Recent diagnosis plus neuropothy ??'s

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maiser

Member Since 2012
Hello everyone! Just found this wonderful site! Maiser is 9 1/2 and was diagnosed 5-6 weeks ago. Started on 2 units of HumulinN (with numbers of a bit over 400) and have gradually increased to 7 units now as his numbers just really aren't going down much (was 330's at last visit). The vet has had me come in weekly and hasn't mentioned changing his food or doing home testing, although I noticed the board members mention this strongly. Vet thought he had arthritis, but now thinks it is neuropathy in his legs as it doesn't appear to be a joint issue. Very weak and doesn't walk far. Not comfortable. I think the leg issue has gotten worse recently. He tries to jump up to a chair and just recently is sometimes just not making it up. Does anyone have experience with the issue of neuropathy and can it really get better? He eats dry food (don't be mad--I just found out this was bad through the site--PurinaOne Vibrant Maturity for older cats, with chicken as the #1 ingredient for 36% protein level). He gets a big spoonful of canned food with each insulin shot and some cut-up whole cooked chicken throughout the day. Maiser is just not himself. He loves to eat and he has gained some weight since starting on insulin, so that is good--still drinking and peeing up a storm though. Money is an issue for me so I can't do the most expensive things for him--these weekly vet bills are killing me but we've had him since he was a kitten. Maiser has always had a very rough time leaving the house...he has to be given a sedative pill to take him to the vet so he is calm for them. I am feeling so very overwhelmed with him right now. Not sure if I am helping him at all. If you have experience with neuropathy issues in their paws, can you let me know if it got better? I don't want him to suffer and right now I really feel like he is. Thanks for any information you can give me!!

Maisers mom
 
Hi and welcome to FDMB.

The good news is that neuropathy can be reversed with getting blood glucose levels under control.

There are several things you can change that will help you manage Maiser's diabetes. First is insulin. Humulin is not a recommended insulin for feline diabetes. It is a short acting insulin and has steep drops in the glucose levels. 7 units is also a very high dose. Maiser's current diet is probably preventing him from becoming hypoglycemic, which can be deadly. However do not change the diet until you significantly reduce your insulin dose. This is extremely important. A better insulin would be Lantus, Levemir, PZI or Prozinc. These are all longer acting insulins and cats respond well to them. If you do change insulins, you want to start over with a low dose also, such as 1 unit twice a day. Most cats only need 1 -2 units twice a day of insulin.

Diet - after you lowered your insulin dose and possibly changed insulins, then you can make a diet change. Dry food is not recommended for diabetes. It is too high in carbs, no matter what brand you use. You should try to change to a canned or raw food diet. This is high protein/low carbs. Many of us feed our cats Friskies, Fancy Feast, Special Kitty, etc. canned foods. Again, do not make these changes until you significantly lower your insulin dose.

Finally, hometesting. By hometesting you will eliminate unnecessary trips to the vet just for testing. You will also get more accurate BG readings than you would at your vet since stress raises BG levels. You want to test before every shot to make sure it is safe to give insulin. For newbies, we recommend you do not give insulin unless the BG reading is 200 or greater.

I know this is a lot, but we can help you through this. Once you start to get the BG levels under control, you will find the neuropathy improves. Methy B12 is also another supplement that also will help with the neuropathy.
 
Hi, I'm not an expert by any means so I'm sure others will chime in here, too. But first off, welcome and take a deep breath!

Just a few things off the top of my head: hometesting is so beneficial and is so entirely doable! You can prick the ear, and most cats get used to it very quickly. There are videos on YouTube that show you how; that helped me learn a lot. If you're able to do regular hometesting, you won't need to go to the vet for glucose testing. That will save money and stress! Also, any time a cat is getting insulin, he should be checked before each injection to make sure he's not too low to receive the insulin. That could be very dangerous.
You also have to be careful when switching to a low-carb diet while starting insulin. In some cats the diet change alone is enough to get them into normal numbers. If your cat is one of those, it would be important to be monitoring his numbers frequently.
You already know that low-carb wet food is essential. You don't have to pay a lot, or buy the vet "prescription" food. Most Fancy Feast Classics and some Friskies pate varieties are excellent choices for diabetic cats.

Diabetic neuropathy is caused by unregulated diabetes, and this is not the first time I have heard of it being first diagnosed as arthiritis. Many cats with neuropathy return to full function once their diabetes is under control. Often, Methyl-B12 is recommended to assist the nerves in healing. I haven't dealt with this issue myself, but there are many people here who have.

Lastly, and I know others will weigh in here, Humulin is not generally considered a good insulin for cats. There are others that are usually better suited. Again, there are many more who know a lot more about this topic than I do, but it's something to look into.

You have found a wonderful resource here. This board was a lifesaver for me and my Atticus, who had also lost weight, was drinking and peeing excessively, and whose coat looked terrible. He's been off insulin now since March (after about two months on insulin), and is healthier than before!
Keep educating yourself, and you'll do fine.
 
Hello again...thanks so much for both of your replies Monica and Atticus and Lisa and Witn (GA). I took Maiser back to the vet today and his glucose was down to 54. The vet told me to give a bit of Karo since the number was a bit low, which I did. Hard to tell how he is reacting because he still has the Acepromazine in him for the trip to the vet. Still uncoordinated from that. We live in Texas and I'm using a "good ole' country vet" but he seems to know what he is doing thus far. Reading everything on the board suggests he might not be the best option, but we are limited by costs.

His numbers were a HUGE jump down from 2 weeks ago when it was in the 330's. The only thing different I have been able to do so far is add more wet food. I haven't switched over, but this weekend he seemed to want more of the wet food so I gave it to him. He gets it with his 2 shots. He still eats as much dry as he wants but he is appearing to really appreciate the wet food so is definitely eating less of the dry. Still gaining weight also. We were on 7 units and vet told us to go down to 6. We are still using the HumulinN as I have not had time to research the other brands mentioned and to look at costs.

I will go buy the home tester today to see if that can help us with the control. Just wanted to give you an update. Thanks!

Maiser's mom
 
I would suggest to start home testing immediately then as Maiser seems to be transitioning himself to the wet food without the need for dry and once the dry is gone from his system his BG levels will go down drastically and you need to make sure what the numbers are before shooting. The Karo will bring his #'s up of course, but at least keep him from hypo'ing.

But, on the bright side, Maiser isn't going to need much coaxing to get to a healthier diet :lol: !

You can use a human meter- Walmart has the Relion Micro and Confirm (strips are about $.36 each and by far the cheapest) or others use Bayer. Stay away from anything with True in the name (denotes a generic brand and reads falsly) or the Freestyle Lite meters that use the strips with butterflies on it. You do not need a pet meter.

Links:
http://www.catinfo.org/
http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/earprick.html
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopi ... 28&t=15887
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopi ... 28&t=61800
 
Here's a piece of info you may not know: diabetics blood sugar numbers go up and down and vary wildly all throughout the day and night. You can have a reading of 300 and an hour later a 56, ESPECIALLY when you're giving a short acting insulin or if the cat eats some dry food. So a once a week test gives you a very narrow window into what's going on. What would the number have been if the vet had tested half an hour before or after? Maybe very different.

From what I've read here, 7 units and 6 units are very high doses for a fast acting insulin. Especially with more wet food in his diet, I think you're at risk for him going hypoglycemic, and, in your shoes, I'd reduce the dose further until you know what's going on with his blood sugar - what is it before the shot and what is it when the Humulin peaks (I think 3-4 hours later?). Please start testing right away so you can see what's going on. We're here for you with whatever help you need.

As for the neuropathy, my Scout had it too (which is what sent me to the vet in the first place, only to be misdiagnosed as arthritis). She has no signs of gimpiness now, 6 months after being regulated, and she has lost 2 lbs (her belly is a lot smaller but she could still stand to lose another lb) and can easily jump up onto the desk and other places she's not supposed to be. So neuropathy can be reversed but first you have to get the blood sugar under control and his diet sorted out.

Cheers,
Lori
 
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