Cat diabetes management not going well

Status
Not open for further replies.
E

Emilyplusfourcats

Member Since 2023
My cat hossy is 6 years old and was diagnosed with diabetes about 6-8 months ago. He was started on vetsulin and his dose was gradually increased to 3 units twice daily. He’s also been having Hills Science Gluco support dry kibble and gets about a third can of fancy feast naturals three times a day. He has been doing well for the most part; playful, less lethargic, rapid weight loss came to a stop and he actually gained .5 lbs following a roughly 7 lb weight loss prior to and shortly after his diagnosis. His labs were improving somewhat at each checkup for the first few months. He recently had a checkup and his fructosamine was 490, higher than ever. He has always been peeing and drinking a lot but nothing has changed since his last checkup except it’s gotten colder so he’s probably getting less outdoor exercise. The vet wants to switch him to glargine now and says he’s built a resistance to vetsulin. I am just worried about him and thought we were doing a good job controlling his diabetes but apparently not… any thoughts or advice appreciated
 
Welcome to FDMB!

Not to counter everything your vet has suggested but...

Vetsulin is not a great insulin for treating feline diabetes. It has not been recommended by the American Animal Hospital Assn since 2018. It has too short of a duration for a cat's fast metabolism. This is a link to the AAHA guidelines. They recommend either Lantus (glargine) or Prozinc for treating feline diabetes. Without seeing data from home testing, there's no way to know if he's insulin resistant but frankly, I doubt it. Switching to glargine is absolutely the right move. You will need to purchase U100 syringes -- Vetsulin uses U40 syringes. (Do not use the pens for injecting.)

Despite the name of the food, the Hill's Gluco Support is very high in carbohydrates. There are only very few dry foods that are low in carbs and appropriate for a diabetic cat. We consider low carb to be less than 10% carbohydrate. The Hills food is 23%. It doesn't matter how good the insulin is, the amount of carbs in the food will defeat the insulin. Essentially, you're feeding Hossy cookies and cake at every meal. The Fancy Feast Naturals are zero carb. This is a link to a food chart that contains most of the canned foods available in the US along with information on the amount of carbs. You have lots of choices!

We would also strongly encourage you to learn how to home test. We have links with pictures and videos. Home testing means you don't need to spend money on fructosamine tests or curves at the vets office. More importantly, it allows you to see how your cat is progressing and even more importantly, it allows you to keep your cat safe.

Please let us know how we can help. The members here re very generous with their time and knowledge.
 
Thank you so much for the reply, this was very insightful. I’m still confused on how to read the dry food nutrition labels as they seldom mention any sort of carbohydrate except fiber. Do you have any advice on that? Or any dry food you suggest? I did start him on the fancy feast naturals because someone shared the canned food list with me when I posted about his original diagnosis
 
Emilyplusfourcats said:
Thank you so much for the reply, this was very insightful. I’m still confused on how to read the dry food nutrition labels as they seldom mention any sort of carbohydrate except fiber. Do you have any advice on that? Or any dry food you suggest? I did start him on the fancy feast naturals because someone shared the canned food list with me when I posted about his original diagnosis
Click to expand...

Yes, it is not required for a cat food manufacturer to report carbs. As such, you are forced to do the manual calculation yourself. Basically, add up all the components and subtract from 100%. That's the % of carbs. Then divide that amount by (100%-moisture) to get carbs by weight. You want that as low as possible.

So, for example, FF dry cat food:
34% protein
17% fat
3% fiber
10% moisture
--------------
64% (100-64 = 36% carbs)

Carbs by dry matter --> 36/(100-10) = 40% carbs by weight. No amount of insulin will counter that. We try to be under 10%. That's why wet food is best. There is also a great online calculator to help. https://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

But as always, make sure you test when you change food! You don't want your baby to go hypoglycemic!
 
I think there are only like two dry foods that are actually low in carbs but I can't remember what they are. I think they're pretty expensive though, and don't work as well for every cat. I'll see if I can find the names of the foods though, or else I'll tag someone who can tell you.
 
basilisk14 said:
Yes, it is not required for a cat food manufacturer to report carbs. As such, you are forced to do the manual calculation yourself. Basically, add up all the components and subtract from 100%. That's the % of carbs. Then divide that amount by (100%-moisture) to get carbs by weight. You want that as low as possible.

So, for example, FF dry cat food:
34% protein
17% fat
3% fiber
10% moisture
--------------
64% (100-64 = 36% carbs)

Carbs by dry matter --> 36/(100-10) = 40% carbs by weight. No amount of insulin will counter that. We try to be under 10%. That's why wet food is best. There is also a great online calculator to help. https://scheyderweb.com/cats/catfood.html

But as always, make sure you test when you change food! You don't want your baby to go hypoglycemic!
Click to expand...
This is really interesting and helpful. Thanks!
 
I found the two dry foods I was trying to think of. Dr Elsey's and Young Again Zero Carb. They're available in the US. Wet food is cheaper and better for most of us though. But then every cat is different.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top