New and a Little Scared

[Violet&Pippin]

Hi all,
First time posting, been a member for a month or two. My cat, Pippin, is 7. He’s on Lantus 5u twice daily and has about a can and a half of Purina DM per day (split into two meals). We adopted Pippin back in Late June/early July of this year. He seemed steady on dry diabetic food and 5u twice daily. He was 15 pounds (5 pounds overweight, supposed to be closer to maybe 10-11). We’ve gotten him down maybe a pound and swapped him to only wet food, we thought we were doing good.

Pippin just got his fructosamine levels tested. He scored 513. Me and my partner are very distraught, as the vet said that’s very high (he’s tested around 300 in the past). We just don’t know what we did wrong. The only thing was weren’t home monitoring because the vet said it wasn’t necessary (we take him in every few weeks for testing). Pippin recently had a few teeth pulled that had gone bad, but otherwise we thought he was doing very well. We’re very scared about these numbers, what can we do? Did we make some big mistake?

 

[Wendy&Neko]

The first thing I'd do is start home testing. Your vet is wrong about that! People with children on insulin also test to make sure it's safe to shoot, same with our furbabies. For a cat on a low carb wet or raw food diet, 5 units is a larger dose than average. Typically we'll transition slowly from dry to wet, and test to see if the food transition means he needs less insulin on the new diet - which often happens. Tips on how to home test are here: Hometesting Links and Tips

Getting bad teeth fixed was a good thing to do, as dental issues can make it harder to get a cat regulated. However, fixing bad teeth may mean he needs less insulin.

A note, my cat got to over 5 units of Lantus, but she had a couple secondary endocrine conditions that caused her to need higher doses.

Another bit of reading for you:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

 

[Violet&Pippin]

For a cat on a low carb wet or raw food diet, 5 units is a larger dose than average.

Getting bad teeth fixed was a good thing to do, as dental issues can make it harder to get a cat regulated. However, fixing bad teeth may mean he needs less insulin.

Thanks for replying, seeing a number that high is really frightening, especially when I thought we were doing so much better. Would a level that high mean that my cat’s insulin would increase? I’m just super surprised. He swapped to wet food really quickly because he started the diet whenever he had his teeth pulled (due to sensitivity) and never went back to dry food. That was about a month ago. I would have thought his fructosamine would have been low, if anything, with that much insulin and being on wet food.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

The fructosamine is not the best indicator of blood sugar and whether he needs an increase. It's also a different indicator than blood sugars. Reference Ranges for Fructosamine Test Fructosamine is an average over two weeks, but can't tell you if he's high all the time, or a combination or really low and really high. That's one of many reasons we recommend home testing his blood glucose. You want to catch those lows that would tell you he needs less insulin. Even with spot BG testing at the vet, cats can be a lot higher at the vet due to stress.

 

[Violet&Pippin]

Fructosamine is an average over two weeks, but can't tell you if he's high all the time, or a combination or really low and really high. That's one of many reasons we recommend home testing his blood glucose.

Thank you very much! You’ve really helped alleviate some fears. Pippin is the first cat we’ve ever had that’s diabetic. You’ve given some great starting points (we’re going out to get some extra Vaseline and cotton balls tomorrow morning to start testing). I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this forum and community. I’ll finish setting up my profile and signature tonight. Thanks again and have a lovely evening!

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

In addition to what Wendy mentioned, keep in mind that the fructosamine may be a bit skewed if your kitty has had a few vet visits in between tests. Vet visits, bad teeth, and the pain from extractions can all cause blood glucose numbers to be artificially high. (It's also why getting a curve at the vet's office can give a false high impression -- cats are stressed at the vet and stress causes higher numbers.) The fructosamine is an average. Having your own test. data will give you a better sense of what the highs and lows are.

If you're going to start testing, please take a look at the link Wendy provided for the helping us to help you post. It will provide great information on getting started including how to set up a spreadsheet, your signature and much more.