Diagnosed again - Basic advice Needed Please

[Kezz26]

Hi All,

My 14 year old boy Max has been diagnosed again in December with diabetes after a period of 2 years of being in remission.

I have moved house in that time and now have a new vet (or frustratingly 3 vets as the practice appears to have a rolling rota where their staff cover other surgeries) who has prescribed caninsulin and Max is now after no improvement on 2 units twice a day.

I had previously used Lantus with good results when he was poorly 2 years earlier, but caninsulin does not seem to be working at all. His drinking is immense and his bloods are showing a poorly controlled cat (in the high 600's)

Can I please start with the basics here that I am sure you have answered many times before and ask a couple of questions about his treatment?

1. Can I inject him as he is eating? When is it best to give him his shot? 30 mins afterward? An hour? I ask this because 2 vets have told me 2 different things.

2. He has had a diet of wet (Sheba Terrine - the food he went into remission on previously) and Dry (Purina One). Is it best to move him entirely to wet? My vet advises that he go on a diabetic diet but Max will not eat any diabetic foods at all. I have also had mixed advice from vets on wet and dry foods.

3. Can a cat snack on food during the day? Is it ok for Max to leave some of his breakfast and go back to it throughout the day? (I do not give him treats)

If I know where to start from the beginning, I can at least know that I am doing the right thing and go on from there.

Many thanks all.

Kerry

 

[JanetNJ]

Hi All,

My 14 year old boy Max has been diagnosed again in December with diabetes after a period of 2 years of being in remission.

I have moved house in that time and now have a new vet (or frustratingly 3 vets as the practice appears to have a rolling rota where their staff cover other surgeries) who has prescribed caninsulin and Max is now after no improvement on 2 units twice a day.

I had previously used Lantus with good results when he was poorly 2 years earlier, but caninsulin does not seem to be working at all. His drinking is immense and his bloods are showing a poorly controlled cat (in the high 600's)

Can I please start with the basics here that I am sure you have answered many times before and ask a couple of questions about his treatment?

1. Can I inject him as he is eating? When is it best to give him his shot? 30 mins afterward? An hour? I ask this because 2 vets have told me 2 different things.

2. He has had a diet of wet (Sheba Terrine - the food he went into remission on previously) and Dry (Purina One). Is it best to move him entirely to wet? My vet advises that he go on a diabetic diet but Max will not eat any diabetic foods at all. I have also had mixed advice from vets on wet and dry foods.

3. Can a cat snack on food during the day? Is it ok for Max to leave some of his breakfast and go back to it throughout the day? (I do not give him treats)

If I know where to start from the beginning, I can at least know that I am doing the right thing and go on from there.

Many thanks all.

Kerry

Sorry to hear he's out of remission. Since you are more familiar with how lantus works, why not ask for your cat to be on that? How long was he on insulin previously?

Are you testing at home? If not that is the first step. You are going to have a much harder time getting him into remission again if you aren't watching the numbers at home.
1. The order we do is test bg 1/2 hour prior to shot time with no food on board, then feed, then shoot. It's OK to shoot while eating as long as they are eating well... I usually waited until after in case the insulin hut hard.
2. As you know from the first time around I am sure, purina one dry is a big no no. It's somewhere around 30% carbs. He needs to be ideal only on low carb wet food such as fancy feast classic or Friskies pate. She also should be ok as long as it's no gravy. Prescription food is not necessary. The only dry ok for diabetes is young again zero carb food and Evo Cat and Kitten in the purple bag.

3. Most of us feed smaller meals throughout the day of low carb wet food. Snacks must be low carb.... Chicken and other meats or freezer dried meat treats.

Once you start home testing we can help you set up a spreadsheet like the one in my signature so we can help you with dosing advice.

 

[Kezz26]

Thanks so much for this.

I should have known better about the Purina One. It has now all been thrown away and the Alphatrak 2 meter is already on order.

 

[zzyzzx]

1. I always inject while he is eating.
2. No more Purina One. That stuff has too high carbs. I mostly feed my cat low carb wet food (Friskies pate and Special Kitty pate). The only dry food he gets is Wysong Epigen (Venisen right now). And the dry food is only out overnight and if I am out of the house.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Shouldn't remove the dry if giving insulin until your home testing. Removing it cold turkey can results in glucose dropping to low fast. It's best to taper off and home test while doing so.