New Member- is she going into remission?

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Cammey

Cammey

Member Since 2024
Hello!

I’m new here and have been lurking on her since I found out my little girl, Coalie has diabetes, she was officially diagnosed on January 5th and was also treated for a UTI.

We immediately began workin on switching her food to the Purina DM food, and started given her insulin (1 unit, twice a day of Lantus Glargine). We haven’t home tested necessarily but have had what I call a “button” placed on her which is the Libre 2, that we scan and it records her BG.

We noticed after a while when administering her insulin she would get low readings of around 60-66, and we would feed her snacks and retest until her numbers were better. We’ve also been scanning and she hasn’t been showing high (the vet said don’t give her insulin unless she went above 180). At this point she hasn’t had insulin since Saturday (5 days) and had great readings ranging from 85-120, right where she should be. Then today we then noticed again that she had low numbers (60-67) even after feeding and when no insulin was given.

Is this a sign of remission or could this be something else? Should she not be strictly on wet Purina DM food as the carbs are too low now? Is it too soon to know?

We’re planning on speaking with the vet again Friday after a full week of BG data has been collected but I’m not understanding why her numbers were first so high to get on insulin and now low where we are trying to bring them back up. We’ve followed vet instruction to feed carbs when low and now give insulin if she doesn’t go high.
 
We consider the Libre to be home testing, it's a good option.

5 days without insulin is good, and numbers in the 60's are fine. I've tested a non diabetic cat at home in the upper 40's. We typically tell people 50-120 is a good range not on insulin. If a kitty is on insulin we don't want them too low as it gives no margin for error. Our definition of remission is when they can go 14 days without insulin, and remain in normal blood sugar numbers.

Is the Purina DM the wet or dry food? Neither are good quality foods, and the dry food is too high in carbs for a diabetic. There are lots of commercially available canned foods that are low carb and good for diabetics. And better quality and less pricey.

Once a diabetic cat goes into remission, it'll be a food controlled diabetic, meaning you should always give low carb food the rest of her life.
 
She is on the wet Purina DM, I imagine she’ll be a strictly wet food kitty from here on out. What are the other brands that are better/chesper? I read a lot about Fancy feast? It would be great to get her off that DM food since it’s SO expensive.

if she’s still testing a bit high without insulin should we start giving it to her again? Yesterday, the highest she tested was 134, does this mean she’s starting to “regulate” on her own?
 
It would be helpful if you could setup a spreadsheet so we can give you doing advice if needed. Here is a helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.
 
I'd keep an eye on her. 134 is too low to start insulin, especially if she brings her numbers back down again. Something could have startled her - all sorts of reasons for a temporary bump up in numbers. I'd wait for a trend of just higher numbers before worrying about insulin.
 
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