Need help with my diabetic cat

[Jenniwood]

Hello I'm new here on this site as well as being a care giver to a diabetic cat. I have a 10 year old male cat that was diagnosed with diabetes on 12/6/2017. When I first found out he had diabetes I couldn't afford his meds. Do I looked online for some help. I came across this natural stuff that I'd liquid drops that u give your cat twice a day. While he was on the drops he was also eating diabetic cat dry food that I got from the vet. He was on the natural drops until a week ago when I finally got him his lantus insulin that the vet gave me. I just started him on the lantus 5 days ago. When he was diagnosed with diabetes his numbers were around 450. While in the drops an diabetic food he went down to 330. However I knew this was still to high so i started him on the lantus the minute I had the money. I have a bad back and I'm on disability so I live on a fixed income. So like I said now he has been on the lantus for 5 days and today just to see where he was at with his levels I decided to curve him. I only checked him once 4 hours after I gave him his shot and his numbers are higher now I got a 433. I should also mention that he ran out of his diabetic food. So I started looking online to see what other foods he could eat. I have read that wet food would be better for him. I have tried an still continue to try to get him to eat wet food but he doesn't seem to want to eat it. Every now an then I can get him to eat a little of it. I came across a site that said orijen dry cat food was good so I bought s bag of that which he seems to like. I also read that the diabetic food was nothing special. The orijen dry food isn't much cheeper then the diabetic food. Maybe I get two pounds more with the orijen food compared to the diabetic food. But the vets office is about an hour away from my house where I can get the orijen food at the pet agree near my house. I don't understand why I'm getting higher numbers on his count. Am I not doing something right?? My cat is named Nemo he is 10. At one point before his diabetes he weighed 22 pounds. I noticed he was losein weight that's why I took him to the vet. When I did they weighed him an he was down to 15 pounds. They took s blood sample and that's when we found out he has diabetes. I haven't done his every two hour curve yet because he has only been on the lantus for 5 days. The vet said to have him on it for 7 to 10 days an then do the curve an give her the numbers. He is on 1 unit twice a day. Is it normal for him to have higher numbers when he did on the natural drops?? Am I doing something wrong?? Need all the help I can get. He is to young and I don't want to lose him. The little guy is my everything. I would do anything for him even if I have to go without. I have no kids so he is my kid do to speak. I don't want him to suffer either so I feel so bad for him. Also when I curve him I use the relion prime from Walmart. So any information anyone can give me would help. I have read so much stuff online I don't know what's what. Thanks in advance for helping me out. I look forward to reading all the suggested advice.

 

[Kerri2455]

Hi there
1 unit of Lantus doesn't sound enough. My cat was on 3 units and now down to 2 but he was in the high 300's and low 400's with 3 units and now we are mid 300's to 200's and reduced to 2 units.
I highly suggest you get the kitty off dry, get the canned pate friskies or fancy feast if you can. Any pate type food is better than dry and people say not to get the chunks in gravy, only pate.
What i do to entice my boy to eat when he's being stubborn is sprinkle freeze dried chicken on top or toss about 5 pieces of dry food in the wet and its so far done the trick.

Where do you live? I can mail out some lantus to you- i have someone who gave me 3 pens when their cat passed. I can share.

Also, make sure your drawing out the insulin from the pen (assuming you have a lantus sola star pen) and injecting from a syringe vs using the needle on the actual pen. I was not doing this and his numbers were not going down so my vet suggested i draw out the insulin in a syringe and then use that to give him the insulin. The needles are pretty cheap but they are a specific kind. I think you can get 100 of them at Walmart for 10. But i cant recall the type of syringe. Someone here will know.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Jenniwood]

Hello!! Thanks for replying to my post. I live in manahawkin nj. Right now I'm ok on insulin for him. I just bought him his meds 5 days ago. I got 1 vial which is 100 units. Right now the vet had him on 1 unit twice a day. I need to call her in a couple of days with his every two hour curve. So she will most likely raise his dose. Maybe since he just started she wanted to start him low I'm not sure. I will definitely try that trick with the wet food. I have been trying to get him to eat the wet food he just doesn't seem to want to. He has always been on dry food. I always thought that dry food was better for them then the wet food. I guess that's a myth. I will definitely try putting dry on top of the wet to see if that helps. I was just concerned because having him on natural drops that I found online for lower blood sugar had his numbers down to 330. After taking him off that an putting him on the insulin his numbers have gotten higher now they are 433 which I decided to check today even though it wasn't quite time yet. He has only been on the insulin for 5 days I'm supposed to wait 7 to 10 before starting to curve. I was just wondering where his numbers were now that he had stated the insulin. Was wondering if I did something wrong. Thanks for your help!! And thank u for offering me some insulin but I think we are ok for now

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be!! (we'd love to know your name as well as your "extra sweet" kitty's name!)

Getting him off the dry food will be one of the best things you can do for him, but I understand how hard it can be for real kibble addicts.

Here are some Tips on Transitioning....one of the tricks that seems to work best is to grind up the dry and sprinkle it on top of the wet, but there are lots of other things to try.

If you absolutely can't get him off kibble (or while you try), you could use one of the low carb dry foods like Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein (available at Chewy.com) or Young Again Zero (only on their website)

They're both low carb enough for diabetics, but there's still good reasons to get him onto a canned diet as soon as possible. The water in canned foods helps protect their kidneys....and in diabetics, the kidneys are already under a lot of strain!!

Next, you need to be testing every day. ALWAYS before shooting (to make sure he's high enough for insulin at all) and then at least a mid-cycle test (5 to 7 hours after the shot) on the AM cycle and at least a "before bed" test on the PM cycle.

Lantus dosing is based on how low it takes them, not the Pre-shot numbers. Some cats do react a lot sooner than 7-10 days. By home testing often, you'll learn how he's really doing as well as keeping him safe!!

A 10ml vial is 1000 units. Most of us use the pens because the insulin loses efficacy long before you can use up 1000 units. Pens only hold 300 units each and are usually good for at least 2 years so you're more likely to be able to use every drop instead of throwing half (or more) of a vial away every few months

Next time you need insulin, you can do what the majority of us are doing and buy it from Canada. Here's the information on buying Lantus from Canada. It's 1/3rd to 1/2 the price!!

Hang in there though....Your kitty didn't become diabetic overnight and it'll take time to get him under better control.....but you're definitely in the right place now!!

 

[Sylvie]

you mentioned you switched him to orijen, that is a pretty high carb dry food and probably why his numbers went up some even though you started lantus. Diabetic cats can't have high carb foods, if you can't get him to eat low carb wet food and you want to feed a dry food, then you need to feed a him one that is under 10% carbs. currently, your choices are young again zeros carbs or young again 50/22 6% carb and wysong espigen 90 for cats & dogs 5% carb and dr. elsey protein they are 5% carbs too i think.. the last one is very expensive and the first ones some of my cats had major poop issues with it (too much guar gum in their food i think) so personally i would suggest you buy the Wysong espigen 90, what we switched to and poop issues are going away finally. It is $24 for 5lb bag on chewy.com (plus 20% off your first order/auto-ship if you haven't used that yet) but, your cat will eat less so it will last longer than it sounds, we have 8 out of 10 cats that mainly prefer to eat dry and we go through one lb of wysong a day. https://www.chewy.com/wysong-epigen-90-starch-free-formula/dp/103308

1 unit of lantus is actually fine, you always start low and up amounts after your first curve on 7-10th day if needed. my cat was in 300-400 range too and that is what our diabetic vet specialist had us start on and we took care of his diet right away too and changed all his food to low carbs, doing this will greatly help you lower you boy's blood sugar, if you don't change his diet to low carb, he will more than likely end up needing higher amount of insulin.

edit: forgot to mention, buy some fancy feast classic turkey and giblet pate canned food (i add water to it to make it on the slight soupy side), it is low carb. i don't know what it is about it but, that brand & flavor actually got all but, 1 of my cats actually eating low carb wet food regularly..

 

[Jenniwood]

Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be!! (we'd love to know your name as well as your "extra sweet" kitty's name!)

Getting him off the dry food will be one of the best things you can do for him, but I understand how hard it can be for real kibble addicts.

Here are some Tips on Transitioning....one of the tricks that seems to work best is to grind up the dry and sprinkle it on top of the wet, but there are lots of other things to try.

If you absolutely can't get him off kibble (or while you try), you could use one of the low carb dry foods like Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein (available at Chewy.com) or Young Again Zero (only on their website)

They're both low carb enough for diabetics, but there's still good reasons to get him onto a canned diet as soon as possible. The water in canned foods helps protect their kidneys....and in diabetics, the kidneys are already under a lot of strain!!

Next, you need to be testing every day. ALWAYS before shooting (to make sure he's high enough for insulin at all) and then at least a mid-cycle test (5 to 7 hours after the shot) on the AM cycle and at least a "before bed" test on the PM cycle.

Lantus dosing is based on how low it takes them, not the Pre-shot numbers. Some cats do react a lot sooner than 7-10 days. By home testing often, you'll learn how he's really doing as well as keeping him safe!!

A 10ml vial is 1000 units. Most of us use the pens because the insulin loses efficacy long before you can use up 1000 units. Pens only hold 300 units each and are usually good for at least 2 years so you're more likely to be able to use every drop instead of throwing half (or more) of a vial away every few months

Next time you need insulin, you can do what the majority of us are doing and buy it from Canada. Here's the information on buying Lantus from Canada. It's 1/3rd to 1/2 the price!!

Hang in there though....Your kitty didn't become diabetic overnight and it'll take time to get him under better control.....but you're definitely in the right place now!!

Thanks for replying back to my post. Also thanks for the tips on trying to get my little guy to eat dry food. I will definitely try them all. Also thank u for the Canada site for the insulin will definitely check them out.

 

[Jenniwood]

you mentioned you switched him to orijen, that is a pretty high carb dry food and probably why his numbers went up some even though you started lantus. Diabetic cats can't have high carb foods, if you can't get him to eat low carb wet food and you want to feed a dry food, then you need to feed a him one that is under 10% carbs. currently, your choices are young again zeros carbs or young again 50/22 6% carb and wysong espigen 90 for cats & dogs 5% carb and dr. elsey protein they are 5% carbs too i think.. the last one is very expensive and the first ones some of my cats had major poop issues with it (too much guar gum in their food i think) so personally i would suggest you buy the Wysong espigen 90, what we switched to and poop issues are going away finally. It is $24 for 5lb bag on chewy.com (plus 20% off your first order/auto-ship if you haven't used that yet) but, your cat will eat less so it will last longer than it sounds, we have 8 out of 10 cats that mainly prefer to eat dry and we go through one lb of wysong a day. https://www.chewy.com/wysong-epigen-90-starch-free-formula/dp/103308

1 unit of lantus is actually fine, you always start low and up amounts after your first curve on 7-10th day if needed. my cat was in 300-400 range too and that is what our diabetic vet specialist had us start on and we took care of his diet right away too and changed all his food to low carbs, doing this will greatly help you lower you boy's blood sugar, if you don't change his diet to low carb, he will more than likely end up needing higher amount of insulin.

edit: forgot to mention, buy some fancy feast classic turkey and giblet pate canned food (i add water to it to make it on the slight soupy side), it is low carb. i don't know what it is about it but, that brand & flavor actually got all but, 1 of my cats actually eating low carb wet food regularly..

Wow really I didn't know the orijen dry food was high in carbs. I had looked it up online and one of the sites I came across had said it was good for a diabetic cat. I guess they didn't know what they were talking about. That food isn't cheep either I paid 25$ for a 4 pound bag of food. I will try the turkey giblets pate an see if that helps. If I can't I'll check out the Dr elseys clean protein. Or I'll just have to get him back on his diabetic food. I would love to get him to eat the wet food. I'm on disability an live on a fixed income so It would be much better on my pocket if he would eat the wet food. The diabetic food from the vet is 60$ for a 10 pound bag. No cheeper then the orijen. I only bought that because I thought it was high in protein and it would be good for him. Thanks for your help.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Wow really I didn't know the orijen dry food was high in carbs. I had looked it up online and one of the sites I came across had said it was good for a diabetic cat. I guess they didn't know what they were talking about. That food isn't cheep either I paid 25$ for a 4 pound bag of food. I will try the turkey giblets pate an see if that helps. If I can't I'll check out the Dr elseys clean protein. Or I'll just have to get him back on his diabetic food. I would love to get him to eat the wet food. I'm on disability an live on a fixed income so It would be much better on my pocket if he would eat the wet food. The diabetic food from the vet is 60$ for a 10 pound bag. No cheeper then the orijen. I only bought that because I thought it was high in protein and it would be good for him. Thanks for your help.

It's worth trying as hard as you can to transition him to wet food because Friskies and Fancy Feast pate style canned foods are fine for diabetic cats and much easier on your wallet.

 

[Sylvie]

Wow really I didn't know the orijen dry food was high in carbs. I had looked it up online and one of the sites I came across had said it was good for a diabetic cat. I guess they didn't know what they were talking about. That food isn't cheep either I paid 25$ for a 4 pound bag of food. I will try the turkey giblets pate an see if that helps. If I can't I'll check out the Dr elseys clean protein. Or I'll just have to get him back on his diabetic food. I would love to get him to eat the wet food. I'm on disability an live on a fixed income so It would be much better on my pocket if he would eat the wet food. The diabetic food from the vet is 60$ for a 10 pound bag. No cheeper then the orijen. I only bought that because I thought it was high in protein and it would be good for him. Thanks for your help.

you wouldn't think so since it is made for them but, the prescription diabetic cat dry foods are higher than 10% carbs too (think 18% and up)! you'd do much better with the dr. elsey if you can afford it, what i would use if i didn't have 10 cats to feed!

 

[Sean & Rufus]

My cat was on 3 units and now down to 2 but he was in the high 300's and low 400's with 3 units and now we are mid 300's to 200's and reduced to 2 units.

Hi, sorry to hijack the thread. I'm fairly new and curious about this. Are you his numbers went down after you went from 3 to 2? Or his number improved on 3 units, so you dropped it to 2?

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

I'll just have to get him back on his diabetic food.

Forget that....the diabetic foods are also high in carbs and the ingredients are lousy to boot. The only thing "special" about them is the price!!

If push comes to shove and you have trouble affording to take care of him, please contact Diabetic Cats In Need on Facebook. If you qualify, we can help with supplies.

 

[Kerri2455]

Hello!! Thanks for replying to my post. I live in manahawkin nj. Right now I'm ok on insulin for him. I just bought him his meds 5 days ago. I got 1 vial which is 100 units. Right now the vet had him on 1 unit twice a day. I need to call her in a couple of days with his every two hour curve. So she will most likely raise his dose. Maybe since he just started she wanted to start him low I'm not sure. I will definitely try that trick with the wet food. I have been trying to get him to eat the wet food he just doesn't seem to want to. He has always been on dry food. I always thought that dry food was better for them then the wet food. I guess that's a myth. I will definitely try putting dry on top of the wet to see if that helps. I was just concerned because having him on natural drops that I found online for lower blood sugar had his numbers down to 330. After taking him off that an putting him on the insulin his numbers have gotten higher now they are 433 which I decided to check today even though it wasn't quite time yet. He has only been on the insulin for 5 days I'm supposed to wait 7 to 10 before starting to curve. I was just wondering where his numbers were now that he had stated the insulin. Was wondering if I did something wrong. Thanks for your help!! And thank u for offering me some insulin but I think we are ok for now

Hi
I'm not sure what drops your talking about so cant comment about those, i have never heard of such a thing actually but if it helps that's great.

Most definitely wean off the dry. Try a variety if he's not liking the "junkier" foods like friskies or fancy feast. I use Merrick pate purrfect bistro chicken which has i think 4 or 5 carbs per can. There are some wet foods higher in carbs. There is a carb calculator you can use to figure out what is the best for you to feed but any pate should be lower carb that chunked or slices in gravy.

Your probably right about your vet weaning him on to the insulin. Smart. My vet started at 3 units and we are now down to 2 and do weekly testing to see where he's at. 3 units seemed to be too much so we are hoping the 2 units 2x's a day will be ok.

GOOD LUCK!

 

[Kerri2455]

Wow really I didn't know the orijen dry food was high in carbs. I had looked it up online and one of the sites I came across had said it was good for a diabetic cat. I guess they didn't know what they were talking about. That food isn't cheep either I paid 25$ for a 4 pound bag of food. I will try the turkey giblets pate an see if that helps. If I can't I'll check out the Dr elseys clean protein. Or I'll just have to get him back on his diabetic food. I would love to get him to eat the wet food. I'm on disability an live on a fixed income so It would be much better on my pocket if he would eat the wet food. The diabetic food from the vet is 60$ for a 10 pound bag. No cheeper then the orijen. I only bought that because I thought it was high in protein and it would be good for him. Thanks for your help.

I bought a bag of the dry diabetic at the same price and its crazy expensive. This is what i use to top the wet food to entice Oliver to eat, or the freeze dried food. My vet said that the carbs are introduced into their systems at a slower pace than normal dry food so yes its high in carbs but there is no "carb rush" supposedly. I'm all for the wet-its healthier all around for cats.

 

[Jenniwood]

Forget that....the diabetic foods are also high in carbs and the ingredients are lousy to boot. The only thing "special" about them is the price!!

If push comes to shove and you have trouble affording to take care of him, please contact Diabetic Cats In Need on Facebook. If you qualify, we can help with supplies.

Thank u so much for your help. It's nice to know that I can get help for him if I need to. That makes me feel a
Little better

 

[Jenniwood]

Hi
I'm not sure what drops your talking about so cant comment about those, i have never heard of such a thing actually but if it helps that's great.

Most definitely wean off the dry. Try a variety if he's not liking the "junkier" foods like friskies or fancy feast. I use Merrick pate purrfect bistro chicken which has i think 4 or 5 carbs per can. There are some wet foods higher in carbs. There is a carb calculator you can use to figure out what is the best for you to feed but any pate should be lower carb that chunked or slices in gravy.

Your probably right about your vet weaning him on to the insulin. Smart. My vet started at 3 units and we are now down to 2 and do weekly testing to see where he's at. 3 units seemed to be too much so we are hoping the 2 units 2x's a day will be ok.

GOOD LUCK!

Yes I'm sure she will have me up his dose Because the 1 unit doesn't seem to be working. As far as the drops it's all natural. If u go to the site called pet well-being they have all kinds of natural stuff. I wanted to keep him on that alone instead of using the insulin but it's just not lowering his numbers enough. So now I'm giving him those drops in between his insulin. I'm hoping that will do the trick so I don't have to pump him with even more insulin. I'm still trying to get him to eat the wet food. I got him to eat a little today so hopefully we will get there sooner or later. He just has never eaten the wet food so it's definitely a change for him. Thanks for replying to my post. I can use all the help I can get

 

[Jenniwood]

you wouldn't think so since it is made for them but, the prescription diabetic cat dry foods are higher than 10% carbs too (think 18% and up)! you'd do much better with the dr. elsey if you can afford it, what i would use if i didn't have 10 cats to feed!

Thanks for replying to my post. Someone else was telling me that there wasn't anything great about the diabetic food as well. I will definitely take a look at all the low carb foods out there to find something my little guy will like. I'm still trying to get him to eat the wet food. It's gonna take time because he has always eaten dry food.he isn't to good with change.

 

[Jenniwood]

I bought a bag of the dry diabetic at the same price and its crazy expensive. This is what i use to top the wet food to entice Oliver to eat, or the freeze dried food. My vet said that the carbs are introduced into their systems at a slower pace than normal dry food so yes its high in carbs but there is no "carb rush" supposedly. I'm all for the wet-its healthier all around for cats.

Thank u for replying to my post. Well that's good to know about the diabetic food. If I can't get him to eat the wet food which I'm hoping he will sooner or later. Then I will try his diabetic food again. It is definitely expensive for sure. But I was never one who fed my cat cheep food anyway. I was told by someone that the orijen food was good for a diabetic cat an went I bought 4 pounds for 25$ now I'm told that's n good either. I really need to do my homework lol thanks

 

[Kerri2455]

Thank u for replying to my post. Well that's good to know about the diabetic food. If I can't get him to eat the wet food which I'm hoping he will sooner or later. Then I will try his diabetic food again. It is definitely expensive for sure. But I was never one who fed my cat cheep food anyway. I was told by someone that the orijen food was good for a diabetic cat an went I bought 4 pounds for 25$ now I'm told that's n good either. I really need to do my homework lol thanks

If you got the food online at Chewy.com or Petco/PetSmart they will take it back and exchange for something else. That is quite expensive food but i know its good quality.
I haven't seen any dry that is good for a diabetic so i just use the Purina DM for a food topper or treat here and there.

 

[Kerri2455]

Yes I'm sure she will have me up his dose Because the 1 unit doesn't seem to be working. As far as the drops it's all natural. If u go to the site called pet well-being they have all kinds of natural stuff. I wanted to keep him on that alone instead of using the insulin but it's just not lowering his numbers enough. So now I'm giving him those drops in between his insulin. I'm hoping that will do the trick so I don't have to pump him with even more insulin. I'm still trying to get him to eat the wet food. I got him to eat a little today so hopefully we will get there sooner or later. He just has never eaten the wet food so it's definitely a change for him. Thanks for replying to my post. I can use all the help I can get

I'm surprised he doesn't like the wet food..... Two of my non diabetics don't care for it but will eat it. Depending on what your using maybe if you switch it up a bit you can find something for him? Tiki cat is another yummy food for most cats and they do have some low carb canned food.

 

[Kerri2455]

Hi, sorry to hijack the thread. I'm fairly new and curious about this. Are you his numbers went down after you went from 3 to 2? Or his number improved on 3 units, so you dropped it to 2?

Olivers numbers went down a little so we went from 3 units of insulin to 2 and i will test this weekend to see what his curve looks like but last week when tested he was low so one day was no insulin and then the next evening he was over 300 so we decided to just do 2 units twice a day and give him the week and see how he does but I am monitoring his water intake when home to ensure he's not needing more and so far so good.

 

[Jenniwood]

If you got the food online at Chewy.com or Petco/PetSmart they will take it back and exchange for something else. That is quite expensive food but i know its good quality.
I haven't seen any dry that is good for a diabetic so i just use the Purina DM for a food topper or treat here and there.

That's a good idea I will definitely do that. I didn't know that they took food back once u opened it. That for the advice