Proceed with shots?

[ThatOneChick]

Hello, my 17 y/o guy was diagnosed with diabetes 17 days ago. The vet gave me a crash course on the topic and how to manage goibg forward. 2iu of lantus with food 12 hrs apart every day, and id have to also change his diet. The first day, I gave him his shots at the scheduled time, but I was so worried he hadn't eatten enough so I loaded him up on treats to be sure he had enough food in his belly. I work 10hr shifts, so monitoring him during the week isn't possible, so I decided thay id transition him off his fancy feast gravy lovers and purina high protein kibble onto pates to ensure he was eattibg before starting his dosing. Its been an uphill battle with him tryibg to transition his pallet. Hes incredibly picky! Dosent like "real food", ive tried every tin on the shelves at the grocery store, went to pet stores and picked out their top sellers, tried every texture from shreds to chunks, to puree, tried all the "my cat loves.." recs, tried adding a little water to a lot of water, mashing peices into bits, added cat nip mixing a little of this with a little of that, and on and on. Its always the same, he laps up the juices and completly rejects the actual food. I understand that no food means no shots, so my dilemma is do i allow him his gravy lovers (the pink one is the only one hell actually eat entirly) in order to give him his shots, or do I woth hold giving him shots till he (maybe?) takes to a better food?

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Hello, my 17 y/o guy was diagnosed with diabetes 17 days ago. The vet gave me a crash course on the topic and how to manage goibg forward. 2iu of lantus with food 12 hrs apart every day, and id have to also change his diet. The first day, I gave him his shots at the scheduled time, but I was so worried he hadn't eatten enough so I loaded him up on treats to be sure he had enough food in his belly. I work 10hr shifts, so monitoring him during the week isn't possible, so I decided thay id transition him off his fancy feast gravy lovers and purina high protein kibble onto pates to ensure he was eattibg before starting his dosing. Its been an uphill battle with him tryibg to transition his pallet. Hes incredibly picky! Dosent like "real food", ive tried every tin on the shelves at the grocery store, went to pet stores and picked out their top sellers, tried every texture from shreds to chunks, to puree, tried all the "my cat loves.." recs, tried adding a little water to a lot of water, mashing peices into bits, added cat nip mixing a little of this with a little of that, and on and on. Its always the same, he laps up the juices and completly rejects the actual food. I understand that no food means no shots, so my dilemma is do i allow him his gravy lovers (the pink one is the only one hell actually eat entirly) in order to give him his shots, or do I woth hold giving him shots till he (maybe?) takes to a better food?

I wouldn’t change his food yet until you start home testing him and gathering some data. Then transitions need to go very slowly so the blood glucose (BG) doesn’t tank. If you withdraw kibble right away and are giving him insulin, it could cause his BG to drop fast.

It’s not true no food = no shot but you need to be home testing him. With Lantus, which doesn’t onset for two hours after the shot, that gives you a bit of time to get food in him. But remember the best food for a cat is the one he will eat. So you allow him what he will he eat until you can, again, slowly transition him to something better.

There is a condition which can be caused by not enough calories/water + not enough insulin + infection. It’s called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and it can be fatal quickly.
Many people are often not aware if their diabetic cat has an infection like a tooth issue. If they aren’t giving enough insulin and calories, the cat could develop ketones and go into DKA.

With cats eating dry food, we never start them on more than 1u every 12 hours so his starting dose is really high. We also recommend feeding more than twice a day.

Are you home testing? You can buy a human meter (ReliOn) and strips at Walmart which is the least e pensive way to go. Our dosing methods are based on using human meters.

If you are home testing, we have a spreadsheet that you can enter data and we can help you with dosing and feeding advice.

 

[ThatOneChick]

I wouldn’t change his food yet until you start home testing him and gathering some data. Then transitions need to go very slowly so the blood glucose (BG) doesn’t tank. If you withdraw kibble right away and are giving him insulin, it could cause his BG to drop fast.

It’s not true no food = no shot but you need to be home testing him. With Lantus, which doesn’t onset for two hours after the shot, that gives you a bit of time to get food in him. But remember the best food for a cat is the one he will eat. So you allow him what he will he eat until you can, again, slowly transition him to something better.

There is a condition which can be caused by not enough calories/water + not enough insulin + infection. It’s called diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and it can be fatal quickly.
Many people are often not aware if their diabetic cat has an infection like a tooth issue. If they aren’t giving enough insulin and calories, the cat could develop ketones and go into DKA.

With cats eating dry food, we never start them on more than 1u every 12 hours so his starting dose is really high. We also recommend feeding more than twice a day.

Are you home testing? You can buy a human meter (ReliOn) and strips at Walmart which is the least e pensive way to go. Our dosing methods are based on using human meters.

If you are home testing, we have a spreadsheet that you can enter data and we can help you with dosing and feeding advice.

Thank you, this is very helpful. I bought a meter a few days ago so ill look up the spreadsheet amd begin that. What am I looking for when I test? Should his BG be stable or should I expect it to drop over time? What is considered to be too low to inject? (Im in Canada, I understand the scale here is different from the US)

 

[Marje and Gracie]

Thank you, this is very helpful. I bought a meter a few days ago so ill look up the spreadsheet amd begin that. What am I looking for when I test? Should his BG be stable or should I expect it to drop over time? What is considered to be too low to inject? (Im in Canada, I understand the scale here is different from the US)

It could be either. Most likely, you will see it somewhat up and down depending on his dose and how it’s working for him.

Here are some testing and shooting tips. We learned how to test using Mark and Buddy’s video which is linked on that post.

Be sure you download the World/US spreadsheet. You enter the numbers on the Wotld SS in mmol/L (Canadian) and it auto converts to the US SS in mg/dL.

You shouldn’t shoot if his BG is below 150 to start. If he’s 150-200 at shot time, please don’t feed him and post here for help so someone can walk you through it.

The method of regulation we use for cats on Lantus eating dry food is called Start Low Go Slow. You can read it and ask questions but I would encourage you to start testing, especially his preshot tests, as soon as possible so you don’t shoot too low of a BG.