cat’s blood sugar won’t decrease

hello!
so, my girl Hope has recently been diagnosed. we’ve been on u100 insulin for about a week and she has a FreeStyle Libre 2 on her. the issue is that the Libre doesn’t go above 350, and her blood sugar has been consistently above it. i finally was able to check with a traditional glucose monitor and it was 449

she was originally on 1unit of insulin and has been upped to 2 per advice of the vet, but her blood sugar is still high. i’m of course calling the vet as soon as they open in the morning, but does anyone have suggestions? we have been moving her food over to a diabetic food slowly (Purina DM dry) and have been giving her high protein wet food (Fancy Feast Classics) per advice of vet. i’m kind of at my wit’s end and just want her blood sugar to go down.

i did just give her her 2 units of insulin, but if the trend continues i wont be able to tell her glucose based on her CGM since it’s too high. any suggestions?

Edit to add: she is on Insulin Glargine

Welcome to FDMB.

What insulin has your vet prescribed? I'm hoping it's either Lantus or Prozinc as those are the two insulins that are recommended for the treatment of feline diabetes by the American Animal Hospital Assn. We'll be able to offer more insight if we know what insulin you're using.

A cautionary word about so-called "diabetic" food. If you look closely at the label, it's not called diabetic food. There is nothing in the DM that is recommended for diabetes. In fact, the dry DM is very high in carbohydrates and it's likely why Hope's blood glucose numbers are running high. There are very few dry foods that are low in carbs. In addition, diabetes is hard on the kidneys. Given that cats have a limited thirst drive, a canned food diet since it is high in moisture content is preferred since moisture is good for the kidneys. Stick with the Fancy Feast. This is a chart that lists most of the canned foods available in the US along with the percentage of carbs. You want a food that is under 10% and there are lots of options.

It's also helpful if you are able to set up your signature and a spreadsheet. The instructions are in this post on helping us to help you. Your signature will give us some basic information about you and Hope so we don't keep asking the same questions repeatedly. The spreadsheet will allow you to track Hope's progress and it will allow us to follow along and provide input.

Please let us know how we can help.

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:

Welcome to FDMB.

What insulin has your vet prescribed? I'm hoping it's either Lantus or Prozinc as those are the two insulins that are recommended for the treatment of feline diabetes by the American Animal Hospital Assn. We'll be able to offer more insight if we know what insulin you're using.

A cautionary word about so-called "diabetic" food. If you look closely at the label, it's not called diabetic food. There is nothing in the DM that is recommended for diabetes. In fact, the dry DM is very high in carbohydrates and it's likely why Hope's blood glucose numbers are running high. There are very few dry foods that are low in carbs. In addition, diabetes is hard on the kidneys. Given that cats have a limited thirst drive, a canned food diet since it is high in moisture content is preferred since moisture is good for the kidneys. Stick with the Fancy Feast. This is a chart that lists most of the canned foods available in the US along with the percentage of carbs. You want a food that is under 10% and there are lots of options.

It's also helpful if you are able to set up your signature and a spreadsheet. The instructions are in this post on helping us to help you. Your signature will give us some basic information about you and Hope so we don't keep asking the same questions repeatedly. The spreadsheet will allow you to track Hope's progress and it will allow us to follow along and provide input.

Please let us know how we can help.

Click to expand...

got it, she was already on Purina One. give me a bit and i can make my signature!

and got it. my vet did say she likes cats to be able to have dry food available since, in case their blood sugar drops, they can fix it themselves. i’ll look and see if her old food was better than the purina DM

thanks for the advice! i’ll put it in the spreadsheet

Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:

Welcome to FDMB.

What insulin has your vet prescribed? I'm hoping it's either Lantus or Prozinc as those are the two insulins that are recommended for the treatment of feline diabetes by the American Animal Hospital Assn. We'll be able to offer more insight if we know what insulin you're using.

A cautionary word about so-called "diabetic" food. If you look closely at the label, it's not called diabetic food. There is nothing in the DM that is recommended for diabetes. In fact, the dry DM is very high in carbohydrates and it's likely why Hope's blood glucose numbers are running high. There are very few dry foods that are low in carbs. In addition, diabetes is hard on the kidneys. Given that cats have a limited thirst drive, a canned food diet since it is high in moisture content is preferred since moisture is good for the kidneys. Stick with the Fancy Feast. This is a chart that lists most of the canned foods available in the US along with the percentage of carbs. You want a food that is under 10% and there are lots of options.

It's also helpful if you are able to set up your signature and a spreadsheet. The instructions are in this post on helping us to help you. Your signature will give us some basic information about you and Hope so we don't keep asking the same questions repeatedly. The spreadsheet will allow you to track Hope's progress and it will allow us to follow along and provide input.

Please let us know how we can help.

Click to expand...

oh also, her insulin is Insulin Glargine-yfgn? not sure if it’s the same as either of those

Lantus (glargine) is a good insulin to use. Your cat has only been on insulin for a week. Have patience It will take time to find the right dose that works for your cat. A dose of Lantus needs at least a week to work before you can do a curve and adjust the dose. Here's info on the depot: Sticky - What is the Insulin Depot?

Food is one thing you can safely ignore the vet about. Low carb canned food is best for diabetics. Just agree to disagree with the vet about the dry food. The right diet is important just like it is for Human diabetics. Many vets have very little education on nutrition. There's nothing special in prescription food that helps a diabetic cat. DM stands for dietetic management, not diabetes management. No dry food should be fed to diabetic cats. The carbs are too high. But don't ditch the dry food yet. Blood glucose levels may drop if you take the dry food away so it's important to slowly decrease the dry food over time while increasing the canned food.

Dry food for low blood glucose levels is only good in a pinch if blood glucose levels are hypo-levels and that's all you have on hand. Sometimes cat's can't "fix" their blood glucose levels just by eating food of any kind alone. You may need to intervene with giving syrup and a trip to the vet for very low levels and sever symptoms. Here is the info on hypos:

Sticky - How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
Sticky - jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

The food charts are here: Links to FOOD CHARTS The Fancy Feast Classic pates are fine. There are many other brands. Stick to foods that have under 10% carbs. Keep a few cans of higher carb food (some over 10% and some over 20%) to use in case of a hypo. The high carbs will raise low blood glucose levels. The Fany Feast Gravy Lovers line is good to have. Anything in gravy will be high carb.

Here's a 2025 guideline on managing diabetes: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/1098612X251399103 You can read through it and share with your vet. Discuss with your vet on anything you're not sure about. If your vet dismisses your concerns, you may want to find a new vet. Many newbies have had to switch vets because the currvent vet was too old school on treating diabetes or some other reason.

Glargine is the generic name for Lantus so you're good. I'd encourage you to take a look at the sticky notes at the top of our Lantus board. There's information about Lantus/glargine so you'll have more background. There's also information about dosing methods. We suggest that dose changes are made in small amounts (0.25u) so you don't go flying past what could be a good dose for your cat. You'll also want to be sure to get syringes (U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings) rather than use the insulin pen to inject. The pens only allow for dosing in 1.0u increments and you need to prime the pen which means you lose a unit of insulin every time you give a shot.

The other aspect of using glargine is that if you started the insulin in less than a week ago, the insulin depot is not entirely formed. Glargine is a depot type of medication and it takes a week for the depot to form. In addition, any time you change a dose, it can take a few days for the depot to stabilize again.

The only low carb dry food is either Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein or Young Again Zero Carb. The Young Again isn't really zero carb but it's low. It's also only available online.

Your vet gave you good information about keeping food available. The problem is that the carb level in almost all dry food is really high. Many members here use a timed feeder so there's food available throughout the day. There are some feeders that have space for an ice pack.

Thanks! I'll get an auto feeder - that sounds smart. I have another cat but he also just grazes.
Apologies for not setting up her sheet yet, it's complicated and I work full-time so it's been hard to find the time to do it. She's been doing okay, but her blood sugar has still been too high for it to read most of the time. Also yes! I have U100 syringes, they're super tiny and it's great. I give her 1.5 units at the moment.