? HELP LOTS LOTS LOTS of question when switching to wet food

[Griffin's Mom]

Griffin has been a diagnosed diabetic for almost a year now. As I have found our recently his vet protocol of (2 units twice a day with food) has left him unregulated since diagnosis.

I have recently increased his does to 3 units.

I want to switch him to wet food but am very uncertain of the protocol to safely do it.

Questions:

How much wet food should I give in a day? He gets a 3/4-cup of dry split 3-4 meals
How often should I test him during the switch?
How do you adjust his insulin dose? (how do you decided how much more or less he needs (VERY NEW AT THIS)
Do you wake them up to test through out the night or let them sleep?

I am gone from 830 am to 530 pm. I have a roommate that can keep an eye on him, feed him and give him shots but is very uncomfortable with the BG test and does not want to try doing them.
Weekends are the only time where I can arrange to be home for almost 24 hr a day.

Please any type of advise, tips or protocol suggestions would be great appreciated and knowledge I can use.

Thank You

 

[Alexi]

Hi Griffin's Mom (what do we call you). I have had a look at his numbers and you are getting a high flattish looking curve on the 2 units with a massive drop in numbers after his first shot of 3 units. Before changing his food you do need to be testing regularly as a change in food is likely to drop his numbers.

Can you tell us a little more:
How much does Griffin weigh and what is his ideal weight?
How did you determine he was unregulated - what tests has he had at the vet and what were the results?
What dose of Caninsulin was he started on - what changes were made and when - was the change made as a result of curves done at the vet?
How is he, eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, activity levels - anything unusual?

The reason I ask is that vet stress can raise the numbers and sometimes the pattern of high numbers can be due to too much insulin rather than too little. Caninsulin typically gives a smile shaped curve which I am not seeing on the limited data you have and a 1 unit increase is quite large.

The usual start dose of Caninsulin is 1-2 units twice a day. Before a change in food I would suggest doing a curve so we can see the start point. It is imperative to test regularly when a food change is in progress.

Are you checking his urine for ketones - I use keto-diastix which give a result in 15 seconds. Urine test strips are available anywhere that sells diabetic supplies.

 

[Griffin's Mom]

Can you tell us a little more:
How much does Griffin weigh and what is his ideal weight?
How did you determine he was unregulated - what tests has he had at the vet and what were the results?
What dose of Caninsulin was he started on - what changes were made and when - was the change made as a result of curves done at the vet?
How is he, eating, drinking, peeing, pooping, activity levels - anything unusual?

Hi There,

Thank You for your reply. Humans call me Moe.

Griffin normally weighs (pre-diabetes) 12-14 lbs. He had lost a significant amount of weight in a short time (one of the reasons we ended up at the vets), we have been working at getting his weight back up ever since. He has been going slowly (visually) for the last year. Then last week I notice (visually) a drop in his weight again and that is when I found this site, bought our first meter and began testing on Sunday.

Last October he was diagnosed (high numbers, have the exact ones at home but I am at work now) he was put on pills for two-ish months & dry diabetic food. Follow up blood work relieved that they where not working and he was switched to insulin around December.

Dec 2015 - 1 unit twice a day, 12 hours apart - food could be whenever (if i needed food to get his shot in that was fine) Also told if I need to miss a shot occasionally that would be fine.

First bottle lasted a few months - when I went to get my second bottle (Feb or March - exact day at home) Vet asked me how his symptoms where. I told him that the drunk wobbles where gone but he was still drinking a lot he upped his does right then and there to two without seeing him.

He has been at two ever since.

He is a great eater (until this weekend, lots of new stuff this weekend and Thanksgiving) he still drinks a ton more than our other cats (we tried to separate him for 24 hrs to see just how much but as soon as he is separated he stops drinking and eating. It really stresses him out.

He got more active with the weight loss (always a chunky cat) he has had food issues since birth (he once eat 2.5 lbs in one sitting, when he got into his food while we where out. Now it stays locked up). His mom was chased away from her litter less than a day after he was born. His litter was without mom for about 3 days, cold and wet from being outside in a window well. I was working at the Human Society when they came in, I hand raised his litter of 7, from that day on, we lost two in the first few days after they arrived.

He has always been a happy, playful, cuddly man. The only change in his behaviour is that he stops sleeping on my bed when he feels really under the weather and he stopped sleeping with me last week which was another reason I knew I needed to get my head out of the sand and start looking into this disease myself.

We live in a small town - his vet is 30 mins away in the next town.

Thanks Moe