Hello again

J

Jelltex

New Member
I am part owner of a 15 year old cat, Scully, who was diagnosed with insulin in December 2025.

Since then, our vet has not taken the issue seriously. Dose in original insulin, Caninsulin, over a period of four months from 2.0 to 2.5 units day and night, before increasing the morning dose to 3.0.

We administer insulin at 07:00 and 19:00.

Our vet strongly advised us against withdrawing the slow-release dried food.

Her last check up, 29th August 2025, showed Scull losing 100g in body weight per week. The vet was not concerned, but I was.

With help from a member of this group, we were able to challenge the vet and treatment policy, which I think was down to ignorance, but seemed unaware of the correct insulin for cats.

Initially, the Pro-Zinc worked very well in bringing her readings down, but this week, and today when we did hourly checks, readings varied, but did not drop down to levels seen last week:

13.6 / 15.2

I know we have not been as diligent as we should have, but advice sought as to dosage going forwards.
 
Hello and welcome! I will try to help you. There’s not much data on your spreadsheet. Are you using a pet meter? Would it be possible for you to look on your meter and put any more data on the spreadsheet? I don’t have much to compare the last three days with to see what you mean by her getting better numbers last week. Your current dose is 1.5 units correct? The numbers I see are very high. Do you test for ketones? Any history of DKA or ketones? I will come back later to try to help. I am dealing with a very sick cat right now and he’s going to the vet.

As for feeding, it’s better to spread the food out into smaller meals throughout the cycle. She should get food at breakfast, +2, +4 and +6 and then not much after that, but if she’s famished and underweight, you probably should go ahead and feed her small amount as long as you keep it low carb. As she gets better and into better numbers, she should not be as hungry because she will be able to put her food to use providing energy for her cells. Just don’t feed her for the two hours prior to the morning and evening preshot tests (AMPS and PMPS). The reason for this is so that your BG test will be accurate and not inflated by food. Don’t try to be too stingy with the food right now if she’s extremely hungry.
 
Hi Suzanne & Darcy.

We have not been as diligent with testing as we should have been, as we were getting contradictory advice from the vet and our friend on here. The vet stated after testing for nadir at +5, +6 and =7 hours were in acceptable limits, she did not think we needed to do them every day. A mistake I now admit, sadly.

I will populate the sheet with data what I have.
 
Hi Suzanne & Darcy.

Thanks for your reply.

When you say low carb do you mean wet food? The vet is concerned that there were high proteins in her blood.

Thanks in advance.
 
Jelltex said:
Hi Suzanne & Darcy.

Thanks for your reply.

When you say low carb do you mean wet food? The vet is concerned that there were high proteins in her blood.

Thanks in advance.
Click to expand...
Low carb food for a diabetic cat should be wet food with less than ten percent carbohydrates on a dry matter basis. If you are feeding high carbohydrate food then it will make it very difficult to get her blood glucose numbers down because carbohydrates raise blood glucose. What are you currently feeding her?
 
We are feeding her a suite of various high protein low carb wet foods. We also have Royal Canin Diabetic dry food which the vet recommended, and advised us not to stop giving Scully
 
Jelltex said:
Our vet strongly advised us against withdrawing the slow-release dried food.
Click to expand...
So this is what she’s eating. What is the name of this food? I will find the carbs for you. Most dry food is very high in carbs and will significantly raise the numbers. That is a good part of why you aren’t making progress and seeing better BG numbers.
 
Is this it?
1757010130364.png
 
Jelltex said:
We are feeding her a suite of various high protein low carb wet foods. We also have Royal Canin Diabetic dry food which the vet recommended, and advised us not to stop giving Scully
Click to expand...
Please add whatever food you are feeding her to your signature. This way we won’t have to keep asking you 🙂
 
Jelltex said:
Her last check up, 29th August 2025, showed Scull losing 100g in body weight per week. The vet was not concerned, but I was.
Click to expand...
How many total ounces (sorry grams for you) did she lose since her previous vet visit. I would be concerned too. It’s always best to get a handle on weight loss as soon as you can.
 
I’m very glad you got off of the Caninsulin. It’s not a good insulin for cats at all and isn’t very long lasting in cats. You did well to challenge the vet on this and to get a better insulin for your Scully.
 
Anyway, I am glad you posted here. I know we can get Scully into better numbers. I did see your post over on the other forum (.org) from before we moved back over here. Did she have an ultrasound done on her abdomen to check for inflammatory bowel disease?
Does Scully have any other health conditions? If so please list them in your signature as well as any medications she takes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top