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axelrod0214

axelrod0214

Member Since 2015
Feeling really discouraged, aggravated, and worried this morning....I adopted Monty two days ago being told by His vet that as long as he stayed on WD Hills diet he wouldn't need insulin...woke up this morning to check a fasting BS on him (My vets request) and it was 347! No food since 10pm last night...he isn't acting sluggish or weird he's grooming and wandering, he ate his breakfast...I'm waiting for the dr to call me back...I am starting to feel lied to by his vet and previous owner
 
I'd get him off the Hill's asap! It way too high in carbs. You want to be under 10 % for sure, 8 is better. On this site somewhere is a food list that will tell you what you need to know. I'm at work and on very short time or I'd find it for you.

I'd also be making a WTH call to that vet!
 
I was th
Mogmom and Goofus said:
I'd get him off the Hill's asap! It way too high in carbs. You want to be under 10 % for sure, 8 is better. On this site somewhere is a food list that will tell you what you need to know. I'm at work and on very short time or I'd find it for you.

I'd also be making a WTH call to that vet!
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i was thinking of trying the fancy feast classic without gravy a lot of ppl have given good reviews on here and I picked up his insulin today he is now getting 1 unit twice a day.
 
Fancy Feast classic is an excellent low carb choice. Which insulin are you giving? It will help if you put the name of the insulin in your signature line. That way members here can help guide you.

I'd recommend another vet if your current vet won't work with you. You in the right place here at FDMB with people with experience to assist you.
 
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Please note that removing the dry food can drastically reduce a cat's BG levels. Test regularly while transitioning off of the dry food as his insulin needs may go down.
 
Also, the WD Hills diet is high carb so it's important to transition slowly to a low carb diet like Fancy Feast Classics while on insulin.
 
axelrod0214 said:
I was th

i was thinking of trying the fancy feast classic without gravy a lot of ppl have given good reviews on here and I picked up his insulin today he is now getting 1 unit twice a day.
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I give my cat Fancy Feast Kitten food Tender Turkey Feast, it is 1% carb for a 3 oz can. My cats love it! Both Bubba and civvie cat, Forrest. It about .59/can.
 
Cat Ma said:
Fancy Feast classic is an excellent low carb choice. Which insulin are you giving? It will help if you put the name of the insulin in your signature line. That way members here can help guide you.

I'd recommend another vet if your current vet won't work with you. You in the right place here at FDMB with people with experience to assist you.
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It was his original vet (the one he saw with his last owner) that told me this...my vet put him on vestulin today...just gave him his first unit...blood glucose was 328 and he hasn't eaten since 8am...unless he snuck meals from my other cat...which is another issue I'm having to work out...
 
Most of us with more than 1 cat (which is most of us) just switch all our cats over to low carb canned food after we have 1 diabetic. Not only does it take away the problem of the diabetic getting into the "other cats" food, it adds a little insurance that our other cats may never become diabetic!

It also does wonderful things for their coats and condition in general
 
Go to the home page and under diet is some links for cat food comparisons. We used to use FF classic and recently switched to Friskies pates. Under 8% carbs.
 
Everyone's already said this but the Hills stuff is about as worse as the cat could be eating right now.

You want something under 10% carbs per this list (there's other more detailed one's around I'm sure):
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/SortableCatFoodChartCatinfo.org2-22-13.htm

I personally have used Authority Pate and Friskies Pate, both which are about ~9-11% and cheap(er) then buying wet food, especially the Friskies (I buy 48 packs for $25 at Costco).

You're gonna have to do quite a fair amount of reading about managing cat diabetes, but it is very possible. Try and dedicate your nearest day off to nothing but studying diabetes in cats, you'll make everything much, much easier on yourself and your new cat. Don't give up on it yet.

The hardest parts are giving insulin and checking blood, which you seem to be able to do both of already. Everything else is just accumulating and (using) the available knowledge to treat your cat.

I also adopted ours from a shelter and we got her into remission in 2 months, and she just 'relapsed?' again a few weeks ago, so I'm having to learn a lot of stuff again after so many months of her being in remission. Switching her from Hill's Md (the shelter gave that to her) to wet food put her in remission as soon as the change was complete, with barely any insulin being given during that time.
 
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Cat Ma said:
Ideally, carbs under 8% are what we aim for. The lower, the better. 11% is too high. I don't think there's a better or more detailed chart than the ones we have in our links!
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So at 9-11% I should be looking for something else? I'm trying to find something that is 'cost-feasible- yet low carb.
 
axelrod0214 said:
Feeling really discouraged, aggravated, and worried this morning....I adopted Monty two days ago being told by His vet that as long as he stayed on WD Hills diet he wouldn't need insulin...woke up this morning to check a fasting BS on him (My vets request) and it was 347! No food since 10pm last night...he isn't acting sluggish or weird he's grooming and wandering, he ate his breakfast...I'm waiting for the dr to call me back...I am starting to feel lied to by his vet and previous owner
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Hey there, how's it goin today? Have you started transitioning Monty to low carb food yet? Haven't had time to check in for a couple of days, hope things are looking up for you and Monty.
 
Mogmom and Goofus said:
Hey there, how's it goin today? Have you started transitioning Monty to low carb food yet? Haven't had time to check in for a couple of days, hope things are looking up for you and Monty.
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Lng
Mogmom and Goofus said:
Hey there, how's it goin today? Have you started transitioning Monty to low carb food yet? Haven't had time to check in for a couple of days, hope things are looking up for you and Monty.
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he is on Fancy Feast now! He loves it. We started Vetsulin day before yesterday...his sugar still hasn't gone below 276...gonna call the vet Monday...see if he needs alil more than 1 unit twice a day...his sugar seems to go higher at night I think...but he isn't acting like its phasing him...he was up grooming when I woke up...thankyou for checking in!
 
It takes a few days for any change with insulin to take effect as their body has to learn how to use it. I never could get the human meter stuff straight in my head, so I use the Alphatrak2, which is animal specific. It's quite pricey, but I use Freestyle Lite test strips with it, much cheaper. But most on here use ReliOn micro from Walmart. Strips are super cheap, but getting the numbers straight is way too complicated for my little brain! Lol. Home testing is really important as it's the only accurate way to know what's happening with kitty and going to the vet to do it not only gets expensive, it also stresses the cat thereby giving higher than normal numbers.
 
Mogmom and Goofus said:
It takes a few days for any change with insulin to take effect as their body has to learn how to use it. I never could get the human meter stuff straight in my head, so I use the Alphatrak2, which is animal specific. It's quite pricey, but I use Freestyle Lite test strips with it, much cheaper. But most on here use ReliOn micro from Walmart. Strips are super cheap, but getting the numbers straight is way too complicated for my little brain! Lol. Home testing is really important as it's the only accurate way to know what's happening with kitty and going to the vet to do it not only gets expensive, it also stresses the cat thereby giving higher than normal numbers.
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I 100% agree...I bought the relion consumer the second day I got him...his numbers have been pretty steady, just high. I'm trying to be patient lol. This is the food I bought can you tell me if its ok? I bought the fancy feast for one can 2x a day and then I was gonna do half a can of human tuna at lunch for a snack (which is 0% carbs) bc he starts rummaging if I don't give him something mid day...
image.jpg
 
Mogmom and Goofus said:
It takes a few days for any change with insulin to take effect as their body has to learn how to use it. I never could get the human meter stuff straight in my head, so I use the Alphatrak2, which is animal specific. It's quite pricey, but I use Freestyle Lite test strips with it, much cheaper. But most on here use ReliOn micro from Walmart. Strips are super cheap, but getting the numbers straight is way too complicated for my little brain! Lol. Home testing is really important as it's the only accurate way to know what's happening with kitty and going to the vet to do it not only gets expensive, it also stresses the cat thereby giving higher than normal numbers.
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This Glucometer guide is easy to follow: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1oI_34_EgqeKdpyttFW0oLoG1mbw16IkATAWHhoQD2JU/pub
 
axelrod0214 said:
I 100% agree...I bought the relion consumer the second day I got him...his numbers have been pretty steady, just high. I'm trying to be patient lol. This is the food I bought can you tell me if its ok? I bought the fancy feast for one can 2x a day and then I was gonna do half a can of human tuna at lunch for a snack (which is 0% carbs) bc he starts rummaging if I don't give him something mid day...View attachment 15630
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Fancy Feast Classic is good. You should restrict the tuna due to the mercury in it. The same is true with canned cat seafood.
 
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axelrod0214 said:
I 100% agree...I bought the relion consumer the second day I got him...his numbers have been pretty steady, just high. I'm trying to be patient lol. This is the food I bought can you tell me if its ok? I bought the fancy feast for one can 2x a day and then I was gonna do half a can of human tuna at lunch for a snack (which is 0% carbs) bc he starts rummaging if I don't give him something mid day...View attachment 15630
Click to expand...

I can tell you honestly that this will be a bit of roller coaster ride for a couple of months, but it does get easier! The FF is good, just more pricey. Friskies is also low carb and costs much less as you can buy it in both 3oz and 5.5oz can. I buy Evo canned turkey and chicken and Evo Cat &Kitten dry ( I mix it with my civie's canned) as they're both below 8%, the canned is less than 1 carb. I order it from chewy.com and they ship it to me free (with a $49 purchase) I get it much cheaper than buying it at specialty pet food stores.

I know it sounds kinda silly, But I think you'll find that just knowing how much that kitty needs you now, will make you love him even more. Thank you for not taking him back to the shelter, a lot of people would have.
 
Sounds like you are doing great! I know it's discouraging not to see the numbers come down right away but between the insulin and the diet change, Monty now needs a tincture of time.

Let the new diet and insulin do their work for at least 5 days. The food alone will begin to help his numbers and even small dose changes in insulin can have a huge effect in many cats. Vetsulin dose should be adjusted in no more than 10% increments and no sooner than 5 or 6 days.

I made an exception for Genghis when I reduced her starter dose from 2.0 to 1.0 when her BG fell to under 50 - I had changed her diet as well and should have gone more slowly with either the diet change or the insulin - learn from my mistake!!

Also you had mentioned Monty might be getting into the other cat's food - for sure this will change his BG. When Genghis had her low number, I fed her a handful of kibble and some Temptations and her BG skyrocketed - it didn't take much! So unless you're positive Monty is 100% on his low carb diet I'd hesitate to make any dosage changes based on his BG numbers.

Hope that helps!
 
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