4 Jul 2022 - Whiskey AMPS=263 +4=214 +6=263 PMPS=212

[stannarp]

Hi all,

We are back again - she did pretty well in remission for a few months but then her behavior started getting consistent with diabetes again in a very short time. When I tested her I saw she was over 200 for a few days so I put her back onto her Lantus.

We started at 0.1 (same as previous dose) which I didn't raise for quite a long time as we all had Covid in the house and I didn't want to risk a hypo with me having Covid.

The fluctuating numbers are because we are starting her on raw and (paradoxically, her BG seems higher on raw), query posted on FB Group here:

"Hi all, really weird one...and, sorry, long post... I've been trying to get Whiskey onto raw food (using premade raw called Raw Love, available in South Africa). Ingredient label included as a pic. She's happily eating the ostrich and the chicken varieties, but not the duck.

However, I've noticed that her BG is actually higher on the raw alone, or any combination of raw and commercial wet food than on just commercial wet food (link to spreadsheet below), I've recently had to get her back onto insulin, as her behavior started to get a bit off and when I tested over a few days her BG was high. The 12ish numbers are just commercial wet food, 15ish numbers are when she's getting raw in any proportion with the commercial wet or alone.

Has anyone else seen this, and if so did you manage to figure out why it would raise BG?
I'm reluctant to take the question to my vet because they'd just push Hill's for diabetic cats onto me, and that isn't an option.

Reason I'm trying to get her onto raw is because she's got either an environmental or food allergy and has to be on antihistamines constantly, otherwise she scratches herself to bits...so I'm hoping to reduce the amount of weird and wonderfuls in her diet. This is the first kind I've tried, and we don't have a huge selection of options here, so I will battle to find alternatives."

Karen Nicholson and Beckey van Cleave have given me good suggestions, and the summary of the discussion is that my way forward is to keep her on raw because it is really helping with the allergies and the scratching, so she is much healthier on it, but adjust her insulin to get her regulated on it. However I will keep her on the 50/50 raw / commercial wet mix, and then adjust the ratios after she is regulated.

This morning I've moved her up to 0.5 of a unit (starting at 0.1 then 0.25, now 0.5).

The raw food I am giving her is RawLove for cats: https://www.rawlovepets.co.za/, and I've posted images of the ingredients in this port.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Welcome back but sorry Whisky is out of remission. I’m not sure why the food you are feeding is raising her bg. It doesn’t contain carbs! Good you raised the dose today. You need to be aggressive to get a second remission.

Are you feeding the chicken? Interesting if yes and it’s helping her allergies. I’ve had to change Mocha’s diet after 2 1/2 years on venison to rabbit. It’s been 12 days and fingers crossed her EGC is finally starting to go away.

 

[stannarp]

Welcome back but sorry Whisky is out of remission. I’m not sure why the food you are feeding is raising her bg. It doesn’t contain carbs! Good you raised the dose today. You need to be aggressive to get a second remission.

Sorry, here goes a LONG reply!

Thanks for that - I am reasonably optimistic that I got her relapse early - she is one of those cats where you can just see the BG is going out of whack, she gets properly mean to everyone else in the house!

Yes, I was confused, about it raising her BG as well, but there are 2 possibilities:

Becky van Cleave posted a link to this article: https://www.foodfurlife.com/blog--n...kC9AD7wzsUX06q2ViXIFkIvP6Yo8QPsk62UQiMDAva4#/

Based on this, the no carb option I am giving her has higher bioavailability than commercial wet food because it is basically pure animal protein, which requires more processing for her body, and higher levels of insulin to successfully process it. She explained better what I was thinking - which was that the higher quality food may be digesting more thoroughly and or slowly, indirectly causing the higher BG readings.

The challenge with this will be to get her pancreas to figure out that it is getting more appropriate food AND process it better AND get regulated. Going into remission will happen or not, but I will do my best.

Karen Nicholson also pointed out that it occasionally happens that a cat actually needs some carbs to give their pancreas a jump start to release insulin - which I also had read somewhere on the FB group - as a result I have capped the ratio of the raw at 50%, using commercial wet for the other 50% until I have her regulated. When she is regulated, I will adjust the ratios until I can get her to 80-100% raw and less or no commercial wet. If you remember we always battled with her allergies, and on even half raw, she is so very much better with the constant scratching. It would almost be worth having her regulated and on insulin forever (assuming no second remission) to have her off the antihistamines and not scratching herself and her poor ears to bits.

Are you feeding the chicken? Interesting if yes and it’s helping her allergies. I’ve had to change Mocha’s diet after 2 1/2 years on venison to rabbit. It’s been 12 days and fingers crossed her EGC is finally starting to go away.

I think it is the lack of additives that is helping the allergies in her case - I have seen that she reacts badly to some foods - which I think have 'higher artificial additive levels' than others, so if her body can get to the point of having minimal to no weird and wonderfuls added I am hoping she will be a happier and healthier Hissey - or in this case Whiskey (Hissey is what we call her when she's getting ratty, because she can hiss like a proverbial steam train!) In terms of choice, RawLove has chicken, ostrich and duck for cats - first 2 are a hit with Madam, last one is definitely NOT. Also going to see what other raw foods I can find locally to try her on some other options - venison should be easy to get, and I am hoping for rabbit, but not overly optimistic that I will find it.

I am holding thumbs Mocha will hold on her new diet!