Older cat recently diagnosed.

[H. Dixon]

Hello. 14 year old cat recently diagnosed with diabetes. Voracious appetite, drinking A LOT, much urination. After a couple days in and out of the vet, we started him on Prozinc 2U twice daily. I've got the Alpha Trak meter at home to test with. Since starting him on the insulin, his thirst has returned to normal and he had days of appearing more normal and days where he seemed sluggish, glassy. The 2U run lasted about 2 weeks. I ran a BG curve while he was on 2U and it showed the BG wasn't coming down enough. The vet increased it to 3U. After several days i ran another curve and the BG was coming down to about 105 six hours after the morning shot so the vet seemed to like those numbers.

Diet: After initial diagnosis we switched both cats to wet food only. We've been using the TikiCat fish series as they seem to both like that best ( the non DB cat won't touch chicken). The food lists seem to indicate it's low/no carb. They get fed twice a day 7am/7pm about 3.5 ish ounces each of the wet food. He still seems to be losing weight though. He's lost most of any fat he had. What's my next step in addressing the issue of continued weight loss?

Thanks in advance for any/all advice.
HD

 

[JanetNJ]

Hello. 14 year old cat recently diagnosed with diabetes. Voracious appetite, drinking A LOT, much urination. After a couple days in and out of the vet, we started him on Prozinc 2U twice daily. I've got the Alpha Trak meter at home to test with. Since starting him on the insulin, his thirst has returned to normal and he had days of appearing more normal and days where he seemed sluggish, glassy. The 2U run lasted about 2 weeks. I ran a BG curve while he was on 2U and it showed the BG wasn't coming down enough. The vet increased it to 3U. After several days i ran another curve and the BG was coming down to about 105 six hours after the morning shot so the vet seemed to like those numbers.

Diet: After initial diagnosis we switched both cats to wet food only. We've been using the TikiCat fish series as they seem to both like that best ( the non DB cat won't touch chicken). The food lists seem to indicate it's low/no carb. They get fed twice a day 7am/7pm about 3.5 ish ounces each of the wet food. He still seems to be losing weight though. He's lost most of any fat he had. What's my next step in addressing the issue of continued weight loss?

Thanks in advance for any/all advice.
HD

What is his ideal weight? The rule of thumb is about 20 calories per pound.

 

[H. Dixon]

When he was healthy he was a nice 14.5 - 15 lbs. Now he's hovering around 12 and looking like a bag of bones.

 

[JanetNJ]

Ok so if 15 is a good weight then you will want to get about 300 calories into him. Most Tiki cat 2.8 Oz cans are about 65 calories. The calories will be on the can. This means he will need about 4.5-5 cans of the small cans of Tiki cat a day. But look at what the specific can says as far as calories.

 

[H. Dixon]

Thank you. If my calculations are correct then based on calories per ounce on his approximate price I'm about 100 per day short. Is it ok to add a small lunch feeding to help makeup the diff? Some other option maybe?

 

[JanetNJ]

Thank you. If my calculations are correct then based on calories per ounce on his approximate price I'm about 100 per day short. Is it ok to add a small lunch feeding to help makeup the diff? Some other option maybe?

yes add lunch.
Most of us feed several small meals a day rather than two big meals.

 

[Juls and Billy]

Many small meals during the day can help regulate his BGL as well as help him stop losing weight. Just take food away for 2 hours before you give him insulin. This will help him be hungry and eat when you give him insulin, and make sure his pre-test BGL reading isn't reading high because of a recent meal.

 

[H. Dixon]

Thanks all for the advice. Never thought about the caloric difference between the kibble he used to get as opposed to the wet food. I'll update this thread in a couple weeks with results

Thanks again

 

[Deb & Wink]

He still seems to be losing weight though. He's lost most of any fat he had. What's my next step in addressing the issue of continued weight loss?

Get the BG (blood glucose) better regulated. Without the right amount of insulin your cat(unknown name) literally can not process the food he is eating properly. Feed more. But not too much. That is because feline obesity is a risk factor in this disease. This discussion on Feed Kitty As Much As They Want? could be of interest and help to you.

Even if you don't home test the BG's yourself, setting up a spreadsheet (SS) can be really helpful for us to see what is going on and make better suggestions. SS setup instructions below in that link.

This is a good post, that we ask new members to please read.
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Why wait 2 weeks to update this thread? Seems puzzling to me. You might miss some other suggestions, but if you don't want any that's fine too.

 

[Deb & Wink]

There was a 911 emergency post here last night, for a kitty down to 76 BG reading, 1 hour after getting Prozinc. Low numbers can happen with any type insulin, even lantus.

That member didn't test before each shot either.

Please, test before each and every shot.
Have your hypo kit ready.
Melissa Whitmore did, and it helped save her cat Freckles life last night.
Read this thread, to see how members here helped Melissa and Freckles.
76 hour after ProZinc
She didn't have a spreadsheet setup either, Now Melissa does.
She wasn't testing before each shot. Now she will.

 

[Juls and Billy]

On day 5 of my Billy's treatment, he had a hypo event that was easily turned around by awesome help here on the message board. Our vet had told us to give 2U of ProZinc if he was eating, and 1U if he wasn't. Billy was eating fine at PM dose time. I tested his blood pre-shot, as I always do. His pre-shot BGL was 52. Now, imagine what would have happened if I had not tested his BGL and given him 2 units of insulin. Pre-shot tests are not just a good idea, they are the most important thing you will do to keep your furbaby happy and healthy. I am convinced that Billy is alive and doing awesome because we do pre-shot tests.