Mariella & Simba
Member Since 2018
Hi all. Hoping to learn a lot from all here. My husband and I have worked in cat rescue for many years, and dealt with a myriad of health problems in cats, but never diabetes until now. I volunteer for Forgotten Cats in Delaware, and several years ago trapped a cat who was either feral or had been abandoned in a rental townhome community. I felt he was adoptable, but he was too shy and was overlooked in the adoption center and at events. I quickly learned he hated other cats, so he had to live separate from my others. We adopted him and he will be 8yo in November. He became a regurgitator, and was dx'd with IBD a few years ago. He is also a "food fanatic", scarfing any food he can find. His vomiting is how he expressed his IBD. Finally, we stabilized his IBD with a diet of freeze-dried duck (at first), and then rabbit (Stella and. Chewy, and Vital Cat patties), along with Royal Canin prescription rabbit LID. We took him for routine bloodwork mid August, and to our great surprise, he was dx'd with diabetes, blood sugar of 405 on his blood panel, had a UTI, and sugar in his urine. He had displayed virtually no symptoms, except a bit more ravenous than usual, but no frequent drinking or peeing, and maintained his obese 16+ lb weight. Due to his food obsession, he begged a lot and we allowed him to get too fat, our bad. The only carbs in his diet was the prescription dry for his IBD, and probably not even a quarter cup daily. His primary diet was/is the freeze dried raw.
Vet did his first glucose curve at the office and started him on one unit of Lantus 2x a day, and only two meals a day. I immediately cut out the dry food, and he ate only his raw. After the first week we did our own curve at home, with readings at 320, 340, 320, and 380 in the evening. He was very very hungry that evening and had worked himself into a frenzy by the time he could eat, which is why I think the last reading was 380. She said to keep him on the one unit for another two weeks and do another curve, and if his numbers weren't into the 200's, we would up his insulin to 2 units. He tolerates the shots, and testing fairly well, but is really struggling with only two meals a day. She is adamant he must adhere to that protocol to have a chance for remission. She is a primary VCA vet, who seems to be good, but have not used extensively. She admits to not being good with nutrition and suggested a consult with an internist. We have a great one at our specialty center we have used in the past, but due to the center being bought by Blue Pearl, he is the only internist left of three who were there, and is a accepting no new patients.
As I usually do when confronted with something new with my kitties, am researching a lot. I instinctively feel many small meals through the day would be better for blood sugar, and that is how we stopped his vomiting for a long period of time. But, he vomited his breakfast today, as he was hungry from the time we went to bed around 11 to 7:30, his breakfast time. Thankfully, I hadn't yet given his insulin. He felt like eating after a short while and ate a small meal of a sample I had requested of a dry food for diabetic cats called Young Again (youngagainpetfood.com). It has zero carbohydrate, yes really, hard to believe. I just happened upon it in a search for low carb foods. The vet said he could go as long after eating as 30 minutes to get his shot, so I have been feeding him his freeze dried raw, and then going downstairs to prepare his shot. As an incentive to accept the shot, I am feeding him an Inaba Churu chicken fillet while I give him the shot. It has no carbs. His total daily food intake only equals 182 calories, yet he isn't losing weight. I don't trust the calorie count of his raw, and have written the company to ask them to explain. In response to him not losing,. I have cut him back another 27 calories. He gets only half a chicken fillet at each shot time as of yesterday, perhaps why he was so starved this morning..
I am wondering what this group might know about the Young Again food. On their website are many testimonials for diabetic cats who have gone into remission eating the ZERO food, even while free feeding it. There are many that never even went onto insulin. I would love so much to be able to let him have four small meals a day, and I can see this group supports that. I fear repercussions from his vet if we do that, however.
I don't have his numbers from his first glucose curve at the office, and there wasn't much of a "curve/nadir" with the curve we did at home. She mentioned there should be a nadir (low point), but his numbers were in a tight range, for the most part. She had us test only 4x in the 12 hours, beginning and end, and 5.5 hours, and again 3 hours after that in midday. I thought that was maybe because Lantus is a slow acting insulin that perhaps smooths out peaks and valleys.
Simba will eat the Young Again sample food. It is very high calorie because it is all meat, no carbs or grains, so portions to lose weight would be small. I have emailed with the President of the company, and he suggests portion control for Simba, rather than free feeding, to keep him from gaining even more weight at first. I am fine with that, if he could just eat something more often.
I apologize for this very long message, and look forward to members' reactions to the information I have shared. Thank you for any comments you have.
Mariella and Simba
Vet did his first glucose curve at the office and started him on one unit of Lantus 2x a day, and only two meals a day. I immediately cut out the dry food, and he ate only his raw. After the first week we did our own curve at home, with readings at 320, 340, 320, and 380 in the evening. He was very very hungry that evening and had worked himself into a frenzy by the time he could eat, which is why I think the last reading was 380. She said to keep him on the one unit for another two weeks and do another curve, and if his numbers weren't into the 200's, we would up his insulin to 2 units. He tolerates the shots, and testing fairly well, but is really struggling with only two meals a day. She is adamant he must adhere to that protocol to have a chance for remission. She is a primary VCA vet, who seems to be good, but have not used extensively. She admits to not being good with nutrition and suggested a consult with an internist. We have a great one at our specialty center we have used in the past, but due to the center being bought by Blue Pearl, he is the only internist left of three who were there, and is a accepting no new patients.
As I usually do when confronted with something new with my kitties, am researching a lot. I instinctively feel many small meals through the day would be better for blood sugar, and that is how we stopped his vomiting for a long period of time. But, he vomited his breakfast today, as he was hungry from the time we went to bed around 11 to 7:30, his breakfast time. Thankfully, I hadn't yet given his insulin. He felt like eating after a short while and ate a small meal of a sample I had requested of a dry food for diabetic cats called Young Again (youngagainpetfood.com). It has zero carbohydrate, yes really, hard to believe. I just happened upon it in a search for low carb foods. The vet said he could go as long after eating as 30 minutes to get his shot, so I have been feeding him his freeze dried raw, and then going downstairs to prepare his shot. As an incentive to accept the shot, I am feeding him an Inaba Churu chicken fillet while I give him the shot. It has no carbs. His total daily food intake only equals 182 calories, yet he isn't losing weight. I don't trust the calorie count of his raw, and have written the company to ask them to explain. In response to him not losing,. I have cut him back another 27 calories. He gets only half a chicken fillet at each shot time as of yesterday, perhaps why he was so starved this morning..
I am wondering what this group might know about the Young Again food. On their website are many testimonials for diabetic cats who have gone into remission eating the ZERO food, even while free feeding it. There are many that never even went onto insulin. I would love so much to be able to let him have four small meals a day, and I can see this group supports that. I fear repercussions from his vet if we do that, however.
I don't have his numbers from his first glucose curve at the office, and there wasn't much of a "curve/nadir" with the curve we did at home. She mentioned there should be a nadir (low point), but his numbers were in a tight range, for the most part. She had us test only 4x in the 12 hours, beginning and end, and 5.5 hours, and again 3 hours after that in midday. I thought that was maybe because Lantus is a slow acting insulin that perhaps smooths out peaks and valleys.
Simba will eat the Young Again sample food. It is very high calorie because it is all meat, no carbs or grains, so portions to lose weight would be small. I have emailed with the President of the company, and he suggests portion control for Simba, rather than free feeding, to keep him from gaining even more weight at first. I am fine with that, if he could just eat something more often.
I apologize for this very long message, and look forward to members' reactions to the information I have shared. Thank you for any comments you have.
Mariella and Simba
If you’d like some more fuel about feeding multiple small meals, both the AAHA and the ISFM guidelines recommend it
And of course ask plenty of questions!