11/15 Oliver 57 with no insulin

Posting for my elderly mother’s cat. I’m going to try to make a long story short:
My mom’s cat was diagnosed with diabetes with BG at the vet of over 600 a few months ago. I encouraged my mom to try to manage it rather than having him put down because I managed my own cat for nearly 4 years before she passed away of kidney related issues. But I digress. I put my moms cat on fancy feast pates as soon as she got his diagnosis, and when they went back for the appointment to get prescribed insulin the switch to low carb food alone had him into the 250 range. They prescribed 1 unit of lantus twice a day and told her she didn’t need to test him but to come back for a curve in 4 weeks. I thought that was ridiculous but she has mobility issues and can’t test, so I was testing him once a week when I’m in her city. His readings were going down each week, eventually week 3 his post meal/pre shot reading was 75 with a relion prime. Great I thought, this looks like remission. We took him off insulin and I drove an hour out to her place a few times that week and his readings were always around or below 100. From there I resumed testing him once a week and those low readings continued. Around 100 after a meal and around 75 fasted.

On Tuesday when I was there his reading was 57 about 3 hours after a meal and she said he had been seeming very lethargic. I had never heard of this happening (going so low with no insulin given) but told her maybe we can switch him to friskies or something with a slightly higher carb count but that I wanted to reach out to this community for guidance.

I sent my husband out to test Oliver this morning and his BG was 75 about 3 hours after a meal. He’s still on very low carb fancy feast pates right now. Apologies that this is so long but I wanted to give you all the background as I’m trying to help her manage this from afar. He’s an amazing cat and my toddler adores him so I’m trying my best to keep him around!
 
Cats not on insulin often gave bg in the 50’s. He’s definitely in remission. Thank you for saving his life. Continue to check his bg once a week. I’m going to attach our otj directions.
 
Start the trial on the next green pre shot.
If he/she is green at your normal test times, no need to test further until the next "PS" time; just feed small meals and go about your day. If he/she is blue at your normal "PS", feed a small meal and test again after about 3 or 4 hours. If his/her number is lower 3-4 hours after a meal, then the pancreas is working!
Post every day so we can monitor your progress and see if any tweaks are needed. He/she may have a sporadic blue number. Don't panic but post before you decide whether to shoot so we can have a discussion.
After 14 days of no insulin, we have a party!!
Sometimes the trial doesn't work the first time and we have to give a little more support in the form of resuming insulin. It's not the end of the world if that happens; we just give him/her the support needed. Our goal is a strong remission and it's better to take our time to get that than to rush into remissionjustto have it fail later on.
Good luck with the trial!!!
Once he/she is through the trial successfully, you enter a new phase. Your cat is still diabetic but hasnow become diet-controlled. Continue feeding low carb food in the manner successful for your kitty. Ifyou decide to change rhis/her feeding schedule, let your meter be your guide to the best times to feed. Avoid medications with sugar in them and steroid medications unless they are medically essential. Continue testing blood glucose weekly for the first month and then monthly forever. It's a good ideatoweigh him/her monthly. Weight should remain stable. If he/she seems "off" or sick, or is showing signsof diabetes (excessive drinking, eating, urinating, weight loss), test his/her blood glucose rightaway. Keep the teeth and gums clean and healthy; dental issues can bring a cat out of remission. If youseerising blood glucose numbers, it's time for a visit to the vet!visit.
 
thank you so much! I’m so relieved to hear good news. My own cat never went into remission so I’m not educated on the OTJ side of things. I’ll have her continue to feed him the pates on the same schedule.

This community saved my own cat’s life and gave me another 4 years with my soulmate. I was so proud that I could take everything I learned here and apply it to Oliver because I knew how much it meant to my mom to have someone confident in the best path for him, and especially that he reached the remission stage. I went along to her vet appointment and the doctor knew so little about dosing, testing, low carb food, etc.. it was really disappointing, and I shudder to think what would have happened if my mom had followed her instructions and kept injecting him with a full unit twice a day when he was already entering remission. It’s because of this community that I knew what they were prescribing was not safe and to keep an eye on his numbers ourselves. Bless you all for empowering us with the knowledge to save our babies ❤️
 
thank you so much! I’m so relieved to hear good news. My own cat never went into remission so I’m not educated on the OTJ side of things. I’ll have her continue to feed him the pates on the same schedule.

This community saved my own cat’s life and gave me another 4 years with my soulmate. I was so proud that I could take everything I learned here and apply it to Oliver because I knew how much it meant to my mom to have someone confident in the best path for him, and especially that he reached the remission stage. I went along to her vet appointment and the doctor knew so little about dosing, testing, low carb food, etc.. it was really disappointing, and I shudder to think what would have happened if my mom had followed her instructions and kept injecting him with a full unit twice a day when he was already entering remission. It’s because of this community that I knew what they were prescribing was not safe and to keep an eye on his numbers ourselves. Bless you all for empowering us with the knowledge to save our babies ❤️
You are a hero! :bighug:
 
What a great daughter you are! I'm sure she'll be much happier having a healthy Oliver around to keep her company.

How many days has it been since he last had a shot?
 
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