? Buddy

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Carole Dgan

Carole Dgan

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Please see Bud's sheet. It looks like Prozinc isn't working that good for him. I give him low carb wet food, and every once in a while EVO dry. When he gets the EVO dry, his numbers always go up. I got a new bottle of Prozinc a few days after the spreadsheet said I left the old bottle out.

What should I do?
 
I can't speak to the insulin part of the question, but I was giving my cat only about 2 tablespoons of Evo and it was definitely impacting his BG. When I finally just cut it out completely his numbers dropped a whole bunch. Turns out he's super sensitive to carbs and even a "healthy" kibble was just too much for his little pancreas. I know there are people on here who feed it and don't seem to have any problem with it, but Sam sure did.

Another thing that made a difference was his litter. I was using a corn-based, clumping litter that was flushable. That means that if water/pee touched it, it would dissolve. It also means that every time he used the litter box (and diabetes made him use the litter box a LOT), he was getting corn on his paws, then ingesting it when he cleaned off his paws. Switched litter and his numbers also had a noticeable drop. Kind of the same thing on this one: I know there are people on here who use the same litter and say it's no problem at all, but it was for my cat. I think some kitties are just super sensitive, and I got one of those kitties.

Don't know if any of that applies to your situation at all, but I've noticed that little changes seemed to impact him a lot.
 
That is great insight and information Djamila. I just don't think dry food at all is good for diabetics. If you can, the best thing to do is eliminate all together and see how that affects Buddy. At least, then you can say that you eliminated all such causes that increase BG numbers. I can also say that Merlin is super sensitive too. When I was feeding him food that was 5%, his numbers were ok but not the greatest. Most of the time he was in he 300's at pre-shot time. Now since I changed to 4% carb, he has dropped about 100 points or more. Something to think about.....

Edit Update: Check out Merlin's SS on June 8, 2015. That is when I switched it and you can see the difference since then. It is amazing.
 
Some kitties ARE truly carb sensitive. Gyspy..phew. She couldn't handle even the normal foods that kitties could...we had to go to 4 or 5% carbs and even THEN she probably needed lower. I was researching to see if I could find a 0 or 1 % carb food for her when she crossed the Bridge. I'm just not sure that's the culprit if it's only rarely that he gets it...since his numbers are pretty consistently high.

However, overall, I think Sue may be right. I think you may need to switch insulins. You've gone up slow and steady and it may be that Buddy just needs something different.
 
Djamila said:
I can't speak to the insulin part of the question, but I was giving my cat only about 2 tablespoons of Evo and it was definitely impacting his BG. When I finally just cut it out completely his numbers dropped a whole bunch. Turns out he's super sensitive to carbs and even a "healthy" kibble was just too much for his little pancreas. I know there are people on here who feed it and don't seem to have any problem with it, but Sam sure did.

Another thing that made a difference was his litter. I was using a corn-based, clumping litter that was flushable. That means that if water/pee touched it, it would dissolve. It also means that every time he used the litter box (and diabetes made him use the litter box a LOT), he was getting corn on his paws, then ingesting it when he cleaned off his paws. Switched litter and his numbers also had a noticeable drop. Kind of the same thing on this one: I know there are people on here who use the same litter and say it's no problem at all, but it was for my cat. I think some kitties are just super sensitive, and I got one of those kitties.

Don't know if any of that applies to your situation at all, but I've noticed that little changes seemed to impact him a lot.
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Wow about the litter! Good thing you thought to switch. I have never heard of a flushable corn based litter. Out of curiosity, what is the brand?
 
Hi Carole, Colin and I just switched from ProZinc to Levemir as he was high dose too. It's too soon to tell if it's helped for sure, but we did see a day of yellows Sunday and that's a step up for us. The insulin is a little different to use, not sure if I understand it yet, but the basics are the same. I would definitely try eliminating the dry either way you go.
 
HI Carole - Murphy is still rather newly dx - he only seems to tolerate dry food so I'm stuck - I switched him to Evo several weeks ago (had a thread on the health forum) and also saw a spike in his numbers too (over the vet Rx dry diabetic food which is high in carbs) so I don't know what is in Evo, but it certainly wasn't a good option for Murphy. Several other members chimed in that Evo made their cat spike too. I'm trying Young Again but going very slowly - it does make their poop smell awful but if it helps in controlling his blood sugar, I'll take it.
 
Truly think you need to bite the bullet and start working on transitioning completely low carb wet foods. It makes all the difference in their BG numbers. Yes, they will probably walk away but eventually, they will come back to eat a little while you are going through your food testing time. I can't tell you how many posts that I have read that said "my cat will only eat dry." Well I was one of them too and as you know, have had all sorts of stomach issues at first but it is worth it to keep trying and trying to find a food that he (they) like. At first, I had a smorgasbord of a half dozen cans or so before landing on one. It is funny that when in May/June of this year, I had to find another cat food because Friskies discontinued their Special Diet T&G. I first started with Wellness Turkey. None of the cats liked it. Then for the next two weeks, I tried probably about 4-6 others and of course, they just turned their nose up. Then my last try and for some reason, I went back to Wellness Turkey and they all thought it was Thanksgiving dinner...they loved it! Don't know why the second time worked, but it did for all of them. It was a good thing because, I was out of options.
 
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I think Rupert is carb sensitive too, I try to feed only wet food that is 5% or less. He still has too many highs, but it seemed to help when I fed him only the lowest carb foods. You still might have to switch insulins, that might just be what it takes to get him in the lower numbers. Good luck!
 
Bobbie And Bubba said:
Wow about the litter! Good thing you thought to switch. I have never heard of a flushable corn based litter. Out of curiosity, what is the brand?
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World's Best Cat Litter is the brand. Honestly I miss it because it's soooooo easy to clean up and doesn't track the way other litters do. But changing it dropped his BG about 50 points almost overnight.

I can relate to the pain of getting a cat off of dry food. Sam just refused to eat canned food. And if I mixed the wet and dry, he wouldn't even touch it. I tried soooooo many different foods before he even started to eat it. It took me months, and lots of wasted food before I could get him onto wet food. It's definitely made a difference in his BG though!
 
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