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Bruce Wayne

Bruce Wayne

Member Since 2021
Hey! Just making an initial post to introduce myself and my baby. I added some details to my signature as well, since I saw that was recommended by a few members. My cats name is Bruce Wayne. He will be 10 this valentines day.
We found out he had diabetes about three months ago. I am quite sure he was undiagnosed for about six months. He has lost about 1/5 of his body weight going from 15.3 to 11.7 pounds. I am REALLY struggling to find the right dose of insulin for him. Lately I have been using vetsulin 2x a day between 3 and 4 units.

He used to be such a social and cuddly cat, and now he isolates and hides most of the time. He seems to have less interest in everything and seems kind of depressed. It's super sad and makes me so worried for him. Because I have been tracking his behavior so closely, I find that is is really hard for me to tell the difference now between doing okay and not okay.

I feed him twice a day with CRAVE high protein wet food (about 3oz in morning and night with insulin), and
I put down some dry food (I know people say to try and stop the dry food, but he thinks he is starving all the time, and I am not sure how to help him with that) in the afternoon in a food maze, just to give him peace of mind for when he is really feeling starving. He drinks a lot of water and urinates a lot still. In spite of that though, I think he struggles with hypo episodes with weak legs and extreme lethargy. I DO NOT want to overdose my baby, but I also want to give him enough to control his body weight and heart rate and everything.

Any advise on help with dosages is extremely welcomed. Or anyone else who struggled the first few months, and can tell me how their cat did adjusting. I am really at a loss, since this is my little bestie.
 
Hello Lauren, welcome to you and sweet Bruce. Awesome that you are home testing already. My kitty started on Caninsulin/Vetsulin (same thing marketed differently in the US). It's not the best insulin for most cats, though does work for some. It didn't last long enough for my girl.

3 and 4 units is a high starting dose for Vetsulin, was that the dose you started on? I'm worried you are mentioning hypo incidents. And yes, dry food makes a huge difference in the amount of insulin needed, which one are you giving? You don't have to only feed twice a day, though with Vetsulin you do want a good portion eaten before the shot.

Most of us use a common spreadsheet format to track the blood sugar data. If you are willing, it'll help us help you better if you can put information in one. Details on how to start up the spreadsheet, and a few other things for new people are in this post.
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Treating feline diabetes means getting the right mix of food/feeding and insulin - it can take a while to figure out what works for your cat.
 
Hey Wendy :) Thanks for the quick reply! Do you think I should ask my vet for a different brand of insulin ? I have a consultation scheduled with him on Friday early in the morning. I am not taking Bruce though, since I do not want to add to his stress.

I started at 2units, and he has been up to 5.5 before. I felt uncomfortable with taking him to 6. He seemed well when we were doing 4 in the morning and then 3 at night, but that only lasted a week or so. Now he seems unwell again.

I am willing to take him off the dry food, but then I think I would have to beef up the times he is fed( as you did mention was okay to do). I may start tapering him off the dry food this week and move to three times a day wet food.

I have similar spreadsheet I generate tracking this through an app, but I will move to the one you use since I have my own testing kit now.

What are your thoughts on how he is hiding so much now? People have been telling me that can be a sign that a cat is dying if they are usually quite social and suddenly start hiding. He goes all the way behind the toilet when he hides. It makes me really worried, but I can tell that he wants to be left alone. I read on one of the other threads that maybe I should do a BG test before giving him his night time dose (but after he eats dinner), would you agree with that?
 
My cat hid under the bed the first time she went under 100, though still in safe numbers. Later as she got used to lower numbers, she felt miserable in high numbers. Without test data, hard to say. One of our members who is diabetic herself did a really interesting post today - here it is.

As for another insulin, it'd be good for us to get an idea how he is doing in the current insulin first, if you can get that data in a spreadsheet. Some cats need more insulin that others, but you have to know it's safe to do so. I've seen a cat go from 5.5 units to zero when dry food was removed. Which why you have to remove dry food slowly and test frequently when you do so.
 
Hi Lauren.

Welcome to yourself and Bruce Wayne.

Bruce Wayne said:
He used to be such a social and cuddly cat, and now he isolates and hides most of the time. He seems to have less interest in everything and seems kind of depressed. It's super sad and makes me so worried for him. Because I have been tracking his behavior so closely, I find that is is really hard for me to tell the difference now between doing okay and not okay.
Click to expand...
Is there any difference in Bruce Wayne's mood in the couple of hours before his next insulin dose is due? My reason for asking is that, while the clinical signs you're observing might be due to his being unregulated, there is also the possibility that Vetsulin may be disagreeing with him. If the latter is the case then a change to a different insulin might help him to feel better.

As Wendy recommends above, if you could get a spreadsheet going we might be able to help you work out what's behind Bruce Wayne's reaction to the treatment.


Mogs
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Hey Mogs ! Thanks for that. Hmm. I haven’t noticed anything significant before the doses except that he’s hungry. I will try to work on that spreadsheet tomorrow to help identify what’s going on and post it here. I haven’t started taking his bg on my own yet. I just got the meter yesterday and I’ve been kinda nervous about it. I will see if I can gather more information though to help. I appreciate everyone’s advice.
 
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