My cat has been going really high in between doses, would love to level her out more

C

Christine and Bella

Member Since 2025
Hello,

Lately my cat has been consistently hitting the 500s pre shot or it even saying HI , but she seems to come down to nice numbers. Do you have a guess as to why and how i can make her more level? I am transitioning her to less carb dry food from her high carb kidney food, right now I am doing half zero carb mature and half of her kidney dry. I feed this to her as she getting her shot, but she doesn't want to eat it until a little bit later (30 min to an hour) wondering if this is a food issue. I give her a treat (tiki cat stick) with her insulin so she has at least something in her stomach.

I also feed her weruva wet food and leave it out the whole day for her to snack on until 2 hours before her shot. Try to give her some snacks at certain hours like 2 and 4 but not always consistent because she is picky. Thank you
 
Looking at her spreadsheet, she is a tough one. She’s a bit bouncy, but she is seeing some decent lower numbers periodically. I think you need to finish the transition to all low carb food before we will see more consistent numbers. If we need to increase her dose it will be important to keep her eating during the early portion of the cycle. Let’s be patient with her while you are gradually eliminating the dry food.

Does she produce ketones? Are you checking? I just want to make sure because it would make a difference in her dosing.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Looking at her spreadsheet, she is a tough one. She’s a bit bouncy, but she is seeing some decent lower numbers periodically. I think you need to finish the transition to all low carb food before we will see more consistent numbers. If we need to increase her dose it will be important to keep her eating during the early portion of the cycle. Let’s be patient with her while you are gradually eliminating the dry food.

Does she produce ketones? Are you checking? I just want to make sure because it would make a difference in her dosing.
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Ok, I have been checking her keytones and she doesn't have any. Is there a guide here on how to transition from high carb to low carb dry and wet food safety? I have half and half of each for dry (half high carb dry, half low carb dry) . I am not sure I can get her to transition fully off of dry food, I feel mixed on what to do to be honest. I would like to transition her to dry food zero mature from young again to get her off of her kidney dry food that is high carb and I give her wet food that is low in carb for a snack throughout the day.

My issue is that I have heard that CKD kitties don't do as well on a high protein diet which would be best for her insulin. Not sure where to go from here. transitioning her to a wet food diet fully doesn't work well she won't eat enough to have insulin. I have also tried doing it in the past before she had CDK and diabetes and she wouldn't eat enough.

I am frustrated and wish that she would eat wet food and understand that that is what she should be doing, but what if I am never able to have her on a full wet food diet? I feel really lost
 
You are doing the transition correctly. The main thing is to slowly replace the higher carb food with the lower carb food and to test to make sure the blood glucose doesn’t drop too low. It should not need to take more than a week or so. Where are you in the process of transitioning from HC to LC?

Phosphorus control is the most important dietary consideration for a cat’s kidneys. Due to that, I would recommend feeding the Young Again Zero Mature instead of Dr. Elsey’s dry because the YA is lower in phosphorus. Of course, feeding a wet food diet is also very important for a cat’s kidneys because of hydration. Dry food leaves the cat in a dehydrated state— they usually don’t drink enough water to compensate for the lack of moisture in their food. Cats need moisture with their food. Having said that, it’s not a perfect world when you have a picky cat and she needs to eat. With regard to protein, if you feed her a reduced protein diet, it’s likely that she will lose weight in the form of muscle mass. Cats need protein to maintain their muscle.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
You are doing the transition correctly. The main thing is to slowly replace the higher carb food with the lower carb food and to test to make sure the blood glucose doesn’t drop too low. It should not need to take more than a week or so. Where are you in the process of transitioning from HC to LC?

Phosphorus control is the most important dietary consideration for a cat’s kidneys. Due to that, I would recommend feeding the Young Again Zero Mature instead of Dr. Elsey’s dry because the YA is lower in phosphorus. Of course, feeding a wet food diet is also very important for a cat’s kidneys because of hydration. Dry food leaves the cat in a dehydrated state— they usually don’t drink enough water to compensate for the lack of moisture in their food. Cats need moisture with their food. Having said that, it’s not a perfect world when you have a picky cat and she needs to eat. With regard to protein, if you feed her a reduced protein diet, it’s likely that she will lose weight in the form of muscle mass. Cats need protein to maintain their muscle.
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Ok thank you. She is currently eating about 70% low carb dry food with the other percent being high carb. I do give her sub q fluids to compensate for the dehydration as well. I heard that high protein is hard on the kidneys so that is why I was asking, but I understand that she needs protein to maintain muscle mass. Very thin line between the two I guess.
 
Well there is a lot of debate among veterinary professionals about whether or not to limit protein. It is not settled science. What is not debated is the need to reduce phosphorus.
 
Have you ever read this page from the felinecrf.org site about what to feed a cat with kidney disease? The site is very well referenced with links to the studies. It’s a really long page. The part that gets down to the protein information is a ways down the page, but the entire page is very valuable. Having a cat with diabetes just makes it a little more challenging because you need to find low carb food as well. I would not stress too much about protein.
Nutritional Requirements – Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease
 
When you thought she had kidney disease, what were her blood kidney markers? BUN, Creatinine, phosphorus, USG? SDMA? Any protein in the urine? Are you certain she ever had more than just transient higher kidney values? There are things that can throw off the lab results like illness, infections like UTIs, dehydration just from being ill (not eating and drinking normally, vomiting.) Kidney values can be elevated and can return to normal once a cat is feeling better, recovered from an infection if present, is rehydrated and eating normally. Sometimes this will be after a course of antibiotics. If there has been an acute kidney injury then kidney blood markers can also improve or return to normal after treatment.
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
Have you ever read this page from the felinecrf.org site about what to feed a cat with kidney disease? The site is very well referenced with links to the studies. It’s a really long page. The part that gets down to the protein information is a ways down the page, but the entire page is very valuable. Having a cat with diabetes just makes it a little more challenging because you need to find low carb food as well. I would not stress too much about protein.
Nutritional Requirements – Tanya's Comprehensive Guide to Feline Chronic Kidney Disease
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thank you for sending this!
 
Suzanne & Darcy said:
When you thought she had kidney disease, what were her blood kidney markers? BUN, Creatinine, phosphorus, USG? SDMA? Any protein in the urine? Are you certain she ever had more than just transient higher kidney values? There are things that can throw off the lab results like illness, infections like UTIs, dehydration just from being ill (not eating and drinking normally, vomiting.) Kidney values can be elevated and can return to normal once a cat is feeling better, recovered from an infection if present, is rehydrated and eating normally. Sometimes this will be after a course of antibiotics. If there has been an acute kidney injury then kidney blood markers can also improve or return to normal after treatment.
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No i am not certain, its been a couple of years since so I am not sure about any of these levels, I can try to find her old bloodwork. I get her blood work done about every 6 months and her levels are good right now so maybe it was just a one time thing
 
Christine and Bella said:
do you think i need to decrease her dose again?
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According to SLGS she has earned a dose reduction. Since she eats some dry food, you need to follow SLGS at this time. You can try reducing to .25 units and see how it goes. She was having such good green numbers that I hate to see the dose reduced, but until we try it, we won’t know. She may surprise us! If the .25 dose doesn’t help her, we can try some other custom dosing strategies that will still keep her safe even with the dry food.
 
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