Question about insulin

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MamaBoots

MamaBoots

Member Since 2015
Hi,

I'm new to this site & my kitty was just diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. The vet told me she had to eat 20-30 minutes before her insulin shots. I have always free-fed her (though now she is on strictly wet food thanks to this site and other research I've done), so this will be an interesting change.

My question is, is this true of ALL insulin shots? Do Cats need to eat 20-30 minutes before their shots always or is it only certain types of insulin?

I'm bringing her in on Thursday for her glucose curve, where they will watch her for 6 hours and find out the appropriate dosage for now. I have so many questions & concerns and am so happy to have discovered this site!

Thank you for any help :)
 
Changing diet can strongly affect bg so be aware of that before shooting. I don't wait that long before giving him his shot and my kitty is fine, not sure if it's absolutely mandatory..
 
mirnta said:
Changing diet can strongly affect bg so be aware of that before shooting. I don't wait that long before giving him his shot and my kitty is fine, not sure if it's absolutely mandatory..
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Okay - I did just change her diet starting last night when I found out and did my own research on steps I can take. She was eating a combo of wet & dry food (mostly dry) but I've completely taken the dry food away and she is now on wet food only (fancy feast - no gravy).
 
Try to get Lantus, Levemir, or ProZinc. With any of those, we feed and shoot at the same time. You can still free feed wet if you like. It's recommended to pick up the food 2 hours before shot time so the food doesn't influence your preshot number. I put 4 cans of food down for 6 cats twice a day and they graze on it for hours. Good luck! And be sure to let us know how it goes Thursday!
 
Changing diet to low carb canned or raw food may reduce the glucose 100-200 mg/dL
Vet stress may raise the glucose levels 100-180 mg/dL.

Testing at home will allow you to see what impact the food change has had.
All you need is an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart ReliOn Confirm or Confirm Micro (also sold as the Glucocard 01 or Glucocard 01 Mini), matching test strips, and lancets for alternate site testing (26-28 gauge).
 
Stacym20 said:
Try to get Lantus, Levemir, or ProZinc. With any of those, we feed and shoot at the same time. You can still free feed wet if you like. It's recommended to pick up the food 2 hours before shot time so the food doesn't influence your preshot number. I put 4 cans of food down for 6 cats twice a day and they graze on it for hours. Good luck! And be sure to let us know how it goes Thursday!
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Thank you so much for this advice/info!! I will absolutely see if I can get one of those 3 types when I go in on Thursday. Yes, I will keep you updated! Her symptoms started in January after getting a steroid shot for dermatitis, so I'm guessing that was probably the cause. IF so, and because it's being diagnosed so early, I'm hoping she may even get lucky and go into remission with the dietary restrictions & initial insulin treatments. I will of course let you all know how it goes Thursday! Thank you thank yiu! This site is incredible.
 
BJM said:
Changing diet to low carb canned or raw food may reduce the glucose 100-200 mg/dL
Vet stress may raise the glucose levels 100-180 mg/dL.

Testing at home will allow you to see what impact the food change has had.
All you need is an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart ReliOn Confirm or Confirm Micro (also sold as the Glucocard 01 or Glucocard 01 Mini), matching test strips, and lancets for alternate site testing (26-28 gauge).
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Okay, thank you. I'm sure the vet will show me how to test her, but I've read you do ear pricks? I've never done anything like this before and don't want to hurt her. I kind of want to test her tomorrow just to see if she even had a change with 2 days of the new diet and the non-stress of being at the vet. What is a normal range for cats??
 
See my signature link Glucometer Notes for feline-specific reference ranges using human glucometers.

Non-diabetic cats run 40-120 mg/dL.

Diabetic cats on insulin should go no lower than 50 mg/dL at the lowest glucose between shots. The dose is changed based on this lowest number, called the nadir, following a protocol for your insulin.
 
It would be worthwhile testing after the food change. My cat's BG went down almost 200 points in three days after removing dry food. It took 24 hrs before I saw a change. It dropped consistantly for the next couple days. This large of a change may not be the norm, but it does happen. I consider him a diet controlled diabetic because just a little higher carb food can really raise his BG. Testing isn't as hard as it seems.
 
MamaBoots said:
Okay, thank you. I'm sure the vet will show me how to test her, but I've read you do ear pricks? I've never done anything like this before and don't want to hurt her. I kind of want to test her tomorrow just to see if she even had a change with 2 days of the new diet and the non-stress of being at the vet. What is a normal range for cats??
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The ear pricks (or paw testing, which work better for some cats) get easier to do once you get some practice. Warming the ear and using Vaseline or Neosporin, to help the blood bead better, are both very helpful. It's gotten to the point, after only two months of testing, that I've been able to ear prick test my sleeping cat without waking him up. Please keep in mind that I'm very, very sneaky and my cat is an old, old man who sometimes sleeps really hard.

The normal ranges for cats can be found in @BJM's Glucometer Notes.
 
Okay, I got some answers. Mama's BG level was at 459 when I first brought her in - which is high. I'm bringing her in tomorrow for the glucose curve where they will start her on a very low dosage of insulin. The only insulin they use is prozinc. They also have Hills WD & a Purina brand cat food for diabetic cats. What do you all think of those brands? I've been giving her fancy feast (no gravy) canned food the last few days. Also, they said a lot of people just use the diet and choose not to give insulin treatments for whatever reason (finances, afraid to give shots, etc) but that it's, obviously, most beneficial to do both. I mentioned the home glucose testing and they said they don't recommend that because it could cause kitty more stress & they're creatures of habit, among other reasons. But to me it sounds like there are many of you that successfully do at home glucose tests. I'm just trying to figure out what's best for Mama. This is hard & a little confusing. Have any of you had the same experiences with your vets?
 
The pate Fancy Feast caned is lower carb than the prescriptions and less expensive and just as good nutritionally. I would stick with the FF.
Home testing is best since vet visits can raise the BG by 100 points or higher.
I test all of my diabtic cats at least twice a day. They do not seem to mind at all.
You do not have to get your vets approval to home test.
 
MamaBoots, I should mention that the dry food I was using prior to going to all wet was Purina DM. It is too high carb for a diabetic cat and I don't think the Hills is any better. The Purina canned DM is ok carb wise but it is expensive. I've been using mostly Fancy Feast classic pates and some Tiki cat for variety, note: Tiki cat is expensive and low calorie so you need to feed more. I'm new here, but it seems like a lot of people here use Fancy Feast classic pate.
 
I think we all pretty much agree that the script food isn't very good. Try to stick to wet food, or super low carb dry if you must.
 
Oh yeah, also my vet said don't bother home testing..i think we all strongly disagree with that. They have much more stress going to the vet, and this way you can very closely monitor your doses to make sure you're on the right track.
 
Changing to a low carb canned diet may reduce the glucose 100-200 mg/dL and reduce the insulin dose 1-2 units.
Vet stress may raise the glucose levels 100-180 mg/dL, so home testing will give you a better idea of how well the diabetes is controlled.

See my signature link for feline-specific reference values when using a human or pet glucometer.
 
Alright update on Mama Boots: I had to postpone her glucose curve until Monday the 30th because I'm going out of town next week and don't want to mess up her insulin schedule or be away when we are just learning how to give her the shots.

I bought Accu-Check Aviva BG tester and successfully did the ear prick! There was a lot more blood than I thought there would be - she seemed to do okay and I gave her some food right after. It read 330 mg/dL so it's gone down a bit since I've taken away dry food. She is drinking and urinating normally again, but that is still a very high BG. I think I was hoping the diet change might bring it down more, but looks like kitty's going to need that insulin.

I'm a little worried about the expense.
 
I am having a hard time with how costly this is too, I use vetsulin, only cuz it's the only one I can afford, even though its not the best choice..and the low carb food is breaking the bank for me. My cat's numbers have gone down quite a bit in the last couple months, it just takes time to regulate them. You might need to do insulin for awhile and see how good your numbers get, and then try going off the juice.
 
MamaBoots said:
I'm a little worried about the expense.
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mirnta said:
I am having a hard time with how costly this is too, I use vetsulin, only cuz it's the only one I can afford, even though its not the best choice..and the low carb food is breaking the bank for me.
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I also had quite a bit of sticker shock when starting this all. The current cost for Lantus is outrageous and is price gouging as far as I'm concerned. Luckily switching to the pricier low carb Young Again Zero Carb Mature Heath seems to have really made the difference for my particular cat. I figure the increased food costs will be offset by not having to buy so many testing supplies, needles, and insulin.

Have either of you looked into getting your insulin from Canadian pharmacies? It's often quite a bit less expensive. Marks Marine Pharmacy has been highly recommended to me. Here is a link to other Canadian pharmacies (mostly Lantus and Levemir specific) that board members have used: Insulin from Canadian pharmacies. Look at the end of the thread for the most up to date information.

The only issue can be the shipping time. I hope this might help.

Edited: If you want to go the U.S. route, I found that going through Walgreens and using their pet prescription plan ($20 a year) takes the price down a bit on your insulin, needles, and other prescription drugs. Walmart also has good prices on some types of insulin and needles and, as far as their meters and testing supplies, their prices are hard to beat. People here also like ADW for testing supplies and the Arkray meters and test strips are the same as the Walmart ReliOn brand. ADW often has coupons too, so look around a bit.
 
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Hey thanks for all the info! My friends have given me young again for my bday so I'm excited to get that going hopefully that and wet food will help out a lot..
 
Update on MAMA BOOTS:

My girl had her glucose curve last week and Her numbers had already gone down just from the diet change! The vet gave her the minimum amount of insulin and then her levels were TOO low - so she doesn't need it! I brought her in today to check her BG on an empty stomach at the vet and it was close to 300. So my girl is regulating on her own with the diet change, thank goodness. Wet food isn't cheap either! I'm so proud of mama & am just continuing to visualize her as healthy and regulated :).

Thank you all so much for your help during this process. I learned so much on this site and from all of you, and am certain a big reason she is beating this is because of what I learned here. Thank you.
 
I was the one who found Marks Marine Pharmacy and I've shared them with anyone who would listen. Not only are their prices a lot better, but they have excellent customer service...but I don't think they have ProZinc available there, just Lantus and Levemir. There's more information on the "Insulin from Canadian Pharmacies" to help you....go to the last post there for the info on Marks.

They do require a script, but it can be faxed or emailed...and if you need the script from your vet, don't tell them you're buying from Canada..some of them won't write the script then. Just say you want to do some shopping around. It takes about a week from the time you get it ordered and the time it arrives at your home.

Keep posting! We can help you learn everything you need to learn about controlling this disease and we're all happy to share our experiences!!
 
Yaaaaay! That is great news! So happy for you..my cat's numbers have dropped quite a bit from diet change and I have a very low dose of insulin, think I'm headed in that direction soon, woohooo!
 
mirnta said:
Yaaaaay! That is great news! So happy for you..my cat's numbers have dropped quite a bit from diet change and I have a very low dose of insulin, think I'm headed in that direction soon, woohooo!
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That's great Mirnta!! I think you definitely are :) Sending healthy vibes to your kitty too. It's incredible what just a diet change will do! Why do they even SELL dry cat food??!
 
The Hills W/D (both canned and dry) is too high in carbs for our sugarcats....besides being outrageously expensive and with "questionable" ingredients. One of their ingredients is "cellulose"....that's a fancy word for sawdust!!

You'll do better to just buy foods like Fancy Feast Classics, Friskie's Pates, or any of the low carb foods on The Full Food Chart. Look for foods that are under 10% carbs (column C)

We've also seen where some cats will start out eating the D/M canned food well, but quickly they get bored with it and refuse to eat it anymore, so it's important to look into other foods that will work
 
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