Newbies: Neo and his "Grandmeowmy"

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swandiver

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Hi -- my daughter's cat, Neo, has recently been diagnosed with diabetes (readings in the 400's).

Our vet started him out on 1 unit of Prozinc and after a very low reading last weekend (52!) when she came to visit, she's cut it back to .5.

I was suckered into buying a Alphatrak (online) and it hasn't arrived yet, so we are running blind and it scares me. I may go to Wal-Mart and just buy a Relion so I can find out where Neo is in the range before feeding.

Neo is getting 1/4 of Friskie's (his usual pate food, we'll go down to Fancy Feast after a bit) 4 times a day (7:45, 2, 7:45, 2 - or so). I just bought a feeder on a timer so he'll be fed during the night and on Fridays (no one is home on Fridays for the 2 PM feeding).

Any advice would be appreciated. Someone has told me that Prozinc produces spikes
 
swandiver said:
I may go to Wal-Mart and just buy a Relion so I can find out where Neo is in the range before feeding.

Neo is getting 1/4 of Friskie's (his usual pate food, we'll go down to Fancy Feast after a bit)
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Welcome! to PZI! You'll find all kinds of collective knowledge here - feel free to ask anything you want to know. We've all been there at least once!

I would encourage you to pick up a meter - sooner rather than waiting. I've got the Relion Ultima, a lot of others use the Relion Confirm or micro. I think most everyone has had good luck with them, and the test strips are the most economical. At WalMart about .32 - .36 each; on line about half of that. Some meters use strips are over $1 each. I'm a little OCD, and test very frequently, so the economics of the strips are important.

Many of us use Fancy Feast Classics, but several varieties of Friskie's are also on the list of low carb foods, so be sure to check out Janet & Binky's food list to see what other options are out there. If Neo likes the Friskies, and it's a good choice, no need to change him.

The times when I see spikes, are after feedings, which is to be expected. FF Chicken or Turkey & Giblets give Grayson about a 30 pt food spike, and this lasts, for him, about 2-4 hours. Ocean Whitefish, which has 0 carbs, doesn't impact his numbers at all. But you don't want to give seafood too frequently, and they do need some carbs - just not the high quantities like dry food has. I try to stick with one variety for a couple of readings so I can see if there are differences in his response to different foods. The log I keep - first on paper, then on his spreadsheet has everything from food type & quantity, ketone test results, time of test, BG, amt of insulin given, fluids given (we're recovering from a ketone issue), and any other events (throw up, vet visit, etc). That way, when we analyze his numbers, we can know why there's a variance one time and not the other. Comparing apples & apples.

Welcome to you and Neo - we're glad you're here. Ask what you want to know and someone is usually along to respond.

Lu-Ann
 
Good Morning!

The best advice that I can give you is to go get the Relion meter and start testing. Shooting blind is very dangerous. We have a Great Group in PZI, but it will be impossible for us to help you without test numbers.

Prozinc is a good insulin and is very flexible. It does work different than the L insulins. The Ls "normally" produce a flatter curve than Prozinc, but Prozinc's curve is not intended to be flat. I have used Prozinc with my cat, Kitty, for a year now. I also am using it in a diabetic foster cat (probably mine..I just don't want to admit it!) You could gain a lot by looking at spreadsheets of Prozinc users.

I am glad you found this board, there is a lot of wonderful advice available here. I am not sure my cat would have survived without it!

I also encourage you to get some urine Ketone strips and start testing for ketones immediately.

Was your kitty on dry food before being diagnosed with Diabetes?

Good Luck, ask a lot of questions and Welcome! We look forward to getting to know you and helping your kitty!

Kim, Kitty, & Chewy
 
Thanks, all.

Neo was fed 1/6 can of Friskies pate in the morning and then free-grazed on Purina One or Iams hard food the rest of the day. We've put up the hard food completely, thank goodness he likes the canned food.

We have 4 cats in total -- Neo (Siamese/black cat mix) is 12, Murphy (gray tabby Maine Coon) is 12, Jack (marmalade/white tabby) 5 and Smokey (gray tabby) 5 (litter mates). Jack and Smokey only eat dry so we have to put their food up except during feeding times now, too -- as all 4 cats roam the house. I am going to start switching Jack and Smokey over to a lower carb dry food (they show NO interest in soft food ever or "people food.")

I'm going to pick up a meter tonight because doing blind shooting has scared the whey out of me with Neo. I am probably going to return the Alphatrak unopened (it will be shipped today, but I want numbers NOW).

How do you collect urine samples with the ketone stick? Do you just stick it under the cat or what?
 
Welcome, Neo and Grandmeowmy!

You've found an priceless resource here!! My sweet, Hershey, was diagnosed in Nov, 2011 and started ProZinc in Jan. I'm pretty sure he wouldn't still be here if I had not found this group and had just blindly followed my vet's advice.

I have not found Hershey to have any actual food 'spikes' so I'm no help there. He does pull Shenanigans (like this morning) and his numbers will go all over the place, but ECID (Every Cat Is Different). I would advise you to spend some time reading the information on this site. As I found information I wanted to be able to refer back to, I copied and pasted it into documents so I could find it easier. There's a TON of information here and you'll learn a lot by reading people's threads and seeing what they've been through. We all do our SS (Spread Sheets) a little differently, so it may help you to look over a few. And, get one set up for Neo as soon as you can, so we can see what's going on with y'all, too.

Checking for ketones was the hardest thing for us the first time. Hershey did NOT want to bothered. Some people have use aquarium gravel (so it doesn't absorb the urine) and put the box in another room (so you're sure who you're testing ;-) ), some people suggested putting a spoon under the kitty while they're going (to be sure you have enough to test or retest if you want/need to), some said put handi-wrap in the are where they usually go (again, to collect the urine) or just put the strip actually in the stream of urine. (That's what we do.)

We started off using the iPet meter and the strips were ~$1/each. It got pricey - FAST! Now, we're using the ReliOn Confirm and order our strips from American Diabetes Wholesale.

Our cats were on dry food, receiving a little wet at bedtime as a treat. As soon as Hershey was diagnosed with this disease I didn't know cats could get, I read that the dry food was BAD! and immediately put him on Wellness. Oreo finished up the dry food and is now on Friskies Pate (He got tired of Wellness.) and (if I read my chart correctly) they are under 10% carbs. My guys eat 4 times a day, too, then we take their bowls up. Is Neo at his healthy weight? We feed according to how many calories they need to maintain (whatever) weight. Hershey needs to gain and Oreo need to lose.

Kim is right. This is THE place to ask lots and lots and lots of questions!

**Glad to hear that Kim is close to admitting Chewy is HER cat! We (and CHEWY) knew it all along :lol:

We look forward to getting to know y'all!

Libby (and Hershey, too!)
 
When did you make the switch to all low carb wet food for Neo? That can have a dramatic impact on numbers--sometimes lowering BGs 100 points. You need to be real careful if you made a sudden change to wet food! Get the meter asap--you need to be testing!

My foster cat, was on dry food completely and 5 weeks later after a switch to all wet he is receiving NO insulin. The change can really be dramatic. Check out Chewy's Spreadsheet in my signature.
 
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