Borderline diabetic with allergies

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Coloradocat

Coloradocat

Member Since 2014
Hello! My cat is Burt and he is a big orange cat with white stripes. He was about 14 pounds at his healthiest (if not a little fat) weight. He started getting scabs on his head below his ears, on his neck, and the backs of his arms. They were open, oozey sores. At first, when the sores were smaller, we thought a bird was pecking at his head. Then they got bigger and we were leaving him in the house a lot so we knew it was not a bird. Then, he started losing weight. He dropped down to 11 pounds within a week. We called the vet right away and made an appointment. His sugar level was 400. She gave him a shot for the sores (antibiotics) and told us to start him on wet cat food, high protein, low carb. His sores cleared up and he started gaining weight. We feed him about 5-6 cans of food a day. He still drinks a lot of water and pees a lot, but has kept the weight on and his fur looks better too. The sores keep coming back so we have to go to the vet and get antibiotic shots every couple of months. She doesn't give him cortisone shots because she is concerned that would affect his diabetes. His sugar continues to read right around 400 each time but he looks so healthy!
Other than this, he seems his normal self.
Any suggestions on how to start figuring out what he is allergic to?
 
Well, the food changed so that might be one idea. Was that before or after the sores? My cats always had trouble with beef. You might start over with a single protein and see how he does with that, then add another if things improve. What kind of food?

If you'd like info on how to deal with his diabetes using hometesting, we'd be glad to help. We have found it is the best and safest way, knowing what his blood glucose levels are before giving insulin and then midcycle to see how low the insulin takes him. Testing at the vet is often impacted by stress, which raises the numbers.

Where in Colorado? I'm in North Denver.
 
The most important health factor right now may not be the allergies, it may be his diabetes.
Long term high glucose levels destroys organs in the body and complications such as diabetic ketoacidosis or hepatic lipidosis can happen, resulting in expensive veterinary bills and a dead cat.
He should be on insulin, which you did not mention.
Acceptable insulins include ProZinc, PZI, Lantus, and Levemir.

And if the sores started appearing after you switched foods, it is probably something in one or more of them. This is tough, because the only really good way to determine food allergies is to avoid a specific ingredient for several weeks, then reintroduce it to see if symptoms return. Typically, it will be one of the major proteins in the food - beef, fish, chicken, or turkey. You want to find a cat food with a novel protein, one your cat has not been eating, such as lamb, or venison, or bison, and feed just that for several weeks. Then, one at a time, test a food for several weeks. If symptoms return, you have your answer.
 
Thank you both for your insight. Burt is not on insulin. Because he has gained weight and looks healthy, and has not had an increase beyond 400, she said to keep him on the wet food and try to control it with diet. That kind of makes sense to me because when you look at people, often, diabetes type 2 can be controlled with diet. Does this concept translate to cats?

His allergies started before the diabetes symptoms. He had been on the same dry cat food for the past 5 years-forget the brand now but it was a higher end type-maybe holistic health? and before that he was on proplan (he is now 10). Maybe he had been losing weight and we couldn't tell until it was dramatic?
I like your suggestion about trying an exotic food for a few weeks and then adding back other stuff. Will have to research what wet cat foods would be high in protein/low carb to start with. Did I mention he is kind of picky?

One other question, I found a dry food called EVO by Natura Pet and it has 50% protein, 22% fat, and 7% carbs according to the label. Would this be ok to feed a diabetic cat to change up the wet food now and then? He likes to crunch sometimes. They are also starting to carry "sugar free" cat treats at my local pet store. Any thoughts on that?
 
If he were well controlled, his glucose would not be going over 300 mg/dL.

Please - read over these American Animal Hospital Association diabetes treatment guidelines published in 2010. here. Then print out a copy to give to your vet, ask her to read it, and discuss what makes sense for your cat ... besides risking his life from uncontrolled diabetes.

Also, you can check your food choices at Cat Info on this list. Select foods with under 10% calories from carbohydrates. We recommend canned or raw food to ensure adequate hydration in your cat. Dr Pierson explains why on her web site.
 
For reference, here are our general guidelines:

We consider a cat fairly well regulated if they are in the mid to lower 200s at preshot and in double digits (but not below 40 which is approaching hypo range) at midcycle, on insulin. A non diabetic cat ranges from 40-120, off insulin.

If Burt is 400 at the vet, even with stress figured in, he could be in the 300+s or so without the stress of the vet's office. We like to see diabetics below the renal threshold (the range where his pancreas can heal) the majority of the time. The renal threshold is generally thought to be below 250. The thinking is also that you have a limited window to heal the pancreas, so the sooner insulin is started the better.

If you start a wet low carb diet, and test at home to get some true numbers and he is under 200, you might not have to use insulin. But, if he were mine, I would do those steps and find out where he truly is on the diabetic spectrum.

Have you checked out this vet website: http://www.catinfo.org
 
Coloradocat said:
Burt is not on insulin. Because he has gained weight and looks healthy, and has not had an increase beyond 400, she said to keep him on the wet food and try to control it with diet.
Click to expand...

Could that possibly be the fructosamine number and not the blood glucose number?
 
Don't fall for those treats now advertising "no grain!" or 'sugar free'! They're substituting other starches and types of sugar for the grain and sugar...
 
Aha- that would make sense! I couldn't figure out why your vet would think 400 is a borderline diabetic number, but 400 could be a borderline fructosamine result.

Good thinking, Kay.
 
Dear group of concerned cat people,
Thank you so much for your suggestions and insight! Yes, I am pretty sure that was the fructosamine level-she did the test that does an average. How does that make a difference?
 
Absolutely! As you can see from this website, a 400 fructosamine test would be borderline diabetic. A 400 blood glucose test would be very high and require insulin.


http://www.caninsulin.co.uk/fructosamine.asp?context=management_cats

A fructosamine is a blood test that gives an average of blood glucose levels over a two week period. A blood glucose test tells you how high the glucose level is at that moment.

Hearing your vet say a 400 was just borderline diabetic if she was talking about a blood glucose test made no sense. It does now!

So, you have a prediabetic. I would change the food to low carb (we like in the 8% range) and test at home. If the food brings him down into normal ranges, you are both lucky guys. If not, you are ready to catch the diabetics early.

Changing food might also give you the change to start with one protein and see if his allergies improve.
 
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