15 year old Tom from England

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Elizabeth Jackson

Member Since 2021
Charlie has been recently diagnosed and I myself have just found this forum, you all seem pretty clued up on cat diabetes (I suppose you would, sorry) anyhow I've a couple of questions, Charlie was initially put on 1unit of prozinc his glucose readings were late 20's early 30's, this has now been upped (gradually) to 2.5 is this amount normal or excessive? I've taken a blood reading today 6 hours after his injection and it was 22.3.
He loves his carbs which I'm trying minimise, does anyone know of tasty carb free treats that I could purchase here in England, any advice would be most appreciated.
He weighs 5.3kg Thank you
 
Welcome to FDMB!

Let me suggest that you add to your subject line so it reads, "15 year old Tom in England." You'll get more specific information if people know where you live. Most of the membership here is from the US or Canada so we often make incorrect assumption.

One of the more popular low carbohydrate treats are freeze dries proteins. For example, freeze dried chicken where chicken is the only ingredient in the treat. There are also cats who will happily gobble down cooked or even raw chicken.

The amount of insulin necessary to treat your cat's diabetes is irrelevant. Your cat needs what he needs to get his numbers in a normal range (2.8 - 6.7 mmol/L or 50 - 120 mg/dL if in the US). The dosing methods we use involve dose changes in 0.25u amounts. We have a lot of good information on using Prozinc in our Prozinc Insulin Support Group.

It would help us enormously if you set up your signature so we don't plague you with the same questions all the time and set up a spreadsheet. The instructions are in this link along with some other very helpful information. I'm also tagging one of our members, @Bandit's Mom if you need some help getting the spreadsheet set up. The spreadsheet allows you to keep all of your test data in one place and it allows us to view Charlie's progress and offer any assistance should you need it.

You might also find this food chart helpful. We encourage caregivers to feed their cat a low carbohydrate (under 10% carb) diet. Most people feed their cats around 5%. The list I linked is for foods that are available in the UK. You'll also want to keep some medium (10 - 15%) and high (over 15%) carb food on hand.

Please let us know if you have questions. The members here are very generous with their knowledge and time.
 
Hi Elizabeth! Welcome to FDMB. I would be happy to help you with setting up your spreadsheet and signature.

He loves his carbs which I'm trying minimise, does anyone know of tasty carb free treats that I could purchase here in England, any advice would be most appreciated.
I am tagging @Teetee (UK) who is also from the UK and whose kitty Duke is on Prozinc as well.
 
Hi @Elizabeth Jackson
The food list created by @Elizabeth and Bertie is invaluable for getting the right carb food in the UK for Charlie.
We would be totally lost without it, but always double check the typical analysis on the box, packet or tin as they can and do change.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J5JpMe6TDXrHq_aTl9hUtHy6Gs9oRBqlz4nPGKxtySA/pubhtml
The carb calculator is also an invaluable tool for well calculating the carb content in food.
Link for carb calculator
https://secure.balanceit.com/tools/_gaconverter/index.php?
Regarding treats for Charlie we used to give Duke the HiLife its only natural Chicken Breast Treats that are available at most supermarkets and pet shops. We decided eventually on roast chicken pieces instead but only because of the moisture content in the cooked chicken. We also give him small pieces of sliced roast beef or sometimes sliced ham but not often because of the salt content.
As @Sienne and Gabby (GA) advised please set up your spreadsheet and signature as a priority so that the more experienced members can see Charlies daily progress and advise on his dose, believe me the members on here have a wealth of knowledge and have helped me upteen times when we have struggled with Duke and i cannot thank them enough.
The sooner you setup your spreadsheet and start recording Charlie's data the better, i would be lost without my spreadsheet.
What foods are you feeding Charlie at the moment?

 
Thank you for all your help. Charlie’s insulin dose has now gone up to 3 units x 2 a day, his glucose readings are still high. The vet noticed that he had a bad tooth, could this be the cause of him not responding to the insulin? according to the vet he would have to have a mouthful of rotten teeth for him to be resistant, but I’m not sure, any advice would be most welcome
 
We don't use the metric system that may be on your meter. Any meter should have a simple way to switch to the Imperial setting.
Other than that an IU is just that, an international unit we all understand. The same applies to units.
Good luck and welcome to the club where there are no invisible lines on a map.
 
Don't forget the time difference, there's always someone here from all over the planet but we're not veterinarians. If you have an 8AM emergency the majority of us will be asleep. You can add (UK) to your name and also post your location in your profile.
 
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