New Member

Status
Not open for further replies.
Julia13

Julia13

Member Since 2022
Hi and thanks for the welcome!
My 7 year old DSH boy Moo was diagnosed on September 20th.
He is currently on 3 units of Lantus 2x a day and 1 can of Purina Pro DM 2x a day. He was originally on 2 units but was increased on October 5th to 3 units due to no change at all in BG or behaviors. Dramatic weight loss is what prompted me to bring him to the vet pre-diagnosis. Starting on Oct. 9th his numbers starting dropping from 20-30mmol/L as his normal, to around 12mmol/L. This is an improvement but not quite where we need to be still. My main issues/concerns thus far is his insane appetite. No amount of food in the world would fill him up. I've started giving him a Fancy Feast Pate at lunch time in between his meals/shots but it just isn't enough. I am hoping his appetite will slow down soon as his numbers get a little better and more consistent. Since diagnosis and starting home testing, his number has never been lower than 8.5mmol/L.
We are learning every day, and have high hopes that my guy will feel better soon!!
 
Welcome Julia and Moo sorry no one got back to you
There is nothing special about prescription foods
The Purina Pro Plan DM canned is 6% carbs but it's expensive and not great quality. No need to feed prescription food, it's up to you
We feed our cats the larger meal at AMPS ( that's means AM Pre Shot)
You withhold feeding 2 hours prior to testing so thevBG is not food influenced.
Then we feed smaller meals around +2 ( 2 hours after giving insulin
Then around +4
Same goes for the PMPS cycle
Once you get his BG regulated he shouldn't be that ravenous
We do not increase insulin by whole units, we adjust the dose by 0.25 units at a time so you don't skip over a good dose

Fancy Feast Pates are fine low carb but they are high in phosphorus which isn't so great for the kidneys
I'll give you our food chart below and you can take a look at that
Most feed 6% carbs or less

I'll also give you the Weruva site they have some low carb / low phosphorus foods
Are you home testing? It's the only way to keep Moo safe and to see how the insulin is working and how low he's dropping
We do not adjust the dose by going by the Pre Shots, we adjust the dose by how his BG is dropping .
Are you from Canada? We don't use mmol terms
Most of us are from the US so if Moo's BG was 20 mmol you would multiple that by
18 x 20= 360 BG
Are you using the U-100 syringes with half unit markings?
Even if you are using the lantus which you can only adjust by whole units we use the syringes and insert the syringe into the gray rubber stopper and dry out the insulin from there

If you can fill out what we call our signature that would be helpful, information about Moo, it's at the end of everyone's post in gray writing

To set up your signature which you will see is at the end of everyone's post in gray, click on your name up top and then tap on the word signature and add this information
  • Add info we need to help you:
    • Caregiver & kitty's name
    • DX: Date
    • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
    • Name of your meter
    • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
    • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
    • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
    • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
    • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
    • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.
Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Take a look at mine
 
We also use a spreadsheet to track our cat's BG numbers once you start testing to see how the insulin is working and how low it's dropping and in case you need any advice , if you are interested in setting one up just ask , we have a member who will be happy to do it for you


The spreadsheet is easier than it looks
Just some info about it look at mine at the end of my signature it says Tyler's spreadsheet to get a look at it, you can look at anyone's spreadsheet

About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers


If you want to try and set it up here the link, if you need help just ask we have a member who will be glad to set it up for you
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
this post on helping us to help you. The post is considerably more concise and haseverything in one place making it a bit easier if you need to bookmark the information.
 
Here's the food chart
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

Weruva foods
With weruva foods
You want the metabolizable energy profile percentage of carbs to be less than 10%, and the phosphorus which Weruva lists in Minerals to be less than 250 mg per 100 cals. So you have to look at two different places in the Weruva charts.
https://weruva.com


When you go to the weruva site and click on one of the pic of the food , click on Detailed Nutritional information that is under guaranteed analysis to the left Detailed Nutrition Information Tap on that
YOU WANT CARBS UNDER 10% AND PHOSPHORUS IDEALLY LOW 200's OR LESS

If Moo only likes Pates look here
https://weruva.com/nutrition-landing/pates-ni/

Just keep asking questions you may have
This amazing group of members helped me get Tyler in remission with the advice they gave me
There are many experienced and knowledgeable members here some are here for 30 years or so

Please read all about Lantus here especially the 2 dosing methods , eventually you will need to follow one of them because they will tell you when an increase or decrease is needed
 
Last edited:
Welcome, Julia!

It is quite normal for an as yet unregulated diabetic cat to have a voracious appetite! With diabetes, the end product of metabolism -- glucose -- floats around in the blood stream since insulin is needed to get the glucose into the cells. Since Moo's pancreas isn't doing its job of producing insulin and glucose isn't where it needs to be, Moo is literally starving. It's why so many diabetic cats lose weight.

It's fine to give Moo more food. You are also correct in that once his numbers are better, his appetite will slack off. Most of the members here also feed their cats several small meals over the course of the cycle. You just want to withhold food 2 hours before shot time so your pre-shot test result isn't influenced by food.

Rather than have much of the initial information you need in several posts, this is a link to our helping us to help you post. It contains much of the basic information you will need to get started. You may also want to take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board. There's a ton of information in those notes about how Lantus works, dosing strategies, etc.

Please let us know if you have questions. The members here are incredibly generous with their time and knowledge and we're here to help.
 
Welcome! Good luck to you and Moo in ramping up with all of this information.
It is SO WORTH IT! This forum is wonderful. Sending well wishes
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top