Recent diagnosis, getting worse?

[Karen Mulholland]

Hello, my name is Karen and my cat is Rocky. He's a wonderful 8 year old Tabby who is loved dearly. About 4 months ago he was diagnosed. I noticed all the tell tale signs and brought him to his vet. BG was 450 Vet started him on oral Glipizide with no change in BG. He was eating 3/4 cup dry Hills Perscription Diet Urinary Care when diagnosed. The vet then said to mix the Hills Prescription U/C with Purina Pro Plan D/M dry. I did as instructed and his BG has not improved at all. I was bringing him in weekly for BG curves and he was so freaked out by the experience at the vet that he wouldn't eat and peed in his crate and howled constantly. I was heartbroken. I told the vet I wanted to learn how to home test thinking his BG was elevated due to the stress and other factors. I have been home testing and the numbers are still in the 400 to 500's . I have been reading about high protein, wet food diets and mentioned it to the vet. He said he doesn't think the food will have an impact on his BG. This doesn't make sense to me at all. I have researched high protein, low carb, wet diets and continue to feel encouraged. I called the vet with the most recent BG numbers and he wants to increase his insulin to 4cc 2x a day, up from 3 cc 2 x daily. I want to try the high protein, low carb wet food diet and decrease his insulin to 2 cc 2 x daily to compensate for the possible impact of the diet on his BG. Does anyone have any experience with this? I am considering a change in vets, as I'm concerned that my vet has not addressed diet.

 

[FurBabiesMama]

Welcome! Unfortunately, many vets seem to know very little about how to properly manage feline diabetes. A low-carb wet food diet and home testing are two of the most important things you can do for your baby. Carbs definitely impact glucose, and there is no reason to put a cat through the stress of curves at the vet's office when you can do them at home.

Is Rocky still on Glipizide or is he on insulin now? (You mentioned both, so I am unclear.) From what I have read, the oral meds are not very effective in cats, and if you do try them, it is recommended to change to insulin if you see no improvement in a month or two.

This is the welcome forum. Your questions would get more attention if posted on the health forum.

 

[Callie & Patches]

Welcome to the greatest group you never wanted to join. You are correct in feeling your vet is wrong. He may be a kind, well meaning vet, but vets just don't get much training in FD. This is the welcoming forum. Most people hang out in the main health forum. People will need to know what insulin you use. We have some great people who know more about diabetic cats than most vets.

 

[Anne-Callie]

Callie was diagnosed in August.My vet has been great.He told me absolutely no dry food.She eats Fancy Feast classics and Friskies pate.She gets 2 units of pro zinc twice a day.She is doing great. Try switching to low carb canned food I saw definite changes in Callie.(less drinking and urinating) Good luck with your kitty.

 

[JanetNJ]

Your instincts are correct. Forget the dry. Pick up some fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. Get a bg reader and start testing at home. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.

 

[Karen Mulholland]

Welcome! Unfortunately, many vets seem to know very little about how to properly manage feline diabetes. A low-carb wet food diet and home testing are two of the most important things you can do for your baby. Carbs definitely impact glucose, and there is no reason to put a cat through the stress of curves at the vet's office when you can do them at home.

Is Rocky still on Glipizide or is he on insulin now? (You mentioned both, so I am unclear.) From what I have read, the oral meds are not very effective in cats, and if you do try them, it is recommended to change to insulin if you see no improvement in a month or two.

This is the welcome forum. Your questions would get more attention if posted on the health forum.

Thanks for your reply. I will post on the health forum from now on. No Rock is no longer on the Glipizie he was changed over to Relion Novolin 3 cc 2x daily and eating 3/4 cup dry mix of Purina Pro plan DM & Prescription Diet Urinary Care C/D. His BG was running 400-500 I have changed him over to 2 can Fancy Feast Classics 1 in the a.m with 2 cc insulin (lowered dose to compensate for the diet change, as per info I read posted by Lisa Peirson,DVM) and 1 pm. with 2 cc insulin. As I had mentioned, prior to independently deciding to change his food, the vet recommended to go up to 4 cc Relion Novolin 2 x daily with no change in diet. He is definitely drinking less and seems more lively. It's only been 5 days on the new eating protocol. I plan to test tomorrow and so hope the numbers are better. Thank you again for your interest and time.

 

[Karen Mulholland]

Your instincts are correct. Forget the dry. Pick up some fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods. Get a bg reader and start testing at home. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC.

Thank you, I have been feeding Fancy Feast classic for 5 days now and he is drinking less. Thank you for your interest in my boy.

 

[Kris & Teasel]

We're very willing to help if you have any questions or concerns in the days ahead. Just post them over on the main health forum.

 

[Steph & Quintus & L & O]

The vet then said to mix the Hills Prescription U/C with Purina Pro Plan D/M dry.

FWIW Quintus is eating a mix of Pro Plan NF kibble and Pro Plan DM cans. I mash it up and he leaves most of the kibble bits out when he first eats, but comes back when hungry and gets the end of the mix, richer in kibble. Mixing can be useful to transition or if you're trying to "split the difference". In my case, Quintus has bad diarrhea with just the DM. So I started a gradual transition and am now in a kind of "sweet spot" where his BG is going low enough (even quite low! not too sure what is going on!) and his stools are still decent.

I want to try the high protein, low carb wet food diet and decrease his insulin to 2 cc 2 x daily to compensate for the possible impact of the diet on his BG. Does anyone have any experience with this? I am considering a change in vets, as I'm concerned that my vet has not addressed diet.

Definitely worth changing the diet, and good idea to reduce insulin, or at least pay close attention to what is happening. That's the problem I had with Quintus, he was on 3ui and still had high BG, but I was afraid of how far he'd drop with the food change, and didn't want to stop the insulin. So that's also one of the reasons I did a gradual food change, so that I could monitor and adjust the insulin as needed.

As for the vet: I would urge you to not necessarily throw out the baby with the bathwater. Is this a good vet otherwise? Are they willing to listen and learn? Do you have a good relationship with them? Many vets are not "up to speed" on FD, so changing vets might or might not give you something better. If everything else is great, maybe it's worth sticking around. If the rest is not great, then by all means go vet-shopping. But remember all vets are imperfect, just like the humans they are.