Managing diabetes with diet only?

[crystalphillips]

Hello! I'm wondering if anyone has had success managing their cat's diabetes without insulin? Our new vet just suggested that we wean our cat off of insulin (currently 1.0 unit in the morning, 0.5 at night). He also has hyperthyroidism and possibly liver disease. He has been on urinary tract cat food for about 8 years now, so this would mean a switch in food as well. I'm all for not having to deal with needles anymore, but worry that this will cause too much stress on his system. Anyone have a similar experience? Thanks so much!!!

 

[Erica & Carter]

Hi!

Do you have any recent BG readings for him?

1 unit AM and .5 unit PM is still a pretty decent dose to just stop insulin abruptly. Usually we like to see the cat earn reductions and decrease by .25 units until they only require the smallest amount of insulin they can handle while still renaming in safe numbers. This helps to insure a strong (and long) remission.

But with no numbers to look at it will be hard to for any members to give you any proper advise in that regard.

Cats can be diet-controlled diabetics. Some cats go into remission after a switch to a low carb food alone. My cat is in remission and is a diet-controlled diabetic but was on insulin for about 4 months, from 3 units all the way down to .1 unit (a drop or 2) of insulin.

 

[crystalphillips]

Thanks so much for your reply. The vet suggested reducing the amount of insulin gradually as you mention. We haven't done a sugar curve on him in a while, but we'll do one before we transition and during the transition as well. I'm glad to hear that it worked for your cat. I'm just concerned since he's been doing well since he was diagnosed 2 years ago and I worry that weaning him off the insulin and changing foods could make him sick.

 

[Erica & Carter]

Thanks so much for your reply. The vet suggested reducing the amount of insulin gradually as you mention. We haven't done a sugar curve on him in a while, but we'll do one before we transition and during the transition as well. I'm glad to hear that it worked for your cat. I'm just concerned since he's been doing well since he was diagnosed 2 years ago and I worry that weaning him off the insulin and changing foods could make him sick.

I would definitely get some numbers on him and then post back for further advise. Since you're using Lantus, the Lantus & Levemir forum is an excellent resource and I would highly suggest reading the stickied threads when you have a minute.

The urinary tract food I'm assuming is pretty high in carbs if you're referring to Urinary SO or C/D, so when you transition to a low carb canned food (under 10%), it's very important, like you mentioned, to be monitoring his numbers as his BG can drop a lot from switch to a low carb canned diet and therefore his insulin requirement may change.