Newly Diagnosed

[foodietoria]

Hello to everyone here! So glad I found this site! My name is Christine. I have a 12 yr old male Tonkinese cat that was just diagnosed with diabetes last week. Glucose level in blood panel was 451. Was Rx’d Lantus 1 unit twice daily aprox 30 minutes after meals. I have ordered Alpha Trak testing kit so I can check levels at home and communicate with Vet. Have not received it yet. We are going out of town Thursday-Sun to check on my 91 year old father who has bone marrow cancer. My son will be staying here overnight, but works during the day. He’s fine with administering insulin. The issue is he is a grazer that eats kibble (have tried 10 wet foods and he doesn’t touch them) appetite is lower so he is not eating enough food at one time to have enough calories so I can feel comfortable giving him a dose, so he’s only gotten 3 doses. His pattern is that he eats more in the middle of the night. We have removed uneaten food from bowl a couple times after PM feeding thinking he’ll be starving in the morning, but he’s not, then goes to his bed and sleeps the rest of day. There’s no way I’m going to reach stabilization before we go out of town to be able advise my son on when it’s ok to give him insulin or not to because he may become hypoglycemic. Just trying to figure out if we can wait to start this process until we get back. Any feedback is appreciated, thank you!

 

[squeem3]

You don't need the AlphaTrack. It's expensive and you can't buy the test strips at any pharmacy if you forget to order more online. Pet meters are no more accurate than Human blood glucose meters. Most people here use a Human meter. The Relion brand sold at WalMart is popular among US members but any brand works. Ideally use a brand that is a well known brand and is sold at most big name pharmacies for those times when your cat is in hypo and you need to test frequently but have few to no strips lest. I suggest buying a Human meter now so you have something to use.

It's generally advised that newbies not give any insulin if the cat tests at 150 or less.

Try to switch the dry food from whatever the current (and likely high carb) brand is to one of the two suggested lower carb brands: Dr. Elsey's or Young Again. And keep trying to get more canned food into the diet. There are tips here: Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

Air dried raw and freeze dried raw are better crunchy options to dry food.

Lantus doesn't need to be given 30 minutes after eating. Most people give Lantus while the cat is eating.

Frequent small meals works best for most diabetic cats. You can use a programmable timed feeder to provide set amounts of food spread throughout the day. Just don't feed anything 2 hours before insulin time. Food will spike bg levels a bit.

There's info on using Lantus here: Lantus / Levemir / Biosimilars

 

[foodietoria]

You don't need the AlphaTrack. It's expensive and you can't buy the test strips at any pharmacy if you forget to order more online. Pet meters are no more accurate than Human blood glucose meters. Most people here use a Human meter. The Relion brand sold at WalMart is popular among US members but any brand works. Ideally use a brand that is a well known brand and is sold at most big name pharmacies for those times when your cat is in hypo and you need to test frequently but have few to no strips lest. I suggest buying a Human meter now so you have something to use.

It's generally advised that newbies not give any insulin if the cat tests at 150 or less.

Try to switch the dry food from whatever the current (and likely high carb) brand is to one of the two suggested lower carb brands: Dr. Elsey's or Young Again. And keep trying to get more canned food into the diet. There are tips here: Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

Air dried raw and freeze dried raw are better crunchy options to dry food.

Lantus doesn't need to be given 30 minutes after eating. Most people give Lantus while the cat is eating.

Frequent small meals works best for most diabetic cats. You can use a programmable timed feeder to provide set amounts of food spread throughout the day. Just don't feed anything 2 hours before insulin time. Food will spike bg levels a bit.

There's info on using Lantus here: Lantus / Levemir / Biosimilars

Thanks for your reply! After I return home, I’m definitely going to focus on slowly transitioning him to mostly low carb wet food. I do have a smart feeder programmed to dispense food, however, he’s not eating too much during the day, when I can give him insulin. I did not know a human glucometer could be used on a cat, thank you!

 

[CORKY]

Hello to everyone here! So glad I found this site! My name is Christine. I have a 12 yr old male Tonkinese cat that was just diagnosed with diabetes last week. Glucose level in blood panel was 451. Was Rx’d Lantus 1 unit twice daily aprox 30 minutes after meals. I have ordered Alpha Trak testing kit so I can check levels at home and communicate with Vet. Have not received it yet. We are going out of town Thursday-Sun to check on my 91 year old father who has bone marrow cancer. My son will be staying here overnight, but works during the day. He’s fine with administering insulin. The issue is he is a grazer that eats kibble (have tried 10 wet foods and he doesn’t touch them) appetite is lower so he is not eating enough food at one time to have enough calories so I can feel comfortable giving him a dose, so he’s only gotten 3 doses. His pattern is that he eats more in the middle of the night. We have removed uneaten food from bowl a couple times after PM feeding thinking he’ll be starving in the morning, but he’s not, then goes to his bed and sleeps the rest of day. There’s no way I’m going to reach stabilization before we go out of town to be able advise my son on when it’s ok to give him insulin or not to because he may become hypoglycemic. Just trying to figure out if we can wait to start this process until we get back. Any feedback is appreciated, thank you!

Welcome Christine to FDMB
If you can cancel the order for the AlphaTrak, do so, you do not need a pet meter and the strips are $1.00 each, you can use a human meter, most members use the ReliOn Premier meter and strips (Walmart) %9.00 for the meter, and %9.00 for 50 strips and $17.88 for 100, good to have extra strips handy, are you testing at all right now? you need to test before each shot, you do not want to give insulin without knowing your cats' glucoses level to avoid hypoglycemia,, especially a new cat on insulin, every cats is different and reacts different to insulin. A diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can or raw food between 0-10% carbs, most members feed Fancy Feast or Friskies Pates most feed up to 5%. kibbles (dry food) contain between 20-30% carbs, cats cannot digest carbs, also grazing is out of the question, he should be on a schedule feed 3-4 small meals or snacks during the day, plus the two main meals before each shot, the protocol for Lantus is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, you can shoot while your cat has his face in the bowl, Lantus is a Depot insulin and food keeps that depot in check, you might want to purchase a wet food feeder, some have cameras and chips, but he must eat during the day, on schedule not grazing, the transition from high carbs (kibbles) must be a slow transition, you do not want to upset the stomach, and testing 3-4 times during the day through this transition is also important since the switch from high to low carbs can dive down the glucose levels, below is a Drs approved food list, the third column contains the carb %s, many brands to choose from, stay away from gravies, they are usually high in carbs, he should his last meal should be 4 hours after last shot, till the following morning shot, you want to stabilize his levels the sooner the better, the longer he stays in high numbers the more the damage to his pancreas, trust, when he's hungry he will eat, cats are smart, they know we will give in! Fancy Feast has amazing food, in low carbs such as Fish & Shrimp Flake 0%, Chunky Chicken 4% carbs, Medleys Chicken Fare in savory sauce 4.5%, Trout 4%, and many more, both my cats were kibble junkies since birth, when Corky was diagnosed 4 years ago, he is now 14, I switched both to Fancy Feast, and they loved it, they were picky eaters. you can also try raw foods, of course you will need to use supplements and vitamins, to make up the difference. Please keep posting we are here for you, if your
son is not going to ne home during the day, shooting and not testing on a newly diagnosed cat, is NOT a good idea, you might want to perhaps wait till you are back home to start fresh, you will need to leave a lot of water though, the high levels will have him very thirsty, but is safer than finding an accident when your son gets home, Keep posting

 

[squeem3]

Lantus is given 12 hours apart, give or take half an hour or so. First you need to pick your insulin times. Whatever works for your schedule. There's a way to adjust scheduling later if the times don't work out well.

@Allie & Gen might have a suggestion on how to work in scheduled meals for a dry food addict. Her cat is slowly transitioning to canned and doesn't always eat when the feeder rotates.

 

[squeem3]

The canned food charts: Links to FOOD CHARTS

A newer US one: Links to FOOD CHARTS

Any food that has under 10% carbs is good for a diabetic. Keep some higher carb food on hand to use if blood glucose levels drop low.

Freeze dried 100% meat or seafood treats work great as rewards for testing and insulin shots.

 

[CORKY]

Thanks for the list Squeem3 I missed adding it in

 

[foodietoria]

Welcome Christine to FDMB
If you can cancel the order for the AlphaTrak, do so, you do not need a pet meter and the strips are $1.00 each, you can use a human meter, most members use the ReliOn Premier meter and strips (Walmart) %9.00 for the meter, and %9.00 for 50 strips and $17.88 for 100, good to have extra strips handy, are you testing at all right now? you need to test before each shot, you do not want to give insulin without knowing your cats' glucoses level to avoid hypoglycemia,, especially a new cat on insulin, every cats is different and reacts different to insulin. A diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can or raw food between 0-10% carbs, most members feed Fancy Feast or Friskies Pates most feed up to 5%. kibbles (dry food) contain between 20-30% carbs, cats cannot digest carbs, also grazing is out of the question, he should be on a schedule feed 3-4 small meals or snacks during the day, plus the two main meals before each shot, the protocol for Lantus is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, you can shoot while your cat has his face in the bowl, Lantus is a Depot insulin and food keeps that depot in check, you might want to purchase a wet food feeder, some have cameras and chips, but he must eat during the day, on schedule not grazing, the transition from high carbs (kibbles) must be a slow transition, you do not want to upset the stomach, and testing 3-4 times during the day through this transition is also important since the switch from high to low carbs can dive down the glucose levels, below is a Drs approved food list, the third column contains the carb %s, many brands to choose from, stay away from gravies, they are usually high in carbs, he should his last meal should be 4 hours after last shot, till the following morning shot, you want to stabilize his levels the sooner the better, the longer he stays in high numbers the more the damage to his pancreas, trust, when he's hungry he will eat, cats are smart, they know we will give in! Fancy Feast has amazing food, in low carbs such as Fish & Shrimp Flake 0%, Chunky Chicken 4% carbs, Medleys Chicken Fare in savory sauce 4.5%, Trout 4%, and many more, both my cats were kibble junkies since birth, when Corky was diagnosed 4 years ago, he is now 14, I switched both to Fancy Feast, and they loved it, they were picky eaters. you can also try raw foods, of course you will need to use supplements and vitamins, to make up the difference. Please keep posting we are here for you, if your
son is not going to ne home during the day, shooting and not testing on a newly diagnosed cat, is NOT a good idea, you might want to perhaps wait till you are back home to start fresh, you will need to leave a lot of water though, the high levels will have him very thirsty, but is safer than finding an accident when your son gets home, Keep posting

I’m questioning whether it’s alright to wait until next week when we return to start. He just displayed symptoms 4 weeks ago (drinking more water, larger urine balls in litter, appetite decrease, lower energy) Vet said we caught it really early. Is he really in danger of crashing? I have no idea.

 

[CORKY]

I’m questioning whether it’s alright to wait until next week when we return to start. He just displayed symptoms 4 weeks ago (drinking more water, larger urine balls in litter, appetite decrease, lower energy) Vet said we caught it really early. Is he really in danger of crashing? I have no idea.

I think it would be best this way you have control of testing feeding shooting, and yes his drinking and urination is at hand for high glucose levels once you start insulin it gets better Lantus being a Depot insulin it will take between 5-7 days to see good Chang in his BGs safe trip

 

[foodietoria]

I think it would be best this way you have control of testing feeding shooting, and yes his drinking and urination is at hand for high glucose levels once you start insulin it gets better Lantus being a Depot insulin it will take between 5-7 days to see good Chang in his BGs safe trip

Thank you for your reply.

 

[CORKY]

Crashing would be when you shoot and don’t test you can have hypoglycemia, the symptoms are lethargy, funny body movements, too much sleep, not a pretty site in your case is high levels, drinking excessively and peeing in excess, normally that goes with a big appetite

 

[foodietoria]

I think it would be best this way you have control of testing feeding shooting, and yes his drinking and urination is at hand for high glucose levels once you start insulin it gets better Lantus being a Depot insulin it will take between 5-7 days to see good Chang in his BGs safe trip

Update: Appetite still not good enough to give insulin yet. Contacted Vet and requested appetite stimulant (transdermal Mitrapitine). I had already ordered the Alpha Trak before joining this group and received it today. Vet recommended I check level and it was 355. Advised giving him insulin, testing him tomorrow before eating, then later, and calling levels in. Picked up and started the appetite stimulant because I really want him to start eating more before we leave Thursday. My son is fine giving him insulin, but not testing him, so I’m going to ask Vet for a plan for when we’re away; ie; either half dosing twice a day, or full dose once a day just to keep him from being too elevated while we’re away. I cannot cancel this trip. It’s not a vacation. My 91 yr old Dad has bone marrow cancer and the treatments are really impacting him. Not sure how much time he has left on this Earth Already super stressed about him, then add my sweet boy being diagnosed with diabetes and having to leave him not knowing if he’s going to be ok is just putting me over the top anxious.

 

[squeem3]

You leave tomorrow? I wonder if it's too short notice to schedule an appointment for the vet to put a CGM on the cat. You can ask. The CGM basically sticks onto the shaved skin and monitors levels constantly, sending the numbers to an app you install on your phone. Some people have a "dummy" phone they keep at home for this purpose. The CGM only has a range of 30 feet or so to send readings to the app. The CGM lasts for about 2 weeks. You can discontinue using it if you plan to manually test. CGMs are expensive and are known to fall off a cat or malfunction.