Hello from new member

[Mel & Garbo]

Hello my name is Melanie and my boy's name is Garbo. He was diagnosed with diabetes at the beginning of March and put on Prozinc. We started at 2 units then after I left him at the vet overnight he suggested 3 units every 12 hr. After a vet visit yesterday we are now at 4 units every 12.

I found this site through Reddit and have been lurking, learning. I would have posted sooner but between my schedule and dealing with the diabetes life has been quite overwhelming. I want to thank you all for the information you have posted here which has really helped me, especially the food chart. Recently my schedule has opened up where I will be able to do more regular bg readings and a curve.

Garbo has always been on wet food (Fancy Feast) but usually a variety with Gravy. FF chunky is his current food, he likes Tiki after dark too. Re dry food, I used to feed him Iam's and have basically got him off dry. I do have some Tiki cat born carnivore rn which I give him about once a week. He's a fluffy big boy but he's lost a lot of weight. He is currently 9.3lbs. When I first went to the vet, in March, to find out why he was peeing on the bathmat he was 12lbs.

In May, I bought a contour next gen meter. Trying to use it more regularly but it's not easy. Thank you very much to those who made the how to video's. I'll be uploading #'s to the spreadsheet shortly. The latest reading I did was 225 mg/dl about 8 hrs after his morning shot.

I'm not sure what else to say. Garbo is about 9 yrs old. I've had him for 8 yrs, he's the stray who stayed. He's indoor/outdoor as I have a fenced in backyard which he made his sanctuary when we first met. He likes to spend his days out there.

I was so happy and relieved to find this website. You've helped me a lot so far and I expect will help more as I work to manage his diabetes. Thank you.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome Melanie and Garbo.
Looks as if you are pretty organised feeding a low carb diet, setting up the SS and giving insulin and testing the BGs.
I am concerned with the large dose the vet started off with and then increased in 1 unit increments. We recommend starting at 1/2 or 1 unit, depending on what is being fed and then increasing in 1/4 unit increments.
It is quite common for diabetic cats to lose weight at diagnosis. They should put it back on once the blood glucose is regulated. How is his appetite?
Here is a link to HELP US HELP YOU which has information for new members. If you could set up your signature, that would be very helpful. And make sure you have a hypo kit set up in case of low numbers.
If you could add any data you have into the SS so we can see what is happening, that will enable us to help you with dosing. I will tag @Suzanne & Darcy as she is a Prozinc user and will help you.

 

[Mel & Garbo]

Hello Bron & Sheba, thank you for the reply. I think we started off on the high doses on the vet’s recommendation because his glucose was in the 300’s. When I left him overnight for the curve testing his bg had gone down to 370.

Right now he is eating fine but at the beginning it was hard to find foods he would eat. That is how I found Tiki Cat but FF has always been his brand and cost wise is much better for me. He is ravenous sometimes and I may be over feeding him (sometimes up to 5 3oz cans in a 24 hr period). I’ve looked at the automatic feeders but am concerned about how deep they seem to be (whisker fatigue). I also feed him on an elevated stand. Eventually I can see getting the feeder just so I can get a full night’s sleep. I live in a studio so there is no keeping him out of the bedroom and he knows how to push my buttons.
We are at 4 units today on the vets suggestion after yesterday’s visit. I am also attempting to do a bg curve. I thought I set up the signature. However I still have to input the #’s and just want to re-read the instructions again for the spreadsheet. I may have to dm them if I can’t figure it out.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

When you set up the signature did you press the ‘save changes’?
He is probably eating a lot because his body can’t absorb all the nutrients in the food while his BGs are unregulated. It’s a very common problem which should be resolved when his BGs are regulated.
Are you giving regular snacks say at +2 +4 and +6 (during the first half of the cycles?
Are you testing before every dose to see it is safe to give the shots?
Are you testing somewhere between +4 and +7 each cycle to see how low the dose is taking Garbo? Vary times.
An automatic timed feeder is a godsend to caregivers. A lot of people get the petsafe feeder. There are two sizes.
If you feed on a raised platform, you may be able to secure the feeder on something higher.

Would you be happy to go to 3.25 units instead of 4 units. It does concern me that you are going up in 1 unit increments. Cats are only tiny creatures and you would be surprised how much 0.25 unit can effect the blood glucose.
I’m looking forward to seeing the data in the SS.
If you are still having trouble with the signature I will ask @Bandit's Mom to have a look for you.
Keep asking questions

 

[Mel & Garbo]

Thank you. I entered today's #'s on the spreadsheet and went back into signature, it should be visible now.
These #'s are about 2hrs apart today. I am fine to go down when I give him his shot tonight and compare those #'s.
It's my day off so he has been fed regularly throughout the day. I cut it up into 1/4's & 3rd's. I will look into the petsafe feeder.

We had a incident early Monday morning which made the vet visit I already had planned Tuesday more important. I'm awaiting the test results from an urinalysis.

One question I have is about ketone test strips. What is the preferred brand here?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Thanks for entering the data. Hopefully @Suzanne & Darcy will be around sometime today
Still can’t see the signature.
If you live in the US you can buy the ketones strips from Walmart ….
Not sure what they actually call them at Walmart (I live in Australia) but you should also be able to buy Ketostix from any pharmacy. They are ones humans use. They are not cat specific.
Just follow directions on the bottle and make sure you read the result exactly 15 seconds after you dip the strip into the urine. It will go darker after that but it is the result at 15 seconds that is the true result. If you can put the results of the ketone tests into the remarks column of the SS that will make it easy for everyone to see. Thanks!

 

[Suzanne & Darcy]

Hi there! Garbo had a pretty nice cycle today. Not bad at all — some nice blue numbers. Do you know what kind of blood glucose numbers they got at the vet that caused the recommendation to go to 4 units? It really is too much to (as Bron mentioned) increase by whole units in a cat, generally speaking. I would take a more cautious approach and increase by .25 units. If his numbers are still higher than we want (and depending upon your goals for him and ketones, etc.) we can increase from there.