9/7 New member- Memphis

[jnine111]

Hello all! My cat Memphis is 14 years old and diagnosed with diabetes early this year. I have had a lot of problems figuring out what dosage to keep him on. I do not have a meter at home since I was told by the vet that this is not the best solution early on. However, I believe this is the only way I'm going to be able to regulate him correctly. I am needing to know what the best glucose meter is to get and what else I will need? I can easily do shots and blood sampling as I work in surgery, but don't know where to start. I want to test him because he is still really tired and weak and also peeing in places that are not the litter box (even though he still uses it too).
Info about doses- we started very small only dosing at night with 1-2 units. Quickly had to go up after trips to the vet and now have to give morning and night. Currently do 2u in the AM and 2u in the PM. Tried changing to diabetic wet food, which he doesn't like. Went to diabetic dry food, which he ate for a while and then stopped eating. Now only eats mature adult dry food, non diabetic and I can get him to eat can food if it only contains seafood or protein from Reveal. (went into hypo twice when he wasn't eating his food with the dosing, don't want to do that again)

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Welcome!

You don’t need prescription food. What “diabetic food” did you try? A diabetic cat needs low carb food and there’s nothing wrong with feeding him fancy feast or Friskies as long as it’s low carb.

Your instincts are correct, home testing is the only way to regulate your cat’s diabetes and keep him safe. 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. A dry high carb diet is not good for any cat, especially a diabetic cat. That’s like feeding your diabetic child a diet of chips, ice cream and sweets. There are only 2 low carb dry foods in the US, Dr Elsey's and Young Again Zero carb.

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. Most of us use Walmart’s ReliOn because it’s reliable and the test strips are the most affordable.
• 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

Can you tell us what insulin your kitty has been prescribed and the dose please?

A word of warning though…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.

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

You will also need some higher carb foods for that hypo box..information in the help us help you link.

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!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Home testing is definitely the only way you can know what is happening in a day to day basis and if the dose of insulin is working well.
I would recommend you look at getting a human glucose meter. That is what our dosing methods are based on. And they are much cheaper to run than the pet mete. If you live in the US you can get a ReliOn premier meter for 9$ and 100 test strips for $17.88 also need a box of 100 lancets…get size 26 or 28 gauge. And some cotton balls to hold behind the ear when testing.

We can help you with learning to test and if you hisve any trouble setting up the spreadsheet we can help you with that too.
can you tell us what type of insulin you are giving please?
Bron

 

[jnine111]

Welcome!

You don’t need prescription food. What “diabetic food” did you try? A diabetic cat needs low carb food and there’s nothing wrong with feeding him fancy feast or Friskies as long as it’s low carb.

Your instincts are correct, home testing is the only way to regulate your cat’s diabetes and keep him safe. 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. A dry high carb diet is not good for any cat, especially a diabetic cat. That’s like feeding your diabetic child a diet of chips, ice cream and sweets. There are only 2 low carb dry foods in the US, Dr Elsey's and Young Again Zero carb.

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. Most of us use Walmart’s ReliOn because it’s reliable and the test strips are the most affordable.
• 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

Can you tell us what insulin your kitty has been prescribed and the dose please?

A word of warning though…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.

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

You will also need some higher carb foods for that hypo box..information in the help us help you link.

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!

Thanks so much! The vet gave us the Purina Pro DM wet food and dry food. My cat before had only had wet food for a treat every now and then and was always regulated on just dry food. Never over ate so I wasn't on a morning and night feeding regimen. He ate the food for a little bit but didn't really like it for long. I switched him back to the Science diet mature adult since that is what he has had forever and at least he would eat it. I can get him to eat the Reveal canned tuna or fish but it is all protein and nothing else.
I am using Lantus for his insulin and currently giving him 2 units in the morning and 2 again at night. However, he is still drinking a lot and peeing where he shouldn't be (which he never did before this). I will be buying the glucometer this week so I can start testing, but will likely need help in when and how often to test his numbers.

 

[jnine111]

Hi and welcome to the forum.
Home testing is definitely the only way you can know what is happening in a day to day basis and if the dose of insulin is working well.
I would recommend you look at getting a human glucose meter. That is what our dosing methods are based on. And they are much cheaper to run than the pet mete. If you live in the US you can get a ReliOn premier meter for 9$ and 100 test strips for $17.88 also need a box of 100 lancets…get size 26 or 28 gauge. And some cotton balls to hold behind the ear when testing.

We can help you with learning to test and if you hisve any trouble setting up the spreadsheet we can help you with that too.
can you tell us what type of insulin you are giving please?
Bron

Thank you so much! I have him on Lantus 2 units in the morning and 2 again at night. The vet said we needed to give it twice a day instead of once in order to regulate it throughout the day. Is that normal to do as well?

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Yes, insulin should be given every 12 hours because that’s how long it lasts. Lantus is a great insulin for cats so well done!

did you vet say to only feed twice a day? That’s very old fashioned advice and diabetic cats do much better when fed smaller meal throughout the day. Most of us feed the 2 larger meals at shot time and 3-4 smaller meals or low carb treats (like freeze dried treats) throughout the day. It’s easier on their pancreas and it also helps avoid bug sugar spikes.

I suggest you look up those foods carb content on the food chart I linked above or on their websites. You can also try to see if chewy has them if they’ve listed the carb content under asked questions.

it can take several months to get a diabetic cat regulated but the drinking and peeing would get back to normal once that happens. We like to say they feline diabetes is a marathon not a sprint.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Thank you so much! I have him on Lantus 2 units in the morning and 2 again at night. The vet said we needed to give it twice a day instead of once in order to regulate it throughout the day. Is that normal to do as well?

Yes, cats need to have insulin every 12 hours as they have a faster metabolism than humans.
Diabetic cats need foods that are 10% or under carbs. Ale has given you a food chart above. I would look at that and try and find a suitable low carb wet/canned food. Dry foods are high carb except for maybe 3 and dry foods are not good for cats because they don't have enough moisture in them.
However I would not do any change over until you are hometesting as the BGs are most likely to drop and you may need to reduce the dose. So hold off on that until you are hometesting.
And feed him 2 main meals before the doses of insulin and then give snacks during the first half of all the cycles.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

You are absolutely correct about the Reveal food. It is not nutritionally complete. It may be fine for a treat but it's not healthy as a routine food. Many members here feed their cats either Friskies or Fancy Feast pate style foods that are under 10% carb -- and usually in the neighborhood of 5%. There are lots of options for low carb food. The Science Diet tends to be among the more expensive foods so if you are wanting to stay in the same price range, there are lots of good choices.

As for glucometers, vets will encourage you to use a pet-specific meter. The vets tend to not be well informed regarding the cost of the strips for the pet meters -- the strips cost about $1.00 each. Many of the members here use the Walmart Relion meter. The strips cost about $0.17 each. However, any human meter is fine.

This is a link to information on home testing. There are videos and other information that will help you to get the hang of how to test.

Cats do require insulin twice a day. Their metabolism is faster than a human's so the information that is relevant to humans using Lantus differs than for cats.

There is a wealth of information on Lantus at the top of the insulin support group board in the sticky notes. You may want to start reading through them and we can answer any questions you may have.