Pancreatitis affected well managed glucose

blais.jennifer

blais.jennifer

Member Since 2025
Hello!

My guy, Oliver- just about to be 10 years old, was diagnosed with diabetes in February 2025 and his levels were well maintained for 6 months. He was prescribed 1 unit of Lantus 2x a day. He was on Young Again Zero dry food for diabetics with occasional wet food pouches for his ‘meals’. Starting at the end of August his levels started to creep up and I thought it might’ve been the injection site so I moved it and I got a fresh bottle of insulin. His levels continued to creep up. He got very sick, vomiting, diarrhea, wasn’t eating and was super lethargic. I brought him to the vet and he was diagnosed with pancreatitis. We went home with some anti nausea Meds , pain meds, probiotic, fluid boils on his shoulder and a short term prescription food. It took a couple weeks but he got better. Ever since the end of August we cannot get his glucose levels under control. I’m thinking his insulin needs to be adjusted but vet is being conservative and doing another glucose curve on the 1 unit. Oliver isn’t showing any clinical signs of high/uncontrolled glucose. Has anyone experienced this?
 
Jennifer --

What food was Oliver previously eating and what are you currently feeding him? The food could be the culprit. (I couldn't tell if you have Oliver back on the Young Again.)

Any sort of infection or inflammation can have an effect on blood glucose levels. Pancreatitis can be a chronic condition. Also, what were the fluid boils all about? That could also be a source of inflammation and have an effect on his numbers. We've definitely seen cats that were in remission fall out of remission due to pancreatitis, the need for dental work (i.e., gingivitis), or any other illness. You cat may need more insulin to get him back into a better blood glucose range.

Have you given any thought to home testing? It will save you a good deal of $$ to test Oliver at home versus having him stressed out at the vet's office where they are getting a curve. Most cat's blood glucose is artificially elevated when they are at the vet's office.
 
Hi! Thanks for the response. He is back on the young again zero and has been for a little over a month. At the time of the pancreatitis the vet gave him subcutaneous fluid ‘bulbs’ to help with hydration. I test him at home and he’s consistently been hovering around 300 ever since the pancreatitis- at 1 unit of lantus. The first 6 months after he was diagnosed with diabetes I had him at 100 consistently and the. I haven’t been able to get him ‘back to normal’ since the pancreatitis in early October. I just don’t know if he’s now insulin resistant or needs a much higher dose of insulin. I haven’t really seen anyone mention a similar situation so I’m not sure what to expect or consider. The vet has seen him since he’s kind of come around from the pancreatitis and wanted to keep him at 1 unit to see if he normalizes again but I just don’t think it’s enough.
 
If a cat is in higher numbers for any length of time, they can develop what is called glucose toxicity. Basically it means their body gets used to higher numbers and you need more insulin to get them down again. If he's been in higher since August, that's more than enough time for his body to get used to higher numbers. The so called "prescription" food probably didn't help the situation. Pancreatitis isn't usually responsive to food. Some reading here: A Primer on Pancreatitis. I have a kitty with chronic pancreatitis, I find it helpful to have some basic meds on hand so I can react as soon as I see symptoms.

Would you have any interest in sharing his test numbers with us? With those numbers we can give you some help deciding how his dose should change. A lot of us just follow one of our Lantus dosing methods and make decisions our selves on the dose. If interested, details on how to share numbers in a spreadsheet, along with some other common information we like to know is in this document: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
 
The vet did the prescription food to get him to start eating again, he was only on it for like 1.5 weeks and has been back on the young again zero ever since. I have been trying to adjust his dose myself by .5 each time to see what he responds to- doing a curve each time. He hasn’t responded to 2 units in the last week so I’m up to 2.5 units. I’ve only been able to really lower his numbers a few times
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Without knowing how many units you shot each time, or when the tests were in relation to his shot time, it's hard for us to comment.

Good to know you are using the AT. Thanks for working on the signature.
 
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