My cat no longer needs her insulin

[Sarshsmom]

Hi, my cat was diagnosed about a month ago. After reading here, I became convinced I had to switch my dry food only kitty to can food. After an initial resistance she now eats only can food and starting 3 days ago, she is off her insulin!!! When can I truly become excited? Can anyone point me to more readings or research that has been done for cats that were on insulin and then no longer needed it?

I also wondered how long should I continue to test her for normal glucose readings and if I am only testing her once during the day, what is the best time to test her?

Sorry but one more question - Any suggestions how to keep my kitty off her insulin? I'm afraid I will do something wrong and we'll have to start all over again.

This website is terrific! thanks.

 

[KarenRamboConan]

First of all, congratulations! Can you show us some of her recent numbers?

Being "OTJ" ("off the juice") does not mean her diabetes is gone, of course. It means that she is now a diet controlled diabetic, and that her pancreas is now able to produce enough insulin on its own to handle the low carb level of the wet food.

Check daily for about a week before calling it "OTJ", and you can check at random times, but remember that she will have higher BGs after eating, of course! Keep checking for a while, and then go to every couple of days, etc.

So, the first thing you need to do is to NEVER give dry again. And to make sure that the canned food you use is low in carbs (no gravies, etc.)

But some things are out of your control. Stress, infections, bad teeth, etc., can all bring an OTJ cat out of the no-insulin range. Sometimes just temporarily, sometimes permanently. And sometimes, it just happens.

But for now, keep her weight in a good range, keep her teeth clean, and keep her on the canned food.

And get ready to party!

 

[Tigger12]

How exciting! I don't have much advice but wanted to reply cause I'm in the exact same boat, except my cat was on glipizide. But for 7 days now he has been diet controlled, I had the same questions as well, as to how often I need to test him now. I posted a similar question, u should be able to find with "hometesting & diet controlled" as the subject, only 2 replies but they were helpfull. To be safe I'm going to continue testing my cat atleast once a day until I'm able to get him to the vets to double check he's doing as well as it appears. Can't help but worry that mabey his meter isn't working properly cause I'm just so shocked at how great his numbers have been. They've been 75-90 but in the high 80's for the most part, what has your cats numbers been since being off the insulin? And mabey someone else with more experience can add in here but I think we should be testing are cats urine for keytones to be safe. Been told u can buy the testing strips behind pharmacy counters.
-Laura & Tigger

 

[FurballLover]

Paws crossed that this continues!!
We are in a similar situation. My C was dx last sept. After months of shooting blindly and feeding a combination of lc canned and dry d/m, we had a serious hypo. I had ran out of the d/m kibble and C ended up in the er. Since then, we started to hometest, and gave only lc canned food. Charlie is diet controlled (since 2-5).
I am lucky in the fact that my kitty purrs during all his tests, so we bg tested heavily for a while. After we visited the vet nearly two weeks ago--we are only testing one time per week. Our vet suggested checking for ketones once a week, but for me its easier to test his bgs. (he is shy at the litterbox) I have several weeks of data to show what his normal range is, so as long as he stays there, I'm confident he is fine. Checking ketones weekly is another great option--it just depends on what works better for you.
In our case, I will continue testing bg levels weekly, and keep an eye on his behavior (litterbox clumps, water intake, play, etc.)
Just remember, once a diabetic, always a diabetic. Like you, I worried about 'the other shoe dropping', would he relapse, was this just a 'blip'? The best things you can do are: feed lc wet food, and keep learning about fd. Even now that Charlie is otj, I continue to read about the disease, and what others are going thru. I figure that if something else comes up, we might head off complications by being knowledgeable about things.
As far as testing bg's, take a look at our spreadsheet--I tested at different times to see how consistent Charlie was. Amps & pmps for us mean before meals. ECID, so get to learn how your Sarah's #'s run before meals, mid-cycle, after, etc. Some will say this much testing is not necessary after being otj, and they might be right--but for me it gave me peace of mind.
Karen gave you great suggestions for keeping your kitty healthy. There is no specific time after the last injection, that they are officially otj, but its reasonable to think you are on your way!!