Amy-
Your opinion is just that - your opinion. It is based on the opinions of people on this site who are not medical doctors, medically trained, or even students of feline physiology. I don't have a personal opinion because I am technically a "newbie." However, I haven't yet heard an argument for high-carb diets (or even high-carb doses for low BG numbers) from anyone on FDMB that makes logical sense based on cat physiology. If you know a vet expert who agrees with your protocol, I would love to hear from them. Perhaps they can give a medical justification for the use of high-carb foods. So far, I haven't found a vet expert who supports that protocol.
The following vet info may be helpful in clarifying....
Hypoglycemia is usually caused by an overdose of insulin. Cats on the tight regulation protocol do not typically have clinical hypo. Dr. Elizabeth Hodgkins explains: “Clinical Hypo can happen at many different levels of blood glucose, sometimes a cat will have these signs at levels that are not that low, say 70 (3.8 mmol/L), and other cats show absolutely no signs whatsoever at blood glucose levels as low as 20(1.2 mmol/L)! Therefore, the absolute number is not the whole story, not by a long shot. The cat’s liver is just as important to the control of blood glucose as the pancreas is. The liver and pancreas work together, with the pancreas keeping the blood glucose from going too high and the liver keeping the blood glucose from going too low. The cat on high carbohydrate foods loses both its normal liver function and its normal pancreatic function. This loss of normal liver function is what causes the signs of hypoglycemia. When a diabetic cat is consuming low carb foods instead of high carb foods, the liver resumes its ability to make enough glucose to meet the brain’s needs, and signs of clinical hypo DO NOT OCCUR. Low carbohydrate-fed cats have tremendous resistance to hypo signs because their livers work to keep this problem from occurring..”
Yes, I have not been on the website long here and I didn't know anything about diabetic cats before I started four moths ago. BUT, I am a member of Mensa and I have been doing a great deal of my own research (FOR MONTHS). I have talked to a number of veterinary experts in the field (including people in Australia who have been doing YEARS of research on how to get diabetic cats into remission). I've been studying medical research papers (I have a master's degree in science and I know how to find peer-review journals on the subject). How may people on this site have studied feline physiology? How many have conducted actual medical studies of feline diabetic remission and how to achieve it? To be quite frank, the REAL medical experts in the field of feline diabetes (the actual veterinaries who set the remission protocols that are not properly followed here) believe that most of the folks on this site are completely ill-informed and harming their cats. They have said this to me directly. Just because some folks on FDMB have "more time under their belts" doesn't mean they know what they are doing. In the Middle Ages, there were "expert" bloodletters who cured people regularly by bloodletting, but we know now that those doctors were quacks.
As one intelligent person on FDMB said today, the goal is to have a well-regulated cat, not to "achieve a reduction." This FDMB member stated that the goal is to have your cat's blood sugar in the normal range of a healthy cat (70 - 130) most of the time. According to the vet experts, that is correct! I daresay that most people on FDMB are failing at this task. Most spreadsheets here have 300's+ numbers with maybe one or two random days of good numbers over the course of years. Those numbers do not reflect the numbers of well-regulated cats.
That said, I believe the FDMB site is helpful for owners in the early stages of diagnosis. It is important to be guided through the process of home testing, putting together a spreadsheet, measuring doses, and changing a cat's diet. These are all good things. But the goal of all proper diabetic cat protocols is being well-regulated, which is possible for most cats if the diet is proper and the insulin is adjusted by home testing. It is extremely rare for any cat to go into remission if their blood sugar doesn't stay in the normal range for long periods of time. Remission is impossible for most people on this site with cats that have roller coaster BG's from 500 to 40 on a daily basis. To the vet experts, this is considered poor regulation.
It's fine if you disagree and you want to keep your cat on the high-carb diet (9% is high carb according to the experts). I just don't see how anyone can look at your spreadsheet and think that your cat is well-regulated. Papaya has been on insulin for over one year and her BG has never stayed in the normal range of a healthy cat for one full day (except maybe two or three random days over the course of one year). How is this considered proper regulation? Most people on the site have spreadsheets like yours, so everyone thinks it is normal. According to the vet experts, roller-coaster numbers like that are absolutely not normal and not healthy for the cats. But that is not my opinion. Again, if you can find someone on FDMB who is a vet expert that can explain why roller-coaster spreadsheets and high-carb treatments are normal and healthy, I would love to hear from them! I would be happy to support your protocol with medical research, if there is any!
My postings on this site are not meant to criticize anyone but merely to offer an different viewpoint for those people who are frustrated that they can't keep their cat's BG in a healthy range after trying for years. If I had been giving insulin for over one year and my cat was still hitting the 500's, I would try something different, but that's just me. In my case, I did the research, followed the vet expert protocol not taught here, and my cat never hit 200 again (nor did he ever go below 70 except for 2-3 times). A few months later, he is now in his OTJ trial and doing great. Perhaps my success story will help others. But I will stop posting on your page if that makes you feel better.
Best wishes,
Jessica
P.S. Never once did I state that someone should give a cat one pound of bacon for their liver to convert protein glucose. It is clear to me from your statements about feline livers that you don't understand the physiology. A cat's liver does not "build" carbs. Cat livers turn protein to glycogen which becomes glucose in the blood stream. When you give a cat carbohydrates, you are overriding the liver's natural ability to regulate low blood sugar (turning protein in to glycogen). When you introduce an unnaturally high-carb food to a cat, the liver will "turn off" (so to speak) and won't function at all. As long as you give high carbs, your cat's liver will never keep those low numbers from getting too low (so you will think you need to do it with carbs, which sets the whole rollercoaster cycle in motion again). By the way, you also said, "carbs are absorbed immediately into the bloodstream" but just today you gave high carbs and your cat's blood sugar continued to slide down. That is a symptom of a sleeping liver combined with too much insulin.
Yes, injecting insulin is unnatural, but I know from experience and also the PAGES OF RESEARCH conducted by vet experts that even cats on insulin don't experience hypoglycemia if you keep an eye on them and don't give high carbs. The liver needs a chance to work and most people on this forum never give their cats' livers a chance.
Jess and Mr. Cat
