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[kate&tigger]

Hello all... My cat,Tigger, was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of years ago and has been on levemir from the start due to the fact that I work at a medical clinic and can get free samples. However, I never checked his blood glucoses at home as my vet never instructed me to. I used to take him in for regular curves and she would adjust his insulin based on that info. He seemed to do ok for quite awhile but last winter he suddenly lost weight and began to display thirst and polyuria again. I increased his levemir a bit which helped but was still not checking home blood glucoses. In May while I was out of town he ended up in the ER with a glucose of 600. They kept him for several days and got his sugar down again, treated him for an "infection" of some sort and let him go home with me. I took him to a new vet last week for a work-up, and his glucose was back up to 600. By now I was becoming frustrated with the whole thing and went on the internet and found this site and some others where I learned about monitoring cats at home. However, when I asked the vet if that was feasible she discouraged me from doing it, saying it was too difficult. That was all the challenge I needed. I got a meter and some strips from work, watched the videos on line again and read Dr Lisa Pierson's articles and went for it. I have now been checking Tigger twice a day for almost a week and I think we really have the hang of it. I have titered up his insulin from 2 units to 4 units and his glucoses have come down from 400-500 to 150-250. I have started paying attention to what he is eating and trying to learn about which foods are high carb. I need to find out more about that. I am also interested in this concept of remission of diabetes in cats. I don't think that happens in humans on a regular basis... or at least it doesn't with my patients because they don't want to stop eating what they want! So... I am looking for some encouragement and support in maintaining Tigger on levemir. Glad I found this message board!
Kate&Tigger

 

[BJM]

Welcome Kate & Tigger!

You're absolutely right about nutrition being key. Going with low carb - less than 10% of calories from carbohydrates - has been instrumental in a number of cats going into a diet controlled state. We have a number of food lists, so I'll start you with the classic, Binky's Page It is out of date on some products - ex Sophisticat has been replaced by Great choice as PetSmart's brand - but there is some other info on those pages you may find of interest.

Also, good for you in testing the glucose!!!! You're officially a member of the Vampire Club. If you'd like feedback from us, it'll help if you use a standard spreadsheet in Google Docs to record the date, test numbers, dose, and any notes. We have instructions here
quick key:
AM = morning
PM = evening
PS = pre-shot insulin test

Some supplementary monitoring tools are in my signature link. They can augment the data from blood glucose testing, and the ketone testing is particulary important when you haven't yet got control of the diabetes.

 

[rhiannon and shadow (GA)]

Welcome Kate and Tigger,
You have found the best place for help here. This is a great supportive community that will help you sort everything out
to help Tigger.

You asked which foods are high carb. Well, if it's a dry food, it's high carb. Think of dry food for cats as the equivalent
of you eating nothing but potato chips. That's why so many of them are addicted to it.
So you will want to explore the website for binky's list of canned foods to find more suitable foods.
Most of us here use 10% or less . I try for 5% or less.
You will want to print the new canned food list and the old canned food list because they have different ones on them.
I took a yellow highlighter to mine and marked all the one's that had the lowest carb % because when you are standing
in the store reading all the label names, it's hard to remember which ones are the good ones.

However, take note, WHEN and IF you decide to switch to low carb canned food only , it can have an immediate
effect on bg level. Most of us saw a drop as much as 100 less so you can suddenly have too high a dose of insulin which
is dangerous.
You will want to start over with the dosage. Our more experienced veterans here will advise you on that.
So don't just go change the food tomorrow without knowing what you need to do with the insulin dosage.

We have good vets and not so good vets. There are vets out there who support home testing.
I was talking to mine about those who don't encourage home monitoring and learned that the number of us who are willing to learn is far less than those of us who are not willing. There is a large group of pet owners who think it's too much work , sadly.
Just look at the shelters of pets who get dumped for trivial reasons.
I volunteered at our local shelter so I see it.

Many here get persistent with their vet that they will learn and participate in the treatment and the vet either gets on
board or we find a vet who will be supportive.

So ask questions....
keep reading because you will find there is so much coming your way now that you have found us.
Welcome!

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

Hi Kate!

Home testing is one of three things that are key to successfully treating diabetes in cats. Unlike humans, a cat's pancreas has the amazing ability to heal if it eats a low carb, canned diet, is on a long-acting insulin like Lantus or Levemir, and their blood glucose is tightly controlled with dose adjustments via daily hometesting.

Food choices can be overwhelming at first, so let me give you a couple suggestions in different price ranges. The more you pay, the better quality meat is going to be in the food (which is more important the older a cat gets), but all are good, healthy choices for a diabetic cat. Limit fish flavors to once or twice a week; they are high in mercury and phosphorus and cats can get addicted to them.

Low range: Special Kitty Pates from Walmart, or Grreat Choice Pates from PetSmart, e.g. Turkey & Giblets, Super Supper, Mixed Grill, etc. These foods are mostly byproducts, and contain little to no muscle meat. Friskies pates are also low enough in carbs to feed, but I usually recommend the other two over the Friskies because they are cheaper and contain no grain. Friskies uses rice as a filler, so it's a little bit higher in carbs than the others.

Mid-Range: Grain-free Fancy Feast: http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm. These are really popular with diabetic cat owners because they're easy to find anywhere, and not super expensive.

Premium: Grain Free Wellness, Merrick's, EVO, or Nature's Variety Instinct, or grain free Blue Wilderness. You can find updated values for these on this food chart. If you decide to go this route, use the store finder on the company's websites to find an independent pet/feed store near you that carries them--you'll find they are WAY cheaper there than at PetSmart or PetCo. If you can find a place that sells Wellness in the big cans, it's actually cheaper to feed than Fancy Feast.

I would also urge you check out the Levemir forum and read the stickys there: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=10, as well as this sticky which explains how to dose Lantus and Levemir in cats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=1581. When that dosing protocol is followed, cats have very high remission rates, which are 84% for newly diagnosed cats, and 64% remission rates overall. The remission rate in the study done on this protocol for cats diagnosed more than 6 months prior was only 35%, but keep in mind that this study was performed only over a period of 10 weeks. Many cats that are starting the protocol late still have a good chance of remission, but it just may take them a bit longer. It took me nearly a year to get Bandit into remission, and it took my friend's cat Sydney 8 months to get to remission.

One other thing I would stress is that you regularly test for ketones if you're not already. This is a dangerous complication that arises from the combination of high blood sugar, dehydration, and infection. Given your cat's history and numbers, it's something you definitely need to be wary of. You can get the ketostix at any pharmacy, and you use them by catching a urine sample. If you need tips on how to catch urine, please ask!