Goo and his diabetes

[Melissa bijit]

My 6 year old cat Goo has always been obese, normal glucose. He had pancreatitis in February and found to have glucose 475. Started ProZinc insulin.started 2 units twice a day. For time controlled but symptoms worse, now up to 8 units twice a day. Eats purine dry pro plan veterinary Rex dietetic management food , plus small can iams kitten food (for protein). Now vet starting to suspect insulin resistant diabetes. Any ideas? The insulin cost could become problematic. I can tell by how much water he drinks and size of urine clumps if he's not being well controlled. Thanks in advance!!!

 

[Wendy&Neko]

This is the Lantus and Levemir insulin forum, we usually get people to start on the Feline Health form.http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/

However, Prozinc can still be a good insulin for cats. Are you home testing Goo's blood sugar values? It is really important to test so you can tell if Goo is getting the right amount of insulin. We are also strong believers in wet low carb food, that you can buy at pet stores or grocery stores. But don't change Goo's foods unless you are home testing as that change can make a big difference in amount of insulin needed.

Some diabetic cats, about one in four, have a condition called acromegaly that causes their diabetes. Cats with this condition may need larger doses of insulin.

 

[BJM]

Welcome to the message board, the best place you never wanted to be. Let's get you started posting over in Feline Health

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:

- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.

- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This keeps your cat safe and saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test. All of our insulin guidelines use human glucometer numbers for reference. We record them on a grid; instructions are here.

- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 found online.

- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

Welcome.

You should know that the food you have is not a low carb option for a diabetic cat. We see this a lot. Some vets don't study nutrition and they just go by what the food companies
push as for a diabetic. ( especially science diet)

We have food lists here to help you find other options that will help Goo do better.

 

[jayla-n-Drevon]

Hi Welcome!!
I think a diet change could drastically lower the numbers (and the pee)....
you MUST home test before changing food as the insulin required will need to be adjusted.
I used pro zinc before lantus and although it is not a bad insulin I wish I had started with lantus....
my own vet told me the day he dx him that he knew very little about FD....
keep asking questions--lots of experts here (I am not one of them ) but I hope you keep on trucking!