Help, Insulin not working

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Stephen Shell

Member Since 2021
Hello everyone, my cat Luna started to not eat back in January 2021, I took her to the vet and they said she was diabetic. Seemed to happen overnight. They said to feed her Purina DM to see if they could manage it through food, she did not eat it or anything. She had lost 3 pounds in 2 weeks and was down to 7 pound, they finally suggested insulin, Novolin, 100 units/mL 10mL (1 unit every 12 hours) and an apatite inducer. She started eating again and using the litter box.

Fast forwards 2 months until March she was eating and drinking excessively and still losing weight, I have her on Blue Wilderness Adult dry food and DM still, they suggested we up the does to 2 units every 12 hours. Next month she was down 6 pounds they suggested we up it to 3 units every 12 hours.

Just 3 weeks ago we went back to the vet and she has still not brought down her sugar levels, they suggested I start using ProZinc 40 units per mL, 1 unit every 12 hours. She is now down to 5 pounds 1 oz, I bought a scale and a glucometer now to keep track. I called last week and they suggested we up it to 2 units every 12 hours. These are the readings I got 457, 264, 320 the past 3 days. She is struggling to pee in the litter box, runs through her food and is still losing control of her back legs. I use a Contour Next One glucometer. Not sure if I should up it to 3 by myself, I just don't see any improvement.
 
Stephen Shell said:
t, I have her on Blue Wilderness Adult dry food and DM
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Hi I'm glad you found us. These foods are way too high in carb. The dm food is around 15%, and the wilderness is somewhere around 27% carb. Your cat should be eating foods under 10 percent carb.... Your best bet is a wet food. Most people are feeding fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. This diet is so doubt Contributing to the high numbers.

Stephen Shell said:
2 units every 12 hours. Next month she was down 6 pounds they suggested we up it to 3 units every 12 hours.
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. The good news is ProZinc is a MUCH better insulin than the Novolin. He should have started you on that.
Raising in full units is dangerous. I'm so glad to read you bought a meter. Here is a link to how to make a spreadsheet so we can better help you with dosing https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

The neuropathy will resolve with better bgs and also helpful is vitamin b 12 methylcobalamin supplements such as zobaline which you can get on amazon

So let's get the cat on a diabetic appropriate diet and I think you'll see an improvement. If you need help with the spreadsheet let us know and someone can help set it up.
 
JanetNJ said:
Hi I'm glad you found us. These foods are way too high in carb. The dm food is around 15%, and the wilderness is somewhere around 27% carb. Your cat should be eating foods under 10 percent carb.... Your best bet is a wet food. Most people are feeding fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. This diet is so doubt Contributing to the high numbers.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the response!
Do you by chance have a specific wet food?
https://www.chewy.com/fancy-feast-gravy-lovers-poultry-beef/dp/103856
Would this fall under classic?
 
Stephen Shell said:
Thank you for the response!
Do you by chance have a specific wet food?
https://www.chewy.com/fancy-feast-gravy-lovers-poultry-beef/dp/103856
Would this fall under classic?
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No nothing with the word gravy. Although it's a good idea to keep a few on hand in case you need to steer numbers up when they go too low, so do get a few cans to have on hand just in case.

Here is a chart. Pick foods under 10 percent carb (under 7 is even better). https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
 
I found this , looks ok why spend this much money on this food, I actually have never seen any member on here use this

Guaranteed Analysis
Nutritional information as published by the cat food manufacturer.*

Protein: (min)
13.5%
Fat: (min)
2.0%
Fiber: (max)
0.5%
Carbs: (est)
0.5%
Ash: (est)
1.5%
Moisture: (max)
82.0%
Dry Matter Analysis
The manufacturer's published guaranteed analysis values normalized for moisture content.

Protein: (min)
75%
Fat: (min)
11%
Fiber: (max)
3%
Carbs: (est)
3%
Ash: (est)
8%
Calories: (est)
66/100g

Looking at this it looks OK to me
 
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Here is a chart. Pick foods under 10 percent carb (under 7 is even better).https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdfpdf

Why not look at our food chart most of us feed Fancy Feast Classic Pates
They are either 2 or 3 percent carbs
Plus they are a lot cheaper than what food you posted and a lot of different flavors

Switching to a low carb diet can drop a cat's numbers up to 100 points – hence the need to test.
A diet change should be introduced slowly so that you can test blood sugar and make insulin adjustments.
 
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These tips on transitioning a dry food addict to canned/wet food may be helpful to you also.
https://catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf



they say to transition slowly, adding some of the dry to the wet food , and
each day decrease decrease the dry.
Transitions to an exclusively low carb wet diet need to be undertaken with care, firstly because they can cause digestive upsets, undesirable for any cat but doubly so for a diabetic needing insulin treatment
 
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Might be a good idea to set up your signature, it's at the end of everyone's post in gray

Click on your name upper right hand corner , a drop down will appear , tap in signature , fill out info
  • On the left, under Settings, Click on Signature. This is where you will put information that helps us give you feedback. There is a limit of two lines which may include two links; you may separate pieces with commas, dashes, | etc. This is where you paste the link for your spreadsheet, once it is set up.
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.
 
30-unit-insulin-syringe-markings.jpg
 
Welcome to FDMB.

It sounds like your vet has been helpful but I think we can add to the information your vet provided.

The fundamentals of caring for a diabetic cat involve:
  • low carbohydrate, species appropriate diet. This means canned food is better than dry/kibble. The website on feline nutrition that the food chart everyone linked is written by a vet who has an interest in feline nutrition. There are many helpful links on Dr. Lisa's site. (She occasionally posts here.) Cat's have a limited thirst drive so canned food is much higher in moisture.. Diabetes is hard on the kidneys so the moisture is important (and you can add water to your cat's food). Also, cats are obligate carnivores/ They do not process carbohydrates and this is especially important for a diabetic cat.
  • an insulin that is well suited to cats. The two types of insulin that are recommended by the American Animal Hospital Assn are Prozinc and Lantus. Novolin, while it's been around forever, does not have a long enough duration given a cat's fast metabolism.
    • I hope your vet mentioned that you need different syringes for Prozinc (U40 syringes) vs Novolin (U100 syringes)
  • home testing is the best way to keep your cat safe. We are huge proponents of home testing. Many vets discourage people from testing. While there is a wide variation in how frequently people test, you need to be sure that it's safe to administer a shot. In addition, you need to know how low a particular dose is dropping your cat's numbers. We have lots of information, including videos, if you need a hand with testing.
  • treats. Treats are important. They help acclimate a cat to testing. We recommend using low carb treats. Typically people use freeze dried proteins -- such as chicken. Some members will use cooked chicken as a treat. We had one member who would buy shrimp for her kitty! (We do spoil our cats.)
Please let. us know how we can help. The beginning of this process is overwhelming. The members here are very generous with their time and knowledge.
 
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