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thanks so much for all the tips....happily, Caesar has never been a cat who would not eat. At one point he was 24 pounds but is a very large cat. Before and after diagnosis he dropped to 14 pounds. Anyway, he is so thrilled not to have to eat the Hills that he is begging for more of the new canned food all the time. Quite a change and we will need to make sure to keep him as close to his diet as possible or he will gain weight again. He is 17 pounds now and Dr Karnia wants him at 15.

Thanks again!
Sondra
 
Re: new message board user UPDATE

It has been exactly one month since my first posting on this forum and I am writing to thank you again. Thanks to you, we have found a wonderful vet at Scottsdale Cat Hospital and this week took Caesar in for another glucose curve. His numbers are still in the low to mid 300's but certainly better than they were one month ago. His insulin, which was changed to Lantus, was increased to 3U twice a day on Monday and we are watching him carefully for any sign of too much insulin. His diet has been completely changed and he is much happier although always hungry because he has been placed on a 220 calorie a day diet. We wish cats had some sort of "filler" they could consume between meals to keep hunger at bay!

Again thank you from Caesar and his family...we are all doing much better.
Sondra
 
Sondra -

Are you home testing your kitty's BG? If so, do you have a spreadsheet set up for his numbers? 3U of Lantus twice a day seems like quite a bit - how quickly did you arrive at this number?

Every cat is different, but I can only tell you that my vet had recommended this dose for my cat, and it was too much, especially after I changed him to an all canned, low carb diet. Luckily, I decided to follow the dosing protocol and started all over at 1U twice a day - even at that dose, Porky did have one hypoglycemic episode, which I only caught by my home testing.
 
You asked about a "filler" to keep hunger at bay. This might or might not be useful in your case, but I have found with several very different cats that including some water along with the food (stir the food into the water to make it soupy) helps a good deal with the hungries.

Also, you might be able to divide the same amount of food up into a larger number of small meals. You can either have two main meals with comparatively large portions and then small snacks throughout the day, or just divide the total up into a bunch of small meals, every two hours or so. For some people and cats, a timed feeder accomplishes this when the owner can't be there or during the night. (Depends on your circumstances whether this would work.) Either way, it's important that the snacks or small meals not be *additional* food but simply a portion of what otherwise would be served at the main mealtimes.

Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be anything for cats like celery sticks for humans - filling but hardly any calories.

Anyway, water stirred into the food and/or dividing feedings into more meals (but the same total amount of food) are worth trying if you aren't already doing them.
 
Hi, Sondra and Caesar. I'm also a newbie. My Blaze was diagnosed on March 2 and has been on Humulin-N for just over a week now, so we're still in the Big Adjustment phase as well. Blaze's initial BG was 595! Like you, I've been trying to absorb a lot of information very quickly, and I've found this to be a compassionate and responsive community. I'm just starting to learn how to hometest; we got a free starter kit from Cindy and Mousie (GA), and I watched the recommended vids, but Blaze doesn't like his ears fooled with and so far, although I'm deft with the insulin hypo, I've been pretty clumsy with the lancet. We're still getting used to it all, but things are definitely improving. Since starting on the insulin, Blaze has been drinking and peeing less excessively but still has a raging appetite. He gets one 5.5 ounce can of wet food every day, spread across 2 or 3 feedings, depending on my daytime schedule, but he wakes me in the middle of the night because he's so hungry. I've been supplementing the can with a few ounces of lightly braised (in a little water) ground chicken and turkey. I aim to feed adequate calories for his target weight of about 12 pounds. He was down to 8.5 at diagnosis.

You're in a good place here. Welcome!

JeanK and Blaze
 
Hello JeanK and Blaze.....you are absolutely correct. This is the place to be. Am glad we both found these wonderful people!

Caesar got to 25 lbs at his heaviest and dropped to 14 in the middle of his veterinary nightmare then ended at 18 where he is now. The vet has set his target weight at 17 but even though we kept him to a strict 220 calories per day, he didnt lose any weight over the last time he was at the new vet. The vet says he will be less hungry when his glucose level is lower. He may also feel more like running and playing a bit when this is finally under control.

Hang in there, you can do the testing!
Sondra
 
Hi Jennifer and Porky

Thanks for your concern about Caesar's insulin dosage: to see Caesar's spreadsheet, you can click on the link below my signature. We saw the new vet Feb 3 and were changed from Vetsulin to Lantus at 1u dosage 2 times per day. Over the next 36 days he was increased to 3U bid and still is running in the mid 350's.....he had an all day BG curve at the vet hospital on Tuesday. He hasnt had anymore 540 readings but seems to settle in at 300-350 and doesnt want to move. He will stay at 3U until the vet makes another decision in a week or two. We are watching him closely for any signs of hypo but so far so good. Maybe his dosage is higher than Porky's (regardless of his porcine namesake, of course) because Caesar is a pretty big cat. Normal weight is supposedly 17 lbs. Anyway, thanks again for your concern we are keeping careful watch.

Dear Jean and Megan....Thanks! will try the water mixed with food. Caesar is soooooo hungry. Too bad there are no celery sticks for cats!

Caesar and family
 
Hey Sondra,
Glad to hear things are going better for you guys.

1) As for "celery sticks" to fill them up between meals, I wonder if he might like Pure Bites freeze dried chicken breast treats. I buy the bags marketed to DOGS because they are larger chunks and they are much cheaper than the same thing marketed to cats. It is 100% chicken breast, therefore high protein, (low carb) and minimal in the calorie department. You can either wet it and it looks like raw chix, or you can crumble it onto food to entice them to eat (sounds like that is not an issue :lol: ). I do both to add some high quality protein to his diet. I think the bag says something like 8 calories per treat, but each piece is a different size so ????? If you have a Pet Supplies Plus nearby, they sell them.

2) I noticed you said he is a BIG kitty and now you are up to 3u. If you end up getting to 5u someday, you might want to come give us a look over in the HIGH DOSE insulin support group forum. Big (ie large paws, big head, big organs, pot belly,) and resistant to high doses, can be clues to some other explanations about his diabetes. How old is he?

3) My cat used to be desperate for food and did much better with more frequent meals. As mentioned above, you don't need to change the overall amount, but break it up into possibly 4 meals/day rather than 2 meals/day. I think it actually helps a recovering pancreas to have more frequent meals. If you work or aren't home a timed feeder is a perfect solution. Here's the new link to Pet Safe feeders. (Cody broke into the 2 meal feeder, so I would splurge for the 5 meal feeder. ) http://www.petsafe.net/Products/Feed-an ... matic.aspx

It looks like you home test a little bit. Is he difficult to test? It would tell you so much more about whats REALLY happening if you could do a curve at home some weekend. Curves at the vet (car trip) are stressful and usually less accurate (and very expensive) If your strips are expensive, there are really good meters available with strips as cheap as $16.50 /50. Here's one option that I use and feel is very consistant.
http://hocks.com/hocks-healthcare/hocks ... FM-14.html

Hang in there
 
Hello dear friends

I joined this group in February this year as we could not control our kitty's uncontrolled diabetes...he had had terrible experiences with vets who simply experimented with insulin until he went into insulin shock several times. Thanks to all of you, we got to an excellent vet in Phoenix who has gotten his diabetes under control and he has been regulated, without problems, on 1.5 units of Lantus twice per day for over 6 months. He is such a sweet cat and loves my husband so. We will never be able to thank you enough for all your help.

The only problem we have now is his itchy spots. He scratches until he has to wear his cat-coat to keep him from doing even more damage to himself. We are using olive oil in his food, the vet gave us some expensive oil to spray on his food, but nothing seems to help. As he is embarrassed to go outside in this dopey outfit, just in case some of his friends see him, if you have heard of anything else we might try, he would certainly appreciate your thoughts.

How wonderful that this is the only problem he has now!
Thanks to you.......
Caesar and Sondra
 
I am so glad your kitty is doing so well. You can thank yourself for that. You learned about feline diabetes and took control. Congratulations!

Now about the itching. Could the it be caused by allergies? It may be worth asking your vet about that.
 
He could be allergic to his food, someting in his environment, have emotional issues, fleas/pests, hyperthyroid....

What food does he eat?
 
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