Low BG

[Nikki_Renee]

Hello!
I haven't posted on here in a while but I'm really needing some advice. When nemo was little he was diagnosed with diabetes and put on a bunch of prescription diet dry food. Last year his diabetes got really bad and really scary. His BG was in the 400 and he weighed 21lbs. He was so sick acting and our vet at the time wanted to keep him on his weight loss prescription food (not even diabetic) and start us on insulin. I started doing a bunch of research. I found out our vet wasn't very trustworthy and I came across this forum. We switched vets and some people on here convinced me to switch him to friskies special diet. His BG level came down some but were still high so our vet started us on glipizide pills. A lot of people on here said that was a bad idea but my vet reassured me that it was safe.
After 2 weeks his sugar was constantly really low (sometimes in the 30's, usually around 60). The vet took him off the pills and I switched to a higher carb friskies (prime fillets- 19% carbs) to try to get his sugar back up. It's been about 7 months and he is still always sooo hungry. He now weighs 14lbs. His sugar is usually between 60-80 with corn syrup I can usually get him up to about 100. I need help bringing it up and keeping it up. He runs around destroying the house all day because he wants food. We feed him and an hour later he's back at it.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

If not giving insulin I would not be concerned with those BGs.
When were they taken with respect to eating?
Where were those BG measured? At home using human meter? At vet using a human meter? If human meter which one?
I would just feed Friskies pate, not the high carb.
Is 14 pound the desired weight for Nemo?

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

If he is not on insulin or the glipizide then there is no need to worry about hypoglycemia. Cats can only be hypoglycemic if on insulin (or possibly other diabetic drugs, like the glipizide). If he went into remission on the glipizide, then it was because of the change you made to his diet, and certainly not the glipizide (glipizide forces the pancreas to produce more insulin until it burns out). You are very lucky, because a few cats do go into remission based on diet alone, and most cats on glipizide end up with permanent damage to their pancreas and needing insulin for the rest of their lives. I would switch him back to the low carb friskies and continue testing each day for two weeks. If he remains below 120 each day then he is officially in remission. 60-80 on a human meter are perfectly normal numbers for a cat! Feeding him a high carb food and artifically raising his blood sugar will bring him right back out of remission, so it's very important that you go back to the low carb diet and keep him on that.

As for the hunger, what is Nemo's ideal weight, and how much are you feeding him per day? How many times a day are you feeding him? Increasing the frequency of feeding usually helps curb the hunger with scheduled feedings. My cats will tear my house apart if they don't get fed at least 4x a day.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

Also, I'm a bit concerned that your vet is assuring the owners of his feline diabetic patients that glipizide is safe, when it's been proven to be the opposite for cats. Here's a copy of the American Animal Hospital Assocation Diabetes Guidelines. I would point out to him where it says (under management of clinical DM),

• Oral hypoglycemic drugs, combined with diet change [i.e. low carb, canned], are only indicated if owner refuses insulin therapy or is considering euthanasia.30 These agents are not considered appropriate for long-term use.

 

[Maggies Mom Debby]

Is he drinking and peeing a lot? If not, it may not be diabetes related. Is 14 lbs a good weight for him? Maybe he needs more food. Just a thought, maybe he has worms or parasites.

 

[Liz & IttyBit]

My in remission cat typically tests in the 40s and 50s on a human meter.
Recently when I sent his spread sheet to our Vet she was concerned about his low numbers until I explained human meters read lower.
We use the True Results which I understand reads even lower than most.
She was curious what he would test at now on her meter and we suggested she loan it to us and we test him at home to avoid Vet stress.
He tested 87 on her Alpha Trac and 51 on our meter using the same drop of blood.
So if your kitty is testing between 60 and 80 that sounds about perfect.
I'm not sure why you want to raise those numbers. Sounds to me like he is in remission.

 

[Olive & Paula]

If not receiving insulin or the pills, his numbers are normal. Could be he isn't getting enough food. How much and how often are you feeding him?

As a reference my Smokey weighed 22-25 lbs at his non diabetic stage. He was barely 12 lbs when I got him. He gets 10.5 oz of wet food a day spread out and is maintaining 16-17 lbs.