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SweetCorn

SweetCorn

Member Since 2026
Mom: Pax Cat: Corn (short for Cornelius)
Cat age 11, Diabetes Dx 4/15/26, No DKA so far, symptoms were Polyuria with sticky sweet urine, before diagnosis. Using ReliOn human meter and starting on Tresiba for reasons listed below.


Several months ago I suspected DM (diabetes mellitus) and switched both of my cats from dry to canned only. Corn lost 4 lbs (14.2 lbs to 10.1 lbs) in 4 mos and urine volume dropped some after diet change. However sweet Corn developed “plantigrade stance” and is having trouble walking.

Plantigrade stance explanation here:


Diabetic neuropathy in cats is a complication of chronic high blood sugar that damages nerves, causing a "plantigrade stance" where they walk on their hocks (heels) instead of toes, often appearing as weak, flat-footed, or rabbit-like hopping. This condition, which affects around 10% of diabetic cats, often causes reluctance to jump and slipping, but can be reversed or managed with insulin therapy and proper diabetes control.

Because of the planter grade stance, I took Corn to vet for full blood work and urine tests. The labs diagnosed diabetes but NO DKA and NO kidney disease. (Yay! 😊)

Vet prescribed Vetsulin and will run Fructosamine after 2 weeks insulin use.

I however have decided to use Tresiba due to my personal experience with diabetes.

I have 45 yrs type1 diabetes experience and use glucose sensor and insulin pump.
I have many Tresiba pens that I don’t use and after researching this insulin in human and feline use I decided to try it on for Corn without my drs ok. I truly feel that the even or flat long term action of Tresiba makes it the most viable current option for the treatment of type 2 feline diabetes.
Note: My vet cannot support the use of Tresiba understandably and may tell me to find another vet.

Today I started testing Corn’s bg in her ears and she is pretty easygoing about it. Started her on the Tresiba insulin as well. Here are first day’s great results:

4/18/26 Day 1
8 am 2u Tresiba 229 bg (ate 2.5 oz wet cat food with 6% carb)
11 am 289 bg
1 pm 242 bg
4 pm 186 bg
8 pm 142 bg (ate 2.5 oz wet cat food)
11 pm 189 bg
I did NOT give another dose of Tresiba
even though I read that the Japanese study with 8 cats gave a dose of Tresiba every 12 hours.
I also read that high cat metabolism causes cats to process insulin twice as fast as humans.
Tresiba is said to last up to 42 hours so my reasoning is to try once every 24 hours.
(I work full time and won’t be able to give insulin every 21 hours.)

I will test her once in the middle of the night and at 8 AM test again and give her 2 u (or less) of the Tresiba.

Please advise how I can download the spreadsheet. I saw all the posts about the SS which I assume is the diabetes curve spreadsheet, but can’t figure out how to download it.

Thank you for letting me share our first day of feline diabetes treatment.
 

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Not many people here use Tesiba. There's some info on it here: Tresiba (degludec)

If Tresiba ends up not working well for your cat, you'll need to use a different one. ProZinc and Lantus are the two best choices. Vetsulin is too short acting and is made for dogs.

The spreadsheet info is here: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

It's Google based so that it can be viewed by anyone who has the shareable link you give them. You do need to set up a Google account. You can use your personal email address to do this instead of setting up a Gmal address. The instructions are slightly out of date so if something doesn't match what you see on Google, we can help. (@Tim & Pookey might be good to keep the instructions up to date).

The neuropathy can be easily treated with methylcobalamine. Zobaline is one product but is expensive. A lesser expensive brand:

posted by @Diane Tyler's Mom GA

the Vitacost brand another member told me about
Vitamin B-12 Methylcobalamin -- 5000 mcg - 100 Capsules

Same as Zobaline , but the Zobaline is so expensive as you know
This is the same thing
The only difference is the Zobaline has 200 mcgs of folic acid
So I bought the folic acid at the supermarket and crush it up and added it to the Vitacost brand
If you can't find the 200 mcg get the 400 mcg and cut it in half and crush it up and add it, some members didn't even add the folic acid and the neuropathy improved
The Vitacost brand is a capsule so just open it and pour the powder on the wet food
Has no taste, no need to crush it up, I still give it to Tyler every now and then and he has never tasted it in his food , I always add water to his food and just stir up the methyl B-12 good
I switched to the vitacost brand because the zobaline was too expensive,
Even though the vitacost brand is 5000 mcgs and the zobaline is 3000 mcgs
What they don't need they will pee out because it's water soluble.

The Zobaline is expensive for 60 pills, 30.00 some other places want 33.00
I used to use the Zobaline when I joined, then a member told me about the Vitacost brand .

It took about 2 months for Tyler to get back to walking normal, jumping on to the couch, running around
But every few weeks I did see a slight improvement
Some members didn't even add the folic acid to the vitacost brand and it still helped and the neuropathy was gone

https://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vitamin-b-12-methylcobalamin-5000-mcg-100-capsules-6
Click to expand...
 
We have not had many members use Tresiba. It's been a while since I looked over the research but if I'm recalling correctly, it needs to be dosed every 12-hours in cats. There is a 2025 consensus guideline for treating feline diabetes and they put Tresiba in the same category as Lantus and Prozinc regarding duration.

In addition to the direct spreadsheet link provided above, there's a post we also provide for new members.-- helping us to help you. The link to the spreadsheet is there along with information on what the abbreviations mean, how to set up your signature so we don't plague you by asking for the same information, information on hypoglycemia and more.
 
Thank you squeem3 and Sienne for the information. I have studied all of the different abbreviations and language usage for the forum and will do my best to follow that.

Two full days on Tresiba and my cat Cornelius’s blood sugars are doing very well: 143-243. Based on what I’ve read so far, those numbers are fair for feline type2 diabetes.

Her blood sugar started at 243 (human meter) before her first dose of two units Tresiba and slowly dropped down to 143 or 154 each day 12 hours after the dose.

In case of a hypoglycemic event, I have a preloaded syringe with 3/4 tsp maple syrup.

I probably won’t get around to creating the spreadsheet until this weekend due to my work schedule.

I still do not know how high her fructosamine was so I don’t have a benchmark to compare numbers with. It would be nice to know what her average blood sugar was before starting her on insulin.

Thank you so much for the info on the supplement to help with her diabetic neuropathy.
 
If you sprinkle the Vitacost methylcobalamin onto canned food or a moist treat, don't freak out when you see the very pale pink powder turn neon pink. I did :eek: Apparently it's normal as the powder absorbs the moisture in the food. You can pill the capsule but most cats hate that so it's just easier to sprinkle the powder over food. The powder is tasteless to cats.

Additional hypo info:

Sticky - How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
Sticky - jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

Syrup works in a pinch. You'll also want to keep some medium carb (11% to 15%) and high carb (15%+) canned foods on hand to use. Are you familiar with the food charts? They are here: Links to FOOD CHARTS Gravy based foods are typically high in carbs but some brands are not. Fancy Feat Gravy Lovers is one high carb food you can find everywhere.
 
Thank you, Squeem3.

I have analyzed the food charts extensively, and also read about the hypoglycemia treatment for cats.

In order to raise blood glucose most quickly, one should always treat a low glucose first with pure sugar or carbohydrate because fat and protein slow down the absorption of the carbohydrate into the blood stream.

Once the glucose is in a safe range you treat with a protein fat carbohydrate blend to keep the bg from dropping again.

I personally have had thousands of low blood sugars and several dozen seizures. The seizures are awful to endure, but I have survived. I have so many hypos because I treat with rapid acting insulin and aim for a lower target than I will for my cat. Fortunately, with continuous glucose sensors and smart insulin pumps, the chances of seizures are minimized for me.

Insulin pumps and glucose sensors are not feasible to use on cats for many reasons.
So I will be checking my cat’s bgs for awhile until she seems regulated. I think I will be aiming for 180-225 or closer to 140-200 if she doesn’t have hypos.

Her fructosamine was over 500!!

So many other parts of her blood work were absolutely horrible (Very elevated ALT, triglycerides, platelets, GGT, magnesium, sodium and more) but the doctor didn’t mention it.. Maybe he just wants me to start with the blood sugars and see what happens from there. The vet did say that the blood work didn’t show kidney failure…and no DKA was detected.

So I will continue to work on getting Corn’s glucose levels regulated at home and have another diagnostic panel at the vet in about 1 week.

Thank you for your support.
 
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