Advice Needed Frodo's BG's

[Nancey]

I need some advice, help, two cents worth. I am frustrated. Things have changed for Frodo and I (and 3 fosters) over the past month as far as living arrangements, I have it noted in the comments section on 8/22. He and his friends ended up in a spare bedroom together for a while, the fosters to let them acclimate to the house and the other kitties and Frodo so I could manage his food. Plus it let me migrate my other kitties from EVO dry to Epigen 90. I knew the stress from moving was going to up is BG's some but darn, even prior to this they were not the best. The poor guy hated being segregated off from everybody, so last week I let all 4 out of the office. Which meant he was now in the world of free fed dry. He still gets his canned food, they all get as much of that as they will eat, but they love their hard food. I was hoping since Epigen 90 was suppose to be extremely low carb he might fair okay. Well as you can see by his numbers not so much. I keep increasing his insulin but it just does not seem to help his numbers. I have been increasing the insulin for a while now my next step is 3 units twice a day. My plan is to put him back in his room by himself to try and get him back down as low as I can with only can food. I am going to change the others off to Young again as the phosphorus is lower in it than the Epigen and I need that for an older cat.

I am almost ready to see about changing him over to a maybe Lantus, thinking ProZinc just is not cutting it anymore. These high numbers has him not feeling good, he hollers a lot and loud when he feels bad and guess what he is doing.. hollering a lot. I don't know what to do. My vet has no problem with changing the insulin if that is what I want to do.

I just need some feed back on where to go from here. Has anyone else on ProZinc had this issue and switched to Lantus or another insulin?

I feel sure when I get him back in the room with his food in take monitored I can at least get him back into the 200's but even when all he got was canned he seemed to be in the renal threshold a lot more than he should.

Sorry for rattling on so much.. I am just at a loss. :?

Thanks for listening and any help you can provide.
Nancey

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

I have no experience with Epigen 90 - never heard of it. The other Wysong dry varieties on Janet and Binky's chart run from 22 - 35% carbs......

I wouldn't think an insulin change will help until his diet changes back to wet low carb. Young Again is low carb enough for some cats, but some report higher numbers on it. It may work for your civies. You can't get everyone on wet food? Friskies pate is what most mutiple cat families use. The Friskies Special Diet flavors are supposed to be low in phosphorous.

Your other option is to decide you'll just give enough insulin to counter the dry. But I know you know that it isn't just the carbs- it's the poor ingredients, the dehydration, urinary and kidney issues etc. Dr. lisa makes the best case for wet: www.catinfo.org.

His numbers aren't awful. I'd try upping by .25 to see if the numbers improve, till you decide what to do about the food.

 

[Nancey]

Epigen 90 is a starch free low carb dry food, less than 5% according to their site. However they still use plant protein which is not a good protein source, so I am changing to Young Again. While dry food is not idea, YA is a good quality protein source, all animal not plant, and basically no carb, and lower phosphorus. While I realize Friskies Special Diet flavors are low in phosphorus the protein is al by products which is not the better of the proteins. My vet said to at least have a high quality protein for my 17 year old that is in early renal failure, and is also hyperthyroid. I do everything I can to provide fresh water for them, 3 water fountains, along with 4 bowls. Hence the reason I am reluctant to use the Friskies. I will separate Frodo from the others and work to get him back below renal threshold, I have one foster that is very shy and will not come out and socialize, so she will go in the room with him. It will work fine because she adores Frodo, so it will allow me to socialize with her more and get Frodo's numbers in line where they should be.

My issue really is he was not running well before the dry food, his numbers just kept getting higher, I realize the dry pushed him a little higher but he has been under stress also. I will work to get him down by segregating him, I think that is his best alternative, at least for now. I will see how he does over the weekend and repost then.

Thanks Sue for your response.. most appreciated.

Nancey