Possible DKA Help

G

gchinchilla22

Member Since 2025
Hello. My cat has had diabetes for awhile. He went into partial remission around this time last year and has been on a low dose ever since. I don’t test his glucose but I want to. I don’t know what the best one are to use.
About a week ago he started acting weird, slightly lethargic, he’s lost some weight (he’s a big boy so it’s noticeable). He’s become very picky about his food and has thrown up twice. He also is not as energetic or affectionate. I’m scared he has dka because I don’t have the money for an expensive vet visit. I’m going to call in the morning so he can go in get tested and have a check up, hopefully under the skin fluids and help. I’m wondering, right now what should I do to prepare. What testing kit and what I can do to hopefully manage as best I can. I’m really terrified right now because I can’t afford him to have a hospital stay. But seems how he’s still eating and drinking right now what can I do now to try and combat this?
Thank you so very much for any advice.
 
Hometesting Links and Tips
BG Home Test - Felinediabetes.com
Blood Glucose Meter Ratings, Comparisons, & Recommendations

Any Human blood glucose meter works :) Look for a basic, no frills meter that uses a tiny 0.3 ul drop of blood that is easily available for you and has inexpensive test strips. A big name brand that is sold in any pharmacy as well as online is ideal since you can buy test strips from a store if you forget to buy more online (it happens). If you're in the the US, the Relion brand of meters sold at WalMart is popular. The test strips come out to something like less than a dollar each. I use the AccuChek Guide.

Here's info on ketones:

Ketones - Felinediabetes.com
Ketones, Ketoacidosis, and Diabetic Cats: A Primer on Ketones

You can test the urine for presence of ketones. You need a fresh urine sample directly on a urine test strip, not wet litter. You could also use a ketone/blood glucose meter but those are expensive. Anything over a trace amount needs a trip to the vet for treatment. DKA isn't something you want to attempt to treat at home yourself. Once a a vet stabilizes the cat with fluids and other treatments, you can then manage it at home.

Ask the vet to do full blood work and a specific FPLI test for pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is common in diabetics and some symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, and not eating much.

Can you give us more info about your cat? When was your cat originally diagnosed with diabetes? What insulin did you start on? What do you feed your cat? I don't think a cat can go into partial remission. Some cats do need a low dose but they're still considered diabetic.
 
Welcome to FDMB
Luckly for those of us that are on a tight budget, like, me this site is a game changer, Feline diabetes is manageable, as you have seen in the past, Walmart sells the ReliON Premier human monitor for $19.99 and the strips arem$9.00 for 50 and $17.88 for 100 is good to always have extra strips handy,
If all it is diabetes, you can stabilize it right here without costly Vet visits, you are on a good insulin, since Lantus or ProZinc are the best insulin for cats, I am wondering as Squeem3 if you could let us know more , like what dose are you using, what are you feeding? where feeding low carbs while as you say partial remission or did you change, is he grazing on kibbles? how many times are you feeding, these are some of the rules to stabilize FD:
1) Home testing, before each shot and several times during the day
2) diet, a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can food or raw between 0-10% carbs, most members here use the Fancy Feast Pates of Friskies between 0-10% most use up to 5%
3) Lots of cuddles
We would love to help you, we are very numbers oriented, we would like you to create your signature and spreadsheet, links below, this way we can all be on the same page and we do not have to ask the same questions, We can help you with dosing, with the spreadsheet and seeing the daily BG process, can we can send Drs approved food list so you can check for carbs, let us know where do you live. Personally, Corky has not stepped PAW in the vet's office for any diabetes concerns since diagnosed January 2023, everything and thankfully it all has been done with the assistance of these amazing members, not only they saved him but he is an example of a stabilized diabetes in this Forum, see Corky's SS below) I cannot afford vet visits as well, so I feel you, I trust this Forum Blindly. if you have difficulty creating the SS, let us know and we can create it for you, Happy Holidays :bighug: 🎅

Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
 
squeem3 said:
Hometesting Links and Tips
BG Home Test - Felinediabetes.com
Blood Glucose Meter Ratings, Comparisons, & Recommendations

Any Human blood glucose meter works :) Look for a basic, no frills meter that uses a tiny 0.3 ul drop of blood that is easily available for you and has inexpensive test strips. A big name brand that is sold in any pharmacy as well as online is ideal since you can buy test strips from a store if you forget to buy more online (it happens). If you're in the the US, the Relion brand of meters sold at WalMart is popular. The test strips come out to something like less than a dollar each. I use the AccuChek Guide.

Here's info on ketones:

Ketones - Felinediabetes.com
Ketones, Ketoacidosis, and Diabetic Cats: A Primer on Ketones

You can test the urine for presence of ketones. You need a fresh urine sample directly on a urine test strip, not wet litter. You could also use a ketone/blood glucose meter but those are expensive. Anything over a trace amount needs a trip to the vet for treatment. DKA isn't something you want to attempt to treat at home yourself. Once a a vet stabilizes the cat with fluids and other treatments, you can then manage it at home.

Ask the vet to do full blood work and a specific FPLI test for pancreatitis. Pancreatitis is common in diabetics and some symptoms include lethargy, vomiting, and not eating much.

Can you give us more info about your cat? When was your cat originally diagnosed with diabetes? What insulin did you start on? What do you feed your cat? I don't think a cat can go into partial remission. Some cats do need a low dose but they're still considered diabetic.
Click to expand...
Hello. Thank you for the information. I adopted him when he was 2 and he became diabetic when he was 4 which I caught early because we used to have a diabetic cat when I was a kid. Because I caught it early it’s been easy to manage until now. He’s 11 and been on Lantus until now. He goes into remission around for fructosamine tests. He’s always been a very good eater. For the past year and a half My cats have been eating the Merrick limited ingredient food but I might switch it because they all seem bored with it.
 
I will tag another member that can help you with Lantus, the food transition, make sure is a slow one, not only not to upset the stomach, but also it affects the BG causing sudden drop in readings
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)
 
CORKY said:
Welcome to FDMB
Luckly for those of us that are on a tight budget, like, me this site is a game changer, Feline diabetes is manageable, as you have seen in the past, Walmart sells the ReliON Premier human monitor for $19.99 and the strips arem$9.00 for 50 and $17.88 for 100 is good to always have extra strips handy,
If all it is diabetes, you can stabilize it right here without costly Vet visits, you are on a good insulin, since Lantus or ProZinc are the best insulin for cats, I am wondering as Squeem3 if you could let us know more , like what dose are you using, what are you feeding? where feeding low carbs while as you say partial remission or did you change, is he grazing on kibbles? how many times are you feeding, these are some of the rules to stabilize FD:
1) Home testing, before each shot and several times during the day
2) diet, a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can food or raw between 0-10% carbs, most members here use the Fancy Feast Pates of Friskies between 0-10% most use up to 5%
3) Lots of cuddles
We would love to help you, we are very numbers oriented, we would like you to create your signature and spreadsheet, links below, this way we can all be on the same page and we do not have to ask the same questions, We can help you with dosing, with the spreadsheet and seeing the daily BG process, can we can send Drs approved food list so you can check for carbs, let us know where do you live. Personally, Corky has not stepped PAW in the vet's office for any diabetes concerns since diagnosed January 2023, everything and thankfully it all has been done with the assistance of these amazing members, not only they saved him but he is an example of a stabilized diabetes in this Forum, see Corky's SS below) I cannot afford vet visits as well, so I feel you, I trust this Forum Blindly. if you have difficulty creating the SS, let us know and we can create it for you, Happy Holidays :bighug: 🎅

Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
Click to expand...
Hello. I would love to do the spreadsheet but I don’t have a glucose monitor. I want to get the Relion because it’s at Walmart so I could get it today but is the Relion premier a good one?
 
gchinchilla22 said:
Hello. I would love to do the spreadsheet but I don’t have a glucose monitor. I want to get the Relion because it’s at Walmart so I could get it today but is the Relion premier a good one?
Click to expand...
I have been using it going on 4 years, and most of our BG numbers and members use the ReliOn Premier as well, and we base our spread sheet with it, and very accurate, I have not changed the battery since purchased the monitor, and the monitor is $19.99, and the strips are
$9.00 for 50 and $17.88 for 100 is good to always have extra strips handy
 
CORKY said:
I have been using it going on 4 years, and most of our BG numbers and members use the ReliOn Premier as well, and we base our spread sheet with it, and very accurate, I have not changed the battery since purchased the monitor, and the monitor is $19.99, and the strips are
$9.00 for 50 and $17.88 for 100 is good to always have extra strips handy
Click to expand...
Thank you so much. Also I forgot to answer, he is currently on 2 units twice daily. He only eats canned food, he did have to have kibble for a couple days a couple weeks ago because it’s all I had and because of the flooding we had his food shipment was delayed and I couldn’t get to the store because the roads were flooded. He usually eats the Merrick limited ingredient can food and when I checked the back it didn’t have a carb percentage, only protein moisture and fat. So I really have no idea what’s going on. Right now I’m wondering if it’s dka or pancreatitis. I really can’t afford for him to be at the vet for days. I’m hoping that if it comes to that that I can do payment plan with them seems how I’ve been going there for 10 years.
 
Here's a Drs approved food list, you will find the carb content for each food in the third column, most members here use Fancy Feast Pates, they are US made, regulated and no waste goes into the food, a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet an or raw food, between 0-10% carbs, most of the members feed up to 5%
also a link to a cat carb calculator, if you cannot find the nutrient %s in on the label you can go to Chewy.com, look for the food, click on the can, scroll down to ingredients, you will find the nutrients there, place those numbers in the cells of the calculator, we are looking for Dry Matter carbs. not the Wet

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
Cat Food Nutrition Calculator | Elizabeth C Scheyder
 
CORKY said:
Here's a Drs approved food list, you will find the carb content for each food in the third column, most members here use Fancy Feast Pates, they are US made, regulated and no waste goes into the food, a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet an or raw food, between 0-10% carbs, most of the members feed up to 5%
also a link to a cat carb calculator, if you cannot find the nutrient %s in on the label you can go to Chewy.com, look for the food, click on the can, scroll down to ingredients, you will find the nutrients there, place those numbers in the cells of the calculator, we are looking for Dry Matter carbs. not the Wet

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
Cat Food Nutrition Calculator | Elizabeth C Scheyder
Click to expand...
😱 gee that’s more carbs than I thought. So fancy feast is the best option
 
Yes! They also have FD Fish & Shrimp flake 0% , Chunky Chicken 4% anything under 10% just remember slow transition, checking BG Regularly during the days of transition, by taking away 1 tsp of high to low in each meal, also several meals during the day, so 1/2 can 4 meals day and the main meals after testing and shot
 
Actually I must have done the calculator wrong because the Merrick chicken limited ingredient is only 4 carbs so I don’t think the food is the problem. I just went to Walmart and they didn’t have the glucose monitor so I ordered it. It’ll be here on Friday
 
Any canned food under 10% carbs is good, not just Fancy Feast :) Merrick LID duck is medium carb (15%) so not good for every day but it's useful to have in case of a hypo. The other LID varieties are about 4% carbs so those are good.

Did you see the Catinfo.org list? Most people use that instead of the calculator. https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

If you need to have some dry food on hand, the only suggested ones are Young Again and Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein. Lower carb, healthier alternatives to dry food is air dried raw food and freeze dried raw food.
 
CORKY said:
I have been using it going on 4 years, and most of our BG numbers and members use the ReliOn Premier as well, and we base our spread sheet with it, and very accurate, I have not changed the battery since purchased the monitor, and the monitor is $19.99, and the strips are
$9.00 for 50 and $17.88 for 100 is good to always have extra strips handy
Click to expand...
Hello. Did you get the Relion Premier Classic or the Relion Premier Blu?
 
IMG_4388.jpeg
 
Wendy&Neko said:
I suspect the calculation on that one was wrong. It was a good low phosphorus one for Neko, but didn't impact her BG at all. The ingredients were almost the same as the chicken one.

If you are worried about ketones and DKA, you can try urine test strips such as Ketostix. Tips to catch and test a urine sample
Here is more on pancreatitis, in case it's that: A Primer on Pancreatitis
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for the information. I got him to eat a decent amount of Tuna flavored cat food and he drank a decent amount of water too.
 

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