New poster, Tips on General Health of Cat with Diabetes

Hello Everyone,

This is the first time I will be posting on this forum and from my initial browsing, this appears to be the exact place I was looking for to obtain some tips and advice.

My cat’s name is Mr Trudeau and he is almost 11 years old, and was diagnosed with Diabetes about a year ago.

Our vet had us start him on 1u of vetsulin twice daily and after several glucose screenings and dosage increases from our vet, we are now giving him 5u twice daily. The vet immediately recommended we switch his diet to Royal Canin Glycobalance Dry Food. Unfortunately, we blindly followed the vet recommendations and was not until I did some research today that I realized this was absolutely not the best choice. He was a healthy weight at the time he was diagnosed, however I have noticed he has put on a little bit of weight recently, maybe 0.5-1 pound. He struggled with his weight previously due to free feeding and we were able to get him to a healthy weight before we learned of the diabetes.

I recently decided to do some research into feline diabetes in order to make sure we were giving him the best possible life and treatment for his condition. Through my research I have discovered that we need to make some changes to our routine. We have never done home testing (was never mentioned by the vet), but we just ordered a testing kit and we will be beginning that as soon as possible. We are also switching him to a low carb/high protein wet food as soon as we can reliably test him so be sure that we decrease the insulin dose appropriately to his blood glucose levels after the diet change.

I am disappointed in myself for not doing this research sooner, and I am very happy to be making the changes he needs to live a long, happy, and healthy life. I am wondering if anyone has any tips or advice? Are the changes I laid out the proper ones for us to make? Are there any changes that we should be making that I didn’t mention?

Thanks in advance to everyone who responds to this thread. This cat has helped my girlfriend and I through some very difficult times, and he is my best friend. I want to make sure I am doing anything and everything I can for this guy, I know he would do the same for us.

 

Hi Gene and Mr Trudeau,
Welcome to the forum.
The most important things you can do for Mr T are home testing the BGs, and getting him onto a suitable low carb wet diet.
5 units is a big dose of insulin but if you are feeding him a high carb dry food diet, I’m not surprised at the dose.

Here is what I would do.

• Set up a spreadsheet ready for when you get the glucose meter. Here is a link to the spreadsheet. Make sure you choose the correct SS for the meter you are using (human or pet) and if you live anywhere else except the US you will need a world SS. If you live in the US you choose the US SS. https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
• Buy suitable canned foods 10% carbs or less. Choose the list that applies to you https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/links-to-food-charts.174182/
• Set up your signature that will appear at the bottom of all your posts and will tell us all about Mr T. The information for it is in this link. Also in this link is information about Setttings up a hypo kit and info for new members https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/
• Test before every insulin dose to see it is safe to give the dose.
• Test during the cycles to see how low the dose is taking Mr T
• Do not change over to a low carb diet until you are competent in home testing and can monitor the BGs closely. Changing to a low carb diet can drop the BGs more than 100 (5.5) points.
• Are you feeding Mr T 30 minutes before giving the vetsulin?
• Areyou giving snacks during the cycles as well as the main meals?
• Post daily for assistance and let us know when you are ready to do start the swap over to low carb food
• Here is a link to home testing https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Are you happy with the vetsulin insulin? There are more suitable insulins for cats such as Lantus and Prozinc that are longer lasting and more gentle.

Here is the link to using Vetsulin
https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/introduction-to-cannisulin-vetsulin-n-nph.231602/

Bron

 

Thank you for your reply! I will get started on the things you listed as soon as I can.

We have not had any problems with the vetsulin, however we have not tried anything else. I would certainly be open to trying another insulin if there are better options. We have always fed him at the same time as giving his insulin. We prepare the needle and then put the food in his bowl and give him the insulin while he starts to eat. We have found that he is a bit apprehensive around the needle (he would run away and hide) but if he is eating he barely notices. I would also be happy to change the process there if it is better to wait until 30 min after eating to give insulin. We feed him twice a day at the same time as his insulin shots, and he rarely has snacks but if so it’s only a few pieces of some small dental snacks we got from the vet.

Thanks again for all the information, I am happy to be able to care for him properly.

Gene

 

Hi Gene,
It is best to feed 30 mins before the shot with vetsulin and it hits quite fast and cats need food aboard. You can still give him a snack while shooting. That is fine and distracts the kitties!
I would also leave a snack with him around +4 (4 hours after the dose) each cycle so he has something to eat around nadir.
Bron

 

Thank you for the suggestions. I had another question that I have not been able to find a good answer for online. He recently, within the last few days, has been drinking a bit more water than I have seen him drink in the past. I looked at his litter box and it does not seem like he is peeing too much more, but a little bit more. Is there an explanation for that? My instinct is that his insulin/diet is not doing a good enough job at regulating his blood glucose, and it is high, causing the thirst. He also has been under a bit more stress than normal due to the arrival of a new puppy (he is slowing warming up to her), so maybe that is another explanation? I know that the ultimate solution is to home test his blood glucose, and we have already ordered the supplies which should arrive this week.

Thanks again for all the help, this has been wonderful so far.

Gene

 

What type of blood sugar monitor did you order? You can if you want use a human blood glucose meter. That's what most of us use, as the test strips are so much cheaper, and you can test strips quickly should you be running low. Many people get the Relion brand from Walmart.

 

We ordered an AlphaTrak 2 from Chewy. We will absolutely look into a human blood glucose meter, as we will be wanting to test him frequently.

Thanks for the tip!

Gene

 

The meters don't read exactly the same, but it wasn't that long ago all pet meters weren't available. Our dosing methods are based on human meters as a result.

 

If you're still feeding your cat dry food, his water intake may decrease. Dry food is dehydrating due to the lack of moisture. An increase in drinking may also be an indication that your cat's blood glucose (BG) level is higher. When numbers are higher, it's not uncommon for cats to drink more. (They may also urinate more.)

Just an FYI, those dental treats are likely high in carbohydrates. Most of those kinds of treats contain corn syrup. Consider a freeze dried protein (e..g, freeze dried chicken) or giving your cat some cooked or even raw chicken, or any other protein. (We had a member who would buy shrimp for her cat!)

Personally, I would see about returning the AlphaTrack meter. The Walmart Relion meter is very popular here. The strips are the least expensive around.