Newbie to the Forum

[JeninNO]

Hiya!

My name is Jen and I have two cats- Olin, a 14 year old Maine Coon, and Kajsa, a 6 year old Norwegian Forest Cat. We live in Norway currently, though I am originally from the US.

Olin was diagnosed with Diabetes 2 years ago and I had been managing his care under our vet (Royal Canin Diabetic wet/dry food, twice a year glucose checks with the vet, and twice daily shots of Levemir insulin). However, we had a scary hypoglycaemic incident a few weeks ago which made me question how in control his diabetes is. I gave him his shot after dinner, and almost immediately he started walking into walls and acting disoriented. Some Karo syrup and a call to emergency call to the after-hours vet lead me to do some googling and led me here.

I have decided to be a lot more proactive about his care to insure his diabetes is truly under control. Looking back over the summer, I realise perhaps their have been more hints at his sugar levels being out of whack- Skin problems, loose stool, sometimes vomiting. We had twins this June so to be honest, I have been a little distracted and I chalked a lot of it up to stress of changes in routine.

Anyways, the Monday after the hypoglycaemic incident, I took Olin to the vet for a full check up. His glucose level's came back at 27.9 mmol/L (~500 in US units). The vet told me to continue to feed him the same (twice daily at 7 am/pm) and continue with the 2 iui's of Levemir injections morning and night. Olin has been receiving half a packet of wet royal Canin diabetic and crunchy food twice a day for about 10 days now and receiving his shots daily. However, he is still peeing a lot and seems weak in his hind legs.

I realise I should start monitoring his blood sugar levels at home so this morning I went off and purchased an Accu-check Aviva monitor. I just did a blood test to see how it was, and Olin made it a piece of cake so monitoring should be relatively easy. I also think I should move Olin to an all wet, lower carb diet, as I understand from reading in the forum, that these diabetic cat foods aren't really all that grand.

Looking forward to chatting with everyone and making sure Olin stays healthy (or gets even healthier. )
Cheers,
Jen

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Well done you! You've decided to learn more about looking after Olin's needs yourself and that's great. We can help. If you post any questions/concerns you have on the main health forum they'll be seen by more people. You can also post on the Lantus/Levemir forum for insulin specific help/info.

 

[Olive & Paula]

Jen, such beautiful big boys. I love how the ones is holding the others paw.

Welcome, there are a lot of informational stickies throughout this forum. Ask any questions you need to.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

Very handsome lads!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Jen,
Well done on starting to monitor the BSLs .......
Yes moving Olin to an all wet, low carb diet will be much better for him and is what is recommended on this forum for diabetic cats. However because dry food is usually a much higher carb content, you will need to monitor Olin closely during the change over.. ....doing blood sugar levels..... to ensure he does not drop too low. You could well find he will need less insulin on a low carb wet diet. Test before shots and every few hours while you are changing over to the wet diet. This way you will be able to see if he is dropping and you may need to reduce the dose.
Ongoing.....You will need to always test before giving the Insulin (to ensure it is safe to give it) and again during the cycle to see how low the insulin takes him. Levemir dosage is based on how low the insulin takes the cat, not what the preshot number is. I use Levemir and find Sheba has an onset of the insulin about +3 and sometimes has a nadir....lowest number.....about +9. But every cat is different and you will soon get to know what is normal for Olin.
You will probably find it easier if you change both cats over to all wet as it can be hard to keep the food separate.

Below is the Lantus/Levemir forum and you can post in that and get loads of wonderful help from very knowledgeable people who all have or have had diabetic cats.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-glargine-levemir-detemir.9/

ETA. We feed before giving the insulin and a lot of us feed again a few hours later during a cycle. I feed Sheba at preshot and again at +3. Some people also give a small meal at +5. I just divide the morning food by two. It is best not to feed for the two hours before giving the insulin to ensure the BSL is not food influenced.
The weakness in the back legs is probably from peripheral neuropathy caused by unregulated blood sugars. Once the blood sugars are under control it should return to normal over time. Sheba had it quite badly but is fine now. There is a product which is very good for the neuropathy...a lot of us use it.........it is called Zobaline.
https://www.ilifelink.com/zobaline-for_diabetic_cats-3_mg_x_60_tablets.html