Our 10 yr old cat was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. The vet started him on Prozinc insulin 2 u BID. She also sold us the Purina DM dry food which your site does not recommend. I'm wondering if I should call her and ask about this or just change him over to Fancy Feast canned food on my own? Thank you for your very informational forum!
Food
- Thread starter Loki
- Start date
- Status
Sue and Oliver (GA)
Very Active Member
My vet and I didn't agree on food either. So, after reading about diet here, I went out and bought some Fancy Feast. I returned the prescription food and said he wouldn't eat it. ( Purina will take it back no questions). When the vet suggested something else, I just said I had been feeding him wet low carb OTC food, that he was doing fine and that I'd be continuing with it. We basically agreed to disagree on food. Or you can just change it and not mention it. Your vet isn't there to see what you feed. :mrgreen:
ProZinc is a good insulin. We like to start low and go slow, usually with one unit BID. Then we test the blood glucose levels at home to see if we need to increase. My vet didn't know about testing at home. We read about it here and started right away. Now our vet recommends hometesting to her other patients. With that dose, it would be good if you would hometest.
This document is large and has lots of links, but has lots of good info about PZI:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799
Keep reading and asking questions. We'd love to help you help your kitty.
ProZinc is a good insulin. We like to start low and go slow, usually with one unit BID. Then we test the blood glucose levels at home to see if we need to increase. My vet didn't know about testing at home. We read about it here and started right away. Now our vet recommends hometesting to her other patients. With that dose, it would be good if you would hometest.
This document is large and has lots of links, but has lots of good info about PZI:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799
Keep reading and asking questions. We'd love to help you help your kitty.
hmjohnston
Very Active Member
Hello Loki!
When I switched vets he wanted me to feed the Hills diabetic dry (seriously?? they think dry is good for diabetics?!!) I asked him the carb count of the dry and he said he didn't know. I told him that after doing research diabetic cats need low carbs and anything above 10% was too much and I would prefer under 5% at the current time- was the dry under 5%? Since he didn't know the answer I said that I would continue to feed my cat on FF and raw (which I make) because I knew the carb count on them and he has never made an issue of it since.
He does know I do my research on FD and when I feel my Sneakers needs something- like a change of insulin- I bring him articles about it and say why I want it. Right now I want the test for acromelegy and IAA- both which can be the root of insulin resistance for cats and require high doses like Sneakers does but require shipping out of state and it is not as usual for owners to request for female cats. I dropped off the articles last week on them for our appt on Monday.
The sad part is vets need to know so much about so many animals that FD sometimes isn't covered as much as how to neuter or spay an animal so it is up to us to do the research and inform the vet. If they are good vets they will do their own research but ours will by necessity be more focused on specific problems (like acro) that they might not even think about. We are our pets advocate and this board is the best place to find information and help on FD that our vets might not even check.
Good luck on keeping your cat low carb and dry free!
And home testing is good- get a human meter at Walmart or the drug store (nothing with True in the name or Freestyle Lite) and start testing so you know when your kitties level drops when she is on low carb food- some even are controlled by food only, and that is a worthy goal
.
heather
When I switched vets he wanted me to feed the Hills diabetic dry (seriously?? they think dry is good for diabetics?!!) I asked him the carb count of the dry and he said he didn't know. I told him that after doing research diabetic cats need low carbs and anything above 10% was too much and I would prefer under 5% at the current time- was the dry under 5%? Since he didn't know the answer I said that I would continue to feed my cat on FF and raw (which I make) because I knew the carb count on them and he has never made an issue of it since.
He does know I do my research on FD and when I feel my Sneakers needs something- like a change of insulin- I bring him articles about it and say why I want it. Right now I want the test for acromelegy and IAA- both which can be the root of insulin resistance for cats and require high doses like Sneakers does but require shipping out of state and it is not as usual for owners to request for female cats. I dropped off the articles last week on them for our appt on Monday.
The sad part is vets need to know so much about so many animals that FD sometimes isn't covered as much as how to neuter or spay an animal so it is up to us to do the research and inform the vet. If they are good vets they will do their own research but ours will by necessity be more focused on specific problems (like acro) that they might not even think about. We are our pets advocate and this board is the best place to find information and help on FD that our vets might not even check.
Good luck on keeping your cat low carb and dry free!
And home testing is good- get a human meter at Walmart or the drug store (nothing with True in the name or Freestyle Lite) and start testing so you know when your kitties level drops when she is on low carb food- some even are controlled by food only, and that is a worthy goal
.heather
- Status