New here. Questions about fur loss

[Sam & Oliver]

Hello,

Oliver is a 4.5 year old (neutered) male cat who was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of February. He’s been on 2 units of Lantus twice a day up until the last two weeks when the vet took a fructosamine test which came back as 627 and we upped his dose to 3 units.

Overall, he’s been doing sooo much better since we started treatment and added more protein to his diet, but I’m a little concerned because his fur loss doesn’t seem to be getting better. Maybe I’m just more aware of it now, but I feel like it’s even more noticeable. I was wondering if this is something I should worry about or if it’s just a fact of life now?

Any advice (or reassurance lol) would be appreciated! Thanks.

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Hi and it’s a common side effect of unregulated diabetes. It’s a sign from their bodies that they’re still not 100%. I’m concerned about your vet’s dosing methods. A fructosamine test is only needed to diagnose the diabetes since it gives you a 3-week average. It’s expensive and not at all necessary after that. Here we recommend increasing by 1/4 unit so going up 1 full unit would make me uncomfortable when you’re not home testing. Would you be willing to try to test his bg at home? It’s gives you more control over his health and treatment and it’s the best way to keep him at a safe dose. Right now, you have no way of knowing what the 3 units x2 a day is doing to his bg levels. It’s like shooting in the dark.

can you please tell us what you’re feeding him right now? With a diabetic cat you need

• A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs, but do not change his diet if you’re not home testing since it can drop his bg significantly and make his current dose unsafe
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins, which you’re using so yay!
• We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
• HELP US HELP YOUhas information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

I want to emphasize again, don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more. Just keep asking questions and welcome!

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Hi Ale,

Thanks for your reply! The vet took the fructosamine test to get his average levels over the couple weeks span since we had started giving treatment, so I believe that was her reasoning for that. We tested a couple of times at the beginning, but it was quite difficult to get enough blood from his ear that we’ve admittedly haven’t kept up with it and it’s a two person job which isn’t always possible with our work schedules. We can definitely start testing at home more regularly though, especially with the large increase in dosage!

We feed him 1/2 cup of Purina chicken select dry food with low sodium chicken broth in the mornings and a 6oz can of Tikicat wet food at night. We added the Tikicat food after reading good reviews for diabetic cats at around the same time as she changed the dosage as well, but he seems very active and playful so hopefully that’s an okay sign.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome Sam and Oliver.
A fructosamine test only gives an average of the last few weeks and doesn’t tell you how low the dose is taking Oliver. He could be dropping really low and then bouncing up really high and you would have no idea at all this is happening. When there was no home testing, fructosamine tests were the only way to tell if the cat was doing any better. Now that there is a much better and safer way of monitoring cats with diabetes, fructosamine tests are not much use, but vets still use them as many are not on board with caregivers hometesting sadly.
The one time a fructosamine test is good is at diagnosis.
So I would really encourage you to have another go at hometesting.
HOMETESTING HINTS AND LINKS

Food
I think you will find that the dry food you are feeding is high carb food and not suitable for diabetic cats.
The tiki cans are very suitable.
Aside from the fact the dry food is high carb…..giving the high carb food in the morning and then giving the low carb food at night is not a good idea. You need to aim for the same number of carbs (approximately) at both the 2 main meals.
So until you find a more suitable food to replace the dry I would feed a portion of both at both meals.
However as Ale mentioned, don’t try and change over the type of food until you are home testing as you don’t want the BGs to drop too low. ….we can help you with that.
Are you giving any snacks during the first half of all cycles?

I am also concerned about increasing the dose to 3 units and no hometesting. You have no way of knowing how low the dose is taking Oliver or if it is safe to give the dose each cycle. Are you using a pen or a syringe to give the insulin?. I would reduce the dose back to 2 units immediately until you ar hometesting or have a freestyle libre attached. Going up to 3 units within a month of diagnosis and no hometesting is very risky in my opinion.
If you are using a pen, you can still swap over to a syringe with no difficulty and still use the same cartridge.
The syringes you will need are the U100, 3/10, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm 1/2 unit insulin syringes.
See below..we will help you with that.

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Hi and welcome Sam and Oliver.
A fructosamine test only gives an average of the last few weeks and doesn’t tell you how low the dose is taking Oliver. He could be dropping really low and then bouncing up really high and you would have no idea at all this is happening. When there was no home testing, fructosamine tests were the only way to tell if the cat was doing any better. Now that there is a much better and safer way of monitoring cats with diabetes, fructosamine tests are not much use, but vets still use them as many are not on board with caregivers hometesting sadly.
The one time a fructosamine test is good is at diagnosis.
So I would really encourage you to have another go at hometesting.
HOMETESTING HINTS AND LINKS

Food
I think you will find that the dry food you are feeding is high carb food and not suitable for diabetic cats.
The tiki cans are very suitable.
Aside from the fact the dry food is high carb…..giving the high carb food in the morning and then giving the low carb food at night is not a good idea. You need to aim for the same number of carbs (approximately) at both the 2 main meals.
So until you find a more suitable food to replace the dry I would feed a portion of both at both meals.
However as Ale mentioned, don’t try and change over the type of food until you are home testing as you don’t want the BGs to drop too low. ….we can help you with that.
Are you giving any snacks during the first half of all cycles?

I am also concerned about increasing the dose to 3 units and no hometesting. You have no way of knowing how low the dose is taking Oliver or if it is safe to give the dose each cycle. Are you using a pen or a syringe to give the insulin?. I would reduce the dose back to 2 units immediately until you ar hometesting or have a freestyle libre attached. Going up to 3 units within a month of diagnosis and no hometesting is very risky in my opinion.
If you are using a pen, you can still swap over to a syringe with no difficulty and still use the same cartridge.
The syringes you will need are the U100, 3/10, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm 1/2 unit insulin syringes.
See below..we will help you with that.
View attachment 66441

Hi!

Thank you! We really appreciate the tip about feeding the same amount of carbs at both meal times, we started doing that last night. We will also be calling our vet today to kinda check in and ask about the 3 units she prescribed. We don’t give any treats between meal times except sometimes catnip to lure him out for insulin. We also are already using the u-100 syringes to administer the insulin. We think we might need different needles for home testing as it’s very difficult for us to get enough blood and get error codes back most of the time.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi!

Thank you! We really appreciate the tip about feeding the same amount of carbs at both meal times, we started doing that last night. We will also be calling our vet today to kinda check in and ask about the 3 units she prescribed. We don’t give any treats between meal times except sometimes catnip to lure him out for insulin. We also are already using the u-100 syringes to administer the insulin. We think we might need different needles for home testing as it’s very difficult for us to get enough blood and get error codes back most of the time.

Are you using 26 or 28 gauge lancets to poke with?
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with

 

[Larry and Kitties]

What kind of fur loss?
In clumps?
General thinning?
If in some localized areas whee are those areas?

 

[Sam & Oliver]

Are you using 26 or 28 gauge lancets to poke with?
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with

Thanks for the tips on warming up his ears! didn’t know about the sweet spot either. We will give it a try!

 

[Sam & Oliver]

What kind of fur loss?
In clumps?
General thinning?
If in some localized areas whee are those areas?

I would say general thinning. I’ve noticed it mostly on his hind legs and belly. He and our other cat do rough house a lot so I don’t know if maybe that also might make it worse?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I would say general thinning. I’ve noticed it mostly on his hind legs and belly. He and our other cat do rough house a lot so I don’t know if maybe that also might make it worse?

I would say it is due to his uncontrolled diabetes. Rough housing does not help.