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Hello my name is Mia, and my pet’s name is clover, who is five years old. He was recently diagnosised with diabetes in September, and it has been a long journey since then because I have taken him to the vet multiple times. In the beginning, I fed him Purina dm but after a few days he started to reject the food. He has changed food three times and is now eating Royal Canine glycobalance canned food and Hills Prescription Diet glucosupport dry food. My cat also during this time has been a consistent weight of around 9lbs, but hasn’t gained weight since. In November, I tried feeding him three times a day: one in th morning, one at night, and one in the middle of the day, so he can gain weight. He was also on one unit of insulin in the beginning, then went to one and a half and now has to take two units. I am using Prozinc as his insulin, but it seems to not be working. His glucose levels are still high, yet the vet says he needs to gain weight. However, he still won’t gain anything even though I fed him three times a day but now I feed him twice a day. I am feeding him twice a day because the vet said I need to. They said the insulin won’t work if he eats in the middle of the day because that is where his glucose should be the lowest after insulin. I have done some glucose curve tests as well and they have stayed near the 300 range but after his recent vet visit it has changed to 400. I am not sure what to do with my fur baby as I can’t keep taking him to the vet because of the money. I want to give him the best life possible, but since his recent vet visit, he seems to still be lethargic and low of energy. The recent vet visit was for his diarrhea. The only good thing is that he has not gotten DKA, but I want to prevent that as much as possible.

What should I do to help my cat gain weight without increasing his glucose levels?

Have any of you experienced a diabetic cat with diarrhea and if so, how did you manage it? The vet gave me probiotics and a food for digestive problems, which is Hills Prescription Diet I/D.

How do you tackle everyday life with a diabetic cat without having to stop everything to monitor them 24/7?

What other suggestion do you have for a new pet parent whose cat is diabetic?

Welcome to FDMB
it is very frustrating when we hear our precious fur baby has diabetic but tge good new is that it is manageable, how? Well home testing, a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can food or raw between 0-10% carbs, all of the 3 foods you are and fed are way high in carbs there’s nothing “prescribed” and is expensive, also it is incorrect that a diabetic cat can only eat twice a day, humans with diabetes need to eat several tines a day to control the illness. ProZinc is a great insulin for cats it is a 12-hour insulin, what dose are you giving, also you do not need to take him to the vet for a curve, you can do this at home without stressing him,or spend that money, a curve is simply testing every 2 hours for a cycle (12 hours, curving at the vet will result in elevated BG numbers and possibly increasing the dose unnecessarily, cats are very sensitive to stress, most of our members use the Fancy Feast pates or Friskies between 0-10% carbs, with ProZinc it is important to feed 1 full meal with each shot, feeding a small meal or snack two hours after shot to keep the insulin in check and 2-3 small meals or snack low carbs during the day. Home testing is crucial, you do not want to give insulin without knowing what his BG is, this way you can avoid a hypoglycemic episode, transitioning from dry to wet food is pa slow process, or any food this cause’s diarrhea if an immediate change is done. The Protocol for ProZinc is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, you can give the shot while he’s eating, we are here to help you, and save money if all he has is diabetes, you can inexpensively is here we can assist you with dosing and any other concerns yiu have, please keep asking, keep posting, you can ask your vet to prescribe MIRATZ is for appetite you apply a pin size amount in upper inner fold of tge ear every day, exchanging ears daily for 5 days, by the second application he will devour his food

Advice for a newly mommie is relax, take a step back, breath in breath out, cats are very sensitive to stress you stress they stress, it is overwhelming at first, but more simple than you think, I think that perhaps you look into a vet that is updated and familiar with feline diabetes, it was really a relief to know he gave the right insulin but his ideas are old school,
you got this Clover knows you love each other

CORKY said:

Welcome to FDMB
it is very frustrating when we hear our precious fur baby has diabetic but tge good new is that it is manageable, how? Well home testing, a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can food or raw between 0-10% carbs, all of the 3 foods you are and fed are way high in carbs there’s nothing “prescribed” and is expensive, also it is incorrect that a diabetic cat can only eat twice a day, humans with diabetes need to eat several tines a day to control the illness. ProZinc is a great insulin for cats it is a 12-hour insulin, what dose are you giving, also you do not need to take him to the vet for a curve, you can do this at home without stressing him,or spend that money, a curve is simply testing every 2 hours for a cycle (12 hours, curving at the vet will result in elevated BG numbers and possibly increasing the dose unnecessarily, cats are very sensitive to stress, most of our members use the Fancy Feast pates or Friskies between 0-10% carbs, with ProZinc it is important to feed 1 full meal with each shot, feeding a small meal or snack two hours after shot to keep the insulin in check and 2-3 small meals or snack low carbs during the day. Home testing is crucial, you do not want to give insulin without knowing what his BG is, this way you can avoid a hypoglycemic episode, transitioning from dry to wet food is pa slow process, or any food this cause’s diarrhea if an immediate change is done. The Protocol for ProZinc is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, you can give the shot while he’s eating, we are here to help you, and save money if all he has is diabetes, you can inexpensively is here we can assist you with dosing and any other concerns yiu have, please keep asking, keep posting, you can ask your vet to prescribe MIRATZ is for appetite you apply a pin size amount in upper inner fold of tge ear every day, exchanging ears daily for 5 days, by the second application he will devour his food

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Do I feed my cat before the nadir or can you feed them at the nadir? Since the nadir works within 6 hours, do I need to feed them at that point or earlier so that his insulin can be managed?

You test, feed, shoot, all can be done at the same time, I shoot Corky while he is eating, ProZinc kicks in TWO hours after shot, that’s why is important to test and give a small meal or snack two hour after shot this keeps the insulin in check, you can feed every 4-5 hours, then for the PM shot the same, last meal should not be later than 11:00 PM till the AM repeat

Does any fancy feast pates work and what kind of friskies would he need to consume because I looked over Dr. Lisa’s food chart and some of the friskies were on there. How does the feeding work, did you set a timer each time to know when to feed your cat? How long will it take his glucose numbers to go down once I switch to fancy feast or friskies? Will switching his food to fancy feast effect the diarrhea medication he is taking now?

To simplify that answer go to Corky’s spreadsheet scroll to the let,,you will see when what and how much his diet is and he’s a huge cat, these are the ideal times to feed to keep the insulin in check, also something I had not mention you need to crest what is called a HYPO KIT this contains some medium carb food between 11-15% soñé high carb foods between 16-24% carbs soñé honey or KARO Syrup, this is in case the BG gets lower than 50, we can help you regulate to hike it up preferably with food rather than syrups or honey, if 1 hour before shot you are not comfortable with the BG, posts us and we can walk you thru the process. Fancy Feast Pates are US made and regulated so no waste goes in the food, also do not get surprised that she will not poop every day but probably every other day, since all the food is digested well no waste is there, my boos when they were eating dry food which is what they grew up on they would poop up to 3 times on one day, now they poop every other day

Changing from high carbs to low carbs has to be a slow transition, not to upset the stomach or BG, you just take away some of the high carbs substituting it with low carb in every meal, no drastic changes ok?

CORKY said:

Changing from high carbs to low carbs has to be a slow transition, not to upset the stomach or BG, you just take away some of the high carbs substituting it with low carb in every meal, no drastic changes ok?

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Thank you for the information

How would you transition cat food if the cat doesn’t like the food mixed? I have tried mixing the prescribed diabetic food together but clover hates when the food is mixed. So how would I change his food to fancy feast if I can’t mix the food?

Don’t worry when she’s hungry she’ll eat, we spoil them way too much. Try a tbsp at a time less and less of the usual food to the low carbs substituting it a tsp at a time, the more she eats the more high carbs you remove mix it very very well

Try the tips here: Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

Two meals a day doesn't work for diabetics, especially new ones. Human diabetics snack on healthy things in between meals. Cats are no different. Small snacks of low carb canned food spread throughout the day works for most cats. A programmable timed feeder works great for this. Food is one thing you can safely ignore the vet about.

What probiotic do you have? Some are better than others.

squeem3 said:

Try the tips here: Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

Two meals a day doesn't work for diabetics, especially new ones. Human diabetics snack on healthy things in between meals. Cats are no different. Small snacks of low carb canned food spread throughout the day works for most cats. A programmable timed feeder works great for this. Food is one thing you can safely ignore the vet about.

What probiotic do you have? Some are better than others.

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The probiotic they gave me is proviablefrote

That's a good one to use. Hopefully it will work well for your cat.

Give this a read when you have time: Newly Diagnosed - Felinediabetes.com

Lots of people work full time jobs or have other activities that take up a good part of the day and they're able to manage their diabetic cat just fine, even all on their own You eventually get into a routine. The beginning if frustrating but once you get a handle of what your cat needs, it becomes a lot easier.

Are you testing blood glucose levels daily? If you are, it would be helpful to log the numbers into a shareable spreadsheet so that members can help you better. The instructions are here: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

squeem3 said:

That's a good one to use. Hopefully it will work well for your cat.

Give this a read when you have time: Newly Diagnosed - Felinediabetes.com

Lots of people work full time jobs or have other activities that take up a good part of the day and they're able to manage their diabetic cat just fine, even all on their own You eventually get into a routine. The beginning if frustrating but once you get a handle of what your cat needs, it becomes a lot easier.

Are you testing blood glucose levels daily? If you are, it would be helpful to log the numbers into a shareable spreadsheet so that members can help you better. The instructions are here: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

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Thank you for the tip, and I’ll try to test him as much as possible; but, it gets uncomfortable for him and he gets angry. I don’t want to make him more uncomfortable than he already is.

Clover_07 said:

Thank you for the tip, and I’ll try to test him as much as possible; but, it gets uncomfortable for him and he gets angry. I don’t want to make him more uncomfortable than he already is.

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You can teach rewards, a low carb after testing will associate him knowing that after being a good boy. He will be rewarded, it takes a few tries, but he’ll get it!