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jamies

jamies

Member Since 2016
my cAt was hospitalized and while there he ate prescription hills my vet gave me cases and said for him to eat just that but he is not eating it I got some food from the low carb list and he did eat that. My question is will I be throwing him off with the insulin switching foods? My vets closed for the day until Monday.
I'm new to this. I don't have a meter yet getting it Tuesday from the vet
Thanks
 
What is your kitties name? Why was he hospitalized? What insulin is he on? Sorry for the questions, but it helps us help you.

You don't have to wait for the vet to get a meter. The majority of people here use ones designed for use with humans. If you tell us where you live, maybe we can recommend a brand or two you can get this weekend at the pharmacy. Human meters are cheaper, and most importantly, so are the test strips.

The risk of going from vet hills food (which one by the way?) to one from the low carb list is if you are moving to a lower carb food which may reduce his insulin needs. It's more important that he eat something. Many cats don't like the vet food and most of the cats here are eating commercially available cat food.
 
A food switch can affect blood glucose levels and what insulin dose will work best, especially if going from dry food to wet food. All dry food is higher in carbs even those sold by vets as diabetic formulas. Was the prescription Hills dry food? Was it sold as a low carb food? Hills makes many prescription foods for many conditions.

If your cat won't eat the Hills there's no point feeding it to him. The low carb list on this forum includes many grocery store brands that are as good as or better than prescription foods. You should be able to return the Hills to your vet if you say your cat refuses to eat it. Vets know what not eating can do to a cat.

IMPORTANT: What type of insulin and dose are you giving your cat? If you're switching to a low carb wet food from the list it might lower his BG levels compared to the Hills. The dose your vet told you to give might be too high.
 
He is on vesulin. He's only been on it since Tuesday.
He was hospitalized because his glucose was at 640 and he wasn't eating.
He is not on dry food it's wet food called urgent mixed with m/d
The vet told me to give him one dose of 3 units once a day. He's going back Tuesday
His name is Willow and the post is supposed to read food question by good sorry
 
Thanks for the information. Urgent care (also called a/d) is 12% carbs and m/d is 14% carbs, so when mixing the two your kitty was eating what we would call a medium carb diet, not a low carb diet, at the vets office. If he is on Vetsulin (Neko used to be on Caninsulin which is the same thing), they do need to eat before you inject. Injections are given twice a day. But without you home testing, I wouldn't want to suggest what a dose would be. If all he will eat is low carb food (good for Willow), then feed him that but I would give him a smaller dose. And get a human blood glucose meter to start testing now. If you live in the US, the Relion Confirm or Micro can be purchased at Walmart. Their test strips just need a small drop of blood which will make it easier to test. You will also need some lancets (start with 28 gauge) and some Neosporin to put on the ears afterwards. One other thing you want to pick up is some Ketostix, to start testing his urine for ketones. You can get those at any pharmacy with diabetic supplies.
 
jamies said:
He is on vesulin. He's only been on it since Tuesday.
He was hospitalized because his glucose was at 640 and he wasn't eating.
He is not on dry food it's wet food called urgent mixed with m/d
The vet told me to give him one dose of 3 units once a day. He's going back Tuesday
His name is Willow and the post is supposed to read food question by good sorry
Click to expand...

This is still very early days in your feline diabetes journey. It's frightening and there's a lot to learn. I've checked online and I think you mean Hills a/d Urgent Care food which is usually prescribed for kitties who are ill or recovering from something. I don't think it's a low carb food but I'm not certain. The Hills m/d is a low carb food.

Not eating can cause some serious problems in cats and especially so in diabetic cats. Your goal right now is to get him eating no matter what - higher carb food, pureed meat human baby food (versions with NO seasonings like onion, garlic, salt) Don't worry about carb content until his appetite is back to normal.

In cats insulin works best when dosed twice a day, not once a day. The usual starting dose is 1 unit AM and 1 unit PM, 12 hours apart. Giving 3 units in one dose isn't recommended. Is Willow going back for a blood glucose curve on Tuesday? Many cats will have higher than usual BG values at the vet clinic because of stress. If a dose is decided upon from those values it could well be too high.

The best way to know how your kitty is doing is to learn to test BG at home before every insulin shot. It seems that your vet will be giving you a meter. It's likely to be an AlphaTrak pet meter. These give readings very close to what the vet's equipment give but the test strips are horrendously expensive. Many people use a meter designed for humans. We can give you more info on meters, testing, logging data, etc. whenever you're ready. :)
 
I understand but I'm going by what the vet said. I don't want to give him different shots if that isn't what he said
Yes that's why he's going back
 
jamies said:
I understand but I'm going by what the vet said. I don't want to give him different shots if that isn't what he said
Yes that's why he's going back
Click to expand...
We understand how difficult it is to read info that's different from what Willow's vet has said. Maybe you could ask your vet about twice a day dosing. I think that vets sometimes try to simplify the at home treatment of diabetic cats so that their owners don't panic and think they can't cope. If you decide you want to do things differently we're here to help - anytime.
 
Is there anyone at the vet's office you can speak to tomorrow? Insulin usually only lasts for 12 hours in the cats system which is why they say once every 12 hours. x
 
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