New Member 9/12/2021

[Kwis]

Hi everyone, as the title says, new member here. Kwis is my loving 10 year old who was recently diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. He also has a sister Stella who does not have diabetes, though she is “smaller” at 12 pounds. Both were adopted a a local cat sanctuary in 2015 and at a time they were only eating Meow Mix and thus gained a lot of weight. We’ve spent the entirety of their lives with us trying to get their weight done with significant dietary changes with some success. Ironically I am trained in endocrinology for humans, but still feel lost at times with thinking about diabetes in Kwis.
He was started on Prozinc 1 unit twice per day after screening labs showed a glucose of 370 and urine confirmed diagnosis with +glucose.

We are not testing glucose levels at home, should we be? Our vet wasn’t insistent on it but if others here think it’s worthwhile I’d love to learn more about technique, time commitment, and whether it has improved your cat’s glycemic control and eventually got him/her/them off insulin. I saw that some cats are using Freestyle Libre which I’ve given to many of my human patients. Thankfully Kwis has no other lab abnormalities and so I don’t think he has any kidney damage and his vision and nerves seem fine.
Hope to get to know more of you here and glad to find I’m not alone in the journey!

Pic of my Kwis to share

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!!

Much of what you'll find you know about humans and diabetes applies to cats. And just like with humans, the beginning of this journey can be more than a little overwhelming.

We are huge proponents of home testing. Using the Libre is fine but I'd encourage you to learn to home test with a glucometer, as well. Some cats are prone to removing the Libre. In addition, the Libre doesn't always work for the full 2 weeks as advertised. Inevitably, the point at which you need the Libre to work, it poops out (Murphy's Law!). Being comfortable using a glucometer means you've got a back up. This is a link to information, including videos, on home testing. The value of home testing is safety. If a human diabetic is feeling lightheaded, etc. they know to test or grab something to raise their blood glucose level (BG). Cat's aren't quite as good, although they will find a way to let you know if their BG levels are dropping -- we just need to be smart enough to listen. Testing at home also allows you to manage dosing. Only getting readings at the vet's office typically means that the numbers are influenced by stress (stress hyperglycemia) which could involve the vet recommending a dose increase that's based on the numbers in the office. You may find that Kwis' numbers are appreciably lower at home. In addition, the only way you will know when insulin onset and nadir occur and how much duration your getting is if you test at home.

I'm also linking you to the Prozinc forum. There are sticky notes at the top of the board that will give you information about the insulin as well as sticky notes about dosing.

We are also strong advocates for a low carbohydrate, species appropriate, canned food diet. Depending on what you've been feeding Kwis and Stella, if their diet involves food (especially kibble), you may find a switch to a low carb diet will help with weight control as well ad Kwis' FD. We recommend foods that are less than 10% carb although most caregivers here feed their cats in the 5% range. Lisa Pierson, DVM has a wonderful website on feline nutrition along with a chart of most canned foods available in the US along with their carb counts and other information. Just an FYI in case your vet recommended "prescription" diabetic food, most of these foods, including the canned foods are quite high in carbs.

And finally, we are very numbers driven. We encourage everyone to set up a spreadsheet to track their cat's progress. We also ask that you provide information in your signature so we don't keep asking you the same questions repeatedly. This post on helping us to help you is a post where all of the information for getting started is consolidated.

Please let us know how we can help. the people here are very generous with their time and knowledge.