Newly diagnosed, seems like never ending questions

[velveteenrabbit]

Hello everyone

My boy cat Mister was diagnosed on 4-15-26. He was prescribed Vetsulin, 1 unit 2x a day. My vet didn't tell me anything about using a glucose monitor. When I left his office, all I knew was that I had to give him 2 shots every day "for the rest of his life" and watch for signs of hypo. The amount of both relief and confusion I felt when I started researching and learned there is so much more to all of this, is profound. Sometimes I feel like I have no idea what I am doing.
I was recommended on the other support group on FB to start him at .5 and that's what I've been doing yesterday and today. I started with a Relion meter and now am using Alpha Trak. I don't get a lot of blood each time (he hates testing, it can be very difficult) so the Alpha Trak has been helpful. I started a better feeding schedule today because I didn't realize I was starving him yesterday. I wasn't instructed on anything other than "no more dry food", so today I'm giving small amounts after breakfast and dinner and fasting before his test & shots with only bites of boiled chicken after the +6 hour if he seems hungry.

So far so good, I think? Where I'm feeling shaky, is that I'm not sure how long I'm supposed to keep this dose and routine until it's safe to up it. If my spreadsheet isn't working in my signature, please let me know. Also, the vet wants him to gain a couple pounds so I want to make sure that I know how to balance his diet with his insulin to try to keep him from going too high or low. How do I do this? What am I looking for? It feels so daunting and I can't quite get a grasp on it. How do I know when he's regulated? How do I know when I can stop testing so often? I will have to return to work in the next week or so and that scares me so badly. It's just me taking care of him.

Lastly (for today - is there a limit to how many questions we can post here?) can someone recommend me high carb treats/food to keep on hand for my hypo kit and low-carb treats for after meals? Also, hypo signs to watch out for? I was only told "stumbling like he is drunk".

There is so much information that I feel a bit overwhelmed and thought I would just try to ask. I've been feeding him FF senior, FF classic and Tiki Cat After Dark. I'm so glad to have found this forum as another place for information & support. I will take all the help I can get right now & I appreciate you all being here.

 

[squeem3]

Ask as many questions you want We're very patient with newbies and helping them figure out how to manage their diabetic cat.

Sounds like you have one of those vets who are very old school and not too experienced with diabetes and just sends clients on their way with little info or support. Vetsulin is not a good insulin to use for cats. It's too short acting. In other countries the same insulin is called Caninsulin and is for dogs. The best insulins to use for cats are ProZinc and Lantus (glargine). If you feel your vet is willing to listen to you and be supportive, discuss these two insulins. Here's a 2025 guide to managing diabetes that you can share with the vet: 2025 iCatCare consensus guidelines on the diagnosis and management of diabetes mellitus in cats

Don't feel bad if you need to switch to another vet to get better care. Many newbies have changed vets and for the better.

0.5 units twice a day is a good safe dose of any insulin to start with. I'd stick with the dose for at least a week before doing a curve at home to see how your cat is responding. Take random spot checks daily if you can in the meantime. Based on the curve numbers you may need to increase. Members can suggest what to do once you have a curve done.

At least your vet said to get rid of the dry food. That's good. Dry food is fuel for high blood glucose levels. You want to feed only low carb canned food. The food charts are here: Links to FOOD CHARTS A newer US chart: Cat Food As-Fed Chart

Any food under 10% carbs is good. Most people feed two main meals daily plus small snacks spread throughout the day.

Hypo info:

Sticky - How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
Sticky - jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

Most other info you may need is here: Health Links / FAQs about Feline Diabetes

The Relion meter is just fine to use and is way less expensive than the AlphaTrak. The Relion lancet device might not be giving a good enough poke to get blood. Did you try all the depth settings? Try the AlphaTrak lancet device with the Relion meter.

Hometesting Links and Tips

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

Like Squeem3 noted, there's no limit on questions. In fact, we like questions!! The members here are very generous with their time and knowledge.

We have a page with information on Vetsulin that will give you information about the insulin and dosing.

• Vetsulin/Caninsulin information
• Beginner's guide

You want to monitor how your cat is doing on a particular dose. Generally, you give the dose a week to work unless the blood glucose numbers drop below 90. If they drop below 90, you decrease the dose by 0.25u. If after a week, the numbers are not in a good range, you increase the dose by 0.25u. This is why home testing is so important. It helps to guide your dosing decisions and ensures that your cat isn't in low numbers. Also, you want to test before you give insulin. with Vetsulin, you will want to get a test at around 2 - 3 hours after you give a shot. Vetsulin works fairly quickly and can drop numbers hard and fast. The other issues is that it has a limited duration -- it doesn't last for a full 12-hour cycle. You're already seeing how much Mister's numbers are high at your pre-shot test time. The insulin is largely wearing off. As suggested, Lantus or Prozinc are better suited to feline diabetes management. I'd see if your vet would consider a switch.

The most important aspect of food for a diabetic cat is your using a food that's low in carbohydrates. The food charts that Squeem3 linked had the information you're looking for. We consider low carb as below 10%. However, most members tend to feed their cat a food that is in the neighborhood of 5%. If your cat needs to gain weight, you can pick a food that's higher in calories but still low in carbs. Alternatively, if your cat is hungry, feed Mister more often. Many of us feed our cats several small meals.

You will also want to keep some higher carb food on hand. We use food as a way to offset a drop in blood glucose numbers. Medium carb food is between 10 - 15% and high carb is over 15%. Having corn syrup, honey, or anything that is basically a sugar syrup is also a way to raise low numbers.

Testing: The minimum number of tests you will need to get is 4 -- a test at your AM and PM shot times (AMPS and PMPS) and at least one test to see if Mister's numbers are dropping. Since it sounds like you work, give some thought to your test time. I also worked and chose a test time that would give me an idea if Gabby's numbers were dropping before I left for work. I had a timed feeder so she had food available while I was gone. If her numbers were dropping in a worrisome way, I put higher carb food in the feeder.

Your vet wasn't entirely correct in that feline diabetes isn't always a lifelong endeavor. Cats can go into remission. With remission, your cat will go back to being in normal numbers (50 - 120). As your cat spends more time in lower numbers, you'll be reducing the dose to the point that you will have very gradually tapered Mister off of insulin. We then do a 2 week "off the juice" (OTJ) trial.

Do not get overwhelmed by the variability in numbers. I don't want to overwhelm you with information about bounces or other to be expected variations. Just understand that it takes a while for a cat to adjust to insulin just like it takes more than a minute for you to absorb all of this information and get used to the routine. It is absolutely overwhelming -- so you're exactly where we'd expect you to be.