New to board with newly diagnosed cat.

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sweetchrystyna

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My cat was diagnosed with diabetes about a month ago with sugars in the 500's. First the vet started the cat on Hills R/D and started her on insulin at 2 units NPH twice a day. I on my own learned how to take the blood sugars. The cat continued over the weeks to have sugers in the 400's We went up to 4, 6 and now she is getting 8 units twice a day. Her sugars remained in the 300 to 400 range. I happened to do research on the internet only to find out that NPH is not the ideal insulin and The food we are feeding her is loaded with carbs. So today I altered her diet to a lower carb food. wet only. Her sugars came down to 119 and she was not peaking yet. Gave her some food with carbs. The key here is we would like to completely put her on a low carb diet. And switch her to Lantus insulin. Would like to find a vet in southern florida, Fort Lauderdale or North Miami that specialized in diabetes. The vet we have does not have alot of diabetic cats she is treating. Any suggestions. Also, If I give her the low carb food I need to reduce the NPH. I am thinking to 4 units tonight. My reg vet is not in today. I will probably mix her diet tonight low and high carb along with reduced insulin. Gonna try a different vet in fort lauderdale tomorrow but if anyone knows of someone who is educated in cat diabetes would love to hear from them. Thanks
 
Hi guys .. and welcome to the board! I am not at all familiar with your insulin (we had mocha on lantus) but hopefully others will be stopping by soon and can help you with your dosing question. It is wonderful you are doing home testing, we are all strong supporters of that along with a wet low carb diet.

I live in MI so can't help with any southern vet's that specialize in FD but I know there are people on here from the south so hang around, read a few stickies on the board and make yourself at home

:-D
 
I would not give any insulin unless she is over 200 at shot time. If she is between 200-300 at shot time, I would only give .5 units. Lo carb food can make a huge difference downward in bg levels so you will need to see how she is going to react. You can always give more insulin next shot time if the low dose is not enough, but you can't get the insulin out of the kitty once it is shot.

You are right - your insulin is harsh and difficult to regulate with. We have a few people in your area. I am not sure how active they are, but will send them a private message and ask them to check your thread.
 
What time is shot time this evening? If possible, please post her number before shooting. Like Sue said, at most you should consider a much lower dose if she's in the 200 range, especially with any diet change being tossed into the mix. That insulin type can hit her like a ton of bricks if she gets the expected lower BG resulting from low-carb food.

Carl
 
I agree--I wouldn't give more than .5u-1u. NPH is very harsh and it's easy for cats to hypo on it, and 4u is a very high dose. The diet change you're making can cause BG to drop 100-200 points, or sometimes even cause spontaneous remission. Most cats on a low carb diet do not need much more than 1u of insulin.

I would try and switch insulins as soon as you are able--Lantus has over an 80% remission rate with the combination of home testing and a low carb canned diet.
 
I would recommend Hollywood Animal Hosp.or Coral Springs Animal Hosp. Both are open 24 hours a day and you can walk in without an appointment. NPH insulin is not appropriate for a cat. Sounds like you need to find a new vet ASAP with more experience treating diabetic cats. I live in Broward County let me know if I can be of any help.
 
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