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Terry and Casey

Terry and Casey

Member Since 2015
My cat, Casey, was diagnosed with diabetes on 3/15/15. She was prescribed prozinc 1.5 units twice per day. I wasn't able to get the insulin until 3/19 and started dosing her on 3/20. The vet said to feed Hills w/d but I already knew she wouldn't eat that...was given that previously. She doesn't like canned food and I have been feeding her IAMs dry. The only canned food she will eat is fish and I was always told it wasn't good to give them fish. Since I knew she had to eat before being given the insulin, I gave her her regular food...the dry. From reading the info on this site, I know I need to switch her to a canned diet but my problem is going to be that she'll only eat fish. Also, I am afraid to switch foods without blood testing. I have been trying unsuccessfully to do a blood test. I have tried three times and have been unable to get enough blood. I'll keep at it but I am getting frustrated. She has been to the vet twice for curves and each time her dosage was increased. She presently is getting 2.5 units twice per day. This is what the curves at the vet revealed:
4/2/15- given 1.5 prozinc at 7:15. at 8:40 she was 280, 10:40 she was 472, 12:40 she was 502, 2:40 she was 410, 4:40 she was 407 and 6:40 she was 326. The vet then upped her dosage to 2 units twice per day. Her second curve was on 4/16/15. She was given 2 units at 7:10. At 8:26 she was 410, 10;26 she was 508, 12:26 she was 515, 2:26 she was 432, 4:26 she was 395 and 6:26 she was 413. The vet wanted to move her up to 3 units but I told her I wanted to go slower and we agreed on2.5 units twice per day. I told her I wanted to try and home test and get her on a better diet. My vet is young and very open to the home testing and working with me. I am confused with the numbers that the curve showed and how she doesn't seem to be responding to the insulin. She is definitely feeling better though. Not drinking as much or urinating as much and she is more sociable. Could someone please help me on how I can switch her food once I can test her glucose. I also bought evo cat and kitten in case I couldn't get her to eat canned. If I am able to get blood and it shows it is ok to shoot....at what point should I start switching her food over? This is all so confusing and stressful. Thanks for any advice you can give.
 
It will help a lot for you to get numbers at home. Some cats test 100+ points higher with vet curves as they are stressed, and stress raises levels. Your numbers at home should be much more accurate. Be sure to check out our resources for home testing; there are lots of tips, videos etc. The thing that helped us most were to use a big enough lancet. The ones sold for humans can be too thin; often 25-27 gauge work best at first. We also found we needed to get his ear nice and warm so the blood would collect. We made a rice sack, heated it in the microwave and put it up to his ear for 10-20 seconds.

Once you have some numbers, it will be easy to see how the insulin is working. It sounds strange but sometimes too much insulin can give you higher numbers. We suggest starting at one unit and increasing slowly , .25 to .50 units once the dose settles for several cycles. And yes, a lower carb food can make a huge difference. Our Oliver dropped 100 points overnight when we switched from dry to wet.

We have put together a protocol for ProZinc. It is in blue in my signature. A vet's website, www.catinfo.org , has excellent suggestions for switching over difficult cats to wet. One thing she advocates is using FlortiFlora, a probiotic that has the animal digest that makes dry food so irresistible. It is magic for some cats.

Continue to read and ask questions. We'd love to help you with your sweet Casey.
 
Thanks Sue. I initially tried the lancets that came with my glucometer...the relion confirm. They are 30 gauge. Today I bought 28 gauge and tried it. I also used a rice sock. I saw a speck of blood but not enough for a sample. She was starting to hide from me so I tried to give her a little chicken but that back fired because she didn't want to sit still...she kept looking for more chicken! She also has been having loose stools and the vet prescribed flagyl 1/4 tablet twice a day so I am also tormenting her with a pill twice a day along with shots and ear pricks. She's getting mad at me. I have looked at a number of the videos on blood testing so I guess I'll just keep at it.
 
It can be really helpful to establish a routine with testing. Pick one spot that you want your "testing spot" to be (I like the kitchen counter because it's got good light and it's at a good height....it also already blocked 2 escape routes due to the wall and the backsplash) It can be anywhere though...a rug on the floor, a table, a particular spot on the couch...wherever is good for you. Take her there as many times a day as you can and just give her ears a quick rub and then she gets her treat. Most cats aren't objecting so much with the poking..it's the fooling with their ears they don't like, but once they're desensitized to it and learn to associate a certain place with the treats, they usually start to come when they're called! Or even when they hear us opening the test kit!

You also have to remember...you're not poking her to hurt her...you're testing her to keep her safe and understand what's going on inside her body. There's just nothing better than truly understanding what's going on inside your kitty's body and with this disease, the more knowledge you have, the more power you have against it. The edges of the ears have very few pain receptors, so it really doesn't hurt them. Also, if you're nervous and tense, it's going to make your kitty nervous and tense too. As silly as it might seem, try singing! It forces you to use a different part of your brain!
 
If you want to stick with dry food, try Evo Cat and Kitten, it's 8.4 carbs. My Goof will vomit wet food every time and he likes the Evo. I make my own broth from roasting a chicken once a week and I freeze it in small containers. I heat it in the microwave so it's warm, then I mix a tablespoon or so into the kitties food. While its sitting, I use the time to test Goof. If you're having a hard time testing the ears, try the paw pads, works great for me. If you can't find the Evo in your area, go to Chewey.com, they ship free if you order $49.
 
Terry and Casey said:
My cat, Casey, was diagnosed with diabetes on 3/15/15. She was prescribed prozinc 1.5 units twice per day. I wasn't able to get the insulin until 3/19 and started dosing her on 3/20. The vet said to feed Hills w/d but I already knew she wouldn't eat that...was given that previously. She doesn't like canned food and I have been feeding her IAMs dry. The only canned food she will eat is fish and I was always told it wasn't good to give them fish. Since I knew she had to eat before being given the insulin, I gave her her regular food...the dry. From reading the info on this site, I know I need to switch her to a canned diet but my problem is going to be that she'll only eat fish. Also, I am afraid to switch foods without blood testing. I have been trying unsuccessfully to do a blood test. I have tried three times and have been unable to get enough blood. I'll keep at it but I am getting frustrated. She has been to the vet twice for curves and each time her dosage was increased. She presently is getting 2.5 units twice per day. This is what the curves at the vet revealed:
4/2/15- given 1.5 prozinc at 7:15. at 8:40 she was 280, 10:40 she was 472, 12:40 she was 502, 2:40 she was 410, 4:40 she was 407 and 6:40 she was 326. The vet then upped her dosage to 2 units twice per day. Her second curve was on 4/16/15. She was given 2 units at 7:10. At 8:26 she was 410, 10;26 she was 508, 12:26 she was 515, 2:26 she was 432, 4:26 she was 395 and 6:26 she was 413. The vet wanted to move her up to 3 units but I told her I wanted to go slower and we agreed on2.5 units twice per day. I told her I wanted to try and home test and get her on a better diet. My vet is young and very open to the home testing and working with me. I am confused with the numbers that the curve showed and how she doesn't seem to be responding to the insulin. She is definitely feeling better though. Not drinking as much or urinating as much and she is more sociable. Could someone please help me on how I can switch her food once I can test her glucose. I also bought evo cat and kitten in case I couldn't get her to eat canned. If I am able to get blood and it shows it is ok to shoot....at what point should I start switching her food over? This is all so confusing and stressful. Thanks for any advice you can give.
Click to expand...
Actually there are a few foods that have NO GRAIN for diabetic cats (or just healthier cats in general). Blue Buffalo Wilderness has a number of flavors of dry food. Wellness has a number of flavors of wet food. Mine get the Blue Buffalo Salmon dry left out and the Wellness Turkey and Salmon twice a day.
 
Ted, please go to Cat Info and read over the site.

For a diabetic cat, low carbohydrate means low or no grains, legumes, tubers (potatoes, rutabaga), nor fruits.

For all cats, which evolved in a desert environment, feeding a wet diet, canned or raw, is preferred to reduce the chances of dehydration and renal diseases.
 
Thanks everyone for the suggestions. I have been trying to test and I am getting better at it. Yesterday I was able to get a +5. Test-305 and a pmps of 327. This morning amps was 338. I tried to get one at +5 but wasn't able to get enough blood...darn! I thought I was getting the hang of this. Casey still is having loose stools and is taking flagyl for that. I had a hard time pilling her so they gave me liquid in a syringe. I haven't tried switching over her food because of the loose stools. Do you think I should wait until the stool situation resolves before changing her diet? She's getting 2.5 units of pro zinc twice per day and is still on the high carb dry.
 
No matter what, you'll want to switch over slowly for several reasons

You don't want to upset the GI tract any more than it already seems to be and make the loose stools any worse. Wet food doesn't cause loose stools, but switching foods too quickly can.

Also, when you start to decrease the carbs in the food, Casey's insulin dose will probably also come down and you want to be able to test to keep her safe. The 2.5 U may be too much when you get rid of the high carb dry food
 
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