Checking in -- interesting trends

[ericbakes]

Hello everyone. Just checking in on day 5 of treatment for Melville's diabetes. Just a brief reminder: my cat is 5 years old and had glucose levels in the 400s last Tuesday. He is on 2 units twice a day of Prozinc. The vet gave me Purina DM, both wet and dry. I have been testing before kitty's breakfast and dinner.

Since the vet fed him both wet and dry DM while under observation, I decided to keep everything the same. The vet instructed me to feed him 1/4 cup of dry in the morning and 1/4 cup at night, or 1/2 can of wet in the morning and 1/2 can at night (or some combination of the two). I decided to feed dry in the morning and wet at night (my logic behind this is that the higher carbs in the dry would hold off danger of hypos while we're at work).

The following results should come as no surprise. When I test Melville before his supper, he generally runs in the high 300s. When I test him in the morning, twelve hours later, his numbers are generally around 150-170. I strongly attribute the evening feeding of wet food to these low morning results. I have not been testing in between, because I've had trouble drawing blood from Melville. He definitely feels the stick, and doesn't care for it at all. So, I'm trying to keep this to a minimum.

Today, I fed him wet food for breakfast, and his glucose was at 150 tonight. I may feed him wet food tonight and skip his insulin shot so that I can get an idea of what his body is capable of on its own. What do you folks think about that? Good idea? Bad idea?

Thanks again everyone for your support.

Sincerely,
Eric

 

[Mystery]

It's a great idea to get Melville off of dry food as soon as possible, but take care that you don't make the change too quickly and give him upset tummy and/or potty issues. I think reducing over a 5-7 days is recommended by a lot of people.

Also, as you've already noticed, removing dry food will likely start his BG levels to drop significantly. To avoid potential hypo situations, you should test at least a couple of times during his cycles when making the diet transition. That really is also the only way you will be able to tell how the new diet is affecting his BG, and you may have to adjust his insulin dose based on that.

 

[Cini Mini's Mom]

Totally agree with Mystery.

If you can get kitty on canned food exclusively you may see he doesn't need as much insulin as before and eventually you may be able to get him off the insulin all together and just manage his diabetes through diet. Then you won't have to worry about hypo while at work

 

[Phoebe_TiggyGA_NortonGA]

It is best to do experiments on a weekend when you can be home to monitor during the day.

Also - it would be good to find out how low your kitty is going mid-cycle. BG 150 to 150 is great as long as the low "peak" is above 50.

 

[Vyktors Mum]

Have you tried warming kitty's ear to get a better blood flow? I assume you are giving a low carb treat every time you attempt a test, if not this is highly recommended. My kitty sometimes purrs through his test in expectation of the coming treat. Also if all else fails you can try testing from kitty's paw to see if that is preferred.