Newly Diagnosed Food vs. Insulin

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GretchenK

GretchenK

Member Since 2019
Hi everyone, my 13 year old male cat, Lucky, has been diagnosed with diabetes. His BG was 260 on 11-11. The vet wants me to give insulin shots. The vet found glucose in his urine too.

I am supposed to go tomorrow morning at 8:30am ET to pick up his insulin and have the vet tech explain everything to me.

Should I keep the vet appointment?
Should I try the food first?
Or are his numbers too high for that?

Thank you,

Gretchen & Lucky
13 yo neutered male, Dx 11-13-19
 
1. Yes. Keep the vet appointment.


2. Buy a blood glucose meter and strips and learn to start measure the blood glucose on Lucky at home. That is necessary for safe regulation both with insulin and food.


3. Here is veterinary Lisa Pierson's proper diabetes Food Chart list
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
You are looking for a wet food in your price range and location availability, with a high protein, medium fat content and very low (5-6 %) carbohydrate content.


4. The carbohydrate content in the food and amount a day interplays with the insulin amount needed.


5. Take a deep breath and don't be overwhelmed. We all were thrown into it and having to learn everything from scratch and if basically most of us could not knowing a thing from the start, you can too.


We take it as we go along.
You are in the right place.


Ann

 
What food is Lucky on now? Going to low carb wet or raw is always a good idea.

Do you know which insulin the vet is suggesting?
 
PZI (Prozinc) is a very good insulin for kitties! You can certainly hold off a few days before starting insulin although you may want to discuss this with your vet.

Even if you decide to hold off on starting insulin, the suggestions that Bron made in your Welcome post still apply. We are very strong advocates of home testing. Regardless of whether your vet says your cat will hate you, Lucky won't. I suspect if you took a poll of the members here, you'd hear a resounding vote in favor of home testing an that many of our cats come running to be tested and purr the entire time. (It doesn't hurt that they learn to associate a test with a treat!) So, put a glucometer on your shopping list. You do not need an animal specific meter -- a human meter is just fine and the strips are a fraction of the cost of the strips for an animal meter. Home testing is the only way for you to be sure Lucky is safe.

Especially if you decide to delay starting insulin, pick up Ketostix. Ketones are not your cat's friend. This is a precaution because we do not want your kitty developing ketones.

Pick up low carb food. You do not need the prescription food your vet will try to sell you. Ask the vet what the carb content is on the prescription stuff. Especially if the vet says the dry prescription food is fine, you need to let him know that most of the dry food is around 30% carbs. Purina DM canned is about 7% but the ingredients are mostly animal by-products vs. muscle meat. Take a look at Lisa Pierson, DVM's website on feline nutrition for more information on a species specific diet for Lucky.
 
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