2/20 Max & a Friend

[Kira & Max]

Max is still off insulin, but the past two days his bg levels have risen above 100...I've been free-feeding and am thinking I should only feed twice today, like I was while on insulin, to see if he's just eating later than I think. I hope so :roll:

Also, my best friend's 14 year old cat Prudence was just diagnosed this past week with diabetes. The vet curve was yesterday, and she came home with Prozinc, 1U BID. She's going to start testing today. There's an issue, though. She's going out of town for a week on Thursday, and while her husband who will be home can deal with needles, he cannot deal with blood or testing. She and I talked about it and thought the best idea was to do a home curve Monday or Tuesday, and not switch from the dry Science Diet kibble until she can come home and monitor the bg levels. I'm thinking the curve she'll do will let her know if her dose is safe and keep Prudence out of hypo land while she's away, since her husband will be giving insulin but not testing. Do you guys have any advice?

 

[Ele & Blackie (GA)]

I agree that your friend shouldn't switch to canned until she can be there to test. It would probably be a good idea to print out the Hypo information and give it to Prudence's husband just in case.

On Max's food - I think I would keep free feeding. It's more natural for cats and should even out the ups & downs. You could also feed and then check Max's bg's an hour or two after and see if he's dropping. That would be the sign that his pancreas is working. If it's working, but not enough you might want to give him a tiny dose (.1 or .2) to help out the pancreas.

 

[Joanna & Bix (GA)]

I'd say it probably depends on how her cat is doing. If she seems pretty good, that might be an ok plan. If she is clearly unwell, skinny, drinking & peeing tons, etc., I'd probably take a different route.

If her DH can handle the food transition (and Prudence is a fan of canned food so she's looking at an easy transition - otherwise it might not be much of an option for this week), I'd probably actually make the food switch now, along with spot tests (is she already home-testing?). Then if the #s are lowering nicely I'd be more inclined to skip the insulin for a week on LC canned, than shoot 1u on dry food.

I say this because when my cat was on dry (dm & m/d), he needed about 4u before we got much of anywhere. On 1u (which I did for a while) he was in the 4 & 500s all day. I never tested him on LC w/o insulin to see what kind of #s he got, but he only needed 1.5u or so once we switched foods. So with that much of a difference in insulin needs that the different foods caused for him, I'm thinking LC canned even with no insulin may well keep her in better #s than the food she is on with 1u.

Whatever she does, I'd also have her get hubby trained with Ketostix & test daily.

Another thought is to have a diabetes-savvy petsitter come in to help, or perhaps a nearby FDMB member, if she wants some spot tests at least to be done while she is gone.

 

[Gator & H (GA)]

I agree with Ele, free feeding is best.

 

[Kira & Max]

I agree that your friend shouldn't switch to canned until she can be there to test. It would probably be a good idea to print out the Hypo information and give it to Prudence's husband just in case.

On Max's food - I think I would keep free feeding. It's more natural for cats and should even out the ups & downs. You could also feed and then check Max's bg's an hour or two after and see if he's dropping. That would be the sign that his pancreas is working. If it's working, but not enough you might want to give him a tiny dose (.1 or .2) to help out the pancreas.

I think that's what I'll do tonight--test after I feed to see what's up. I've been testing right before. I hope this isn't the end of his honeymoon!

 

[Kira & Max]

I'd say it probably depends on how her cat is doing. If she seems pretty good, that might be an ok plan. If she is clearly unwell, skinny, drinking & peeing tons, etc., I'd probably take a different route.

If her DH can handle the food transition (and Prudence is a fan of canned food so she's looking at an easy transition - otherwise it might not be much of an option for this week), I'd probably actually make the food switch now, along with spot tests (is she already home-testing?). Then if the #s are lowering nicely I'd be more inclined to skip the insulin for a week on LC canned, than shoot 1u on dry food.

I say this because when my cat was on dry (dm & m/d), he needed about 4u before we got much of anywhere. On 1u (which I did for a while) he was in the 4 & 500s all day. I never tested him on LC w/o insulin to see what kind of #s he got, but he only needed 1.5u or so once we switched foods. So with that much of a difference in insulin needs that the different foods caused for him, I'm thinking LC canned even with no insulin may well keep her in better #s than the food she is on with 1u.

Whatever she does, I'd also have her get hubby trained with Ketostix & test daily.

Another thought is to have a diabetes-savvy petsitter come in to help, or perhaps a nearby FDMB member, if she wants some spot tests at least to be done while she is gone.

Prudence lost a lot of weight and it still peeing buckets, but I'll pass on what you said. Today she's having a terrible time even giving the shot, which is mostly nerves on her part, so we'll see. I do know the curve at the vet's on 1U showed the bg down to 100, so that's good.