Just diagnosed

My sugarcat Tisay 4yo and was diagnosed with diabetes. At the vet’s office her glucose is at 19.4 mmol/L and no ketones in urinalysis (Friday). I immediately changed her diet to all wet food Fancy Feast Classic pate the following day. She was tested again on Tuesday at the vet’s and shes at 14mmol/L. She was prescribed caninsulin 1UI 2x/day this dosage is based on her weight (4kg).

I tested her glucose today just before meal and shes at 12.2mmol/L. Fed her 1can of FF which is 85g and tested her levels again after 25mins and shes at 13.8mmol/L. I didnt give her insulin because her glucose did not spike as much and I’m also afraid the 1UI might be too much for her in this case?

I will call her vet to discuss this but I am assuming the diet change is working but I am fairly new to this and would appreciate any advice or hear your experiences as to whether to continue the diet change only and see if her glucose will regulate without insulin? And at what point should I start giving her the insulin?

Welcome to FDMB, every question you are concerned with are valid, ProZinc and Lantus are great insulin for cats it is a 12 hour insulin, I hope you already gave the first shot, home testing is very important before each shot and several tests during the day, you can purchase a human meter such as ReliOn Premier and strips at WALMART very inexpensive and accurate, no, there’s no infection, I have been testing Corky for 3 years in the same ear and there’s nothing wrong with it, with time tge capillaries will swell and it will be a breeze to poke for blood, the DM FOOD, is very high on carbs and expensive, any kibble except for a few are between 25-30% carbs, that’s another reason for the high BG, a diabetic cat cannot digest carbs, so they need to have a diet of wet can food or raw between 0-10% carbs Most members use the Fancy Feast pates, don’t overwhelmed yourself everything will be ok, please make sure you ask your vet a lot of questions if you are in doubt, and we are here for you keep posting no question is a silly one, and FD is manageable with a good insulin Like ProZinc, a low carb diet 0-10% wet can food, home testing and making sure you give several meals during the day, two main meals tge protocol for ProZinc are TEST, FEED, SHOOT, do not shoot on an empty stomach, there are many sticky notes in the main menu with valuable information, keep posting

As for the change in food it should be a slow transition, it does affect the BG and upset their stomach, if it’s a drastic change in food, gradually remove some of the DM and add some wet 0-10 % until he’s eating just the new food make sure that at the beginning of this transition you test 2 hours after main meal and at least 3 more times during the day, good BG with ProZinc a regulated cat should be between 50-120 BG but it will not be over night, it will be a process

Adding US conversions for the numbers you mentioned for the ease of anyone else reading:
At vet pre diet change, Friday: 19.4 = 349
At vet after diet change, Tuesday: 14 = 252
At home today: 12.2 = 219, 13.8 = 248

Adjusting diet can absolutely have a big enough effect. Esse was able to stave off his official diagnosis/starting insulin for a full year just by switching to an all-wet low-carb diet. You're doing the right thing by getting test data and checking back with the vet.

As an FYI, Caninsulin is not considered to be a great insulin for cats--it's formulated for dogs and when used for cats can cause sharp drops in bg. When you talk to the vet, you might consider asking about switching to Lantus (glargine) or Prozinc.

If you have a chance, please check out this page: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!, specifically the part about setting up your signature and a spreadsheet. That spreadsheet will give you a nice place to put the numbers you're already collecting and also helps folks here answer your questions.

Anything over 9 mmol needs insulin. If you're afraid of a big drop in glucose levels, then give insulin if your cat is over 11 mmol.

The numbers you have gotten so far are diabetic numbers. A diet change can help lower blood glucose levels a bit but often isn't enough to put a cat into remission. Insulin is needed. Give the diet a few more days but don't expect much. I would start insulin no later than a week after a diet change.

Canininsulin is for dogs. It is used in cats but doesn't work very well. Ask your vet about ProZinc (an insulin made for pets) or Lantus / glargine (an insulin made for Human diabetics but works very well in cats).

What country are you in? This board has members all over the world.

squeem3 said:

Anything over 9 mmol needs insulin. If you're afraid of a big drop in glucose levels, then give insulin if your cat is over 11 mmol.

The numbers you have gotten so far are diabetic numbers. A diet change can help lower blood glucose levels a bit but often isn't enough to put a cat into remission. Insulin is needed. Give the diet a few more days but don't expect much. I would start insulin no later than a week after a diet change.

Canininsulin is for dogs. It is used in cats but doesn't work very well. Ask your vet about ProZinc (an insulin made for pets) or Lantus / glargine (an insulin made for Human diabetics but works very well in cats).

What country are you in? This board has members all over the world.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your response. I’m from Canada, I will call the vet and ask if they can prescribe a different insulin. But when I asked yesterday they said caninsulin is what they have in stock.

Is it complicated to switch from caninsulin to another type of insulin? I dont think they’ll be able to refund me for the caninsulin

in that case you can get a prescription sent to any online Pet Food web site with a pharmacy, here in the States we have Chewy.com for example, the Vet can emails the prescription, and like the other members explained Caninsulin is for dogs it hits cats hard and fast, I question myself, if your Vet only has Caninsulin in stock, Is he schooled on Feline diabetes? Some vets are not, (, you should insist on Lantus or ProZinc) they treat feline diabetes the same as dogs, and it is not the same, Squeem3 explained the BG numbers you have so far are that of a diabetic cat needing insulin, a normal glucose level in a non-diabetic cat can be anywhere between 50-120BG, and not all cats stay in remission, they can relapse after a while or years, or for example my Corky has remission numbers but he will always be a life time diabetic

Calling Candian members @Wendy&Neko @Karolina & Nestle @Briana + Binx

To get Lantus, your vet has to write a prescription which you take to any store pharmacy. I'm not sure about ProZinc. Your vet should be able to procure it for you from one of their veterinary suppliers. If Chewy.com can send prescription medicines to Canada, that's another option. You just have to provide the vet's phone number so Chewy can call to confirm the prescription.

There's no need to change anything when switching from one insulin to another. Just keep the same dose.

One big thing to know is that Lantus is U100 so you need to buy U100 insulin syringes. The ideal ones are 3/10 cc with half unit markings.

ProZinc is U40, same as Cansinulin, so you can use the same syringes (hopefully you were give correct syringes by the vet).

Thanks for the tag, @squeem3!

My experience with Lantus is you don’t need a prescription to buy it in Canada and can get it at any pharmacy, at least that’s the case where I am. I was buying Lantus from my vet for many months at a hugely inflated cost (1 cartridge for $70), until a new vet told me I can get it direct from the pharmacy (5 cartridges for $120). Different pharmacies may also have different prices. You’ll just need the “din” number from your vet for the pharmacy, I can also send mine later.

Adding the syringes I use in Canada, from Eli Medical. I think Karolina uses the same. They have 31G at 8mm (5/16”), which I use because they’re thinner and shorter… much easier to handle. They also have 29G at 13mm (1/2”), which I used for a while and always stressed me out. @Karolina & Nestle has a great website she orders from that she can share, but Amazon also sells them.

Briana + Binx said:

Thanks for the tag, @squeem3!

My experience with Lantus is you don’t need a prescription to buy it in Canada and can get it at any pharmacy, at least that’s the case where I am. I was buying Lantus from my vet for many months at a hugely inflated cost (1 cartridge for $70), until a new vet told me I can get it direct from the pharmacy (5 cartridges for $120). Different pharmacies may also have different prices. You’ll just need the “din” number from your vet for the pharmacy, I can also send mine later.

Click to expand...

@Lmae not sure which province you're in but Briana is correct, at least in Ontario you can get Lantus without a prescription no questions asked. I got my Lantus 5 pack Pen at Rexall the other day for $115. But yes different pharmacies will have different prices based on their dispenser fee.

Is that also the case in other provinces?
@Wendy&Neko @Kat & Trixie

Briana + Binx said:

Adding the syringes I use in Canada, from Eli Medical. I think Karolina uses the same. They have 31G at 8mm (5/16”), which I use because they’re thinner and shorter… much easier to handle. They also have 29G at 13mm (1/2”), which I used for a while and always stressed me out. @Karolina & Nestle has a great website she orders from that she can share, but Amazon also sells them.
View attachment 74884

Click to expand...

Yes i buy these feom pets drug mart and they're the cheapest I could find. The delivery can take over a week sometimes so give yourself enough time when ordering.
Here's the link, and you gotta scroll to pick the syringes you need.

Pet Meds & Supplements | Pharmacy | Pets Drug Mart

Depends on which province you are in, and perhaps how the pharmacy interprets provincial requirements. I am in Alberta and over my eight years I always required a prescription from the vet in order to fill both Lantus and Levemir human insulins from the pharmacy.

Thanks for the tag @Karolina & Nestle!

As Christie mentioned, I am also in Alberta and need a script written to get Trixie's insulin from the pharmacy.

Hello and welcome from the west coast. I never needed a prescription in BC to get insulin. We started out with Caninsulin too. Both Neko and I were happier when I switched. I shot Caninsulin one night, and Lantus the next morning, easy peasy switch. You can get Lantus or it's generic glargine at any people pharmacy.

I used the BD Ultrafine II syringes, but it's been a few years, the others will have more recent experience on best syringes. The BD's were nice in that I could get them at any pharmacy, but it's not like test strips, you go through syringes at a pretty steady rate. It definitely pays to shop around for pricing, I found about a $8-9 dollar difference between stores for the box. Oddly enough, Safeway pharmacy was the cheapest at that time. Same for lancets and insulin, also cheaper.

What type/brand of blood glucose tester are you using? We might have some tips to save you money there too. The Relion's mentioned above are only available in the US.

Wendy&Neko said:

Hello and welcome from the west coast. I never needed a prescription in BC to get insulin. We started out with Caninsulin too. Both Neko and I were happier when I switched. I shot Caninsulin one night, and Lantus the next morning, easy peasy switch. You can get Lantus or it's generic glargine at any people pharmacy.

I used the BD Ultrafine II syringes, but it's been a few years, the others will have more recent experience on best syringes. The BD's were nice in that I could get them at any pharmacy, but it's not like test strips, you go through syringes at a pretty steady rate. It definitely pays to shop around for pricing, I found about a $8-9 dollar difference between stores for the box. Oddly enough, Safeway pharmacy was the cheapest at that time. Same for lancets and insulin, also cheaper.

What type/brand of blood glucose tester are you using? We might have some tips to save you money there too. The Relion's mentioned above are

Click to expand...

Wendy&Neko said:

Hello and welcome from the west coast. I never needed a prescription in BC to get insulin. We started out with Caninsulin too. Both Neko and I were happier when I switched. I shot Caninsulin one night, and Lantus the next morning, easy peasy switch. You can get Lantus or it's generic glargine at any people pharmacy.

I used the BD Ultrafine II syringes, but it's been a few years, the others will have more recent experience on best syringes. The BD's were nice in that I could get them at any pharmacy, but it's not like test strips, you go through syringes at a pretty steady rate. It definitely pays to shop around for pricing, I found about a $8-9 dollar difference between stores for the box. Oddly enough, Safeway pharmacy was the cheapest at that time. Same for lancets and insulin, also cheaper.

What type/brand of blood glucose tester are you using? We might have some tips to save you money there too. The Relion's mentioned above are only available in the US.

Click to expand...

Thank you for your response. I have the contour next I bought from Costco in a rush.

Thank you everyone for your response.

I was finally able to give her first insulin shot today. I used the caninsulin for now since cannot get a refund for it and will switch to either prozinc or lantus (vet can get them from their supplier)

The Contour Next is a common one used in Canada, good choice.

Do check the Lantus price from the vet and compare to what you can get in a pharmacy. Often there is a big markup at the clinic.

I was going to make the same suggestion as Wendy. I would compare the cost for Lantus at a pharmacy vs from your vet. I even found that food purchased at the vet's office was more expensive than at a pet store or online. (The vet has higher overhead than a pharmacy.)