Nimi S
Member Since 2023
Starting a new thread to share week 1 update and concerns. Please correct me if the title needs any changes.
Link to previous thread https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...steroid-induced-diabetes.276271/#post-3063299
Today's the 7th day since the start of Shen's insulin treatment and also day 2 of changing the dose from 1.5U once daily to 1U twice daily (Insugen 30/70 40IU)
I'd like to summarize changes to his diet and behavior over the past 7 days.
He's on no other medication except for lubricating eye drops (Refresh tears) if he rubs on his eyes too much (once a day if at all).
Days 1-3 (06-08 Apr)
Diet: RC kitten in gravy, Whiskas adult chicken in gravy, Farmina Vetlife Obesity dry - wet:dry was around 60:40 or 70:30;
Behavior: continuous drooling post 1st insulin shot, tapered down towards day 3/4. At the first sign of drooling I'd rubbed glucose syrup on his gums & fed some wet food fearing low sugar as I wasn't able to work a glucometer that day.
Was lethargic and sleeping throughout, no begging for food but ate everything given.
Days 4-7 (09-12 Apr)
Diet: Barring one meal with Whiskas wet food on day 4, rest all meals have been Farmina obesity dry food. Had misunderstood some advice to not add more wet food to his earlier combo of wet and dry food and was planning on giving only dry food for a week while he's starting 2 shots per day. Rectified by adding back wet food to his diet (as per earlier proportions) by the end of day 8.
Behavior: Drooling had reduced considerably. Perked up a bit on day 4, asking for food on his own. Ate moodily on days 5 and 6. Day 6 had more drooling post PM shot (1st day of 2 shot dosing). Very minimal drooling today post AM shot.
His readings on day 6 and 7 (mostly in 400s
)have been the highest. Is this what bouncing is?I thought the BG was supposed to fall to hypoglycemic levels to bring about bouncing. Since it's a human glucometer, the actual values would be a bit higher, right?
Does this warrant an increase to his current dose or is it too soon to make a change?
I updated the vet (who'd prescribed Insugen) about Shen's one week progress and based on the last few days of BG readings, he suggested upping the dose to 2.5U twice daily, starting with today's PM dose. I'm not very comfortable doing that even if his current BG is on an upward trend. Please advise!
He also did give an option to switch to Glargine at 2.5U twice daily but I'm still waiting on the u-100 syringes for another week or so.
I'm unsure if its relevant to Shen's recent BG readings but I've been using a new vial of insulin from day 4, since I feared that I had contaminated the first vial by pushing insulin within the syringe back into the vial in an attempt to remove air bubbles. Both vials have the same manufacturing and expiry dates.
DKA?
Today, while browsing some new posts by other members, I came across one of @Hendrick Cuddleclaw 's responses where they shared that when their cat went into DKA, he was zoned out, would go to the water bowl and just sit there in front of it, wavering back and forth. So this is something that I've observed Shen doing over the last few days. He goes and sits in front of the water, with his mouth nearly touching the water and takes about 30-60s before he actually starts drinking. Actually he does the same with the food - he doesn't dig in instantly like before but eventually finishes most or all of the food in his plate. I hadn't found this concerning so far and was attributing it to his lethargy.
Should I be reading more into this? Would the keto diastix help in figuring out anything? The one I'd done on Day 4 of his treatment had negative ketones.
He's had no episodes of diarrhea or vomiting. He's a healthy p**per and earlier used to throw up about once a week due to overeating or eating too quickly.
@Bandit's Mom
I was thinking of getting a Hypo tool box ready. Would you have any suggestions for medium and high-carb canned food brands, in case you've been using any?
- I usually have a few packets of Meo or Sheba treats lying around. Would they be any good in case of low sugar?
- Is honey a good alternative for Karo syrup? I'd used GluconD with some water last time.
- The nearest 24/7 vet clinic (SuperPets) for me is about 15kms away (35 mins w/o traffic). And I've also had an unexpectedly sad experience with them recently. Vets nearby are usually open between 11am-1pm and 6pm-9pm - it's terrifying to imagine any emergency arising between these hours.
Wet food
I got a response from the Purina team who informed me that all their Felix variants have 1.5% carbs in them. (I'm taking it with a pinch of salt) They don't have any of their other Fancy Feast varieties in India yet. So as of now I'll stick to Felix, get a few packets of it and see how Shen take's to them, whenever I do start introducing wet food to his diet.
Link to previous thread https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/thr...steroid-induced-diabetes.276271/#post-3063299
Today's the 7th day since the start of Shen's insulin treatment and also day 2 of changing the dose from 1.5U once daily to 1U twice daily (Insugen 30/70 40IU)
I'd like to summarize changes to his diet and behavior over the past 7 days.
He's on no other medication except for lubricating eye drops (Refresh tears) if he rubs on his eyes too much (once a day if at all).
Days 1-3 (06-08 Apr)
Diet: RC kitten in gravy, Whiskas adult chicken in gravy, Farmina Vetlife Obesity dry - wet:dry was around 60:40 or 70:30;
Behavior: continuous drooling post 1st insulin shot, tapered down towards day 3/4. At the first sign of drooling I'd rubbed glucose syrup on his gums & fed some wet food fearing low sugar as I wasn't able to work a glucometer that day.
Was lethargic and sleeping throughout, no begging for food but ate everything given.
Days 4-7 (09-12 Apr)
Diet: Barring one meal with Whiskas wet food on day 4, rest all meals have been Farmina obesity dry food. Had misunderstood some advice to not add more wet food to his earlier combo of wet and dry food and was planning on giving only dry food for a week while he's starting 2 shots per day. Rectified by adding back wet food to his diet (as per earlier proportions) by the end of day 8.
Behavior: Drooling had reduced considerably. Perked up a bit on day 4, asking for food on his own. Ate moodily on days 5 and 6. Day 6 had more drooling post PM shot (1st day of 2 shot dosing). Very minimal drooling today post AM shot.
His readings on day 6 and 7 (mostly in 400s
)have been the highest. Is this what bouncing is?I thought the BG was supposed to fall to hypoglycemic levels to bring about bouncing. Since it's a human glucometer, the actual values would be a bit higher, right? Does this warrant an increase to his current dose or is it too soon to make a change?
I updated the vet (who'd prescribed Insugen) about Shen's one week progress and based on the last few days of BG readings, he suggested upping the dose to 2.5U twice daily, starting with today's PM dose. I'm not very comfortable doing that even if his current BG is on an upward trend. Please advise!
He also did give an option to switch to Glargine at 2.5U twice daily but I'm still waiting on the u-100 syringes for another week or so.
I'm unsure if its relevant to Shen's recent BG readings but I've been using a new vial of insulin from day 4, since I feared that I had contaminated the first vial by pushing insulin within the syringe back into the vial in an attempt to remove air bubbles. Both vials have the same manufacturing and expiry dates.
DKA?
Today, while browsing some new posts by other members, I came across one of @Hendrick Cuddleclaw 's responses where they shared that when their cat went into DKA, he was zoned out, would go to the water bowl and just sit there in front of it, wavering back and forth. So this is something that I've observed Shen doing over the last few days. He goes and sits in front of the water, with his mouth nearly touching the water and takes about 30-60s before he actually starts drinking. Actually he does the same with the food - he doesn't dig in instantly like before but eventually finishes most or all of the food in his plate. I hadn't found this concerning so far and was attributing it to his lethargy.
Should I be reading more into this? Would the keto diastix help in figuring out anything? The one I'd done on Day 4 of his treatment had negative ketones.
He's had no episodes of diarrhea or vomiting. He's a healthy p**per and earlier used to throw up about once a week due to overeating or eating too quickly.
@Bandit's Mom
I was thinking of getting a Hypo tool box ready. Would you have any suggestions for medium and high-carb canned food brands, in case you've been using any?
- I usually have a few packets of Meo or Sheba treats lying around. Would they be any good in case of low sugar?
- Is honey a good alternative for Karo syrup? I'd used GluconD with some water last time.
- The nearest 24/7 vet clinic (SuperPets) for me is about 15kms away (35 mins w/o traffic). And I've also had an unexpectedly sad experience with them recently. Vets nearby are usually open between 11am-1pm and 6pm-9pm - it's terrifying to imagine any emergency arising between these hours.
Wet food
I got a response from the Purina team who informed me that all their Felix variants have 1.5% carbs in them. (I'm taking it with a pinch of salt) They don't have any of their other Fancy Feast varieties in India yet. So as of now I'll stick to Felix, get a few packets of it and see how Shen take's to them, whenever I do start introducing wet food to his diet.
Last edited:
