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Frosty

Frosty

Member Since 2012
Our 10 year old cat, PurrFace, was diagnosed with diabetes about 3 months ago. He went from 18 pounds to 13 pounds in less than a month. We tried regulating with his diet and for the last 3 months his weight stayed at 12.6 pounds and was normal. Unfortunately on Thursday night I noticed he was walking a bit funny. Friday morning he was walking with his back hunched but still had a lively step. On Saturday his rear legs were weaker and he was walking on his rear haunches. We called our vet and explained the situation and he said to bring him in right away. His weight dropped half a pound since his last visit 2 weeks ago. Vet drew blood and sent it for a "full work-up". He said the diet alone approach wasn't enough and he had to go on insulin. He's recommending Humulin N @ 3 units twice a day but is holding final decision until the lab results come back later today. He said the cats he has on Humulin N are doing well but after reading some of the post I have doubts as to whether it's a good decision. The BG is in the low 500 range. The vet always listens to what we have to say and will take as much time as needed to explain the procedures he does so I'm sure he'll be open to our questions.
 
You are right; no one here chooses to use Humulin. It is harsh and doesn't last long, which makes it difficult to regulate with. We prefer milder, longer lasting insulin like Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc. You can find out more about all of them on the Insulin Support group forums, on the Board Index page.

The other important part of this is testing at home. Most cats are stressed at the vet and stress raises glucose levels, so doses determined there may be too high once the cat gets home. Testing before each shot to be sure the amount of insulin you are planning to dose is a safe amount is the best way to treat your kitty.

You said you changed the diet? What are you feeding? We feed under 8% carb wet catfood. A vet explains why here: www.catinfo.org

If you really like your vet and he is willing to learn about diet, hometesting and better insulin, that would be the best scenario. Let us know how we can help.
 
Maybe have your vet come here and read. No matter what, please do not start out on 3 units of any insulin..........especially N......but 3 units is still a high starting dose. Hardly used anymore on cats.....too fast acting, short duration, and not a good insulin for cats.
 
The weakness in the legs is known as diabetic neuropathy. The only way to reverse this is by giving insulin AND methylcobalamin B12. Here is a link to one that I've used for Maui: http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vitami ... 0-capsules

You can purchase this anywhere - just remember to get methylcobalamin type of B12 - there are other types, this is the one used for neuropathy.

I liked this one because it didn't contain fruit flavors or sugars and came in a capsule, so it made it easy to open, empty and mix with wet food. And if other cats eat it, no worries, they will pee out what the body doesn't need.

The recommended amount is 3-5 mg once a day.
 
Re Sue and Oliver (GA). We give him a mix iams Proactive Health dried mixed with a M/D dried "for diabetic" cats. In the morning and evening he gets Friskies Fancy Feast Classic wet. He hardly touches the dry food but loves the wet food. We are only giving him 1/3 to 1/2 of a can of Friskies at 7 AM and at 4 PM. He seems to be always hungry; should we be feeding him more? We have 3 cats (Russian Blue - 6 YO, Norweigian Forest - 8 YO, and PurrFace, an American Short Hair - 10 YO). The other two eat both types of food.

I really appreciate the information posted by everyone. We want to do whatever we can for PurrFace and want to be as sure as possible we're doing the right thing.
 
The problem with PurrFace's legs is neuropathy and can be reversed with the help of proper insulin and Methyl-type vitamin B. You can either get the pill form and sprinkle it on the food or the liquid version and inject it (I think). What they don't use they pee out so you cannot overdose with it.

Home testing is the best thing to do since you don't know what your cats BG levels are like and with the walking problem you REALLY need to know. You can purchase a human meter and use it just as well as any pet meter- for far cheaper in meter cost and strips. Stay away from any meter that has the word True in the name as they haven't been for cats, and the Freestyle lite with the butterfly strips- both are great for humans but lousy for accurate reading on cats. Research the cost of the strips- the meter you buy once, the strips are repeated purchases and can add up. A lot of us use the Relion Micro or Prime meters as the strips are the cheapest available.

The insulin you have is not a good insulin for cats, plus it is very harsh- dropping the levels fast and then out of the system early so your cat goes back up to a high BG. Levemir, Lantus, and ProZinc are good insulins with starting doses around 1u.

What and how much are you feeding? A proper diet for an FD is canned cat food rather than dry, with the carbs under 10%. We have two lists- Binky's (older) and Hobo's (newer) lists that we use as guides- for both you want the kcarb to be under 10% (most of us go for 8% and under). And, as PurrFace is still unregulated he is probably still hungry- feed him all he wants. His body is literally starving as he cannot get the necessary nutrients from his food until the insulin starts kicking in. Free fed the wet all day- either by freezing it and letting it thaw out or by adding water to it to keep it moist.

Hobo’s list
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... hYXc#gid=0

and Binky’s list
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

Lastly- you need to be checking for ketones with BG readings that high. It can lead to a very serious and deadly (and COSTLY to treat) disease called DKA. A bottle of ketosticks in the diabetic isle $6-10/50 is the best insurance against a surprise DKA event.

Hopefully PurrFace will come around and get back to your loveable furbaby that you remember. Always ask questions, no matter how dumb or silly they sound. We all did at the beginning- it is how we learn. No question ever asked is really dumb- unless it is "Are we there yet?"
 
We'd suggest you feed all wet low carb (check out that link) BUT not until you are testing at home. Our Oliver went down 100 points overnight when we cut out the dry. If we hadn't been testing and just given the usual amount of insulin, he would have hypoed. I think the MD dry is 38% carbs; we feed under 8%, so the dry is really high carb.

Unregulated diabetics are literally starving, so yes, give him more food. His body is not able to use the food efficiently while he is at the higher glucose levels. As his numbers lower, he won't need as much food.

Can we teach you how to hometest? We've taught hundreds people over the Internet.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA). Yes I would greatly appreciate any training you could give. He won't start insulin until tomorrow.
 
Fantastic!

Here's a shopping list:


A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. We do stay away from any meter with True in the name and the Freestyle meters. They have proven to be very unreliable and read lower than other meters. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 26-28 gauge is good. Any brand will work as long as the lancets match your device.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking. You can also use a prescription bottle filled with very warm water. It provides a good surface to poke against.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats

Once you have the supplies and have practiced on yourself, find a place where you will plan to hometest regularly. Take him there and play with his ears, maybe use the rice sack to warm them and then give him lots of praise, a treat and let him go. The next time, try a test.

Here is a video of how it is done: Video for hometesting This kitty is a old pro at it so don't be surprised if you have some trouble at first. We poked Oliver for an entire weekend before we finally got it down. The big problems for us were not getting the ear warm enough and not using a big enough lancet.

Give it a try. If you have problems, come back on and ask for help. We will bombard you with tips. I am so glad you are going to test at home; it will make all the difference in keeping him safe.
 
Hope + (((Baby)))GA. Thank you. I will definitely tell our vet about FDMB. I have a lot of questions written down to ask the vet and one is concerning your thought that 3 units 2X a day is too high. I'll tell him we want to start PurrFace on 1 unit 2X a day IF we go with the Humlin N, which I doubt we will. Thank you for your input...it is. Greatly appreciated.
 
Hillary & Maui. Thank you so much for your input. I have Methylcobalamin B12 at the top of the list of questions for the vet tomorrow. Thank you again.
 
hmjohnston. Thank you for the information. I will be speaking with the vet tomorrow about the Methyl B. we have been feeding PurrFace 1/3 to 1/2 of a small can of Fancy Feast twice a day. We had dry food for him but he hardly touched it. After reading your post as well as others I just gave him a whole can, which he made very short work of. I'm curious to see if he gives us his usual 4 o'clock nudges to remind us it's diner time since that is his normal PM feeding time. If he does we'll feed him some more. Thank you again.
 
Sue and Oliver (GA). Thank you for the list of supplies and the video and suggestions. As I mentioned above he won't start insulin until tomorrow after his blood work-up comes back. I have a lot of notes on the various types of insulin that I'm going to discuss with our vet. I'm not expecting any problems when testing PurrFace. He is so co-operative. He doesn't put up a fuss even when the vet shaves his next and draws blood. He just sits there, he's so trusting. I am amazed at the response we have received to our original post. We are so thankful. Ole PurrFace is such an important part of our family we want to do everything we can for him, without doing/causing further harm. Thank you again. I'll post an update tomorrow after the vet visit.
 
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