Getting my cat started on shots and new diet

[OhLily]

Thank you for your patience with all my new threads. Lily is a 10 year old tabby with no other health issues who was diagnosed with diabetes 48 hours ago. We have had barely enough time to get her insulin, learn to inject her, etc and we haven't even had time to pick up a testing kit yet. Going to do that tomorrow and attempt to learn that too.

Lily is currently on 1 unit of Lantus twice per day, 12 hours apart. She has had four home shots thus far and is due for another this evening. She currently weighs 9 pounds (she is underweight, should be 11 or 12 pounds).

Because of our household schedule, Lily needs to eventually get on a 7 am/7pm shot schedule. The vet said we could slowly, gently decrement her shot interval time until we are able to roll it back (it was initially 10 am/10 pm) which we are trying to carefully do. Our instructions are to make sure she eats a half hour before her shots. But she has been a nibbler all her life and naturally we are having trouble getting her to eat on schedule at the outset here. Her appetite is OK, but she currently doesn't want to sit and eat all her food at the proper time. Our plan is to phase her off dry food and to storebought wet food.

I trust that once we get the kit and learn to use it, things will be clearer, but I need advice right now: if Lily doesn't eat most of her food before her next shot time, should we just skip the shot? I'm concerned that her new lethargy is due to the insulin and not just the hot weather.

 

[Erica & Carter]

Lantus doesn't need AS much food on board as some of the more hard-hitting insulins but eating is still important. Lantus nadir typically happens between 5-7 hours after the shot, which is the lowest point in the cycle, thus where having food on board can help buffer that drop. Carter would eat multiple small meals, one right before his shot, and one about 4-5 hours later and that helped flatten out his cycle and because I knew he wouldn't necessarily want one huge meal at shot time.

 

[Squalliesmom]

My Squallie usually eats about half his meal before his shot (he is on Lantus, too) and then finishes it up any time in about a three hour block afterwards.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

With Lantus you don't need to worry about her eating a half hour before shot time. That applies to other insulins but not Lantus. You need to know she is eating but you also want to make sure that any pre-shot tests are not food influenced. So do not feed her two hours before her shot is due. Give her food to make sure she is eating and then give the insulin. If she doesn't eat it all but you know she is eating, it's fine because it takes a few hours before the Lantus starts to work. Most of us feed multiple small meals/snacks rather than a big meal at each shot. Personally, I split food into 6 feedings.....a quarter of daily allowance at each shot time and the other half of allowance is split into equal portions for her 2 snacks each cycle.

 

[OhLily]

My vet instructed us to make sure she eats a half hour before getting the shot, but maybe we misinterpreted and thought she had to have a full stomach. Possibly we also misinterpreted this and the vet only meant to make sure she eats before her first shot upon getting home from her day of testing where she didn't get to eat much.

Lily is not being tested right now because we just got the diagnosis 48 hours ago and haven't even had a chance to buy the testing kit and learn to use it. (Our vet did not give us a kit and didn't even mention home testing or give us any guidance.) So, we are just today, right now, wanting to make sure that she isn't being over-insulined and becoming hypoglycemic. This is a concern for us because we are also in the process of trying to slowly change her shot time from 10pm/10am (impossible for us) to 7am/7pm, so she has been getting her shots slightly earlier each day. When we have a free moment to breathe and go to Walmart and buy a kit and learn to use it, obviously we will have a clearer picture of her true glucose level. Until then, we have to go by observation of her behavior I'm afraid.

We will make sure to give her controlled snacks if she seems hungry. (She had some tuna water at 2 pm and a handful of kibble just now at 4:45)

She isn't drinking much either since she got back from the vet on Wednesday, which is sort of a good thing because her big problem lately has been that she drinks constantly... but I want to make sure she gets adequate water, too. Lily does not like to drink out of a bowl. She has always preferred, since kittenhood, drinking from a dripping faucet. (Believe me, we always leave clean bowls of water out too, but she never likes them.) Any thoughts on how to encourage her to drink?

Tonight we are a little nervous about her next insulin shot because we can't help feeling like she's getting hypoglycemic today (she just seems way draggier than usual), and our vet instructions say if she does not eat, to then skip the shot and call them in the morning. We are going to give her some food at around 7 pm today and her next shot is scheduled for 8 pm.

 

[Sharon14]

To increase her drinking, have you tried a pet fountain?

 

[OhLily]

We have a $30 pet fountain still in the box in the garage because she wasn't impressed with it at all. Tried that a few years ago

Fortunately Lily has a stay at home Mom who is willing to switch on the faucet for her at any hour of the day or night. That has "worked" for her. But now since getting back from the vet Lily has not been drinking much. This is better than her constant pleas for water over the last few months, but we don't want her getting dehydrated either

 

[JanetNJ]

put some extra water in her food if you need to increase her fluids.

 

[OhLily]

Yeah, we need to transition her to wet food so we were thinking about adding water to her kibble. Thanks

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

we were thinking about adding water to her kibble

Never add water to kibble.....Kibble is already almost always drowning in bacteria and fungi of various kinds and adding water just makes those things "activate" even worse

(Our vet did not give us a kit and didn't even mention home testing or give us any guidance.)

We hear the same thing from most people here....Vets only get 5 hours of formal education on diabetes when they're in school (and that covers ALL species!!).....unless they have a special interest in feline diabetes, most don't keep up with the latest treatments. Also, most new people are already overwhelmed at getting the diagnosis and hearing they have to give shots. Some vets might not mention home testing because they're afraid too many people will just euthanize the cat thinking "MY cat would never let me do that!" or "That's too much to put my cat through" (both are really ridiculous.....even the most fractious cat can learn to accept home testing and the majority actually learn to like it because they know they're going to get a yummy treat!)

change her shot time from 10pm/10am (impossible for us) to 7am/7pm, so she has been getting her shots slightly earlier each day

You can safely move your shot times either 15 minutes per cycle or 30 minutes once a day to get back on the schedule you want to be on

(she just seems way draggier than usual),

We hear this a lot from new sugarcat moms and dads....it seems to be pretty normal at first for them to seem a little sleepier and lazier than usual

My vet instructed us to make sure she eats a half hour before getting the shot,

Again...this is due to your vet not keeping up with the latest treatments....With the older insulins, it WAS important to have the cat eat a substantial meal 30 minutes before the shot so that when it "hit", there was food on board, but with the newer, gentler insulins like Lantus, it's unnecessary. Most of us Test/Feed/Shoot within 5-10 minutes. You Test to make sure they're high enough for insulin at all, then Feed to make sure they're at least willing to eat and not sick and Shoot

Since lantus's onset of action isn't usually for about 2-3 hours, that gives your cat plenty of time to nibble and have plenty of food on board by the time it starts to really "kick in"

It's important that you take up her food for the 2 hours immediately before Pre-shot testing times though. You want to get those Pre-shot tests done without the influence of food

 

[Sharon14]

I understand wanting to wait to home test until you have a chance to breathe, but I promise you'll breathe so much easier once you begin. Imagine not worrying whether Lily is lethargic due to a hypo, or because her numbers are too high, because you know exactly what her glucose is. This is especially important as you change over to a low carb wet food, as her numbers could drop significantly.

 

[OhLily]

I keep reading about people testing their cats 4-5 times a day or more. I will never be able to do that. I work during the day and my mom is elderly and will not be able to do the testing by herself. Maybe on a weekend day we could manage some thing like that. We would be able to do a test before shot time every day, but we are just trying to get the shot times gradually rolled back to when we will both be there to give them and that in itself is hard.

Also, her next appointment is not until the 17th when she will get an all day testing, so I am not sure what we are supposed to be looking for with the testing when we do start, if we start before the 17th. Human meters, cat numbers, it's all very confusing.

 

[Sharon14]

Lots of us work full time and can help you with a testing schedule. You should get a test before each shot, I do it a couple hours before I leave in the AM, then get another just before I leave. That way if my cat is low, I can give him some extra food. At night, a test before the shot and one just before bed. As far as what to do with the numbers, that's what we're here for. You can set up the spreadsheet and it will help you, your vet and us to see what's going on with Lily. We can also teach you how to test. It's really easy once you get the hang of it and most cats will learn to come when you sit in your testing spot.