New here! Aggressive cat.

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CatsAndCoffee17

Member Since 2022
Hi all! My cat Sammy was diagnosed in March he's roughly 7ish years old and is getting 2 units of insulin 2x a day and eats 2x a day. He recently started getting really aggressive about 1-3 hours before he eats, he will bite me very hard and nothing has seemed to stop it completely, i have been able to redirect him with toys but its not a fullprof solution. The vet told me to feed him then 30mins later give insulin and no food after insulin.

My question is, is there treats or something I could give him in-between? Is this normal? And also, is the only option for giving him insulin after food or can I give it to him prior to eating?
 
CatsAndCoffee17 said:
Hi all! My cat Sammy was diagnosed in March he's roughly 7ish years old and is getting 2 units of insulin 2x a day and eats 2x a day. He recently started getting really aggressive about 1-3 hours before he eats, he will bite me very hard and nothing has seemed to stop it completely, i have been able to redirect him with toys but its not a fullprof solution. The vet told me to feed him then 30mins later give insulin and no food after insulin.

My question is, is there treats or something I could give him in-between? Is this normal? And also, is the only option for giving him insulin after food or can I give it to him prior to eating?
Click to expand...
Diabetic cats are literally starving. They need to eat more than twice a day. I feed my sugar boy & my other boy every 4hrs. If you work & that's not possible, auto feeders are a lifesaver. Also they should be on a low carb wet food only diet. Are you home testing? What kind of insulin & how much?
 
Chrispooky12 said:
Diabetic cats are literally starving. They need to eat more than twice a day. I feed my sugar boy & my other boy every 4hrs. If you work & that's not possible, auto feeders are a lifesaver. Also they should be on a low carb wet food only diet. Are you home testing? What kind of insulin & how much?
Click to expand...
I was told to do wet and dry mixed. He's currently on sheba wet food and 1/4 cup grain free dry. He gets 2 units of vetsulin. And I don't currently home test but I'm looking into doing so
 
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Yes, you need to feed your kitty 30 minutes before giving the dose of vetsulin.
I would give your kitty some snacks during the cycle. He is most likely very hungry. There is no need at all to not feed inbetween doses of insulin.
Is that 2 units twice a day or 1 unit twice a day.? 2 units twice a day is too high a dose to start on but I will let @FrostD talk to you about dosing as she is a vetsulin user.

I am glad you are thinking of hometesting the blood glucose. Its the only way to keep your kitty safe.
You can buy a ReliOn Premier mater at Walmart for $9 and 100 test strips for $17.88.
You will also need a box of l00 lancets to prick the ear...get size 26 or 28 and some cotton rounds to hold behibd the ear as you test and to hold after the test for a minute.
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to the forum.
Yes, you need to feed your kitty 30 minutes before giving the dose of vetsulin.
I would give your kitty some snacks during the cycle. He is most likely very hungry. There is no need at all to not feed inbetween doses of insulin.
Is that 2 units twice a day or 1 unit twice a day.? 2 units twice a day is too high a dose to start on but I will let @FrostD talk to you about dosing as she is a vetsulin user.

I am glad you are thinking of hometesting the blood glucose. Its the only way to keep your kitty safe.
You can buy a ReliOn Premier mater at Walmart for $9 and 100 test strips for $17.88.
You will also need a box of l00 lancets to prick the ear...get size 26 or 28 and some cotton rounds to hold behibd the ear as you test and to hold after the test for a minute.
Click to expand...

It's 2 units 2x a day. They started him at 3 units 2x a day and dropped him down to 2 units 2x a day. Do you have any recommendations on what snack would be good? Or is it pretty much any of them?
 
CatsAndCoffee17 said:
Do you have any recommendations on what snack would be good? Or is it pretty much any of them?
Click to expand...
https://www.chewy.com/halo-liv-littles-grain-free-100/dp/29214

You can give her any freeze dried treats for a snack
most members give freeze dried treats , they are low carb, you can probably find them in some local pet stores also
I did a search for you on here and copied what some members said they use,

When testing you can give them a treat so they will associate after testing they will get a reward, any freeze dried treats are ok such as
PureBites Freeze-Dried Cat Treats with Chicken Breast 2.3 oz ()https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071P

Also chewys has freeze dried treats also


The freeze dried treats you can get at petsmart, petco and order from chewy. Purebites is popular (cheaper if you buy the dog food ones). My crew like vital essentials it's dehydrated freeze dried raw comes in flavors

freeze dried minnows, made by Vital Essentials. I also buy the ones made for dogs. They're the same as the freeze dried minnows for cats. just cheaper. They also carry other freeze dried treats. I ordered mine through Amazon.

I think the vital essentials are more of a crunchy texture than the purebites

If you cat likes any of these you can buy the bigger bags for dogs they are the same ,you will get more for your money just break then up into smaller pieces
.

You can Google freeze dried treats and see what other ones there are and different flavors
Just make sure that is the only ingredient in them meaning turkey, chicken, minnows etc

Here is another one , I see you can get these in different flavors also just look
You may have to break any freeze dried treats in half if they are too big
https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Essent...ocphy=9003521&hvtargid=pla-630511512365&psc=1
 
Diane Tyler's Mom said:
https://www.chewy.com/halo-liv-littles-grain-free-100/dp/29214

You can give her any freeze dried treats for a snack
most members give freeze dried treats , they are low carb, you can probably find them in some local pet stores also
I did a search for you on here and copied what some members said they use,

When testing you can give them a treat so they will associate after testing they will get a reward, any freeze dried treats are ok such as
PureBites Freeze-Dried Cat Treats with Chicken Breast 2.3 oz ()https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071P

Also chewys has freeze dried treats also


The freeze dried treats you can get at petsmart, petco and order from chewy. Purebites is popular (cheaper if you buy the dog food ones). My crew like vital essentials it's dehydrated freeze dried raw comes in flavors

freeze dried minnows, made by Vital Essentials. I also buy the ones made for dogs. They're the same as the freeze dried minnows for cats. just cheaper. They also carry other freeze dried treats. I ordered mine through Amazon.

I think the vital essentials are more of a crunchy texture than the purebites

If you cat likes any of these you can buy the bigger bags for dogs they are the same ,you will get more for your money just break then up into smaller pieces
.

You can Google freeze dried treats and see what other ones there are and different flavors
Just make sure that is the only ingredient in them meaning turkey, chicken, minnows etc

Here is another one , I see you can get these in different flavors also just look
You may have to break any freeze dried treats in half if they are too big
https://www.amazon.com/Vital-Essent...ocphy=9003521&hvtargid=pla-630511512365&psc=1
Click to expand...
Thank you so much!
 
Welcome!

Others have already touched on this - feeding twice a day is old school, but you do want to feed them wait 30 mins before giving the shot. I would just take the total food you give him and just split it differently. About 75% of it before shot time, then 25% about 2-3 hours after you give the shot. Nadir (peak insulin action, lowest BG) on Vetsulin is often around 4 hours after you give the shot. So we try not to feed after that, as insulin is wearing off and kind of gives them a boost back up. That said if he's still hangry, a small snack (maybe 2 tsp) later in the cycle is ok. Vetsulin is typically out of their system by 8-10 hours after the shot, so do your best not to feed after that.

Unfortunately I can't give advice on dose without any BG data. Do you have curve results from the vet? All I can say is that 2U is a high dose, we recommend starting at 0.5-1U depending on diet, BG, and weight. Does he have a history of ketones or DKA that you know of? The safest thing to do, absent any other data, would be to reduce to something like 0.75U, monitor ketones with either urine test strips like Ketostix or a blood ketone meter, and start home testing BG.

Do not make any changes to his diet at this point. Getting rid of that dry food is ideal BUT potentially unsafe without home testing, since removing that can have a big effect on BG.
 
Hi and welcome. It is really important to do home testing of your cat's blood glucose, I can't recommend it enough. For example, the aggressive behavior could even be a result of too much insulin taking kitty's BG too low, although it is more likely that it is due to being overly hungry from the meal restriction. But without home BG testing or a unit like a Freestyle Libre you can only guess. As others have said, the only feed very 12 hours thing is very old school and outdated thinking, all the folks managing their cat's diabetes here at the FDMB feed multiple times a day, probably 3-4 times day -- It is easier on the cat's pancreas and more like how they would eat in a natural environment anyway.
 
Charlie behaves the same way. A few weeks ago I started adding Rescue Remedy for Pets to each of his meals. After a few days I noticed an improvement in his behavior. He is more friendly and less aggressive. You will need to keep giving it every day. I ran out a couple days ago and noticed that he is starting to revert back. Fortunately I got more today and he will soon improve.
 
FrostD said:
Welcome!

Others have already touched on this - feeding twice a day is old school, but you do want to feed them wait 30 mins before giving the shot. I would just take the total food you give him and just split it differently. About 75% of it before shot time, then 25% about 2-3 hours after you give the shot. Nadir (peak insulin action, lowest BG) on Vetsulin is often around 4 hours after you give the shot. So we try not to feed after that, as insulin is wearing off and kind of gives them a boost back up. That said if he's still hangry, a small snack (maybe 2 tsp) later in the cycle is ok. Vetsulin is typically out of their system by 8-10 hours after the shot, so do your best not to feed after that.

Unfortunately I can't give advice on dose without any BG data. Do you have curve results from the vet? All I can say is that 2U is a high dose, we recommend starting at 0.5-1U depending on diet, BG, and weight. Does he have a history of ketones or DKA that you know of? The safest thing to do, absent any other data, would be to reduce to something like 0.75U, monitor ketones with either urine test strips like Ketostix or a blood ketone meter, and start home testing BG.

Do not make any changes to his diet at this point. Getting rid of that dry food is ideal BUT potentially unsafe without home testing, since removing that can have a big effect on BG.
Click to expand...

Hi! Thank you so much for all the information! I don't have any have his test results from the vet. I have been giving some treats occasionally and it kinda helps, I will deal try doing it in the time frames you gave!
 
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