Possible Remission from Diet?

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Kristen L

Member Since 2022
Hello,

My question is how would I know if my cat went into remission with just diet change and no longer needs insulin? Therefore the insulin could be hurting him? For reference he is on 1U of Lantus every 12 hours. I’m asking because he got diagnosed two weeks ago and I changed his diet immediately once we started insulin. He was eating Hills Science Diet (weight management) dry food and Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers. I incorporated some of the gravy lovers into the pate for a day or two then fully transitioned. He is wearing a FreeStyle Libre and the past week or so his numbers have been great and if he was ever out of the target zone (70-180mg/dl) it was just below 70. Fast forward, last night he was right at 70 at shot time and I held back on giving him his dose. This morning he was at 129 at shot time. I gave him about half of his dose and within two hours his numbers started to significantly drop to the point where I had to give him his old high carb food to avoid a hypo event. I’m waiting for the vet to call me back. He dropped into the 50’s and I was panicking. Luckily, he is now back up to 105 (3.5 hours post shot) but I pretty much had to over feed him any and all high carbs I had on deck in order to get him out of the 50’s. Any advice or thoughts are appreciated. Thank you!
 
It would help us to see a spreadsheet with his numbers. It's very hard to give feedback based on only a day or two of test data. We consider normal range to be 50 - 120.

I'm a bit confused regarding what you're feeding your cat. Did you transition off of the Science Diet and FF Gravy Lovers to a low carb diet?

We also would suggest reducing the dose versus just stopping insulin. But again, it would be helpful if you could set up a spreadsheet so we have the big picture.
 
My apologies! I fully transitioned him off of gravy lovers and science diet. He is currently only eating Fancy Feast pate, savory pate, and chunky chicken. I will set up a spreadsheet based off of his numbers. Currently I’m just using the FreeStyle libre app, but I can set up a spreadsheet as well.
 
Can you also set up your signature
Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.
 
Hi Kristen L, welcome!

I agree on setting up your signature, with a link to your baby's spreadsheet numbers.

Just for reference too, the range of 50 - 120 is done using human diabetes meters, NOT vet meters.

ALWAYS keep karo syrup (corn syrup) on hand - you can use honey or maple syrup too, but I always preferred karo, plus at least 6 cans of high carb wet food just in case if emergency. The emergency being, your cats blood sugar goes below 50. Naturally, their BS can go into the 40's and they're okay, but if you give insulin when you shouldn't or give too much and they go BELOW the 40s, you want the karo/syrups to rub on their gums and tongue, and also open a high carb can of wet food. They know they need it, so they WILL bulldoze into the can before you can even put it in a bowl sometimes.

My Fena was diagnosed as a sugar cat (diabetic) in August of 2018, but switching her to low carb wet food, treating her illnesses, etc. and using insulin put her into remission in December of 2018. I kept her stable using just a low carb wet food diet, but I also kept tabs on her by testing. Every other day, then eventually once a week.

Illnesses, pain and medications WILL effect their BS (blood sugar) so keep an eye on that.

I lost my baby 2 months ago, but I still love this site, the people here are SO helpful and smart. Post and ask questions whenever you need to. xx
 
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