Newly diagnosed

Hi,


I was just looking for some advice, my cat (not sure on age as we haven’t had him that long but thinking around 13) was diagnosed with diabetes last Thursday after we took him to the vets as he had a ravenous appetite and seemed lethargic. He’s also had on and off diarrhoea for the last 3 weeks and they said his stomach was inflamed with thick lining which they’ve said could be IBD or Lymphoma after he had an ultrasound. He had a steroid injection and has been put on prednisone 5mg tablets once per day. For the diabetes, we are giving him 1 unit of caninsulin twice a day. He has lost alot of weight despite eating so much. His glucose readings last week was 33 at first but they didn’t know if it was so high because of the stress of the blood test, then when they tried again the following day it was 28 and 26. We are awaiting on the results of a Fructosamine test.


The diarrhoea frequency has calmed down since but still has it, he still isn’t his normal self, gets up for food and jumps on sofa etc but just not as energetic as he was before and quieter, his appetite seems to be a little less ravenous but seems to change during times of the day. Last couple of days he’s been noticeably drinking a lot and peeing more.


The vets didn’t suggest it but I have ordered a glucose reader and am waiting for that to arrive.


The vet told us to feed him two royal canin gastrointestinal pouches per day and then leave dry food down continuously. I researched and dry food has too many carbs in so instead been feeding him low carb natural wet food and meat I’m cooking him (chicken, beef, lamb etc).


I wasn’t sure if he’s on a high enough dose of insulin? Is it too early to see improvements 4 days of insulin?


Sorry for the long post, it’s just all very new and I was wondering if anyone could give me some help and advice.


Thanks

 

I think the vet said that the ultrasound showed thickening of the wall of the small intestines, not the stomach. Wall thickening and diarrhea is symptom of small cell intestinal lymphoma and IBD.

One unit of insulin twice a day is a good starting dose. Most of us caretakers here test our cat's BG before each shot and periodically between shots @home using a meter. Most use a human meter like Walmarts Premier line of meters. What meter did you order? A pet meter is unnecessary and the test strips are very expensive compared to Premier test strips that cost $18 for 100 strips.

Most of us here (not me) record are cat's BGs is a spread sheet that is viewable to others.

Four days is really not enough time.

 

The steroids can keep blood glucose levels high despite insulin. Just something to be aware of. You can ask the vet about other medicines to manage the IBD that may have less effect on blood glucose levels such as budesonide.

A novel protein diets helps many cats with IBD. Many IBD cats have sensitive tummies so something they ate for years now causes an IBD flare up. Try a food that contains rabbit or venison. Here's a web site with info on IBD: https://www.ibdkitties.net/ There's a section there on diabetes as a result of steroid use for IBD.

A cooked diet is great but you need to add vitamins and minerals to it so that it is a complete diet. There are ways to add the vitamins and minerals, such as using a commercially available mix. What country are you in? Some mixes may not be available outside the US.

 

@Wendy&Neko
@Suzanne & Darcy

 

Another good site for IBD is https://www.rawfeedingforibdcats.or...sH4eHl6oJo8v7N4ybMDcYUVFntizu55fwKDvFu_g7tc7I