I AM NEW TO THE FORUM, I need advice, guidance, assistance from those of you who have had diabetic cats. My boy Chance who is 6 was newly diagnosed but the vets don’t seem to know how to get it under control. I was told by many people to switch him to wet food only and I bought a bunch of fancy feast classic pate wet food for him. I also bought the Home testing kit to get his levels but I am not getting enough blood when I try to do it. Any advice on that would be great. Also I don’t know how to adjust his insulin if the wet food brings his levels down, he currently gets 3 units twice daily. But he has been on wet food and the dry prescription diabetic food. Any help I would be so great full, I have been going back and forth on whether to give him up to someone who would know what they are doing and be able to afford it because not getting his levels under control leaves him peeing all over my house and on me in my bed.
Please do not give up. Your story is so similar to mine 3 1/2 yrs. ago, when I found this forum and so many helpful people to get me through it. Elvis was 13 when I started to notice very lethargic and sickly changes. When I took him to the vet on March 10, 2014, his glucose #s were very high so the vet insisted I put him on insulin, 3 units twice/day of ProZinc. At the time, Elvis had been eating Hill's Prescription C/D for about 10 years, prescribed because of a UTI when he was much younger. That's all he ever ate because a vet at that time said he should stay on it forever just to be sure the UTI doesn't recur. What did I know, so that's all I fed him.
The next two weeks were a nightmare and I thought I was almost going to lose Elvis. His lethargy was at its worst and he wasn't eating or drinking. The vet insisted that I bring him in every week for a spot check and take his blood...the costs were running up so I asked if I could do my own spot checking at home. He talked me out of it.
I noticed that Elvis' demeanor always seemed better though just before his next shot was due, and worse after and up to 6 hrs. after the shot. Something just wasn't making sense and Elvis was not improving. When the vet suggested upping his dose to 4 units b.i.d., I started to get suspicious and that's when I did a lot of on line research and found this forum. Through the help of the fine people on this forum, I learned a LOT. First about high-carb foods and their contribution to feline diabetes, which Hill's is most certainly....the C/D Elvis was on had 38% carbs!!! So I questioned the vet about this and he suggested to change to the Hill's W/D....hello.....well that one has 37% carbs!!! I also started to feel that Elvis might be over-medicated so I talked to the vet about this and he said to go back to the 3 units b.i.d., then I insisted that I do my own blood glucose testing at home and monitor him my way. He finally agreed, so I purchased my glucometer and watched a lot of YouTube videos to learn how to take Elvis' BGs and that really helped. [I find that massaging the ear and putting a warm compress behind it before you prick, is helpful to getting the blood to flow. If you haven't already....I recommend watching some YT videos....here's a good one:
Turns out this decision was the right and best one for Elvis, and me. His #s dropped from serious 600+ range at the vet, to 190 (on a human meter) at home. Also read on line that cats, like humans, can suffer from white-coat syndrome and that that fear alone could severely effect his #s. Well Elvis has NEVER been easy to take to the vet....have to line his carrying case with pp-pads because as soon as he gets in it, he urinates and poops all over. He's petrified of just going out the door let alone to the vet. This was all telling me something....the fear, the high carb foods, his advancing age, etc.
I took him off the Hill's and started him on some low carb canned foods suggested by lovely members of this forum. At first it was tough getting him to eat soft foods after the hard for so long, but I persisted in finding the right ones and doing whatever I could to them to get him to eat...that's when I learned he was a pate kind of guy. Loves to lick juices and of the other kinds, he would just lick dry and all the food would still be in his dish. Trial and error, and samples of low carb foods, some even sent to me by members, like EVO dried, which was a good find too.
Elvis' BGs started to plummet and I asked the vet if I could try and start weening him off the insulin...he gave me a formula....(again, on the human meter)
>300, give regular 3-unit dose
>250, reduce dose
<200, no dose
After about a month of this, Elvis was starting to respond better with the lesser doses and some of the low carb canned foods, although that was still something he was reluctant to eat. That's when I finally learned about Young Again Pet Foods. For me and Elvis, a God-send! Elvis' BGs were starting to stay consistently below the "no dose" level the vet suggested, so with his approval, I stopped the shots and only gave him one low dose, 1.5 units, if I saw an increase above the 200. I started him on Young Again Zero Carb on April 17, 2014....Elvis' last insulin shot was April 20 and his #s have never gone above 100 since; in fact, the range is between 50-80, and has been for the last 3 1/2 years.
Now I realize I may be a very unique story, and lucky one too, but I know that if you love your kitty, and know him well---his quirks, routines, etc.--- and you persevere and don't just take one vet's opinion be as gospel, maybe things aren't as bad as they seem. I would try diet changes....you mentioned your kitty has been on a prescription diet....maybe the carbs are high and that's contributing to higher #s. Try Young Again....it runs about $50.00/8 lb. bag, BUT it lasts, for me anyway, at least 3 months. Cats usually eat about 3 tablespoons a day of it because it's high in protein.
I hope this helps. So many people on this forum helped me get to where I am now with Elvis, and I am grateful and hope that maybe some of the suggestions I've given you here will save another kitty from unnecessary over-treatment or being given away. Now it may turn out your kitty may still need insulin, but maybe lower doses. Still, it's not difficult to give them the shot on your own and you can have a perfectly normal kitty in spite of it.
Good luck.
