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AleksZ

Member Since 2025
Hi everyone I'm Aleks

My kitty of 17 years has just been diagnosed, he was started on canisulin 3 weeks ago, but I'm not seeing any improvement so far, to be honest, he's still drinking a lot, now losing a bit of weight (around 200g in the last 2 weeks). I'm scheduled for another blood test to see how he's doing next Wednesday, but decided to bring this forward to this week (hope I'm not overreacting, as I know it's early).

Since his symptoms started he has not been sleeping with me, and I don't know if it's diabetes related or not. Has anyone had this? He comes to bed as normal but gets up and goes to sleep on the floor after around 15mins, he does this a few times throughout the night. Something seems to be not right here and I don't know what to do.

Also the vet hasn't said anything about the food we should give him, and so far everywhere I've read that he should've been prescribed low-carb food. Should I bring this up at the next appointment and mention home glucose testing - again, I had to find this out on here because the vet didn't tell me anything.

Looking forward to any advice, feeling overwhelmed right now :(
 
Hi Aleks welcome, your cat won't have become diabetic overnight making him better also won't happen overnight. It can take time to find the right dose to get blood sugars under control. This is a marathon not a race.

Caninsulin isn't the best insulin for cats it tends to hit hard and fast and not last for 12 hours. I think you are in the uk? Prozinc is a better insulin and is licensed for cats in the UK, lantus is also very good but your vet may not be willing to prescribe it. If you are seeing your vet this week ask for prozinc or lantus.

My cats main first symptom was heat intolerance. What you describe is exactly what he was doing- do you think he might be feeling too warm and that's why he's moving to the floor? It doesn't seem common but it is just what my cat was doing.

Food- it doesn't need to be prescription. Low carb wet (so under 10% carb) is what we recommend. Some of the purina gourmet varieties are ok carb wise, some aren't. Which ones are you feeding?

We absolutely recommend home testing, your vet may disagree and you can ignore them on this some vets are oddly against home testing. A human glucometer is best- the test strips are much cheaper than the animal glucometers and they work perfectly well for cats.

We all felt overwhelmed at the beginning it gets better I promise. I've tried not to make it any worse with too much info! Below is a link you can try and read though when you have time.

Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
 
Welcome to FDMB
Hi Alexs, I do not think there's not one person that has not become overwhelmed when we are told our precious fur ball is diagnosed with Feline Diabetes, but the great news is that is very manageable, with the correct diet, home testing and insulin, and lots of love Robo has giving you valuable information, and when you go the your Vet keep in mind, that know your cat better than him and you are in control, so ask questions let him know what you have read and learned from this Forum, this is a world wide forum, perhaps he might not be too familiar or updated on FD, which is not uncommon, Caninsulin is for dogs and as Robo said it hits very hard and fast on a cat and last less than 12 hours. So insist on Lantus or ProZinc is a 12 insulin. In our Main Forum you will find stick notes with much valuable information, perhaps you should read them before your vet. We are here for you to help you on this journey, you will do great 🤗
 
Hello and welcome. If you are in the UK (or even Europe), here are couple posts that can help:
You want to ideally feed food under 10% carbs. But if he's getting higher carb food now, it's best to learn how to home test before switching foods, as insulin doses can drop quite a bit.

You also don't need the vet's permission to home test and it's the best way to keep him safe. Some information and videos in this post: Hometesting Links and Tips. Cats often test higher at the vet due to stress.
 
Robo & B said:
Hi Aleks welcome, your cat won't have become diabetic overnight making him better also won't happen overnight. It can take time to find the right dose to get blood sugars under control. This is a marathon not a race.

Caninsulin isn't the best insulin for cats it tends to hit hard and fast and not last for 12 hours. I think you are in the uk? Prozinc is a better insulin and is licensed for cats in the UK, lantus is also very good but your vet may not be willing to prescribe it. If you are seeing your vet this week ask for prozinc or lantus.

My cats main first symptom was heat intolerance. What you describe is exactly what he was doing- do you think he might be feeling too warm and that's why he's moving to the floor? It doesn't seem common but it is just what my cat was doing.

Food- it doesn't need to be prescription. Low carb wet (so under 10% carb) is what we recommend. Some of the purina gourmet varieties are ok carb wise, some aren't. Which ones are you feeding?

We absolutely recommend home testing, your vet may disagree and you can ignore them on this some vets are oddly against home testing. A human glucometer is best- the test strips are much cheaper than the animal glucometers and they work perfectly well for cats.

We all felt overwhelmed at the beginning it gets better I promise. I've tried not to make it any worse with too much info! Below is a link you can try and read though when you have time.

Sticky - New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
Click to expand...
Hi Robo,
Yes we are in the UK,

It's reassuring that your cat was doing the same thing because he was too hot. I think this might be the case with mine, did your cat eventually go back to sleeping normally?

I've ordered some cooling mats for now in case that helps a bit, these past few days he's been spending a bit more time on the bed so I'm hopeful.

He's been eating the purina gourmet perle sachets in gravy for many years now, although I acc can't find info on the carb %, so I'm thinking of maybe trying a different food to be safe.

I'm seeing the vet today so ill ask about other insulin opions.

Thank you for the lovely reply :)
 
AleksZ said:
Hi Robo,
Yes we are in the UK,

It's reassuring that your cat was doing the same thing because he was too hot. I think this might be the case with mine, did your cat eventually go back to sleeping normally?

I've ordered some cooling mats for now in case that helps a bit, these past few days he's been spending a bit more time on the bed so I'm hopeful.

He's been eating the purina gourmet perle sachets in gravy for many years now, although I acc can't find info on the carb %, so I'm thinking of maybe trying a different food to be safe.

I'm seeing the vet today so ill ask about other insulin opions.

Thank you for the lovely reply :)
Click to expand...
Apparently you are feeding High carb foods, all gravy cat foods are high, below is a cat carb calculator link, you will use the nutrients in the food, insert in the cells, the Dry Matter Carb, is what we look for. If you discuss diet with your vet, please do get sold "Prescribed" food, there is no such thing as prescribed food for a diabetic cat or human, they do not buy prescribed food, they watch their carb intake, for that matter, these foods have a very high content of carbs anything betwee17-25% carbs or higher, and diabetic cats cannot digest carbs, the best insulin for cats are Lantus and Prozinc, they are a 12 hour insulin
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
 
There are so many different varieties of Purina gourmet perle! This specific one just meets the under the 10% carb requirement. I can check the one you're feeding if you can tell me exactly which one it is. Or look on the back and use the calc corky has linked. They never tell you the carb amount but it's easy to work out with the calculator.
Screenshot_20251203-140233.png
 
AleksZ said:
Hi Robo,
Yes we are in the UK,

It's reassuring that your cat was doing the same thing because he was too hot. I think this might be the case with mine, did your cat eventually go back to sleeping normally?

I've ordered some cooling mats for now in case that helps a bit, these past few days he's been spending a bit more time on the bed so I'm hopeful.

He's been eating the purina gourmet perle sachets in gravy for many years now, although I acc can't find info on the carb %, so I'm thinking of maybe trying a different food to be safe.

I'm seeing the vet today so ill ask about other insulin opions.

Thank you for the lovely reply :)
Click to expand...
I'm still early on in my diabetes journey, I've not got Bub well regulated yet unfortunately. But he is better than he was. He's managing a big cuddle for 20+minutes now then only needing about the same cool off time. Before he was barely sitting with me for a minute before having to get down.

Definitely ask about different insulin. Your cat will be much easier to regulate on an insulin that is suited to cats ( prozinc or lantus).

I would also get a glucometer ordered. We can guide you through the process with lots of hints and tips if you do struggle with testing.
 
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CORKY said:
Apparently you are feeding High carb foods, all gravy cat foods are high, below is a cat carb calculator link, you will use the nutrients in the food, insert in the cells, the Dry Matter Carb, is what we look for. If you discuss diet with your vet, please do get sold "Prescribed" food, there is no such thing as prescribed food for a diabetic cat or human, they do not buy prescribed food, they watch their carb intake, for that matter, these foods have a very high content of carbs anything betwee17-25% carbs or higher, and diabetic cats cannot digest carbs, the best insulin for cats are Lantus and Prozinc, they are a 12 hour insulin
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
Click to expand...
The gravy=high, jelly = low doesn't always seem to be the case here (UK). So best to check, which that calc you often link is great for 🤩
 
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I calculated the carbs for this food and remember what we need are the dry matter carbs this food contains 25% carbs, so we need to make a slow transition to 0-10% carbs, it is very important also to home test, especially before each shot, you want to know his glucose number to avoid hypoglycemia, which can lead to other complications, most members here use a human monitor, so no need to purchase an expensive Pet Meter tge strips are outrageously expensive, please let us know how your vets visit went
 

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CORKY said:
I calculated the carbs for this food and remember what we need are the dry matter carbs this food contains 25% carbs, so we need to make a slow transition to 0-10% carbs, it is very important also to home test, especially before each shot, you want to know his glucose number to avoid hypoglycemia, which can lead to other complications, most members here use a human monitor, so no need to purchase an expensive Pet Meter tge strips are outrageously expensive, please let us know how your vets visit went
Click to expand...
I'm not sure which food you've analysed there corky?

Anyway here's the link for the calculator I was talking about Cat Food Nutrition Calculator | Elizabeth C Scheyder
 
Robo & B said:
There are so many different varieties of Purina gourmet perle! This specific one just meets the under the 10% carb requirement. I can check the one you're feeding if you can tell me exactly which one it is. Or look on the back and use the calc corky has linked. They never tell you the carb amount but it's easy to work out with the calculator.View attachment 75507
Click to expand...
Yes I'm pretty sure it's the same food.

For reference this is the exact one we get:
1764877231097.png
 
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