08/07/2021 Dexter Meowgan AMBG 190 PMBG 75

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DexterMeowgan

DexterMeowgan

Member Since 2021
I've hopefully attached in my signature our rough start but hopefully leveling out adventure with our cat.

We figured out we were probably giving him fur shots at the start, and looked up ways to get it 99% of the time correctly.

We switched him to vet recommended DM Dietetic Management lo-carb kibble strictly twice a day 1/4 cup at a time.

We have gradually reduced his insulin dose from 5U to 1U. (The vet initially recommended 5U when 2U wasn't having an affect on lowering levels.)

He seems to find bits and crumbs to eat during the day and absolutely non-stop destroys his meals. He is definitely ravenous about it and doesn't stop eating until every kibble is gone.

We have lowered him to 1U but his BG does sometimes still spike over 200mg/dl.

Should we adjust further? Any advice on next steps?
 
Hi, welcome to FDMB! :-)

I can see Dexter's SS attached to your signature. Could you please add a few more details to it so we don't keep asking you for that info every time you post? Thanks!
  • Date of diagnosis
  • Name of the insulin he is being given
  • Name of your meter
  • Food he is eating
  • History of DKA or ketones, if any
  • Any other health issues or medication he is on
The DM kibble is actually too high in carbs! It's lower in carbs than other non-prescription kibble but it's still too high. The low carb kibble options are Young Again Zero, Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein (chicken flavour) and Wysong Epigen 90.

Will Dexter eat canned food? That's always better for cats in terms of hydration.

On the BG front, he is looking really good - even on a higher carb diet. I would get a test or two every night since many cats go lower at night. He has dipped as low as 75 on a pet meter on 1U. A dip below 68 on a pet meter means he is getting too much insulin and needs a reduction in dose.

Are you using a pen to give him insulin? Here we use syringes so that we can make increases and decreases in multiples of 0.25U.

Lastly, I suspect Dexter might just become diet controlled if he were switched to a low carb diet. It's good that your are home testing because, as you've seen, a change in diet to lower carbs can greatly reduce the need for insulin. I would suggest you gradually switch him to a low carb diet while testing him closely to see how low he is going so you can adjust the dose further.





@Bron and Sheba (GA)
 
Hi and welcome to you and Dexter,
@Bandit's Mom has given you some good advice.

Because you have shot a 75 at PMPS I would also get a+1 and a+2 as he could drop low and 75 on a pet meter is low to be shooting without a lot of data.
Make sure you give him some snacks during this cycle so he doesn’t drop too low.
I would get more tests in during the PM cycle especially if you are shooting lower preshots.

I would also look at switching over to a low carb food but you will need to be careful as the dose will need to be reduced as it is a lower carb food.
Feed before every shot and give a couple of snacks during every cycle.
 
So we just tested him (~3.5 hrs after 1U) and he's at 78. Should we give him snacks then?

Edit: Updated signature with all information I was asked.

We use a prefilled Lantus pen.

We gave him a very small amount of extra food. I feel when Nadir hits he'll be too low and he's been constantly looking for more food.
 
Yes it’s fixed. Have you considered getting syringes with half unit markings so that you can adjust the dose in ,25 increments? It’s going to be needed. I’m in California too.
It looks like you are feeding dry DM? At least that us on your spreadsheet is that correct? If you look at our dosing methods and choose to follow one it would be SLGS because of the dry food. We would not have had your shoot tonight and a reduction to .75 would be earned.
 
tiffmaxee said:
Yes it’s fixed. Have you considered getting syringes with half unit markings so that you can adjust the dose in ,25 increments? It’s going to be needed. I’m in California too.
It looks like you are feeding dry DM? At least that us on your spreadsheet is that correct? If you look at our dosing methods and choose to follow one it would be SLGS because of the dry food. We would not have had your shoot tonight and a reduction to .75 would be earned.
Click to expand...

Yes, both of my cats (One has no known issues) eat DM Dietetic Management kibble from Purina.

We are most likely going to switch Dexter to one of the lower carb alternatives that Bandit's mom suggested and keep Sofi on DM.

Here's hoping that a ~10-15% reduction in carbs will make him non-insulin dependent.

He as well as my other cat refuse to eat wet food unless it's just once in a while. They're very finicky eaters.
 
DexterMeowgan said:
He as well as my other cat refuse to eat wet food unless it's just once in a while. They're very finicky eaters.
Click to expand...
Might want to transition both of them to low carb kibble so that you needn't worry about Dexter getting into Sofi's food

DexterMeowgan said:
Here's hoping that a ~10-15% reduction in carbs will make him non-insulin dependent.
Click to expand...
Fingers crossed. Till then, 1U may be too much for Dexter and you cannot dose less than that with a pen.
You can get the syringes with half unit marks at Walmart (ReliOn brand, 30 unit capacity).

This sticky has info & videos on how to draw insulin from a pen with a syringe.
Insulin Care & Syringe Info: Proper Handling, Drawing, Fine Dosing



 

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Bandit's Mom said:
Might want to transition both of them to low carb kibble so that you needn't worry about Dexter getting into Sofi's food


Fingers crossed. Till then, 1U may be too much for Dexter and you cannot dose less than that with a pen.
You can get the syringes with half unit marks at Walmart (ReliOn brand, 30 unit capacity).

This sticky has info & videos on how to draw insulin from a pen with a syringe.
Insulin Care & Syringe Info: Proper Handling, Drawing, Fine Dosing
Click to expand...

Edit: We feed them both @ 12 hour intervals, 8 AM & 8 PM and while Dexter eats all of his food in the matter of a few minutes each meal, Sofi eats for ~5 minutes and then just wants pet until he gets hungry again, haha.

We feed them separately because Dexter we learned would push Sofi aside and eat his food too. He's quite a bit of a bully when it comes to his food.

Sofi has always grazed but now we have to feed him and then put his food away, he's always maintained a good weight. He has learned to meow at the door we keep closed to our room when he's hungry and we'll either sit with him or give him 10-15 minutes with the door closed to eat safely & comfortably.

Would Sofi maintain his weight if switched to lo carb food? He's like 9-10 lbs max. He's mostly fur.

I'll look into the syringes when we switch food brands later this month. Thank you so much for the help so far guys. I really appreciate it.
 
DexterMeowgan said:
Edit: We feed them both @ 12 hour intervals, 8 AM & 8 PM and while Dexter eats all of his food in the matter of a few minutes each meal, Sofi eats for ~5 minutes and then just wants pet until he gets hungry again, haha.

We feed them separately because Dexter we learned would push Sofi aside and eat his food too. He's quite a bit of a bully when it comes to his food.

Sofi has always grazed but now we have to feed him and then put his food away, he's always maintained a good weight. He has learned to meow at the door we keep closed to our room when he's hungry and we'll either sit with him or give him 10-15 minutes with the door closed to eat safely & comfortably.

Would Sofi maintain his weight if switched to lo carb food? He's like 9-10 lbs max. He's mostly fur.

I'll look into the syringes when we switch food brands later this month. Thank you so much for the help so far guys. I really appreciate it.
Click to expand...
Diabetic cats cannot process their food and are therefore constantly hungry. However, Dexter has been in good numbers for the last month, so his hunger cravings should have come down.

All of us here feed our diabetic cats several small meals through the day. The 2 meals a days concept was for fast acting insulins like Vetsulin but with depot insulins like Lantus, cats do better with smaller meals through the day.

Sharing some spreadsheets where people keep food notes so you get an idea about how food is spread out through the day and night. People use timed auto-feeders for the night cycle.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...JUiVX87H-YOj5-lZYu3yHgXosQudHNFRKd6T-/pubhtml
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...7Cr_Xq64uZxfLNJvOfFAxEcqmVyqgVI9heGbA/pubhtml
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...PldCL2zOzzolQR8CnLKrz4CthDU9g8CG6OC7/pubhtml#
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...R3-hgldFQg77eAqdlQOMNhVNiUVY0uGSHb2jB/pubhtml

You may also want to look at this great website on Feline Nutrition authored by a vet:
www.catinfo.org
 
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