Out of remission after 7 years - questions

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Lisa & Nacho

Lisa & Nacho

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Hi everyone!

Some of you may remember me and my sugar kitty Nacho from 2017. Nacho boy was first diagnosed with diabetes back in 2017 with a BG of 524. We used Lantus and the program here and he was shortly in remission - his OTJ party was in April 2017. He continued on for many years on fancy feast and off insulin in remission.

3-4 months ago - Nacho started having skin issues on his ears/face/scratching a lot and losing some hair. I brought him into the vet and he received bloodwork (glucose came back at 241), an antibiotic and a steroid shot to help with the allergies/issues going on. His fur and symptoms cleared up well for about 2 months and unfortunately came back.

About a week ago I noticed he was trying to drink more water (specifically looking for water in the bathroom tub or toilet), so I brought him in again and they did a fructosamine test and it came back at 431 - so the vet thinks his diabetes has unfortunately returned. I started testing at home again and I am getting numbers ranging from 250-325. I got a script for Lantus and am getting ready to start the protocol again once I read over it all again.

The vet recommended prescription dry food as maybe he has a food allergy but he has been exclusively on wet for 7+ years now. Any food recommendations if he does have food allergies now?

Any tips or positive encourage please! I am a little sad that we are back here but glad I have the tools to help him.
 
The steroid shot likely caused him to go out of remission. But if you can get him regulated quickly again, there's a good chance you can get him back in remission. Good job getting him to the vet when you noticed things were off.

Forget the prescription dry food. Maybe try some proteins he's not had before, such as lamb, venison, rabbit, duck? Just pick one at a time and try it for a few weeks. I know a number of people who've had luck feeding raw food - which also tends to have more available proteins.
 
Lisa --

I'm so sorry that Nacho fell out of remission. You did a great job of being attentive to the signs that something was "off." Like Wendy mentioned, the steroids may be the reason that Nacho's numbers jumped up.

I would take a look at the ingredients in the foods you were typically feeding Nacho. If it is a food allergy, you may be surprised at what's in some of the food. For example, several of the Fancy Feast flavors (e.g., chicken) also contain fish. I'd look as novel proteins. ZiwiPeak has several flavors (e.g., venison, rabbit and lamb combo) that are novel for most cats. I also feed my guys a partially raw diet. Proteins such as pork or venison are available at a market near me. You will need to add supplements to a homemade raw diet. FoodFurLife is a great option -- they have a pre-mix that you add to the raw food.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
The steroid shot likely caused him to go out of remission. But if you can get him regulated quickly again, there's a good chance you can get him back in remission. Good job getting him to the vet when you noticed things were off.

Forget the prescription dry food. Maybe try some proteins he's not had before, such as lamb, venison, rabbit, duck? Just pick one at a time and try it for a few weeks. I know a number of people who've had luck feeding raw food - which also tends to have more available proteins.
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Oh no!! I feel terrible for having the vet give him the steroid but I didn't know :/ I hope I caught it early enough! Can you remind me where in the forums to start the program of testing and giving insulin etc? I just got a script yesterday so getting that filled so we can get regulated asap!
 
Bron and Sheba (GA) said:
I’m sorry Nacho has fallen out of remission. Hopefully you can get him back in soon.
Zyrtec 1/2 of a 10 mg tablet (5mg) daily is good for skin allergies.
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thank you for your reply! I will try this also! Seems like new allergies the last few months and he will itch his ears till they bleed :( so I am going to see what types of food I can find to switch it around.
 
Tha
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
Lisa --

I'm so sorry that Nacho fell out of remission. You did a great job of being attentive to the signs that something was "off." Like Wendy mentioned, the steroids may be the reason that Nacho's numbers jumped up.

I would take a look at the ingredients in the foods you were typically feeding Nacho. If it is a food allergy, you may be surprised at what's in some of the food. For example, several of the Fancy Feast flavors (e.g., chicken) also contain fish. I'd look as novel proteins. ZiwiPeak has several flavors (e.g., venison, rabbit and lamb combo) that are novel for most cats. I also feed my guys a partially raw diet. Proteins such as pork or venison are available at a market near me. You will need to add supplements to a homemade raw diet. FoodFurLife is a great option -- they have a pre-mix that you add to the raw food.
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Thank you! And thanks to this forum years ago when I learned all about feline diabetes and what to look for it was an almost immediate red flag when I saw him trying to drink more water out of places he doesn't normally go so I knew to bring him in asap!
 
Hi! New here, specifically looking for information about relapse.
Our cat, Doughboy (male Siamese mix, unsure of age, maybe 8?) was diagnosed with diabetes in April of 2023. We only spent about 11months on insulin, thank goodness. He has not had insulin injections since April of 2024.

But Doughboy also has food allergies. He has to be on Rx food, too. He can only tolerate hydrolyzed proteins. We had him on dry kibble only before his diagnosis. It is my belief that the dry hydrolyzed protein food is what caused or maybe instigated his diabetes.

Doughboy likes to try and eat the food of our other two cats, so we generally monitor him after we feed them. But last week we were on vacation. I decided to give all three of the cats Rx hydrolyzed protein food so our cat sitter didn't have to monitor while they ate - the other two are grazers. As long as we are in the room, he won't go for the food but the second we walk away, he's after it. We put it in a spot that isn't the easiest for him to reach, but where there's a will there's a way. He is champing at the bit to eat dry food but he's on a strict wet food diet. But because he wanted them so bad, to improve QoL, we started feeding him a very small (1/16 of a cup) of dry hydrolyzed protein food and half a can of wet in the AM, full can of wet in the PM, instead of zero dry and two cans of wet throughout the day.

Today his glucose reading was 336! I can't say for sure if he was overeating while we were gone, but the kibs in the AM seems to have thrown him back into full diabetes.

I would DEFINITELY not feed the dry food. I have no information to back this up but my suspicion is that it is loaded with carbs.





He has been drinking more water
 
Had the same experience as @rock_salt with the dry hydrolyzed food and then a diabetes diagnosis. We use Rayne Nutrition Rabbit Cups (not the stew or other products since they have too many carbs) with great success.
 
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