Good place to start.
- Thread starter Los Gatos
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Larry and Kitties
Member Since 2009
Welcome.
What insulin are you using?
Are you shooting twice daily?
What are you feeding? A low carb, canned is best.
Most of us here test our cat's BG using a human meter. Less expensive than vet doing it and more accurate since vet stress tends to raise BG
What insulin are you using?
Are you shooting twice daily?
What are you feeding? A low carb, canned is best.
Most of us here test our cat's BG using a human meter. Less expensive than vet doing it and more accurate since vet stress tends to raise BG
Welcome, Kevin,
Larry asked good questions re diabetes...
Re: your Hummies, love the pics. How do you keep your feeders ant free? You have reminded me to add a feeder to my front porch, as my back garden is a jungle filled with flowering bushes making it much harder to spot clouds of hummies.
Best wishes,
Sophie
Larry asked good questions re diabetes...
Re: your Hummies, love the pics. How do you keep your feeders ant free? You have reminded me to add a feeder to my front porch, as my back garden is a jungle filled with flowering bushes making it much harder to spot clouds of hummies.
Best wishes,
Sophie
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
Larry,
they gave me the prozinc to use twice a day and I've always been a fan of the Royal Cainin but the Purina DM has lower carbs. I'll feed mostly the dry and top him off with 2-3 tbs of various wet I'm trying out. At least he really likes the DM.
Sophie,
Thank you. The ants don't seem to like climbing up that high and the one time they did I put some vaseline/goo on the string. Between the hummingbirds and nesting box, it keeps the cats fairly occupied at the windows.
they gave me the prozinc to use twice a day and I've always been a fan of the Royal Cainin but the Purina DM has lower carbs. I'll feed mostly the dry and top him off with 2-3 tbs of various wet I'm trying out. At least he really likes the DM.
Sophie,
Thank you. The ants don't seem to like climbing up that high and the one time they did I put some vaseline/goo on the string. Between the hummingbirds and nesting box, it keeps the cats fairly occupied at the windows.
Sue and Oliver (GA)
Member Since 2009
This is a great place to start, Kevin. Here is our protocol, which has been very successful for hundreds of cats.
1. A slow, long lasting insulin. Prozinc is a good mild, long lasting insulin. Three units is more than most cats here use, but you can figure out exactly what is happening once you start testing. The higher dose will also reflect the dry food. Here is our ProZinc protocol:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109077
2. A low carb, wet diet. We like to feed under 8-10% carbs. There are several food charts you can use: Dr. Lisa’s food chart
Hobo’s Food Chart Rhiannon’s 8% and under list
Whatever food you can afford that your cat will eat in that lower range. BUT do not change over to wet until you are hometesting. With our Oliver, the switch meant an overnight change of 100 points downward. If we hadn’t been testing and had given our usual amount, he could have hypoed.
2. And most importantly, hometesting. We think cats tend to be stressed at the vet and we know stress raises blood glucose levels. So we test our cats at home. You want to know what the number is before you give the shot to be sure the amount you are planning to give is safe. And testing midcycle will show you how the insulin is working. We use human glucometers and test on their ears or paws. Here is a video that shows you how it is done: Video for hometesting
Let us know how we can help, and keep reading and ask questions!
1. A slow, long lasting insulin. Prozinc is a good mild, long lasting insulin. Three units is more than most cats here use, but you can figure out exactly what is happening once you start testing. The higher dose will also reflect the dry food. Here is our ProZinc protocol:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109077
2. A low carb, wet diet. We like to feed under 8-10% carbs. There are several food charts you can use: Dr. Lisa’s food chart
Hobo’s Food Chart Rhiannon’s 8% and under list
Whatever food you can afford that your cat will eat in that lower range. BUT do not change over to wet until you are hometesting. With our Oliver, the switch meant an overnight change of 100 points downward. If we hadn’t been testing and had given our usual amount, he could have hypoed.
2. And most importantly, hometesting. We think cats tend to be stressed at the vet and we know stress raises blood glucose levels. So we test our cats at home. You want to know what the number is before you give the shot to be sure the amount you are planning to give is safe. And testing midcycle will show you how the insulin is working. We use human glucometers and test on their ears or paws. Here is a video that shows you how it is done: Video for hometesting
Let us know how we can help, and keep reading and ask questions!
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
I wonder why the vet didn't tell me that dry wasn't helping him any. I like the other vets in the practice better but the luck of the draw....
I guess I'll transition him to 50/50 dry wet. This isn't going to be easy to figure this all out.
What makes this worse is I also found out my other cat has kidney/anemia issues. She is really screwed up.
Thank you very much Sue and Oliver, those links help a lot.
I guess I'll transition him to 50/50 dry wet. This isn't going to be easy to figure this all out.
What makes this worse is I also found out my other cat has kidney/anemia issues. She is really screwed up.
Thank you very much Sue and Oliver, those links help a lot.
Sue and Oliver (GA)
Member Since 2009
There's a lot of good info on that vet's site: www.catinfo.org. She has transitioning tips, scientific reasons why wet is better than dry, a good food chart. Lots of us feed Fancy Feast or Friskies. The ingredients are about the same as "prescription" food (which have nothing prescription in it). Less expensive and most cats like the taste. As for vets, they usually get a workshop on feline diabetes in vet school and Purina presents the food section.....
But again, don't change until you are testing and can monitor his levels. My guess is that his numbers will drop with wet low carb and you'll need to lower the dose.
But again, don't change until you are testing and can monitor his levels. My guess is that his numbers will drop with wet low carb and you'll need to lower the dose.
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
I'll print out the above PDFs and look into the special diet. One of the reasons I gave up that food was the food colorings, stained everything they yacked on.
Thanks for that tidbit BJM.
I think the most I ever had was 15, that was with a mom and kittens. I have six of my own and 8 fostering, one kind of permanently.
Thanks for that tidbit BJM.
I think the most I ever had was 15, that was with a mom and kittens. I have six of my own and 8 fostering, one kind of permanently.
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
He has been a confusing cat, his last test at the vet was ~510 before the shot and after being fed. It was in the 300+ range after 4 units of the prozinc. He has been eating more and more since we've found out that he has diabetes.
Still waiting for the Alpha trak2, he is eating Purina DM and various "prescrip" wets to see what he will eat. I'm trying for that 50/50 wet dry ratio.
I don't think his numbers have ever been high/mid 200's. He is as happy as a "emo" cat can get.http://kevingoto.smugmug.com/Animals/Feline-friends/27967016_ftqFf4#!i=3323084456&k=JsJqsVh&lb=1&s=A
Still waiting for the Alpha trak2, he is eating Purina DM and various "prescrip" wets to see what he will eat. I'm trying for that 50/50 wet dry ratio.
I don't think his numbers have ever been high/mid 200's. He is as happy as a "emo" cat can get.http://kevingoto.smugmug.com/Animals/Feline-friends/27967016_ftqFf4#!i=3323084456&k=JsJqsVh&lb=1&s=A
Julia & Bandit (GA)
Member Since 2009
Please make sure you're home testing before changing the diet! Removing dry food from a diabetic cat's diet can cause dramatic drops in blood sugar levels, and 4u is a pretty high dose. You may find once you start home testing that it is already too much insulin. Blood glucose values obtained at the vet's office are generally inaccurate--stress can artificially raise a cat's BG several hundred points so they are not a good way to determine if a dose is working. Unless you're testing several times a day it's impossible to know if the blood sugar is generally high because you're giving too little insulin, or too much insulin. Overdosing can also cause high numbers because when a cat's BG drops too low, the liver will dump glucose into the bloodstream to counteract the low blood sugar.
There's nothing wrong with the AlphaTrak meter, but the strips are expensive. You don't have to use a pet meter--human meters work just fine and the strips are much less expensive. You want to make sure that you have enough strips to test several times a day, so if the cost of AlphaTrak strips will limit your testing, I would return it and go with a cheaper option instead, like Walmart's Relion meters.
There's nothing wrong with the AlphaTrak meter, but the strips are expensive. You don't have to use a pet meter--human meters work just fine and the strips are much less expensive. You want to make sure that you have enough strips to test several times a day, so if the cost of AlphaTrak strips will limit your testing, I would return it and go with a cheaper option instead, like Walmart's Relion meters.
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
When I bring him into the vet:
I feed him ~7am
Bring him in at 8
They test his gluc.
Give the current dose of insulin
Test ~10-11
Test ~2-3pm
His numbers are high before the insulin and then drop afterwards to typically ~mid 300's. The numbers I have from the vet run from 295 to 521. With that high dose, I'll always watch him for 1+hours to see if he is fine. He has gained ~1/2lb in ~2 weeks.
Can't go to Walmart. I'll probably end up using the Freestyle lite strips after using up the 30 strips it comes with. Whenever it gets here.....
The problem with most of the glucometers is consistency and the feds don't want to do too much about it.
I could get a nice one with repeatable accuracy but ~$450 is a bit much.( hospital grade)
My kidney cat on the other hand is getting a 4 dose vial for $150 today.(Aranesp)
6 kittens(7 and 15weeks) running around and always asking for food or pooping.
sigh
I feed him ~7am
Bring him in at 8
They test his gluc.
Give the current dose of insulin
Test ~10-11
Test ~2-3pm
His numbers are high before the insulin and then drop afterwards to typically ~mid 300's. The numbers I have from the vet run from 295 to 521. With that high dose, I'll always watch him for 1+hours to see if he is fine. He has gained ~1/2lb in ~2 weeks.
Can't go to Walmart. I'll probably end up using the Freestyle lite strips after using up the 30 strips it comes with. Whenever it gets here.....
The problem with most of the glucometers is consistency and the feds don't want to do too much about it.
I could get a nice one with repeatable accuracy but ~$450 is a bit much.( hospital grade)
My kidney cat on the other hand is getting a 4 dose vial for $150 today.(Aranesp)
6 kittens(7 and 15weeks) running around and always asking for food or pooping.
sigh
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
My vet wanted me to feed w/o insulin. :? so I just pay the bills.
I'm just trying to figure out if it is all the extra food he has been eating or is it his liver adding to the mess.( kicking in extra glucose)
From what little I've looked at Prozinc, that is a really high dose but I've never seen it faze him.
I'm more worried about Kidney cat as she is on the brink of disaster.
Thank you all for the replies. I need to research more ( read your links) but the other one is more pressing.
I'm just trying to figure out if it is all the extra food he has been eating or is it his liver adding to the mess.( kicking in extra glucose)
From what little I've looked at Prozinc, that is a really high dose but I've never seen it faze him.
I'm more worried about Kidney cat as she is on the brink of disaster.
Thank you all for the replies. I need to research more ( read your links) but the other one is more pressing.
Barb & Mr. Frog
Member Since 2013
Is your kidney cat also eating the dry? Water depleted food is a bad idea for them... they already can't get enough water to flush out the toxins.
Deb & Wink
Member Since 2013
If you "can't go to Wal-Mart", then you could order the equivalent unbranded Arkray Glucocard 01 or Arkray Glucocard mini from our shopping partner, ADW. Very inexpensive meter, test strips and good service. Just click on the SHOP link and this site will get a miniscule amount back to help keep it going.
Are you on a forum for your kidney cat?
Are you on a forum for your kidney cat?
Los Gatos
Member Since 2014
Well, at least the meter generated a tracking number. I'm not worried about the cost of the meter or strips (yet). I've heard that some of the human meters will run a tad high and accuracy can be hit or miss.
I've had one kidney cat before but this one is posing problems, so I've applied to Tanya's this go round.
Just purchased her meds from Walgreens...... $630K/gallon so gas prices are relatively inexpensive.
At least Snowcone aka "Fluff" is getting the hang of feeding. He goes to his cage, eats the wet first to get to the kibble. If he eats his portion, he gets more kibble for dessert. I have to cage him at feeding lest the other 4 adults discover the feeding spot.
I've discovered ADW. At least I've gotten my 200 syringes and 100 IV needles(kidney cat) today
Can someone suggest a baseline and typical testing schedule for a twice daily feeding? (I haven't had a chance to fully look at the site.)
Thank you for your concerns.
I've had one kidney cat before but this one is posing problems, so I've applied to Tanya's this go round.
Just purchased her meds from Walgreens...... $630K/gallon so gas prices are relatively inexpensive.
At least Snowcone aka "Fluff" is getting the hang of feeding. He goes to his cage, eats the wet first to get to the kibble. If he eats his portion, he gets more kibble for dessert. I have to cage him at feeding lest the other 4 adults discover the feeding spot.
I've discovered ADW. At least I've gotten my 200 syringes and 100 IV needles(kidney cat) today
Can someone suggest a baseline and typical testing schedule for a twice daily feeding? (I haven't had a chance to fully look at the site.)
Thank you for your concerns.
Sue and Oliver (GA)
Member Since 2009
Our protocol for ProZinc may answer some of your questions
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109077
Generally we consider a cat regulated if they are in the lower 200s at preshot and in the lower 100s at midcycle, but not below 40, which is in hypo territory.
With ProZinc, we test before each shot and at midcycle (usually 5-7 hours after the shot). If you are worried about him going low, a test 3 hours after the shot may give you the direction of the cycle. A test in the 8-10 hour will help you see when the insulin is starting to wear off and when he is heading back up.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=109077
Generally we consider a cat regulated if they are in the lower 200s at preshot and in the lower 100s at midcycle, but not below 40, which is in hypo territory.
With ProZinc, we test before each shot and at midcycle (usually 5-7 hours after the shot). If you are worried about him going low, a test 3 hours after the shot may give you the direction of the cycle. A test in the 8-10 hour will help you see when the insulin is starting to wear off and when he is heading back up.
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