Newly Diagnosed cat Rx Bexacat anyone using this?

[Beth Elliott]

My cat Smiley Miley 17 yrs old was diagnosed w Diabetes this week. The Vet prescribed Bexacat and we were given Pro Plan DM cans to start. I have glucose monitor and have been monitoring her bsg levels spot checking daily. We are scheduled for a curve in two weeks. Does anyone have any experience w this med? I gave her one pill and she didn’t do well. (Lethargy, decreased appetite). I haven’t given her another dose. She started back eating the following day. I am monitoring her bsg levels, which are staying in the 200mg/dl range. (she was 550 mg/dl at the vet) Just seeing if anyone out there is actively using this med and their experience.. thank you.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

Thee has been some general discussion on this med but no one has reported that they actually used it.
It is good that you can take BGs. Any reason why you can't give insulin shots? Insulin is better since you can adjust the dose.

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

I would add that if you’re already testing at home, doing the curve at home would be much better and it would save you a lot of money too. As you can see by the bg numbers you’re getting now and what she was at at the vet, the stress of being at the vet will almost always elevate a cat’s bg so the numbers they get there are much higher and not necessarily accurate.

also, the pro plan is about 13% carbs and it’s too high carb for a diabetic cat even though it’s marketed for diabetic cats. Most of the prescribed foods by vets are. Unfortunately most vets do not know a lot about feline diabetes….they have many animals to look after and they all have different diseases and treatments. Vets also get their information about nutrition from the big cat food manufacturers so they are biased in what they recommend. 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
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
• 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 YOU has information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

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.

FOOD CHART have a look on this chart and choose foods that are under 10%.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions and let us know if you decide to start insulin.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

also, the pro plan is about 13% carbs and it’s too high carb

Hi Ale I did a search on our site and found that the Pro Plan DM wet it 6% carbs
I'm going by what some of the members said in our site
Posted by 4 members also

Regarding Pro Plan Veterinary Diet DM is actually listed on Dr. Pierson’s spreadsheet, with 6% calories from carbs. This is the regular canned DM page #61

Even though it's lc I agree with you there is no reason to feed prescription food
@Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)

the kibble Purina Pro Plan DM, it's 18% carbs.
The DM Savory Selects says 10% too high also

@Beth Elliott
Welcome Beth and Smiley, you couldn't have found a better group to join, If it wasn't for the experienced members here giving me their advice Tyler wouldn't be in remission as of 1-24-21

even though the Pro Plan DM Wet is low carb 6% there is no reason to feed prescription food, there is nothing special about it , p!us it's expensive
Is this the one you are feeding?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Here are a couple of links to discussions about Bexacat:

• Health forum post
• Think Tank forum post

I'd be curious if your cat's blood glucose numbers improve with a shift to a low carb diet. Although, numbers in the 200s are still in diabetic range.

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Hi Ale I did a search on our site and found that the Pro Plan DM wet it 6% carbs
I'm going by what some of the members said in our site
Posted by 4 members also
Regarding Pro Plan Veterinary Diet DM is actually listed on Dr. Pierson’s spreadsheet, with 6% calories from carbs. This is the regular canned DM

Even though it's lc I agree with you there is no reason to feed prescription food
@Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)

the kibble Purina Pro Plan DM, it's 18% carbs.

@Beth Elliott
Welcome even though the Pro Plan DM Wet is low carb 6% there is no reason to feed prescription food, there is nothing special about it , p!us it's expensive

Humm… I looked at the chart and there were several pro plans but I didn’t see the DM listed so I looked it up on Chewy and it said 13.54% carbs on a dry matter basis. Good to know!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Humm… I looked at the chart and there were several pro plans but I didn’t see the DM listed so I looked it up on Chewy and it said 13.54% carbs on a dry matter basis. Good to know!

Yeah I saw that also on the Chewy site , weird , I was going by what the members said on our site

It is listed on Dr Pierson's chart as 6% Go to page 61 it's listed there as 6%

 

[Beth Elliott]

Thanks so much everyone for your responses… I was not given a choice of insulin when Smiley was diagnosed. I have done a lot of research, then found this forum and have been pretty much educating myself all day on all your knowledge on diabetes.. fortunately I am in the medical field and know about human diabetes and do have a glucose monitor already in my home for humans. I have seen much improvement in Smiley by changing her diet. She is sleeping w me again and hasn’t vomited nor gone outside of her litter box, and is more alert and moving around again. She had lost weight from 12 lbs. to 9 lbs. She began looking disheveled and began walking oddly w her back legs, just plopping then down on the floor on her hocks, making a knocking sound on the hardwood every time she stopped or attempted to sit down. She was drinking water constantly and voiding large amounts in her litter box. These symptoms began a little over a month ago. I am vigilant on her visiting our local vet q 6 months, w bloodwork, due to her age. She is a rescue and is one of four rescue cats that are in the home. Her diet had included free range of Science diet sensitive stomach kibble and fancy feast a can a day, of which she only licks at her wet food and never actually “eats” it. I will continue with the Fancy Feast per the guidelines that I downloaded from the site and forego any further Pro Plan. Thanks guys for the education.
The nose difficult thing for me to do, thus far has been getting blood from her ear. I used the advice and used a pill bottle and warmed her ear and applied vaseline, and this pm bsg check was still a little difficult- it took two attempts but I was able to get a reading of 252 mg/dl. My vet advised me that if I could keep her bsg below 300mg/dl she would be happy. And this is WITH the med, which I have not been administering to her. I have a visit scheduled this week and will discuss with her my concerns and other options, such as the insulin. I will keep everyone updated after our visit. I am SO happy that I found this group and all the educational advice that each of you are willing to share. Thanks again, I appreciate each and every one of you .

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

I think we will disagree with your vet. 300 is not at all great. You want get to be at the healthy range 70-120 as much as possible and you can achieve that by home testing. Take a look at some of our spreadsheets linked to our signatures. The neuropathy can be reversed once she’s regulated. A lot of us give zobaline to help with that

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

The nose difficult thing for me to do, thus far has been getting blood from her ear. I used the advice and used a pill bottle and warmed her ear and applied vaseline, and this pm bsg check was still a little difficult- it took two attempts but I was able to get a reading of 252 mg/dl.

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 10 or 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

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

. I have a visit scheduled this week and will discuss with her my concerns and other options, such as the insulin. I will keep everyone updated after our visit. I am SO happy that I found this group and all the educational advice that each of you are willing to share. Thanks again, I appreciate each and every one of you .

If the vet suggests to give you Vetsulin tell her no, it's actually used for dogs
It hits hard and fast. Either Lantus or Prozinc.
I used Lantus for Tyler and with the advice I received from all the experienced members here Tyler wouldn't be in remission since 1-24-21
Lantus is expensive in the US so many of our members use the generic Lantus which is way more affordable. If you can get her to write a script for generic lantus
(Glargine ) 5 pens , I can tell you where you can get it.
Good luck with the vet visit

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

She began looking disheveled and began walking oddly w her back legs, just plopping then down on the floor on her hocks, making a knocking sound on the hardwood every time she stopped or attempted to sit down. S

Like Ale said once you get her glucose under control plus giving methyl B-12
the neuropathy will improve
For the neuropathy
You can order this Methyl B-12 . I have used it for years and a lot of other members use this Methyl B-12 , just open up the capsule mix it in with the wet food add some water, it's tasteless.

The Zobaline is too expensive

https://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vitamin-b-12-methylcobalamin-5000-mcg-100-capsules-6
14.49 for 100 capsules
Give one a day



Once you get Smiley's BG under control this will help with it also.
Tyler had diabetic neuropathy and it took about 1-2 months and he was back to jumping, running etc.
I did see an improvement every 2 weeks
You can start it now if you want to

I 100% agree with @Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA) when she said
I think we will disagree with your vet. 300 is not at all great.
The normal range for a cat on a human meter is 50-120.

 

[Pixie's Mom]

The nose difficult thing for me to do, thus far has been getting blood from her ear. I used the advice and used a pill bottle and warmed her ear and applied vaseline, and this pm bsg check was still a little difficult- it took two attempts but I was able to get a reading of 252 mg/dl. My vet advised me that if I could keep her bsg below 300mg/dl she would be happy. And this is WITH the med, which I have not been administering to her. I have a visit scheduled this week and will discuss with her my concerns and other options, such as the insulin. I will keep everyone updated after our visit. I am SO happy that I found this group and all the educational advice that each of you are willing to share. Thanks again, I appreciate each and every one of you .

When my Pixie was first diagnosed late Dec I asked about the Bexacat. It was only just approved so my vet has not worked with it yet. I did read that the cat has to be carefully screened before starting it. One thing to keep in mind - from what I read - is that it can't be used with insulin. So if you decide to move to insulin that pill should be stopped. I was not able to get blood from my Pixie so I asked my vet to prescribe a Libre. He had not used before but agreed. With the Libre I was able to send my vet the daily reports and were able to make insulin adjustments. Also - for me -took off the "pressure" of wondering if she had eaten enough before the insulin shot. There is a facebook page with folks that are knowledgeable on the Libre that I would recommend if you go that route. As my Pixie was diagnosed at 550+ my vet was very pleased when we finally got her down in the mid 200's.

 

[Angus13]

Hi, I'm new to the board, and saw your post. My 13 year old male, FIV+, was diagnosed with diabetes in late March. He is on Bexacat too. The first week or so after starting it was rough. He didn't want to eat much, drank *so much* water and was flooding the litter box, and spent most of his time next to the water bowl. He has since improved quite a bit, is eating better and while still drinking quite a lot of water, it seems like it has decreased a bit. He did lose more weight after starting Bexacat, which by the protocol we should have switched to insulin, but I decided with my vet's assent to stay on the drug. He has gone it for his blood tests as directed and is slowly improving in numbers, not normal range but getting better. Have you kept your cat on Bexacat? I have been hoping to find other owners who are using it. Thanks!

 

[Larry and Kitties]

He is on Bexacat too.

Just wondering why you started with the Bexacat.

 

[Angus13]

Just wondering why you started with the Bexacat.

Because my vet recommended it. She has been his only vet since I adopted him when he was 3 years old. She knows his history and his other health problems, and she knows me well (we were friends before I started going to her as my vet). I trust her judgement.

 

[Erica Unger]

We started using Bexacat 29 days ago and have seen good improvement in our cat Schrodinger. After 2 days on Bexacat, he started eating well and has been active ever since. Glucose at diagnosis was ~370 mg/dl, and then at his 2-week check-in was 185 mg/dl. His glucose levels at home now range from 120-170 depending on time of day. His other numbers also look good.

Schrodinger has always been food-driven, so we place the pill with 4-5 treats, and he eats them altogether. We're lucky.... he has never chewed treats (just swallows them) so this pill is easy to give to him. Overall, after the first month, we are pleasantly surprised with how well it's working. We hope it continues.