Help! New

[Jeanette M]

Hello. My 10 pound cat who is 9 years old recently went to the vet and had blood work. Every lab came back perfect except her glucose which was 418 over a recommended max 175. She gets very stressed and screams the entire time she's in the vet. My vet wants me to start on a high protein diet which I am starting her on Purina dm dry and tiki cat wet. She also suggested starting insulin and all I have read is horror stories. My cat, Godiva, is very difficult. She doesn't let me hold her or poke around at her. It's a battle. My question is, is starting a high protein diet alone enough to help lower the blood sugar? Any thoughts would be great. Thank you!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Welcome Jeanette you couldn't have found a better group to join

The Purina Pro Plan DM Dry is 18% carbs, too high for a diabetic kitty.
The Tiki Cat wet is fine as long as the ones you are feeding under 10% carbs . I'll give you the Food list we have so you can take a look at it
Here is the new link:http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
A lot of members feed Fancy Feast Pates or Friskies

It's very important to start testing your kitty so you can see what your kitty's BG is , what food were you feeding your kitty before

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood ,more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not thelancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one sideis curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with
Here is a video one of our members made testing her kitty
She's using a pet meter that has to be coded ,with a human meter you don't have to code it.
So ignore that
I have always used a human meter
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar

Get your Godiva used to you rubbing her ears ,take her to the same spot to test her . Maybe give her a low carb treat before you test her and after even if you are not successful with the tests as a reward , so she will associate getting a treat with testing.
You can give her any freeze dried treat they are low carb. I'll give you a link for them

Click on this link and look at post #6. Numbers are to the right
You can get any freeze dried treats ,information is there
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/brand-new-many-questions-3.255627/#post-2878703

Freeze dried treats that only contain one ingredient (the meat or fish) is zero carb and fine to feed to a diabetic

I also did a search on our site and found this posted by a member
The other treat is just steamed chicken, or boiledchicken. All I do is get chicken breasts, steam them, then dice the chicken into tiny cubes. I do a big batch then put them into small 1cup containers and freeze them. I always have a small cup of chicken in the frig because she may want something to eat in the 2hrs before her shots and she can't be fed, so she settles for a few of the chicken cubes.

if you live in the US
Here is the link for the meter and test strips so you don't have to search for them
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197

If not any human meter will be fine
More Testing and Shooting Tips

About insulin I would ask your vet for Lantus insulin or the Generic for it

 

[Larry and Kitties]

I am starting her on Purina dm dry

That is not a low carb food. The tiki cat wet is fine. If you must feed dry Dr Elsey's Clean Protein is one of the few low-cab dry cat foods available.
https://www.drelseys.com/product-types/food/

. She gets very stressed and screams the entire time she's in the vet.

That can significantly raise BG. Best wouodl be to get a human BG meter from Walmart and test your cat's (name?) BG. Have you tried placing the cat in your lap?
I have one cat, Nala, who is now in remission, who I could place in lap to test but I can't trim her claws. I did get scratched a bit a little at the beginning though.
I have another cat, Snuffles, who has bitten me but not scratched since he is front declaw (done before I adopted him). I found I could easily test him if I brought the bowl of wet food in and then place him in my lap and test his BG.

 

[CORKY]

Hello. My 10 pound cat who is 9 years old recently went to the vet and had blood work. Every lab came back perfect except her glucose which was 418 over a recommended max 175. She gets very stressed and screams the entire time she's in the vet. My vet wants me to start on a high protein diet which I am starting her on Purina dm dry and tiki cat wet. She also suggested starting insulin and all I have read is horror stories. My cat, Godiva, is very difficult. She doesn't let me hold her or poke around at her. It's a battle. My question is, is starting a high protein diet alone enough to help lower the blood sugar? Any thoughts would be great. Thank you!

Hello. My 10 pound cat who is 9 years old recently went to the vet and had blood work. Every lab came back perfect except her glucose which was 418 over a recommended max 175. She gets very stressed and screams the entire time she's in the vet. My vet wants me to start on a high protein diet which I am starting her on Purina dm dry and tiki cat wet. She also suggested starting insulin and all I have read is horror stories. My cat, Godiva, is very difficult. She doesn't let me hold her or poke around at her. It's a battle. My question is, is starting a high protein diet alone enough to help lower the blood sugar? Any thoughts would be great. Thank you!

Hi, Welcome, I was and still am at times just as horrified as you I can give you advise on feeding, I learned thru trial and error we all sagest in this Forum not to feed any any hard food even the Purina you are talking about has a very high content of Carbs, the majority here, will recommend the Fancy Fasts Pate, many selections to give your kitty, also home testing is important and non-costly and important in this forum for guidance in increasing/reducing dose and what to do in case of an emergency. Your Vet tells you that 175 BG is where he should be, the safe numbers for a diabetic cat is in the low 100's to-90 I have learned here that those are the best number for the pancreas to heal, you can create a Spreadsheet with the members help, in The Main Forum page you will see sticky notes read them everything you need to know is there below you will have the Food list link keep it in your favorites look for the Fancy Feast page starting at the bottom of page 13, feed your cat only the FF that have less that 10%, no gravy non, you can feed as snacks ham, I buy the one that comes in a pkg with small squares only 2% carbs, most of us feed 4 times a day 2 main and two small meals
Mu Corky had been an angel to test, I cuddle him when he's sitting play with his ears have all ready to pinch, find a small sock fill it with rice tie it and place it inside the ear as a cuff, I use a small flash light over the ear, that way, I am sure to pinch only once I hold the top for his head between the ears to have him steady, at first I pinched several times, tested several time too much blood or too little, most of us use the ReliON monitor with the strips, is a human monitor inexpensive as well as the strips, if you have a Walmart where you live is the least expensive store to buy. I give the insulin and I do it when he's half way eating his food, doesn't even notice at first don't let him see the needle, in the Main Forum there is all the information on testing, feeding, insulin, insulin protocols, Make your spreadsheet is priority for the long time expert members can assist you best, at the bottom of my post there's a link, blue titled Corky's spreadsheet, click there and you can see what the spread sheet looks like, post any concerns you may have, me, I know a lot about the food and simple things I have been here since August 2023 Corky was diagnosed on January 2, I was going crazy almost to a point of breakdown until I found these amazing people to help, I am yet to take Corky to a Vet since, gladly, he has no other ailments except being spoiled rotten
http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Another option for your cat are two newer types of treatment for diabetes. They are not injections. The two drugs are Bexacat and Senvelgo. This is a link to information on them both. Bexacat is a pill so you would need to be able to pill your cat. Senvelgo can be mixed into food. The pros and cons are laid out in the link. If you are concerned about using insulin, please discuss these options with your vet. We've had several people using one or the other of these drugs, usually with success.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

@Jeanette M
In case you haven't seen members have responded to you post here

 

[Jeanette M]

My question was, will diet alone help lower the glucose?

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

My question was, will diet alone help lower the glucose?

Diet can lower blood glucose numbers somewhat but likely not enough. If you wait too long before treatment, you run the risk of diabetic ketoacidosis which is life threatening and a humungous vet bill.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

@Jeanette M
I definitely agree with what Red & Rover said above

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome.
Do you know if they did a fructosamine test to establish the diabetes diagnosis?
I’m not sure what horror stores you have read, but feline diabetes is a very treatable disease.
I would not feed the PurinaDM dry. It is too high in carbohydrates. The tiki wet cat food is fine. I will link a website at the end where you can find low card wet food which is what you should be feeding. Fancy Feast pates are low carb and Weruva has many low carb options as well. Look fir foods that are 10%carbs or less
Not starting insulin can run the risk of your cat getting ketones which can lead to the deadly DKA. This is avoidable by using insulin if your cat needs it. I would first of all ring your vet and ask them if they did a fructosamine test ( which will tell you if your cat is a diabetic and needs insulin) and also ask them if they tested your kitty for ketones.

If there were no ketones at diagnosis and if your will test for ketones in the urine while you trial a low carb diet for a week you could try it. But if there is no improvement in a week you will need to start insulin.
To test for ketones you will need a bottle of Ketostix which you can buy from Walmart or a pharmacy.
We can help you with everything. Most cats will let you test them.
Here is the link to FOOD CHART.