Back on the juice

[Brenda Thompson]

I had recently posted a thread about my cat Cleo, who is a 13 yr. old calico, concerning a gradual weight loss after taking her off of insulin therapy. She had experienced a hypo event about a year ago and I have been reluctant to return to insulin. I went to the vet today and she lost about 1 lb. since her last visit 6 months ago bringing her weight down to 6.6 lbs. Too tiny for her mid size frame!! Her blood glucose was in the low 400 range (up from 230) at last visit. The vet explained that the lower reading could have been due to stress and feeding time when the prior test was taken. I've been reading some posts about people who test at home and am planning to purchase a test kit this week. I really appreciate all the advise I've received so far from this site and its actually what prompted me to give the insulin one more try. They gave us PZI and recommended 1 unit to start which seems the standard from what I'm reading. The new change is that they also had me purchase Proplan DM formula dry kibble to leave out for her during the day when I'm at work. Historically, I've been feeding her wet food only twice a day. The vet said that if the glucose starts to drop, cats naturally will look for food to bring it up. Has anyone else heard of this before?

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

The vet said that if the glucose starts to drop, cats naturally will look for food to bring it up. Has anyone else heard of this before?

Yes, some cats (can't say all) will go to eat if their BG is going low. You could leave out wet food instead of the dry. The DM is med-high carbs at 18%. Some people purchase automatic timed feeders like PetSafe 5-meal feeder C50 with ice packs. Others freeze portions of wet food, with extra water added, so it thaws out a couple hours later for kitty to eat.

I am glad you have been doing some reading, there is tons of information here, as I'm sure you are aware now . 1U is a very nice starting dose, we had an influx of Vets telling people to start at too high doses . I am going to throw some links at you now
Let's get your signature setup: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

Here is the template for the Spreadsheet we use, just need a Google account: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Hope you never need this again, but it's good to have anyway: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

I also composed this list for newer members who are open to testing:
Test Shop List
A lot of us use a human meter from Walmart, ReliOn Confirm or Micro (Only difference is meter size).
1. Meter ($15)
2. Test strips ($35.88 / 100)
3. 26 or 28 gauge lancets ($4)
4. Neosporin or triple antibiotic ointment ($3)
5. Ketone test strips
6. A treat for yourself