Questions before we begin testing at home and changing food

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jillyc

jillyc

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So, I'm eager for the newbie kit to arrive. My husband and I are following our gut and plan to follow the recommendations of you, the members, and need some help on how to start.
The questions I have are: (and I KNOW there will be more!!!)
1. Where can I get a spreadsheet template, and could someone please explain it? It looks like a foreign language!!!
2. Fenner weighs 10 pounds. He is currently eating Hills Science Diet m/d dry food. We are feeding him 1/2 cup per day. He is getting 3 units of Lantus 2 times per day. This was prescribed by our vet, and after reading all the responses, we understand that this combo definitely isn't the best way to go! How do we begin switching his food? Do we remove the m/d and switch to canned food immediately, or do we taper off the m/d and gradually add the canned food? Once I introduce wet food, how much insulin should we be giving him? I'm so confused about that.
3. Does he need to be fed before or after glucose testing to get the most accurate results?
4. The local pet shop owner recommended the following wet foods: Wellness brand, Felidae, and Halo Spot's Stew. Many of you gave suggestions for foods that you are currently using, and we may very well use one of those. Does anyone agree with any of her recommendations as well?
5. With nutrition labels, what is the max percentage of carbs that Fenner should be eating? Is higher protein better than lower protein? Is higher fat better than lower fat? What about ash content? What should I be looking for?
6. Are all glucose test strips interchangeable? In other words, we have a friend that has an abundance of test strips and has offered to donate them to us. Would they fit in any glucose meter?
7. What treats do you recommend for Fenner?
8. We plan on speaking with our vet about following what has worked for many of you. We're hoping he is open-minded to this approach and will work with us. We only want what is best for Fenner, not what a vet feels is best for business. I do think he will be cooperative, but what course of action do we take if he is not? Have any of you had resistance from your vet?

That's all I can think of for now. As I said before, I KNOW I will have more questions. Thank you to all that contributed to my previous post. It was because of your encouragement that we have decided to go against the vet's recommendations and feel that we will be giving Fenner a better chance at a healthy and normal life.
THANK YOU!!!!!
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

jillyc said:
1. Where can I get a spreadsheet template, and could someone please explain it? It looks like a foreign language!!!
Click to expand...

Here: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=50130

Date is self explanatory :smile:

AMPS is the morning (AM) pre-insulin blood glucose level.

U is units, how much insulin your cat receives.

The + numbers indicate the number of hours after the insulin was given. Example, +4 means 4 hours after the insulin. A number in the corresponding box is the blood glucose level take at that time.

Comments is for notes on your cat, like if he threw up or went to the vet for some reason or you started a new insulin bottle or pen.


2. Fenner weighs 10 pounds. He is currently eating Hills Science Diet m/d dry food. We are feeding him 1/2 cup per day. He is getting 3 units of Lantus 2 times per day. This was prescribed by our vet, and after reading all the responses, we understand that this combo definitely isn't the best way to go! How do we begin switching his food? Do we remove the m/d and switch to canned food immediately, or do we taper off the m/d and gradually add the canned food? Once I introduce wet food, how much insulin should we be giving him? I'm so confused about that.
Click to expand...

3 units is too large a dose for a new diabetic to start on. I would drop the dose to 1 unit twice a day first (you can tell vet that you feel more comfortable with a smaller dose and increase slowly).

Ideally you should be testing your cat's blood glucose levels daily when you do a diet change. Diet can have a big impact on blood gluocse levels. It's not uncommon to see a cat's blood glucose levels drop a huge amount from a simple diet change. Not catching the huge drop but still giving the usual amoutn of insulin can result in a hypo.

Always do a diet change slowly, especially if you are not testing yet. Add small amounts of low carb canned food to the diet and slowly decrease the dry. Do the diet change over the course of a week or so.

3. Does he need to be fed before or after glucose testing to get the most accurate results?
Click to expand...

With Lantus, it doesn't matter. Just be sure to test before giving any insulin. Most people test/feed/shoot.

Try not to feed your cat for about 2 hours before the insulin time. The food might cause a spike in blood glucose levels.

There are info stickies on the Lantus group about how Lantus works for cats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=9

4. The local pet shop owner recommended the following wet foods: Wellness brand, Felidae, and Halo Spot's Stew. Many of you gave suggestions for foods that you are currently using, and we may very well use one of those. Does anyone agree with any of her recommendations as well?
Click to expand...

There are lots of foods you can feed to your diabetic :smile: Have you seen the canned food charts?
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8...MzhkYTkxOGM4NThk&sort=name&layout=list&num=50

Wellness is good. Most of the regular Wellness are grain-free. Halo's Spot Stew is ok but mostly water and fruits/veggies than actual meat. Felidae is on one of the food charts. I don't know offhand if it's low in carbs.

Nature's Variety, Innova EVO, Merrick, Fancy Feast, Friskies, etc are other choices. Just feed your cat whatever he likes to eat and you can afford and can find in the stores.


5. With nutrition labels, what is the max percentage of carbs that Fenner should be eating? Is higher protein better than lower protein? Is higher fat better than lower fat? What about ash content? What should I be looking for?
Click to expand...

Sitck with under 10% carbs. Use the food charts to find out how many carbs are in food. It's not listed on any pet food label.

Fat isn't much of a concern unless your cat is prone to pancreatitis. In that case, look for for a fairly low carb food that has a low amount of fat.


6. Are all glucose test strips interchangeable? In other words, we have a friend that has an abundance of test strips and has offered to donate them to us. Would they fit in any glucose meter?
Click to expand...

No. Test strips for brand X will not fit in a meter for brand ABC.

However, test strips may be interchangable for different models within a brand. I think the OneTouch test strips can be used with any of the OneTouch meters. The same maybe true for the various Relion meters.


7. What treats do you recommend for Fenner?
Click to expand...


Try these: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

8. We plan on speaking with our vet about following what has worked for many of you. We're hoping he is open-minded to this approach and will work with us. We only want what is best for Fenner, not what a vet feels is best for business. I do think he will be cooperative, but what course of action do we take if he is not? Have any of you had resistance from your vet?
Click to expand...
[/quote]

Questions to ask the vet after diagnosis
Questions to help you interview a netvet

There are people here who intially had a difficult vet and were able to get the vet to work with them on managing the cat's diabetes.
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Keep checking in and eventually all your questions will be answered.

I can help with the spreadsheet. Google has not been playing nice with FDMB. On many search engines, it won't come up. Try this link: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopi ... =6&t=50130 If you have problems/questions just ask. Or send me a pm. I have helped lots of people set up their spreadsheets and if you want, we can go through it step by step.

It's test, feed and shoot. The test needs to be done before the food because food can raise bg levels, and you want a true reading to base your dose on. Then you can shoot while he is busy eating.

DON'T change the food until you are hometesting. Wet lo carb can mean a drastic lowering of bg levels in some cats. You are giving a big dose. You want to be sure you can follow his levels and adjust the dose downward as needed.
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

The Wellness is good (as long as it's grain free), but I wouldn't feed the Felidae or the Halo. The Felidae is too high in carbs for a diabetic (it has BIG grains of rice).

Some other premium foods that are good to feed are EVO and Merrick's. All of the canned EVO is ok to feed, and most of the Merrick's (which you'll find on the food chart). I personally feed Merrick's Cowboy Cookout, Surf and Turf, Grammy's Pot Pie, and Turducken. They are all lower in fat than most of the premium food, and also lower in phosphorus. The protein/carb/fat content in Cowboy Cookout is nearly ideal for a cat, so in my opinion it's the healthiest food you can feed. Someone may have posted this already, but here's a link to a current nutrition chart for premium (no byproducts) foods: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B8...MzhkYTkxOGM4NThk&sort=name&layout=list&num=50 You want something under 10% carbs.

I would also recommend dropping the dose down to 1u now. That should have been the starting dose the vet told you to begin with.

What meter does your friend use who is willing to give the strips? Strips are not interchangeable, so you want to buy whatever meter he uses. I had a similar scenario where a friend offered to give me some strips so I had to go out and buy the same meter she had even though I already had one. The strips are the expensive thing, not the meter (most are less than $20), so that's the cost you want to consider. I know you're getting a meter in your newbie kit, but it's never a bad idea to have a second one on hand anyway. It may seem like a waste to buy a second meter when you already have one, but it's definitely not if you're getting free strips.

Speaking of which, with Lantus, you want to test at least 3 times a day--before each shot, and about 6 hours after the shot in either cycle. Also, you'll want to do a curve once a week (testing every 2 hours for a 12 hour cycle). This is how you'll be able to tell how the insulin is working, and if you need to raise or lower the dose. Dose adjustments with Lantus are based off of the nadir, or, the lowest number of the cycle, which is usually about 6 hours in. You're getting a lot of information right now, but when you get a chance I would urge you to read the stickies in the Lantus forum: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=9 . There is a wealth of information there that will help you understand how to handle Lantus, and how it works so that you can dose properly. There are also a ton of very experienced people there that can help give you dose advice when you need it. I would not take your vet's dosing advice any longer unless he is willing to read the Lantus dosing protocol and follow it.
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Oh, I forgot to mention treats! If there's a PetSmart near you, they sell Beefeaters freeze dried chicken and salmon treats in the cat treat section for a reasonable price: http://www.petsmart.com/product/index.jsp?productId=2751598. I buy most of Bandit's food at my local independent pet food store, and they have lots of varieties low carb cat treats (any that's just freeze dried meat or fish is low carb), but they're much more expensive. EVO cravings are also low carb.

I also forgot to mention that Merrick, Wellness, and EVO all have store locators on their websites like this: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/locator/. It sounds like you already have a local pet food shop, so they might be willing to order stuff for you as well. I'm not sure where you're located, but if there's a local farm and feed store, they usually also have high quality cat foods.
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Welcome! I'm in newbie land with you, too, so we're in good company :)

With regards to treats, I've been giving my Romeo PureBites. They're 100% freeze dried chicken breast. No carbs, all protein. They have them at PetCo, but not PetsMart :( I also buy the dog version of the treat. It's the same thing, only the pieces are bigger so you just have to break them up. When I figured out the pricing, it was cheaper to buy the big ole bag of dog treats than to buy the mini micro bags of cat treats. Plus, you get less "dust" of treats at the bottom of the bag.

-Stacy
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Alpandia said:
Plus, you get less "dust" of treats at the bottom of the bag.
Click to expand...

The "dust" (powder) at the bottom of the bag is great for sprinkling on top of food, especially if you have an inappetant cat :smile:
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Jill, you might want to start now getting Fenner accustomed to the pokie (affectionate term for getting the blood)
Find the spot you will be doing this. A comfy spot for you both. Bring him there now and offer treats.
Make him feel good and like the king of the world he is. Praise him while starting to massage his ear.
His ear is now the most beautiful and spectacular ear anyone has ever seen, and he should be praised for it. It is a lovely ear is it not?
Get him accustomed to you massaging that ear.
And when you do test him...when your kit arrives...if at first you fail, or have trouble, well, Fenner is to know nothing of it. After all, it's not his fault.
Failure or success, Fenner gets praise and treats.
Pretty soon you will have him ASKING you for a test!
Hugs,
Lori
and tomtom too!
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Hi There!

My kitty was just diagnosed with diabetes on 9/24, and with the help of everyone here on FDMB we've been on day 7 of no insulin.

I was reallllllly nervous about the ear poking to test for blood. Here's some tips I have for you:

-Does your kitty have a bed? I started doing the testing while he was in his bed so I could pet him for a while before the poke. Now, he'll automatically get into his bed when he hears the zipper to the meter case.

-Always give low carb treats and praise after pokings.

-Make sure you poke on the outside of the ear (the hair side). At first I was poking the inside and kitty didn't like that!

-Get some neosporin pain ointment to put on after you apply pressure. Helps with healing.

-Make sure you have some Karo and high carb wet food with gravy around in case of a hypo episode.

Once you start testing, start posting his readings in the Lantus forum. They other's can help you figure out dosing.
 
Re: Questions before we begin testing at home and changing f

Thanks for the responses everyone! We were finally able to get him calm and get a reading tonight. I know it wasn't taken at the "right" time (about 1 hour after he ate, and 15 min post insulin injection), but at least it's a start.
 
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