Catannc
Active Member
Hi Everyone,
I've been lurking about on an off for a couple weeks, cat diagnosed 2/7, 8.5 years, 9.1 lbs. First visit with a new vet, dropped hocks, blood sugar 450, sent us home with hill's W/d dry and 1 unit Prozinc 2xday. She didn't want home monitoring done.
After 3 shots, my cat was acting off so i fed her some high carb food, ran off to get a glucose meter, got back and tested her 45-60 minutes after the food and sure enough, 60 mg/dl. We skipped the insulin that night and called the vet in the morning, she altered her dose down to 1/2 unit BID. So we do that for a week, I started testing regularly, and fasting was typically now in the low 500s. So the vet alters her dose to 1 unit am, 1/2 unit pm. One weeks later, still not having any meaningful response, and really values are all over the place with no real pattern. Vet tells me to wait another week and go to 1 unit BID.
I had been questioning why this cat had gotten worse after starting treatment, higher blood sugars at home and on insulin than in the vet's office. Then I noticed the %carbs in the food they'd prescribed was quite a bit higher than what she had eaten previously. So this past Friday evening I whipped up some of Dr. Pierson's semi-raw food, fed her that with her 1/2 unit (BG 475) and the next day her fasting BG is 381, the lowest she's ever been. So I give the 1 unit knowing I will have to watch her, at 4 hours she is at 100. Now, my vet had told me don't let her drop quickly below 100 because of her earlier reaction, so I gave her a little of her new food, and she went up to 187 in an hour. So Sat evening continued with the half unit, but didn't see the same drop, in 4 hours she went from 352 to 284. Sun morning her fasting was 323, I didn't feel comfortable with the 1 unit so I dosed her with 1/2. I still was worried, so tested her a little early and at 3 hours she is at 120. Again, per the vet, she might go too low so I gave her a bit of food, 171 at 4 hours. Of course, after some reading I now know I should have let her go below 100 and just monitored her, but I was listening to the Dr. . Small setbacks in fasting BG at the next mealtimes, but nothing I can do now.
So the good news is that we are no longer constantly in the 400-550 range, the bad news is the vet is not happy, wants her back on Hills but is willing for her to go on the wet variety which is still too high in carbs, tells me that even though my cat's kidneys are great I'm going to hurt her by feeding this unhealthy (5% carb) low carb diet to her (didn't even want to bring up that I was making the food at this point, so gave her the name of a comparable wet food instead), and that since I've altered her food and insulin there is no way to predict what is going on and she can't offer me any guidance for adjusting insulin at this point: I'm on my own. I think I need another new vet, anyone in the greater Hampton Roads area who has found someone who uses tight regulation with low carbs? I can travel a bit, but I am located in Newport News.
I've been lurking about on an off for a couple weeks, cat diagnosed 2/7, 8.5 years, 9.1 lbs. First visit with a new vet, dropped hocks, blood sugar 450, sent us home with hill's W/d dry and 1 unit Prozinc 2xday. She didn't want home monitoring done.
After 3 shots, my cat was acting off so i fed her some high carb food, ran off to get a glucose meter, got back and tested her 45-60 minutes after the food and sure enough, 60 mg/dl. We skipped the insulin that night and called the vet in the morning, she altered her dose down to 1/2 unit BID. So we do that for a week, I started testing regularly, and fasting was typically now in the low 500s. So the vet alters her dose to 1 unit am, 1/2 unit pm. One weeks later, still not having any meaningful response, and really values are all over the place with no real pattern. Vet tells me to wait another week and go to 1 unit BID.
I had been questioning why this cat had gotten worse after starting treatment, higher blood sugars at home and on insulin than in the vet's office. Then I noticed the %carbs in the food they'd prescribed was quite a bit higher than what she had eaten previously. So this past Friday evening I whipped up some of Dr. Pierson's semi-raw food, fed her that with her 1/2 unit (BG 475) and the next day her fasting BG is 381, the lowest she's ever been. So I give the 1 unit knowing I will have to watch her, at 4 hours she is at 100. Now, my vet had told me don't let her drop quickly below 100 because of her earlier reaction, so I gave her a little of her new food, and she went up to 187 in an hour. So Sat evening continued with the half unit, but didn't see the same drop, in 4 hours she went from 352 to 284. Sun morning her fasting was 323, I didn't feel comfortable with the 1 unit so I dosed her with 1/2. I still was worried, so tested her a little early and at 3 hours she is at 120. Again, per the vet, she might go too low so I gave her a bit of food, 171 at 4 hours. Of course, after some reading I now know I should have let her go below 100 and just monitored her, but I was listening to the Dr. . Small setbacks in fasting BG at the next mealtimes, but nothing I can do now.
So the good news is that we are no longer constantly in the 400-550 range, the bad news is the vet is not happy, wants her back on Hills but is willing for her to go on the wet variety which is still too high in carbs, tells me that even though my cat's kidneys are great I'm going to hurt her by feeding this unhealthy (5% carb) low carb diet to her (didn't even want to bring up that I was making the food at this point, so gave her the name of a comparable wet food instead), and that since I've altered her food and insulin there is no way to predict what is going on and she can't offer me any guidance for adjusting insulin at this point: I'm on my own. I think I need another new vet, anyone in the greater Hampton Roads area who has found someone who uses tight regulation with low carbs? I can travel a bit, but I am located in Newport News.
