Oliver newly diagnosed

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Alli

Alli

Member Since 2021
Hi everyone,

My cat Oliver was newly diagnosed last week with diabetes. He started on the Purina DM diet and 1 unit of U100 Lantus insulin twice a day. At the time I was waiting for the glucose reader the vet ordered to come in, so I wasn't able to measure his levels. I just got the reader yesterday and was only able to do one reading early-mid afternoon (insulin and food administered at 7am, next meal and insulin at 6pm) and his blood was 4.5. the vet had told me that between 5-10 was normal, so I followed the instructions to skip his next dose of insulin. He got his 6pm food and then his 9pm food. This morning at 6:30 I checked his blood before giving him anything and his number was 6.2. I don't know what do do with this information, is that low or normal and should I have given him his dose insulin? I skipped the dose because I didn't want his number to go too low.
Can someone please help, I feel in over my head!
 
Just a quick note to say, I'm glad you tested! 6.2 equals 111 approx, in US terms, which isn't a number we would typically shoot when first starting insulin. Unusual at least.

Also, the food the vet encouraged, is higher carb than we would recommend; with the BGs you have gotten, its possible you could get Oliver into remission, just by feeding a low carb food.

Let's see what others say, and welcome to you!

How was Oliver diagnosed? A fructosamine test? Do you know the number?
 
And by the way, insulin is given 12 hours apart. Doing the shots closer can act as a increase in dosing.
I'm glad you skipped!
 
Hi Alli, welcome to FDMB :-)

It is good that you skipped insulin! Without enough data it is hard to know how low Oliver is going on the insulin and whether the dose is too high or not.

What were you feeding Oliver before his diagnosis? Is he on Purina Pro Plan DM canned/wet or dry? The canned is low carb and the switch to a low carb diet (if he wasn't on one before diagnosis) can bring his numbers down quite a bit. In fact, we usually suggest that people try a diet change first to see if the diabetes can be controlled with that before starting on insulin.

It is great that you are home testing. No better way to keep Oliver safe. What meter are you using to test him.

If you can set-up a spreadsheet and log all the his BG number into it, we can help you with dosing. I can set-up the spreadsheet for you, if you'd like. Won't take me a minute.
Here are the instructions: https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/
 
Thank you so much for the replies!
Oliver is 6 and had not been to the vet since he was about 2 years old. He is quite overweight so I took him to the vet about 2-3 months ago to get him on track to loosing weight safely and make sure there were no underlying causes that were affecting his weight. During that visit they tested his blood and had said is read as 16. At that time he was on a mix of wet and dry food and the vet recommended I changed his diet to the canned purina DM. I did a bit of research and the cost of the food was a little daunting so I tried switching him to the classic chicken pate from Fancy Feast for his breakfast and dinner and then for added protein I was giving him the shredded chicken Tiki Cat. When he went back to the vet on the 6th of February, they then said his blood reading was 22. ( I'm not sure what type of test they did) But Oliver very much does not like going to the vet or being handled by people he doesn't know so he was given a teaspoon of food and some Gavapentin 2 hours before both of his appointments. They then said I would need to change his diet to the Purina DM and start him on 1 unit of insulin twice a day until he was regulated. Oliver generally sleeps a lot anyways so I haven't really noticed a change in his behavior and I work during the day so I haven't really been able to home monitor until the evening. Could the stress from the vet have driven up his numbers? Especially if he is now reading 6.2 after skipping a dose. He also really hates the process of measuring his blood levels, worse than getting the insulin. So out of my 5 attempts so far I've only been able to get 2 readings
 
Welcome. Stress at the vet definitely can raise the bg! That’s why when testing at home we suggest avoud8ng having a curve done at the vet’s office as your reading at home will be more accurate. The only curve ever done by my vet was after the first shot of insulin. With all my testing my vet never even suggested another. This will save you money and your results will be more accurate.

Will you set up a spreadsheet and fill in whatever info you have? If you need help Bhooma will get you up and running quickly.


Here’s a few things vets forget to mention. You want to test before each shot to make sure it’s safe to shoot. No food for two hours before as that’s how long food can influence the bg. It’s advised to then get a test +1 and +2. The +1 will usually be higher due to a food bump. Onset, when Lantus kicks in, is usually around +2 so if that test is lower than the preshot it’s likely to be an active cycle and you will want to get more tests that cycle. A test between +5-7 will usually catch the nadir, lowest point in the cycle and the nadir is what the dose is based upon.
 
It sounds like the finances for managing your cat's diabetes are an issue. A couple of points to consider...

You do not need to use an AlphaTrack meter. The vets like to recommend a pet-specific meter since they read similarly to a serum chemistry analyzer. However, the AT meter has only gained veterinary support in more recent years. Before the AT came along, even the vets. used human meters. There is a dramatic difference in cost between the strips for an AT meter and a human meter. Many people here use a Walmart brand (Relion) meter. I'm guess in that you're in Canada You don't have the same choices in meters but I can safely say the cost for strips will be a lot less if you use a human meter. I'm tagging one of our Canadian members for recommendations @Wendy&Neko

One other consideration regarding the meter is that all of our dosing guidelines are based on using a human meter.

If you read the ingredients on the DM, you will note that there is nothing special in them that is "prescription" for diabetes. Your original diet of Fancy Feast and Tiki Cat was absolutely fine. In fact, the DM is about 7% carb and what. you were previously feeing is a bit lower in carbs. The issue with a diet for a diabetic cat is how high in carbs the food is. Below 10% is low carb and most of us use food that is about 5% or so. You can stick with the DM but it is definitely pricier than Fancy Feast. And an FYI, many cats get tired of eating DM. It really is not a high quality food for what you're paying. Also, in the US, there's currently a move to get rid of "prescription" foods since there's nothing really prescriptive about them.

So, if you want to cut costs, consider a human meter and you don't have to feed your kitty a prescription diet.
 
I am in Canada, but I'm not much experience on a good place to buy test strips, as I mostly cross border shopped. Back in the day when you could do that. ;)

I have heard some people use the Bravo meter, or just buy a meter with small blood drop requirement and easy to get strips and then buy the test strips on eBay. The Freestyle is one such meter but there are others. Some drug stores (Shoppers) give you point you can redeem on test strips. Shoppers was not my first choice cause everything else cost more. And do shop around pharmacies, some like ones in grocery stores or Cosco have better prices than others.
 
Hi everyone! Thank you again for all the information! You have already helped ease my mind much more.
I will start putting together a spread sheet of his BG and hopefully get her more information to share with you all. So far I haven't given him any more doses of insulin since yesterday morning, and I'm going to try to test him again before giving him his second food and after. To get a better idea of what his blood sugar is doing.
Thank you so much for offering all this information and help, this seems like such a great community of loving cat parents.
 
Welcome to FDMB!

I’ve moved your thread to Main Health where we ask all new members to post until they get the basics down and have the spreadsheet and signature block completed and linked. The insulin support groups are advanced and it will be easier for you to post there once you have all the basics down. The members in Main Health are a great help to get you started on the right foot. We look forward to seeing you on the Lantus/Basalgar/Levemir forum when you are feeling more comfortable with the process of dealing with FD and have the SS and signature set up as well as info that you need on food, meters, etc.

We are all glad you found us!!
 
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