New here, and a food question

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Sam and Billy

Sam and Billy

Member Since 2017
Hello, all. I have 10-year-old Billy, diagnosed with diabetes in October 2016. He gets 3 units of ProZinc in the morning, 4 in the evening. The vet started him off back in October at one unit twice a day and we're adjusting. I use a FreeStyle Insulinx glucose metre. I feed him (and my non-diabetic cat) a quarter can of DM Dietetic Management a day (sometimes a little more) divided up into two servings (one in the morning, one in the evening), and between the two of them, they eat roughly a cup of Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets diabetic dry food a day. (The cost of food is killing me here.) I'm trying to wean him off the dry food and just have it be canned food at meal times. It's working pretty well. He's overweight too (about 15 pounds) and the vet told me he'll stay that way if he keeps having access to food whenever he wants it.

Testing has been a little all over the place. I just increased his dosage to 3 and 4 this week and he tested at 15.3 on Wednesday, or 275, about eight hours after meal time. I upped the amount of canned food and carefully measured out the dry food and last night, he tested at 11.3, or 205, about 5.5 hours after meal time. That was the lowest number since his diagnosis. I'm thinking if he gets to the point where he just has diabetic canned food only, with no dry food, the diabetes will improve. Has anyone had this experience?
 
wildart said:
Hello, all. I have 10-year-old Billy, diagnosed with diabetes in October 2016. He gets 3 units of ProZinc in the morning, 4 in the evening. The vet started him off back in October at one unit twice a day and we're adjusting. I use a FreeStyle Insulinx glucose metre. I feed him (and my non-diabetic cat) a quarter can of DM Dietetic Management a day (sometimes a little more) divided up into two servings (one in the morning, one in the evening), and between the two of them, they eat roughly a cup of Purina Pro Plan Veterinary Diets diabetic dry food a day. (The cost of food is killing me here.) I'm trying to wean him off the dry food and just have it be canned food at meal times. It's working pretty well. He's overweight too (about 15 pounds) and the vet told me he'll stay that way if he keeps having access to food whenever he wants it.

Testing has been a little all over the place. I just increased his dosage to 3 and 4 this week and he tested at 15.3 on Wednesday, or 275, about eight hours after meal time. I upped the amount of canned food and carefully measured out the dry food and last night, he tested at 11.3, or 205, about 5.5 hours after meal time. That was the lowest number since his diagnosis. I'm thinking if he gets to the point where he just has diabetic canned food only, with no dry food, the diabetes will improve. Has anyone had this experience?
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The best thing you can do food wise is to remove all dry food and feed only low carb wet food. There's no need to spend a lot of money on prescription food either. Many of us feed grocery store brands like Friskies or Fancy Feast pates, no sauce/gravy types though - too high in carbs. Many vets recommend feeding only two meals a day to diabetic cats but many people here take the daily ration and split it into two main meals AM/PM and several small snacks.

The only way to know what the insulin doses you're giving are doing is to carry out a testing routine like the type we recommend:
  1. test AM and PM before feeding (no food at least 2 hours before) and giving insulin - to see if the dose is too high or not
  2. test at least once mid way (approximately) between AM and PM doses and/or before you go to bed.
We suggest you set up a spread sheet like the type we use here. It's viewable by all members and we look at it before offering advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
If you need help with it there are people here to do that.

Is there a specific reason why you give 3 units of ProZinc AM and 4 units PM? Those are relatively large doses and it's possible your kitty needs to be dosed atthat level. However, they can slao react to a dose that's too high by bouncing up into high numbers because of protective responses that put more glucose into circulation.
 
Thank you for the advice! My vet set the doses. I have a really good one so I do what he says. I can't do snacks throughout the day, sadly, since I work.
 
Some folks freeze some wet food in ice cube trays and leave out a portion of food for when they are going to be away so kitty can munch later in the day when the food melts.
 
I bought a petsafe automatic feeder for Smoky, they have ones with two, five, and even 12 compartments. The feeder has been a lifesaver for me. I freeze portions of canned food and put them in the feeder to thaw out later while I am at work. I just set the times for the feeder to open and presto.:)
 
So the ice cubes come out of the feeder still frozen and thaw in the dish? Most automatic feeders seem built for dry food, not canned, so I haven't been sure how to get around that.
 
You can use them for dry or wet food. I have Smokys timer set for 12 pm and 4 pm. I put one can of food in fridge overnight and put that one in his 12 pm spot. I put the other can into a freezer safe container, let it sit out for about 20 minutes first, and place it into the next spot. It works great for me, I love that thing.
 
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