Diet Change Before Insulin

[EastCoastCats86]

Hello,
I just want to be sure I'm understanding this correctly. My cat, Simba, was just diagnosed with diabetes. His BG was 360 at the vets. I am on my way to Wal-mart to purchase a glucometer and better food. Is it okay to make the food switch for him, and see how he (and his BG) react to this? He has NOT started taking any insulin shots. We haven't even filled the prescription for it yet. Can we start with the food switch and wait on the insulin? Just checking. Thank you,

Simba and Aysia

 

[squeem3]

Hello,
I just want to be sure I'm understanding this correctly. My cat, Simba, was just diagnosed with diabetes. His BG was 360 at the vets. I am on my way to Wal-mart to purchase a glucometer and better food. Is it okay to make the food switch for him, and see how he (and his BG) react to this? He has NOT started taking any insulin shots. We haven't even filled the prescription for it yet. Can we start with the food switch and wait on the insulin?

Yes, you can do the diet change now and learn how to test blood glucose levels. Then in a week or so, start insulin. Diet alone rarely works for most new diabetic cats so you should start insulin as soon as possible to get the best chance of remission. Some cats only need a short time on insulin before they go into remission and are diet-controlled.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

Yes, that is exactly the way you want to do things! It's always much easier and safer to do the diet change before insulin therapy, so you're starting insulin with true blood glucose values instead of carb-inflated values.

There are many low carb varieties of Fancy Feast at Walmart that are good for diabetics: http://felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm Special Kitty also has several low carb varieties. You can check out the carb content here: http://felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm

What insulin did your vet prescribe? There are some that are great for cats, and some that are not very good for cats. If it's Lantus or Levemir, than those are excellent insulins for cats. If it's Humulin N--that insulin works well in dogs but not in cats, and you're going to want to get a different script.

 

[EastCoastCats86]

Thank you. I'm a little frustrated with the vet because she advised not changing his diet and beginning right in with the insulin. I'm the opposite and have more faith in natural, at home care, than in prescription drugs. Although, I'm not an expert on cats.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

Thank you. I'm a little frustrated with the vet because she advised not changing his diet and beginning right in with the insulin. I'm the opposite and have more faith in natural, at home care, than in prescription drugs. Although, I'm not an expert on cats.

What insulin did she prescribe? It is likely that he will need insulin, but a few lucky cats go into remission as soon as the diet is changed. That's why you want to start with a clean slate. Just don't delay insulin therapy if numbers are still too high 5-7 days after the diet change. The sooner a cat starts insulin, the sooner are his chances of remission, but diet change is the most important component in that.

If your vet is giving you resistance, here's a link to the AAHA diabetes guidelines, which recommends diet change first: http://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/AAHADiabetesGuidelines.pdf

 

[Blue]

Thank you. I'm a little frustrated with the vet because she advised not changing his diet and beginning right in with the insulin. I'm the opposite and have more faith in natural, at home care, than in prescription drugs. Although, I'm not an expert on cats.

Sorry but your vet must not know much about feline diabetes. She may be very good in other areas, so if she is fine with other testing and is willing to work WITH you, you really don't need the vet for much more than the prescriptions you need.

There are so very many cats who are DIET CONTROLLED. All the time, you will see people sign up here and their vets told them to start on insulin right away, but no talk about diet or home testing.

Those cats start reading here, switch their cats to low carb wet food, and all of a sudden, their cats' numbers come tumbling down and many no longer need insulin shots. Some have taken as little as a week or two, and then there are all the leftover supplies and the insulin... such a waste of money when you could take the easier path by picking up a meter and strips at the pharmacy to test at home and a handful of cans of some low carb wet food like fancy feast or friskies pates.

What's the point of your spending money on insulin, syringes, etc if switching from a bag of kitty crack to a can of wet pate is all you need?

You are in an incredible position to try the food path FIRST.

Now you really don't know how long Simba's had high BG numbers like that 360. And there are other things to rule out as well, if you can.
Quite often, being ill or even being in need of some dental work is enough to cause some high numbers, so one thing you can have the vet check is Simba's teeth if he has not had a dental recently.
Also, Simba's 360 was from blood tests done, I hope? Were there any other values on his bloodwork that were out of range? I am asking because my cats react to the stress of vet visits and it did affect their numbers. I knew that Shadoe would test higher at the vet, but come back down when we got home, and Oliver sometimes tested lower at the vet, he's odd, but then come back up when we got home.

At any rate, I would say to do the food change right away and hold on the insulin filling because with luck, you won't need to fill that prescription and if you do, Simba will not need as much insulin once he's onto a good low carb wet diet.

 

[Pumbaa]

So glad I found this post because that is exactly what I am doing with Pumbaa. His BG was 336 when he was tested at the vet last Monday (4/2/12). I had already pretty much switched him to a high-protein diet by the time I got him into the vet because he had lost weight and was ravenously hungry.

I haven't tested his BG yet, but will do the first test today. I've been weighing him every day and he is up from 8.56 at the vet last Monday (that weight included a muzzle) to 8.7 lbs. today...and today I weighed him right after he peed and pooped. The weight at least tells me that (hopefully) he is now absorbing the nutrients he needs better.

I am praying that I won't have to put him on insulin, and can control this just by diet.

Yes, my vet also started pushing the getting him on insulin immediately, but I give her credit because her third option was trying to control this via diet. She appreciated that I had already done a lot of research before our consultation appointment, and was committed to the diet change. And it seemed that Pumbaa's numbers were not so drastically high that immediate insulin was necessary.

Going to set up my Relion Micro BG meter now, and then try to do a test. Hope Pumbaa cooperates!