New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'s

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Dustinn98

Member Since 2014
First of all - I am excited to see this forum, as I am sure its a wealth of information.

To get started, let me introduce our cat. His name is Bear, he's a little over 11 years old, and a little overweight (aren't we all?). About 2.5 weeks ago, I noticed an increase in litter box trips, fearing a UTI - I checked the box, and yes he was going...and going...and going. Started paying more attention and noticed an increase of seeing him at the water fountain - took him to the vet this last Saturday and its confirmed, he is diabetic.

His blood test at the Vets showed a Glucose level of 429 and a cats should be between 80-105 according to our vet. The vet immediately wanted us to start giving insulin shots at home, followed by several return trips to get Glucose levels checked. Let me say that Bear is one of our fur babies ( we have 3 dogs as well) and we would do anything to keep him healthy. With just a little research I have found that diabetes with cats can sometimes be managed with diet alone - without insulin. I would rather not shoot him up with insulin (or any other drugs) if there are more natural, and effective means of managing this.

So my questions are.....

Have any of you successfully managed feline diabetes with diet alone?

Regarding home testing. We picked up a Glucose meter so we can test his blood at home. As we aren't going the insulin route just yet, when should we be testing?

Prior to the diagnosis he was eating dry food (Blue Buffalo brand) but we have now switched him to a raw diet (our dogs have been on a raw diet for years) based off of Dr. Lisa A. Pierson DVM's website www.catinfo.org.

Since we aren't using insulin, should we let him eat small amounts all day, or train him to do 2 meals a day?

Thanks in advance for any help you can give.

Dustin
 
Re: New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'

You could certainly switch him to low carb wet food such as Fancy Feast or Friskies and see what happens. You can buy a ReliOn human glucose meter at Wal Mart and do some home testing to see how he reacts to his new diet too. Oh, I see you already have a tester... Test first thing in the morning before his first meal and in the evening before his evening meal, more if you want to do a glucose curve to see how he reacts to food. My kitty Dusty started off at about the same reading of 429, I switched him to Fancy Feast but also started insulin (Lantus). Within a week he was off insulin and in remission on Fancy Feast alone. It all depends on how long he's had diabetes and how damaged his pancreas is and his overall health. If he's not on his deathbed, still eating, and at a healthy weight you can try diet alone and see what happens.
 
Re: New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'

Hi Dustin and sugardude Bear and welcome to the message board.

Actually, the raw food diet you have switched him to is also a great one for our diabetic kitties as it is also a great low carb choice. I would not recommend switching him to the Fancy Feast or Friskies pates since you already have switched him to the raw diet. Just make sure you have enough nutrients such as taurine in the mix for a cats needs. A bit different than what your dogs require.

You are correct in that some kitties can be diet controlled. This is more likely if the diabetes is transient, for instance caused by the use of steroids or an infection can elevate the BG (blood glucose) levels. While this diet controlled status can happen, it's more likely to also require the use of insulin for a bit to provide enough insulin and give the pancreas time to heal. You can certainly try a diet change for about a week, but longer than that with your cat not going back into the normal range for BG levels, 40-120 mg/dL, will be bad for your cat. I say bad because without that external support of some insulin, the beta cells are continuing to be destroyed and after too much destruction, there is no way to regain the function needed to get your cat off insulin.

It's much more likely to have a successful diet controlled remission if you do some insulin support first. The likelihood of remission is greatest in the first 6 months after diagnosis. My recommendation would be to try the diet change for a week, get those daily BG (blood glucose) readings before you feed, and we'll reevaluate in a week.

Small, more frequent meals are a great way to take some of the stress off the pancreas to produce enough insulin all at one time to help digest and process a huge meal. We frequently recommend feeding mini-meals, 4-6 times a day.

Yes, after a cat's BG levels get back into normal range, it's possible to maintain this remission through diet. "Once a diabetic, always a diabetic." My sugardude Wink has been diet controlled for 13 months now. He did need some insulin for about 4 months before he achieved his diet controlled status.

Testing. Pick a time roughly 12 hours apart that best fits your schedule. No food for 2 hours before these tests if you can manage it. Then you can test 3-4 hours later to see if the numbers are lower which would mean his body is producing insulin on it's own.

As long as there were no traces of ketones, it should be ok to wait on the insulin. If there were ketones, or he has an infection/inflammation or is not eating much, then that puts him at risk of developing DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) which is life threatening. Did the vet test for ketones?
 
Re: New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'

Possible Yes Probable No. Not to be negative but as a general example - if you change your diet to healthier things but keep the same amount of calories and don't exercise you won't necessarily lose weight - some people may but you may not. Diabetic kitties need to avoid carbs but same idea avoiding carbs may not be enough to do the trick and any weight loss isn't a promised cure. You can certainly give the diet a try if you'd like but most of them need a little help to re-regulate themselves. The sooner treatment begins the sooner he'll be in better health though. It's scary starting out but you're acting in your cat's best interest. With insulin testing is key though before shots and generally mid cycle, as well as the previously mentioned often feeding pate/meat throughout the day. Diet is a huge part of it but they usually need a little extra help especially in the 400's. Please let us know your progress.
 
Re: New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'

2 infobits:
A diet change to low carb canned or raw food may drop the glucose level about 100 mg/dL.
Vet stress may raise glucose levels 100 to 180 mg/dL.

Thus, as much as 280 mg/dL of the office test of 429 mg/dL could have been due to diet and stress. That would leave a glucose of about 149 mg/dL. Still a tad high - 40 to 120 mg/dL is normal for a cat using a human glucometer - and using some insulin will take some of the work load off the pancreas and may let it heal and eventually work again.
 
Re: New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'

Our kitty Spider was bouncing around from the high 300's to as low as 36 on Prozinc prior to to the food switch (FF pate). Now he is very flat between about 100 and 150. He is still a little high so we will probably have to go back to very small (.25 or .5 units) insulin doses once we really feel confident that this is the level he is going to be at on the high protein diet.
 
Re: New to Forum - Cat Just Diagnosed with Diabetes, have ?'

You can use a U-100 syringe with the U-40 insulin by using a conversion chart.
The math is:
U-100 mark * 0.4 = U-40 dose
ex.
0.5 * 0.4 = 0.2 units of ProZinc
 
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