Advice Needed - Cat recently diagnosed with diabetes

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Maya_

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Hi everyone - I just joined the group, nice to meet you all. My cat was recently diagnosed with diabetes and I've started her treatment using Lantus 1 unit twice a day. For food, I'm using Purina Pro Plan DM wet food but I've been reading a lot that it has a higher level of carbs than desired and that Fancy Feast Classic Pate is much better in increasing chances of remission. Would it be best to change her from DM wet food to Fancy Feast Pate to achieve remission? She also lost weight because of diabetes and not sure if the DM wet food even helps because it's "dietetic management" so that's why I'm thinking of doing Fancy Feast Classic Pate instead?

Also, her BG levels were in the 300s when we first started and had to skip a couple of doses due to the level being somewhat in the "normal range" so now I do 1 unit once a day to be safe to avoid the BG going too low. But since doing that, her BG level would be fine during the day with the 1 unit in the morning but then next morning it would go back up highly with it in the 400s now. It's been a cycle of it being 400s in the morning, give 1 unit, BG goes down to normal range or at least around there, but then back to the 400s again. Not sure if this is okay? I'm not sure what to do in this case because I want to get the BG levels somewhat regulated.

I also haven't fully understood when I should give her a dose depending on her BG readings? I test before she eats to make sure and skipped a few doses just to be safe but not sure if I should actually be giving her a lower dose in those cases. For example, I know if its in the 300s to give a dose but if its 200 - 299, do I give a full dose or a reduced dose? I don't want to risk the BG level to go to low.

Thank you!
 
Welcome to the FDMB. We have two dosing methods we use. Lantus needs to be given every 12 hours as that’s its typical duration for cats. Rather than once a day we would have you shoot a lower dose every 12 hours. We increase and decrease in .25 increments. That requires U100 syringes preferably with half unit markings. Are you using syringes or a pen that only doses in whole units?
 
I've moved your thread from the Lantus board to Health. We recommend that you start here so you can get acclimated to how FDMB works.

The canned DM is in the lower carb range so it's OK. The issue tends to be that the ingredients are not wonderful and many cats start refusing to eat it! You have more variety with Fancy Feast. However, there are a lot of canned foods that are low in carbs. This is a link to a chart that lists most of the canned foods available in the US. We consider low carb as under 10% carbohydrate. Most members feed their cats in the 5% range, though.

Cats do not do well on once a day dosing. They have a fast metabolism and will burn through the first dose and are without any insulin by roughly the 12 hour point and their numbers then rise. Also, with Lantus, you want the dose to be consistent -- the same dose in the AM as in the PM. The reason is that Lantus is a depot-type of insulin. Every time you give a shot, the insulin forms microcrystals that are deposited in the fat tissue. Over the course of the cycle (12 hours), most of the insulin is used up but a small amount remains. This forms the depot. The depot is what gives Lantus its long duration and gentle action and allows for overlap between the cycles. If you dose only once a day, you lose the benefit of the depot and you end up with the wide swings in numbers that you're seeing.

A better strategy is to lower the dose and to inject the same amount of insulin at both shot times.

What will help us is to see what your cat's blood glucose numbers look like. This is a link to a post on helping us to help you. It provides instructions on setting up a spreadsheet to track your cat's blood glucose levels as well as instructions on how to set up your signature. The signature gives us basic information about your cat so we don't need to keep asking the same questions (e.g., which insulin, date of diagnosis, what you're feeding) repeatedly.

There is information on the depot and dosing strategies in the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board. They should be helpful reading as you're getting start4ed.
 
Last edited:
tiffmaxee said:
Welcome to the FDMB. We have two dosing methods we use. Lantus needs to be given every 12 hours as that’s its typical duration for cats. Rather than once a day we would have you shoot a lower dose every 12 hours. We increase and decrease in .25 increments. That requires U100 syringes preferably with half unit markings. Are you using syringes or a pen that only doses in whole units?
Click to expand...

Hello, the one I'm currently using is the one below. The box itself says 1/2 unit markings but now that I'm thinking about it, could they have given me the incorrect one? It doesn't split even further to show 0.5 for example
upload_2024-7-20_18-20-13.jpeg
 

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Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
I've moved your thread from the Lantus board to Health. We recommend that you start here so you can get acclimated to how FDMB works.

The canned DM is in the lower carb range so it's OK. The issue tends to be that the ingredients are not wonderful and many cats start refusing to eat it! You have more variety with Fancy Feast. However, there are a lot of canned foods that are low in carbs. This is a link to a chart that lists most of the canned foods available in the US. We consider low carb as under 10% carbohydrate. Most members feed their cats in the 5% range, though.

Cats do not do well on once a day dosing. They have a fast metabolism and will burn through the first dose and are without any insulin by roughly the 12 hour point and their numbers then rise. Also, with Lantus, you want the dose to be consistent -- the same dose in the AM as in the PM. The reason is that Lantus is a depot-type of insulin. Every time you give a shot, the insulin forms microcrystals that are deposited in the fat tissue. Over the course of the cycle (12 hours), most of the insulin is use but a small amount remains. This forms the depot. The depot is what gives Lantus its long duration and gentle action and allows for overlap between the cycles. If you dose only once a day, you lose the benefit of the depot and you end up with the wide swings in numbers that you're seeing.

A better strategy is to lower the dose and to inject the same amount of insulin at both shot times.

What will help us is to see what your cat's blood glucose numbers look like. This is a link to a post on helping us to help you. It provides instructions on setting up a spreadsheet to track your cat's blood glucose levels as well as instructions on how to set up your signature. The signature gives us basic information about your cat so we don't need to keep asking the same questions (e.g., which insulin, date of diagnosis, what you're feeding) repeatedly.

There is information on the depot and dosing strategies in the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board. They should be helpful reading as you're getting start4ed.
Click to expand...


Thank you, this is very helpful. I will fill out the spreadsheet and signature to have all the info needed
 
That syringe you posted is a 0.5 ml syringe. It is not good for small doses. You would be much better with the 0.3 ml syringes.
The syringes you need are U100 3/10 ml, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm insulin syringes with 1/2 unit markings.
 
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