Hello looking for advice

Hi I'm Shad & my cat is Abbey. She has been diabetic for little over 2 years. We started on lantus then switched to vetsulin because cost & my vet wasn't carrying lantus anymore. Used vetsulin for a few months & no success. From fb group I learned about this page & where to buy insulin. I started using basaglar insulin about 6 months ago. Started with 2 units & now at 6.5 units. Preshot bg is in mid 300s still & the few time I have been able to take it 2 to 2 1/2 hours afterwards it drops into the upper 200s. I don't ever think I have seen it below 200 anytime. She eats frisky pate twice a day. Half can each time. She is going into 12 years old & weighs 13-14 lbs. I have checked ketones twice over last few months & they have been natural. But she still pees alot everday. Looking for advice on where to go from here? Thanks for listening & appreciate any help at all.

 

Welcome to the FDMB Shad! Good to see you over here from the Facebook group! You've come to the best place you never wanted to be!

It's good that Abbey is back on Basaglar...it's a much better type of insulin than Vetsulin for most cats.

It's great that you already know how to home test and you're feeding a low carb canned diet!

It's pretty late so there aren't a lot of people on right now (and I'm heading to bed too) but here's some information for you to read that will help us to help you!

Again, welcome and hopefully we can help you get Abbey under better control!

 

Hi Shad, I'm not sure how much help I can be, as I'm new to FD (though a lifelong cat owner), but from what I've read here, 6.5 units is a rather high dose so there could be an underlying health problem that's pushing up the BG numbers despite the insulin. And if her BG is high, she's bound to be peeing a lot to compensate.

What breed is Abbey? 14lbs is quite a weight for an average female cat, and given that a can of Friskies pate is around 180 kcal (about enough for a 9lb cat), I'd expect her to be losing weight. Unless she's free-ranging and getting fed elsewhere?

Hopefully one of the experienced members will be along soon, but if (as I assume) you're in the US, it's a bit late there - I'm in the UK and have already had breakfast

 

@Critter Mom any thoughts?

 

Welcome Shad and Abbey! A good rule of thumb for daily calorie intake is 20 times ideal weight. So if abbey is 14, she should be eating 280 calories a day at least. Maybe a bit more if she needs to gain any weight back. Also, diabetic cats can’t process the nutrients in food well so they eat but can still lose weight. In addition, they burn calories just by peeing since there’s sugar in their urine.

As far as dosing, it’s hard to give advice without seeing your test data. We have a spreadsheet template we use here. Do you think you can add all your test numbers to it? It’s in the link Chris posted above.

Welcome again!

 

Not really anything to add to what Chris has posted, apart from a hearty welcome to Shad and Abbey.

Can't really give much of a view in the absence of data.


Mogs
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Start out at 2 units is high. Unless your Abby is recovering from keytones. Your vet could have missed the proper dose.

 

welcome to our forum Shad! We are glad you came on over. You you mind starting one of these?
FDMB SPREADSHEET INSTRUCTIONS

It will REALLY help us help you.

You will find we are dedicated to helping any and all who grace our forum. That means you and Abby. Welcome to the best darn site on this planet to learn everything you need to know about Abby's diabetes!
jeanne