How long
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Melanie and Smokey
Very Active Member
Yes, it isn't the greatest for kitties to miss shots. If you are on a depot insulin like Lantus or Levimir, it could be like starting over every time you miss a couple of days and make the insulin pretty ineffective all of the time.
When you miss shots, you could be letting your cat stay too high for too long and cats who have prolonged high numbers risk DKA or diabetic ketoacidosis. This makes a cat VERY sick and can be deadly.
What are the reasons for missed shots?
When you miss shots, you could be letting your cat stay too high for too long and cats who have prolonged high numbers risk DKA or diabetic ketoacidosis. This makes a cat VERY sick and can be deadly.
What are the reasons for missed shots?
KittyMom777
Active Member
racn1320 said:
Why don't you try the switch gradually - ie put a bit of wet food into her dry then each day reduce the amount of dry and increase the wet. That's what I did with my dry food addict diabetic. My other non diabetic still gets one teaspoon of dry mixed into her wet and I am weaning her off that.
Juliet and Silver
Melanie and Smokey
Very Active Member
You usually want to switch a cat slowly to new foods. If she doesn't eat, it can be hard to give insulin.
Are you hometesting? Hometesting can be very important during a food change because changing to wet food from dry can easily drop a cat's blood sugar 100+ points in one cycle.
Are you hometesting? Hometesting can be very important during a food change because changing to wet food from dry can easily drop a cat's blood sugar 100+ points in one cycle.
racn1320
Active Member
Melanie and Smokey said:
I was going to do it gradually,ill try the Idea 9f mixing it with wet,hope that works,but she is very picky. I have another appt at vet early next week and they are doing another test,im going to have them show me how to do so? Is there a recommended kit? If so how much,does it last long?? Im hoping she eats if not there may be a day of no insulin.
BJM
Very Active Member
Switching about 20-25% different food each day helps avoid vomiting, diarrhea, of food refusal.
Changing to low carb food may reduce glucose levels by 100 mg/dL and reduce the insulin dose by up to 2 units.
If you're home to monitor, you might make matching decreases on the insulin of 25% each day, rather than totally skipping.
Changing to low carb food may reduce glucose levels by 100 mg/dL and reduce the insulin dose by up to 2 units.
If you're home to monitor, you might make matching decreases on the insulin of 25% each day, rather than totally skipping.
racn1320
Active Member
Im on the food,getting some tomorrow after work,ill do it gradually,as long as she still eats,she may not with new food even mixed in. Im going to vet early next week,they are to check levels,im going to have them show me then ill get a test kit,if anybody could tell me more that would great on kits. I work fulltime so im not home all the time to monitor,ive maybe given her 1.5 units at most,vets says 2,im just nervous i guess on 2 units
BJM
Very Active Member
Just an FYI, but I found it very difficult to read a run on sentence with no spacing, limited punctuation, and limited capitalization. I've reformatted your post so I could read it. Other folks may be just fine with it. Could you add a hard return after each sentence to help me out?
Food list at Cat Info. Anything with under 10% calories from carbohydrate is fine for routine feeding and there are a number of options. Dr Pierson also has a list of tips on switching.
You need an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart ReliOn Confirm or Confirm Micro (also sold as the Arkray Glucocard 01 or 01 Mini at ADW through our SHOP link), matching test strips, and 25-28 gauge lancets for getting the sample. To get some basics on what the the numbers mean, see my signature link, Glucometer Notes.
Basic starting rules:
- Always test before you shoot.
- If the test is less than 200 mg/dL on a human glucometer, stall for 30 minutes without feeding an retest. If over 200, you may be OK to shoot. If rising, you may be OK to shoot; you can post here and ask for feedback. Or, you can skip until the next shot time.
- If the glucose is below 50 mg/dL, you need to intervene because it is too low. Break out some high carb gravied food, or some regular food with Karo syrup on it and feed a couple teaspoons. Post here for more help.
What insulin will you be using? We recommend Levemir, ProZinc, Lantus, and BCP PZI as they all last at least 12 hours in the cat. A cautious starting dose is around 0.5 to 1.0 units, especially if you are also changing food.
racn1320 said:
Food list at Cat Info. Anything with under 10% calories from carbohydrate is fine for routine feeding and there are a number of options. Dr Pierson also has a list of tips on switching.
You need an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart ReliOn Confirm or Confirm Micro (also sold as the Arkray Glucocard 01 or 01 Mini at ADW through our SHOP link), matching test strips, and 25-28 gauge lancets for getting the sample. To get some basics on what the the numbers mean, see my signature link, Glucometer Notes.
Basic starting rules:
- Always test before you shoot.
- If the test is less than 200 mg/dL on a human glucometer, stall for 30 minutes without feeding an retest. If over 200, you may be OK to shoot. If rising, you may be OK to shoot; you can post here and ask for feedback. Or, you can skip until the next shot time.
- If the glucose is below 50 mg/dL, you need to intervene because it is too low. Break out some high carb gravied food, or some regular food with Karo syrup on it and feed a couple teaspoons. Post here for more help.
What insulin will you be using? We recommend Levemir, ProZinc, Lantus, and BCP PZI as they all last at least 12 hours in the cat. A cautious starting dose is around 0.5 to 1.0 units, especially if you are also changing food.
KittyMom777
Active Member
BJM just to note - try and be kind. Criticizing someone's lack of punctuation is not what they want to hear when they are worried about their kitty.
Re a testing kit - if you mean ear prick testing you just need to buy a glucometer and strips from any pharmacy. Most I think use Relion from Walmart. You warm the ear -I use a hotbag, others use rice filled sock warmed in microwave. If you look at your cat's ear you'll see a thin vein running along the ear. You want to prick between the vein and the outer edge of the ear. One drop is all you need. It gets easy but first couple times it's hard and you may have to prick a couple times. The glucometer will come with a lancing device but you may need to buy lancets too. My pharmacy gave me a bunch.
Hope that helps.
Setting up a spreadsheet would be good too so others can see your readings and help you with dosing. Go to the tech torum and you'll see a sticky near the top of the list re creating a SS.
Juliet and Silver
Re a testing kit - if you mean ear prick testing you just need to buy a glucometer and strips from any pharmacy. Most I think use Relion from Walmart. You warm the ear -I use a hotbag, others use rice filled sock warmed in microwave. If you look at your cat's ear you'll see a thin vein running along the ear. You want to prick between the vein and the outer edge of the ear. One drop is all you need. It gets easy but first couple times it's hard and you may have to prick a couple times. The glucometer will come with a lancing device but you may need to buy lancets too. My pharmacy gave me a bunch.
Hope that helps.
Setting up a spreadsheet would be good too so others can see your readings and help you with dosing. Go to the tech torum and you'll see a sticky near the top of the list re creating a SS.
Juliet and Silver
KittyMom777
Active Member
Perfection is not required. Don't worry about it 
KittyMom777
Active Member
It depends on the size of the cat.
I have two cats - one is the diabetic who is 12lb and I feed him 2 cans of FF per day - 1 in the morning and 1 at night.
The other cat is very overweight and I am trying to get her to drop a bit. She is my dry food addict. She gets 1 can of FF per day - half in the morning and half at night with one teaspoon of dry food mixed into the wet.
Likely I will have to take her to the vet as I have had her on this low amount of food and she has not lost anything. Not gained either though.
Don't listen to what the FF cans say - if I did that I would be feeding upwards of four cans to my babies! Look at other's signatures, I think a lot of the them put what they feed their cats into the signature.
I'd also recommend you get a few cans of the FF gravy lovers and some syrup. If you're cat ever gets too low on insulin then this high carb food and/or the honey will bring him back up to safe level. You will hear folks talk of a hypo kit and that's basically what you need. Also plenty of strips for testing.
Juliet and Silver
I have two cats - one is the diabetic who is 12lb and I feed him 2 cans of FF per day - 1 in the morning and 1 at night.
The other cat is very overweight and I am trying to get her to drop a bit. She is my dry food addict. She gets 1 can of FF per day - half in the morning and half at night with one teaspoon of dry food mixed into the wet.
Likely I will have to take her to the vet as I have had her on this low amount of food and she has not lost anything. Not gained either though.
Don't listen to what the FF cans say - if I did that I would be feeding upwards of four cans to my babies! Look at other's signatures, I think a lot of the them put what they feed their cats into the signature.
I'd also recommend you get a few cans of the FF gravy lovers and some syrup. If you're cat ever gets too low on insulin then this high carb food and/or the honey will bring him back up to safe level. You will hear folks talk of a hypo kit and that's basically what you need. Also plenty of strips for testing.
Juliet and Silver
racn1320
Active Member
They are small cans,ill try to mix it tonight,the pancake syrup is a good dea in the food,if she likes it. I bet she wont eat tnight. Im leaving ot out till am. If she doesnt eat at all and if i give her the normal dry food can i give her shot before work tomorrow. Or if she.doesnt eat tnight skip tonight and tomorrow am insulin shot?
BJM
Very Active Member
I figured it might be the phone. If you can, add some hard returns and/or underscores to separate out sentences and words, it'll help it be more readable (per perceptual psychology, not personal opinion).
I find my 14 eat roughly 0.5 ounces of cat food per pound of weight per feeding.
With that very rough guideline, a 12 pound cat would get 3 ounces am and pm (or broken into some smaller mini-meals over the 12 hour shot periods) and a 6 pound cat would get 1.5 ounces am and pm. It seems small to us, but consider how much smaller the cat is than us.
I find my 14 eat roughly 0.5 ounces of cat food per pound of weight per feeding.
With that very rough guideline, a 12 pound cat would get 3 ounces am and pm (or broken into some smaller mini-meals over the 12 hour shot periods) and a 6 pound cat would get 1.5 ounces am and pm. It seems small to us, but consider how much smaller the cat is than us.
BJM
Very Active Member
You want to bring the glucose UP when the cat is too low.KittyMom777 said:
When the blood glucose is below 50 mg/dL on a human glucometer, you'll use your hypo kit - high carb gravied food and/or Karo syrup/honey/molasses/glucose syrup - to manage the numbers and get them up above 50 mg/dL on a human glucometer.
To manage minor low numbers:
You feed 1-2 teaspoons of gravy/high carb food, or low carb with some drops of syrup on it.
Wait 30 minutes
Re-test
Repeat if still too low.
And post here for help.
If in doubt, you can go to the vet, too, so have the phone number, address, and directions to the nearest emergency animal hospitals in your kit.
KittyMom777
Active Member
racn1320 said:
You wouldn't give syrup unless the cat was having a hypo and they need only a very small amount - licking off your finger would suffice.
Lori&Scout
Member
Yeah be careful about the refusal of food. Diabetic or not, on insulin or not, any cat not eating for ~2 days can make them very sick.
What I did with my picky girls is add some very hot water to the wet food and mix it in, so it smelled more strongly. I've also put warm chicken, tuna, and/or treats in the bowl on top of the dreaded wet food to encourage them to just try what's in the bowl. Once they take a bite I find they'll generally eat some more, it's just that first bite.
Lori
What I did with my picky girls is add some very hot water to the wet food and mix it in, so it smelled more strongly. I've also put warm chicken, tuna, and/or treats in the bowl on top of the dreaded wet food to encourage them to just try what's in the bowl. Once they take a bite I find they'll generally eat some more, it's just that first bite.
Lori
BJM
Very Active Member
Sometimes, it works better to switch gradually, about 20-25% different food each day.
If you need to, get a sample bag of Young Again 0 Carb (online - call and request it) and gradually mix that in. It is about 5% calories from carbohydrates.
Another option is Epigen 90 dry food (may be in pet supply stores; is online).
If you need to, get a sample bag of Young Again 0 Carb (online - call and request it) and gradually mix that in. It is about 5% calories from carbohydrates.
Another option is Epigen 90 dry food (may be in pet supply stores; is online).
Melanie and Smokey
Very Active Member
9 Lives Ground, Flaked, or Dinner varieties should all be low carb - no gravies!
Friskies pates
MaxCat -Chicken Supreme, Savory Duck, Savory Venison and Turkey and Chicken Liver varieties. The rest will be too high.
Iams - I think only the kitten pate is low enough, it is right at 10.
Purine One - a few of the pates are low carb.
Special Kitty if Walmart still sells that brand was low carb pates.
Dry food, none in grocer type stores, in the natural pet stores you can find EVO turkey and chicken (used to be cat and kitten). I've not yet found it in PetSmart/PetCo around here.
One thing I have done is use Stella and Chewy's (a freeze dried food found in natural pet stores) or another freeze-dried treat that they like and sprinkle it on top of the wet food. Mine will all eat whatever is under Stella's
Friskies pates
MaxCat -Chicken Supreme, Savory Duck, Savory Venison and Turkey and Chicken Liver varieties. The rest will be too high.
Iams - I think only the kitten pate is low enough, it is right at 10.
Purine One - a few of the pates are low carb.
Special Kitty if Walmart still sells that brand was low carb pates.
Dry food, none in grocer type stores, in the natural pet stores you can find EVO turkey and chicken (used to be cat and kitten). I've not yet found it in PetSmart/PetCo around here.
One thing I have done is use Stella and Chewy's (a freeze dried food found in natural pet stores) or another freeze-dried treat that they like and sprinkle it on top of the wet food. Mine will all eat whatever is under Stella's
racn1320
Active Member
Melanie and Smokey said:9 Lives Ground, Flaked, or Dinner varieties should all be low carb - no gravies!
Friskies pates
MaxCat -Chicken Supreme, Savory Duck, Savory Venison and Turkey and Chicken Liver varieties. The rest will be too high.
Iams - I think only the kitten pate is low enough, it is right at 10.
Purine One - a few of the pates are low carb.
Special Kitty if Walmart still sells that brand was low carb pates.
Dry food, none in grocer type stores, in the natural pet stores you can find EVO turkey and chicken (used to be cat and kitten). I've not yet found it in PetSmart/PetCo around here.
One thing I have done is use Stella and Chewy's (a freeze dried food found in natural pet stores) or another freeze-dried treat that they like and sprinkle it on top of the wet food. Mine will all eat whatever is under Stella's
Is the friskies sold in regular grocery stores? I think I found aplace where i live that sells evo!
Kimmied
Active Member
Please read the post, Converting a Dry Food Addict by KittyMom777 on Nov 11,2014.
In it are "words of wisdom" from our one and only( not sure about only one though) "kitty" Fairy Godmother, Mel (mommaofmuse).
It took my Hank 2 months to get off the dry stuff!
I tried everything!!
Finally, I printed off what Mel said, took my paper to the grocery store, picked up my supplies and started trying away! :lol:
Then it dawned on me...I don't know why I didn't try it sooner...but I squished up Hank's favorite high carb treat, Purina Whisker Lickin's( soft treats), and sprinkled it on top of the wet food anddddddddddd...TaDa!! Success!!
The first day I sprinkled 4 pieces and he licked it and wet food. Second day, I sprinkled 2 and he ate some wet food. On the third day, I sprinkled 2 and Hank ate all the wet food!
For my civie (non-diabetic cat), Oscar, I took a hammer to some of his dry (in a baggie), and sprinkled on top of the wet and he ate it. But I had to do that for a couple of days for Oscar till he was good and eating it.
As of Tuesday this week, I have both cats on wet food! WooHoo!!
Good luck and have patience! :smile:
Kimmie
In it are "words of wisdom" from our one and only( not sure about only one though) "kitty" Fairy Godmother, Mel (mommaofmuse).
It took my Hank 2 months to get off the dry stuff!
I tried everything!!
Finally, I printed off what Mel said, took my paper to the grocery store, picked up my supplies and started trying away! :lol:
Then it dawned on me...I don't know why I didn't try it sooner...but I squished up Hank's favorite high carb treat, Purina Whisker Lickin's( soft treats), and sprinkled it on top of the wet food anddddddddddd...TaDa!! Success!!
The first day I sprinkled 4 pieces and he licked it and wet food. Second day, I sprinkled 2 and he ate some wet food. On the third day, I sprinkled 2 and Hank ate all the wet food!
For my civie (non-diabetic cat), Oscar, I took a hammer to some of his dry (in a baggie), and sprinkled on top of the wet and he ate it. But I had to do that for a couple of days for Oscar till he was good and eating it.
As of Tuesday this week, I have both cats on wet food! WooHoo!!
Good luck and have patience! :smile:
Kimmie
KittyMom777
Active Member
Yeah, thats great news. Patience wins out. Especially if they are hungry enough. My Sasha is very fussy - but if hungry, she'll eat.
racn1320
Active Member
Came home tonight and fed her some more friskies pate mixed grill,she loves it!!! Im so proud of her! How much food should i give her for a safe feeding and not go into hypo. 1/2 a can in am and 1/2 in pm?? Im planning on leaving a very small amount of dry food out when im gone just in case.
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