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Peggy&Max

Peggy&Max

Member Since 2020
Hi Everyone,

I'm Morgan from Australia. I have 2 x beautiful kitties, 14yo Max and 8yo Peggy.

If I am posting in the wrong section I'm really sorry!

My darling little Peggy was diagnosed with diabetes April 12th 2020. We only found out when we took her to the Vet hospital and she was suffering DKA. Besides her weight loss which we were booked into her vet to investigate, there was no other warning signs - for the 6 years I have had her she has always been a ravenous eater and drinks a fair amount of water - she had a blood test a few months prior and everything was normal - so it was a big shock to us.
After she was discharged from the hospital to her regular vet they discovered she had a UTI and slight pancreatitis.
Thankfully she is home and on the mend. Currently on 1 unit of Lantus twice a day, reduced by the vet from 1.5 units as she was getting too low. I have a home BG monitor to keep track of her levels and Ketodiastix. I am currently feeding her Ziwi Peak wet food and no dry food.

Once the UTI was cleared up and the pancreatitis under control, Peggy's ravenous hunger returned and she is always hounding for food and not adjusting well to the 2 x meals per day. For a little while her BG levels were within the ideal range however we are struggling this week with higher BG levels between 12.0mmol/L and 20.0mmol/L when she should ideally be under 10.0mmol/L. She is very happy and more active now, could this be raising it a bit?
As she is on Lantus would it be ok to let her graze on a certain amount of food per day?

Thanks guys!
 
Hi Morgan and welcome to the best place you can ever be, it's great you are home testing
Most of us feed our cats multiple times per day
The bigger meal is fed in the am right after you test her and in the pm right after you test her
In between each 12 hour cycle you can feed her, just don't feed anything 2 hours before you do her am test and pm test

I know we have some members here from Australia, I'm sure they will see your post
Ask as many questions as you want
We have a lot of experienced members here
I have to say and it's just my opinion but they knows more than most vets know
 
Thankyou for your quick replies :)

I will be starting my spreadsheet today!

I am also transitioning Peggy to raw and hoping that this keeps her fuller for longer. She had a single serve of meat for breakfast before her shot and I will give her some more a little later to graze on. I'm hoping that the grazing and the raw will bring her numbers down a bit, as the day she was quite low was the day she had raw food pre-shot, however at the time she was still recovering and didn't have much of an appetite.
 
Hi Peggy and Morgan and welcome!
I live in Sydney.
I’m sorry Peggy had DKA...that must have been very worrying for you but she does sound as if she is much better.
I was very glad to see you are home testing both the blood glucose and the ketones. Fantastic!
I would test for ketones every day at the moment to make sure that ketones don’t reappear.
It is also really important that Peggy eats about 1 1/2 times as many calories as she would normally eat while she is recovering from DKA.
DKA happens when there is not enough food, not enough insulin and an infection or inflammation present in the cat...so you can see that the way to treat the DKA (apart from IV fluids and other medications the vet gives at the clinic) is to ensure there is enough food, enough insulin and the infection is being treated once she gets home to stop ketones reforming. The way you will know if she is getting enough of everything is to test for ketones and test the BG.
So I would feed her during both cycles except for the 2 hours before the preshot BG so it is not food influenced. We Recommend you test The BG, feed, then given the insulin in that order and then feed a few snacks during the cycle, most of them in the first half of the cycle when the insulin is strongest. But when recovering from DKA I’d feed more often than that. It is very good that she has her appetite back!

If you are looking at a raw diet, it is really important that you make sure it is nutritionally balanced.. I feed my cats a raw diet.
Unless you are feeding a frankenprey raw diet you will need to add supplements to the meat to make it nutritionally balanced. There is a section at the bottom of the link below on suitable foods available in Australia for diabetic cats that talks about a raw diet And where you can get supplements. If you are unsure or have any questions I am very happy to help you.

here is a link for new members
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/


Hee is some Australia specific information.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/information-for-aussie-feline-diabetic-caregivers.217781/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...an-cat-food-list-suitable-for-fd-cats.216897/

Bron
 
Just wanted to add, once you get the spreadsheet up and running and have added the data you have already we will be able to help you a lot more with the dosing and the BGs.If you have any trouble getting the SS set up, let us know and we will help you do it.
Sheba lost a lot of weight when she was diagnosed but put it all back on eventually.
 
I haven't had a chance to do the spreadsheet as of yet but I'm plan on doing it shortly.
Peggy's BG is still a bit high, from the stats I'm gathering it looks like her lowest point, is that the nadir? Is occurring around 5.30pm. Yesterday her lowest level that I tested was 12.9mmol.
This morning 3 and half hours after her morning shot she was 17.4mmol.
I am feed her Fussy Cat raw pre-packaged meat at the moment which my 14yo cat has been on for a long time. It has added nutrients in it already.
I fed her a larger AM meal and PM meal before shots and about 5 or 6 small snacks in between and it seemed to satisfy her a bit but still not enough.
Ketodiastix this morning still indicating a lot of sugar in her urine but thankfully no Ketones.
I'm thinking about raw feeding with the Raw Meox Mix additive to make it nutritionally balanced maybe?
 
Yes the nadir is the lowest point in the cycle.
Great no ketones.
If you need help with the spreadsheet just let us know and there are a few people who can do it in 5 minutes......I’m not one of them though.....I needed help with mine when I started!
We do need to get those numbers down a bit bit can’t help at all unless there’s a SS.
Im glad the extra meals are keeping her more satisfied. You are very lucky she wants to eat. A lot of post DKA cats are nauseated and it’s a real struggle to get them to eat much.
I think the Raw meow mix is good. They have a website and are very active. The owner of the Raw Meow Mix is on the site every day and is very helpful with questions about raw diets. Just go onto Australian Raw Fed Cats fb page.
 
I have added my spreadsheet, as you can see I wasn’t testing very much in the beginning as it was all very overwhelming! I’m planning on testing her every couple of hours tomorrow and will ensure I test before I feed her and give her the shot. The very low numbers at the beginning was a curve from the vet clinic, Peggy was on 1.5 units of Lantus at the time and still not eating as much as she is now. After they received the low numbers they suggested only giving her 1 unit. It looks like now she is eating so well that she might benefit from going back up to 1.5 units?
 
Hi Morgan
Excellent getting the SS up and data in!
Don’t forget the pm cycle though. It is just as important as the am cycle and cats often drop lower at night.
Try and get a couple of tests in overnight tonight so you can see if she drops low.
We always encourage everyone to get a before bed test in and if the before bed test is lower than the preshot, that can indicate an active cycle and it would be worthwhile setting the alarm and testing a bit later in the cycle to see that the BG has not dropped too low.
If you get a low number, always test again to see that the BG is rising.

After you do the curve tomorrow, we can look at the BGs and see if Peggy needs to go up in dose.
I suspect she does.
We go up in 1/4 unit increments so as not to go past the best dose and it is safer for the cat.

Good luck with the curve.
 
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