Emily & Shylo
Member Since 2014
Hello everyone! The awesome people over at thecatsite recommended I come by here since my cat Shylo was recently diagnosed with diabetes following a serious surgery on his biliary tract. Allow me to give the quick rundown of what happened;
A couple weeks ago now Shylo fell ill out of the blue and was vomiting several times in a row. When I took him to the emergency vet we discovered that his gallbladder was filled with gallstones (through xray), and the following morning after an ultrasound we confirmed that they had actually obstructed the gallbladder. I opted for surgery that day to remove the stones which went thankfully without complication. The tissue culture they took came back negative for infection, so the assumption is that it's possible the stones could have come from a diet related issue. Shylo had been a free-feeding kibble cat for his entire life (he just turned eight this summer) and for the past two years or so had been on Blue's indoor formula. Thus began the need for a diet change. After some discussion with some users on the other site I agreed that a raw diet would be best for him (especially since the vet had recommended a lower cholesterol diet as it could contribute to stones).
When Shylo went for his recheck they were concerned that his glucose level was elevated beyond what was considered normal for a cat under stress. At this point I had had a little success trying to get him onto wet food (kibble junkie) but no great victory with my stubborn little guy. The vet eventually was able to do a urinanalysis when I couldn't get a sample to test at home and they confirmed that he had indeed developed diabetes.
He's been on a 1 unit dose of Lantus for about ten days now (combined with a diet change) and is beginning to gain back some of the weight he lost. Right now I've finally gotten him on two meals daily (he's been getting half wet, half raw and a tiny bit of grain-free kibble, of which he definitely is not as interested in as he used to be which is good?) and his energy level has definitely improved from what it's been the past few weeks.
He went for his first curve today, so I figured it was a good time to come in and get some extra support! Let me just paste what the vet wrote on his discharge sheet today:
"The blood sugar curve was as follows:
308
295
215
156
129
We would recommend continuing the insulin at the current dose and recheck a curve in 2-3 weeks. We may need to titrate the dose downwards by a 1/2 unit depending on the next curve."
They tested every two hours (he ate about a half hour before the first number). I have my own meter coming in the mail soon (mom is mailing it from home), so I'll be able to check more frequently here. I still want to get him onto a completely raw diet, although another user cautioned removing too many carbs without altering his insulin dosage, which makes total sense. Long term my goal is to hopefully have him go into remission through diet control.
Aaaand I think that's about it! I guess my questions are mostly; How does his curve look so far, and if I want to continue to change his diet how often should I check his glucose level once I get my meter? What is the ideal range that his glucose levels should stay in?
A couple weeks ago now Shylo fell ill out of the blue and was vomiting several times in a row. When I took him to the emergency vet we discovered that his gallbladder was filled with gallstones (through xray), and the following morning after an ultrasound we confirmed that they had actually obstructed the gallbladder. I opted for surgery that day to remove the stones which went thankfully without complication. The tissue culture they took came back negative for infection, so the assumption is that it's possible the stones could have come from a diet related issue. Shylo had been a free-feeding kibble cat for his entire life (he just turned eight this summer) and for the past two years or so had been on Blue's indoor formula. Thus began the need for a diet change. After some discussion with some users on the other site I agreed that a raw diet would be best for him (especially since the vet had recommended a lower cholesterol diet as it could contribute to stones).
When Shylo went for his recheck they were concerned that his glucose level was elevated beyond what was considered normal for a cat under stress. At this point I had had a little success trying to get him onto wet food (kibble junkie) but no great victory with my stubborn little guy. The vet eventually was able to do a urinanalysis when I couldn't get a sample to test at home and they confirmed that he had indeed developed diabetes.
He's been on a 1 unit dose of Lantus for about ten days now (combined with a diet change) and is beginning to gain back some of the weight he lost. Right now I've finally gotten him on two meals daily (he's been getting half wet, half raw and a tiny bit of grain-free kibble, of which he definitely is not as interested in as he used to be which is good?) and his energy level has definitely improved from what it's been the past few weeks.
He went for his first curve today, so I figured it was a good time to come in and get some extra support! Let me just paste what the vet wrote on his discharge sheet today:
"The blood sugar curve was as follows:
308
295
215
156
129
We would recommend continuing the insulin at the current dose and recheck a curve in 2-3 weeks. We may need to titrate the dose downwards by a 1/2 unit depending on the next curve."
They tested every two hours (he ate about a half hour before the first number). I have my own meter coming in the mail soon (mom is mailing it from home), so I'll be able to check more frequently here. I still want to get him onto a completely raw diet, although another user cautioned removing too many carbs without altering his insulin dosage, which makes total sense. Long term my goal is to hopefully have him go into remission through diet control.
Aaaand I think that's about it! I guess my questions are mostly; How does his curve look so far, and if I want to continue to change his diet how often should I check his glucose level once I get my meter? What is the ideal range that his glucose levels should stay in?
