How quickly did your furbaby improve after DX?

[monty_dweezil (GA)]

There is something confusing me. Dweezy, just before diagnosis, was looking thin (he was 12.12 pounds down from 13), his fur a bit dull and sparse, normal appetite, drinking a lot, peeing a lot (and it smelled like apple cider) and he was a bit quieter than he normally used to be. At diagnosis, his blood sugar was over 600. (No ketones)

Within two days of having his first insulin shot (2 units twice a day), he showed a huge improvement. Fur luscious and thick, he went back up to 12.78 pounds, appetite still normal, peeing in normal frequency (and less sweet smelling), drinking normally, energetic and seemed like his old self......and he was eating only Royal Canin DM biscuits, as this is what our vet told us.

A week later, the one blood glucose test of the failed curve at the vet that was able to be done (AMPS) read 234. He was hugely stressed at the time.

Since then, he has been eating much less biscuits and mostly very low carb (under 5%) wet food (apart from the Australian Fancy Feast brief problem), and yet he has not been as good after those first two weeks.

He went back to 1 unit twice a day based on the assumption his 234 AMPS was really lower due to his level of stress.

This was too low as after that change (about a week after), his pee increased again, as did the drinking and he lost a bit of weight again.

Almost three weeks ago he tested at 342 at the vet (not very stressed) AMPS and then 190 +7 hours at the vet. Went back up to the initial 2 units again.

Since then, he has not improved. He seemed to get slightly worse for a few days after (bouncing i assumed) and then settled, but he is still losing little bits of weight gradually, certainly not gaining it like he did those first two weeks. His pee still smells very sweet and for over a month, his urine glucose has only gone down from consistently the highest reading (when on 1 unit) to the second highest / sometimes third highest reading (once on 2 units).

I am comfused as to why feeding those quarter carb content biscuits seemed to produce the best result! It makes no sense!!! Is Dweezil an anomaly?

 

[jmalasiuk]

I'm not sure what is normal for diabetic cats, but I do know that in Type 1 diabetic people (insulin dependent), it is normal for a brief "honeymoon" period after you first start on insulin. For us, it's kind of the pancreas's "last gasp", triggered back into action for a few days before it stops entirely. From the number of cats that can go into remission, their patterns are evidently different from people when it comes to pancreas function (definitely not a normal thing in Type 1 diabetic people to go into remission), but I wonder if starting insulin has the same brief honeymoon effect on cats... and after a while, it can come back and stick around longer.

 

[monty_dweezil (GA)]

Hmm. That does make sense.

I'm just loathe to completely stop feeding the dry food just in case. He did so much better those first 2 weeks.

It could also be, at least in terms of just the weight, that he's still not eating enough wet food to gain weight, seeing as it's low calorie. The RC DM dry is calorie dense and Monty put on weight right away too, upon starting to eat them.

Lately i've been feeding Dweezil 2 main meals (3/4 of a can of ziwipeak or the low carb canned kangaroo meat. The brand name escapes me) plus 2 smaller meals (another 1/2 can) of the same thing. Sometimes he just won't eat all of it. He never has though.

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hi,
My cat improved quite quickly after diagnosis. And that was in spite of the fact that he was still in very high numbers for quite a time.
Even though the insulin wasn't lowering the blood glucose much (and sometimes not at all) his physical condition improved a lot, which suggested to me that insulin has a beneficial effect that cannot be measured in terms of blood glucose numbers alone.

Regarding your Dweezil, there isn't a lot of data yet to really work out how the insulin is working in his body.
It is possible - since you are feeding lower carb food now - that Dweezil's blood glucose levels are dropping and bouncing, and the average of his blood glucose levels may be higher than they were initially. This could cause a worsening of his diabetes symptoms. But I honestly don't know; this is just a guess, and only one of a number of possibilities. Without more data it's hard to know what's going on.... Sorry....

Is it the case that you tried hometesting but Dweezil was proving hard to test?

Eliz

 

[monty_dweezil (GA)]

If Dweezy is bouncing, would this still be happening after 3 weeks on the same dose?

Oh, and yes, we had a very hard time home testing at first, as most people do. We poked poor Dweezy so many times and he got very stressed. No blood.

Then finally i managed to get blood by myself. It was a major accomplishment. But he would not let me near his ear again. He still is touchy with it. And now touchy in terms of even doing his injections now too. Treats don't really help much these days. I literally cannot even fathom how anyone could test every day, let alone twice a day or every 2 hours! Dweezy would not allow this at all!