? Kiki new to diabetes

[Chad]

Recently my 11 yr old cat has been diagnosed as diabetic. She is at 1ml every 12 hrs. I understand that she needs to eat prior to taking the insulin, but can we feed her a small meal of dry cat food during the day like midway between meal times? She was used to grazing and she seems to get hungry during the day.

Thanks in advance for the help.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. What is your kitties name?

In general, it is best to feed low carb wet food or raw, not dry food. If you add some water to the wet, leaving it a bit soupy, it won’t dry out during the day. The extra water is also good for diabetics. With Lantus it’s not as important that she eat all of her food before the shot. Grazing is fine. Our usual routine is to test the blood sugar to make sure it is safe to give the shot, then out down food, and give the shot, often while still eating. It all takes about 10 minutes. If you can, it is best to pull up food two hours before the shot, so the blood test before shooting is not influenced by the food.

 

[tiffmaxee]

Welcome. Which insulin are you using? What dry food? There are only two that are low carb and they are Young Again and Dr. Elsey’s . If you want to switch to all wet you can get an auto feeder and set it to open in between. Most here feed small meals more often during the first half of the cycle. You don’t need to feed prior to giving Lantus or Levimar unless you are concerned your cat won’t eat. Most test, feed, shoot all within 5-10 minutes. It’s helpful to read the yellow stickies about how these depot drugs work. Onset is usually around two hours after shooting but for some it’s sooner and others later.

Are you testing at home? It’s really important to get tests before you give insulin and mid cycle at a minimum. If you are home testing, are you using a pet or human meter?

The methods used here are TR and SLGS. Since you are feeding dry food the one you would follow is SLGS. Please read the yellow sticky about how it works and add that to a signature including sone of what I’ve mentioned. We are data based so in order to help you a spreadsheet is a must. All you need is a google account to set one up.

 

[Briere Fur Mom]

WELCOME! I'm looking forward to seeing your sweet ones progress! You are in the right place. There's alot of very experienced peeps on this board. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to help you get things sorted out.
What's your sweet one's name? You can let everyone know pertinent info about your kitty by making a signature. It's the small grey txt at the bottom of the Threads. For example, at the bottom of this thread, mine includes both my sugar kitties names, DOB, sexes, diabetes diagnosis date, dosing guideline we follow, type of insulin(s) and dates, type of glucometer used and food I feed. Any other medical issues can be included as well. The signature is a useful, once glance tool that allows members to see somewhat of a description/history of your kitty. You access that through your profile menu. There's 3 tabs, in navy, at the right hand portion of the screen. One should have your name Chad(next to inbox and alerts). Mouse over that to find the drop down menu. You will find the signature in there. Click on signature. It will open a box that allows you to type in things, as I've mentioned. Another essential tool is the spreadsheet. If you don't have one, someone can assist you with that. Unfortunately, all I can do is guide you to the yellow stickies which will aid you. The spreadsheet needs to be included in your signature. It's a quick reference to seeing what's going on with your sweet one. It all seems so overwhelming at first but, BELIEVE me...it gets easier. Again WELCOME!!!!!

 

[Chad]

Hello and welcome. What is your kitties name?

In general, it is best to feed low carb wet food or raw, not dry food. If you add some water to the wet, leaving it a bit soupy, it won’t dry out during the day. The extra water is also good for diabetics. With Lantus it’s not as important that she eat all of her food before the shot. Grazing is fine. Our usual routine is to test the blood sugar to make sure it is safe to give the shot, then out down food, and give the shot, often while still eating. It all takes about 10 minutes. If you can, it is best to pull up food two hours before the shot, so the blood test before shooting is not influenced by the food.

My kittys name is Kiki. We feed her wet food morning and night with added water before her injection. She usually will eat most of a 3 oz can at these times. It seems she is getting hungry during the day so I wanted to give her a bit to get her through the day and not starve her about midway through. Our cat has not really shown any signs of diabetes up to this point so it is kind of a shocker. Being new we have not been told to check her blood sugar level just to make sure she eats before her injection. One of the vet doctors didn't want her to eat at all during the day except at the two feeding times, which seems a bit long to me. We have been feeding our cat (which can take a bit) then waiting about 30 mins before injecting.

 

[Chad]

Welcome. Which insulin are you using? What dry food? There are only two that are low carb and they are Young Again and Dr. Elsey’s . If you want to switch to all wet you can get an auto feeder and set it to open in between. Most here feed small meals more often during the first half of the cycle. You don’t need to feed prior to giving Lantus or Levimar unless you are concerned your cat won’t eat. Most test, feed, shoot all within 5-10 minutes. It’s helpful to read the yellow stickies about how these depot drugs work. Onset is usually around two hours after shooting but for some it’s sooner and others later.

Are you testing at home? It’s really important to get tests before you give insulin and mid cycle at a minimum. If you are home testing, are you using a pet or human meter?

The methods used here are TR and SLGS. Since you are feeding dry food the one you would follow is SLGS. Please read the yellow sticky about how it works and add that to a signature including sone of what I’ve mentioned. We are data based so in order to help you a spreadsheet is a must. All you need is a google account to set one up.

We were told to use Lantus because it is the most effective for cats (even though it seems is the most expensive :/) We have stopped giving her dry food as she and my other kitty have been raised to graze and eat when they are hungry, and feed her at 6 am/6pm for her shots. We have been using meow mix which we were told by one of the vets that it can be used.

Interesting about the feeding, we were instructed and told to feed her before giving her the Lantus injection morning and night.

We are not testing because it has never been brought up to us that we needed to.

 

[Chad]

WELCOME! I'm looking forward to seeing your sweet ones progress! You are in the right place. There's alot of very experienced peeps on this board. I'm sure someone will be along shortly to help you get things sorted out.
What's your sweet one's name? You can let everyone know pertinent info about your kitty by making a signature. It's the small grey txt at the bottom of the Threads. For example, at the bottom of this thread, mine includes both my sugar kitties names, DOB, sexes, diabetes diagnosis date, dosing guideline we follow, type of insulin(s) and dates, type of glucometer used and food I feed. Any other medical issues can be included as well. The signature is a useful, once glance tool that allows members to see somewhat of a description/history of your kitty. You access that through your profile menu. There's 3 tabs, in navy, at the right hand portion of the screen. One should have your name Chad(next to inbox and alerts). Mouse over that to find the drop down menu. You will find the signature in there. Click on signature. It will open a box that allows you to type in things, as I've mentioned. Another essential tool is the spreadsheet. If you don't have one, someone can assist you with that. Unfortunately, all I can do is guide you to the yellow stickies which will aid you. The spreadsheet needs to be included in your signature. It's a quick reference to seeing what's going on with your sweet one. It all seems so overwhelming at first but, BELIEVE me...it gets easier. Again WELCOME!!!!!

Her name is Kiki. I will look in to adding the info.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

First, Meow Mix is terribly high in carbohydrates. This would be similar to your feeding your diabetic child cookies and ice cream and expecting blood glucose numbers to be good. Vets get precious little training in nutrition and while they no doubt understand the relationship between carbohydrates and blood glucose (BG), they don't always appreciate just how high the carbs are even in prescription diabetic foods (which are also frequently high in carbs). This is a chart including most canned foods available in the US along with their carb counts. The chart was compiled by a vet, Lisa Pierson, DMV, who has an excellent website of feline nutrition. Many of us break meals into smaller amounts (vs giving an entire can of food at each meal) so the food is spread out. If no one is home during the day, a timed feeder may be helpful.

As for home testing, it's something we strongly encourage. It is the only way to keep your cat safe. To put this in a larger contest, I cannot imagine an MD telling their diabetic patient not to home test. How would you know if your BG level was too low to safely give an injection? Likewise, if you're diabetic and feeling "off," is it a matter that your BG numbers are dropping into what may be a potentially unsafe range? The other advantage of testing is that it gives you a better understanding regarding how Kiki is responding to Lantus. You will not need to bring her to the vet for them to run a curve. You will be able to do that on your own. Many people here use the Walmart brand glucometer. The strips are the least expensive around but you can use any brand of glucometer and strips. We have great resources (including videos) to help you learn how to home test. Once you're ready to start testing, you can set. up a spreadsheet to keep track of Kiki's progress. The issue of home testing is again, one that vets have differing opinions about. Some vets will tell you your cat will hate you and you will ruin your relationship with your cat. It's not the case. While not every cat is easy to test, most begin to associate testing and getting shots with feeling better. (Giving a treat after a test also helps to positively reinforce testing!!) There are any number of people who will tell you how their cat comes running to their test location, sits down, and starts purring because they know a treat is in store.

The bottom line is that we want your cat to feel better but not at the expense of safety. Shooting blind is risky and a completely unnecessary risk.

 

[tiffmaxee]

When Max was diagnosed I said I would not test at home. I saw my vet every few days for a nadir check. I bought a meter “just in case”. I brought it to my vet to test it out. He handed me the needle and I became a testaholic when I saw he was down to 60! I didn’t know that was a safe number but what if he dropped even lower and became hypo? I had many a surprise morning low and had I shot and left the house it could have been fatal. Max was a shy cat and I didn’t think I would be able to test him but it was easy as he loved the freeze dried chicken he got after each stick.

I also changed his food to fancy feast classics. I hope you decide to test. One other plus is you will never need to leave your cat at the vet all day for a curve. The only one Max ever had was after his very first shot. Stress can increase the BG so they often are lower at home.