Recently Diagnosed...Difficult to Regulate :(

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KylaD

KylaD

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Hello,

Over Christmas, my 6 yr old male Tipsy was diagnosed with pancreatitis. We were fortunate as we caught it early because we noticed a change in his behaviour and took him to the vet right away. He did have a fever, was not eating/drinking or going to the litter box. Fortunately, we were able to give him antibiotics and within 24 hours he was back to his playful, cuddly, loving self. At that vet visit, he weighed 16.9 lbs. After that scary episode, we completely cut him off people food (which he loved so much, but we knew it was more harm than good). Shortly after, we started to notice he was drinking more and peeing more. We brought him back to the vet one day for a cut on his skin and she wanted to give him steroids to help with the healing of the cut. Fortunately, I am a Nurse and had some knowledge of what steroids can do to humans with diabetes, so I asked her if it had the same effect on cats. She replied, "We'll do you think he is diabetic?" With which I said, I think I have been in denial since the pancreatitis. Sure enough, she checked his Glucose and he was 24.7. Needless to say, we didn't do the steroid treatment and immediately started treatment with insulin. (She said the cut was nothing scary and the diabetes is our concern right now). We started Feb 17th, our first dose of insulin done at the vet, followed by 2 glucose checks that day. We started with Caninsulin. Poor Tipsy, spent the day at the vets but wouldn't eat,drink or use the litterbox the entire time he was there so when we went to pick him up, they taught us how to do the injections and how to check his blood glucose. He ate and everything as soon as we got home. Since then, we have done 4 Glucose curves at home and we are having a really difficult time regulating him. He was consistently high, like 26-27 mmol/l at the beginning. We are now up to 4 units, twice a day. It has been about 8 days at this, and we did his Glucose Curve today and the results are as follows:

Apr-04 905am 22.9
1110am 20.4
100pm 15.3
305pm 15.8
500pm 18.6

Based on his previous curves, he usually peaks between the 4-6 hour mark, then starts to go back up again. I am happy that he's not reading 27's anymore, but 22.9 is still way to high for my liking. It has been just over 6 weeks now, and I feel so bad for him, I am started to get frustrated because I just want his sugar level to go down and I feel sooo helpless. He is acting normal, playful, eating, drinking and I even noticed his pee's are getting smaller, but the numbers don't seem to be coming down as they should. I am supposed to start him on 5 units tomorrow. I was told I am doing things right. We give the insulin about 12 hours apart, we haven't missed a dose,we changed his food, he is now on Royal Canin Diabetic dry food, he doesn't eat people food anymore (since Christmas), and we make sure we play with him more each day to keep him active. Since coming off people food, his weight has decreased to 13 lbs and you can tell he has lost that weight. I guess, I am just looking for guidance or advice as I do not know anyone else with a diabetic cat and I feel as though nothing we do is working. Is it normally this hard to regulate? Should a Cat even be getting 5 units twice a day?? Is there anything I could be doing differently? Even if no one can help, just being able to vent to others who have probably experienced the same things has given me abit of relief. I have been a big ball of nerves since we got the diagnosis.

cat(2)_steam Kyla & Tipsy
 
So, I have been doing a lot of reading on this forum and what I gather is I need to change him to this Low-carb wet diet. Will this be ok for my female Meatball to eat as well?? Any specific type you guys can recommend? We only put our cats on Royal Canin Diabetic food because we were feeding them Royal Canin Indoor Cat food. And I am willing to do anything and everything I can to help Tipsy get better, or at least help his sugar levels stabilize :) Thanks again.
 
Hi and welcome.

I haven't been here for so long, so more qualified advise will come from more experienced members of this site. But my situation looked a lot like yours. My cat was on 2 units of caninsulin and dry diabetic royal canin. When I first started giving her more low carb wet food the numbers dropped from 22 to 16-17. And when I changed to only wet food she was off insulin within 2 weeks. Her numbers now range between 4-6, mostly between 5-6 and she is back to normal. So change the food, feed small meals. I feed 4 times a day ( I have an automatic feeder for when i am not home), and I feed 50 grams at the time.
 
Thank you,

That is very encouraging to hear, as I feel I am out of options right now :( Just so overwhelmed and I don't know.....but I'm definately going to look into this wet food thing. I just hope it wont be too hard to monitor to ensure both cats are eating adequately as I work 12 hours shifts, which is why we chose dry food in the first place. I know remission is the ultimate goal here, if possible, especially cuz his diabetes is so new, but right now, I would be super happy if I could get his sugars consistently down below 15 even.
 
The thing is, the wet food seems to be more work than the dry food freefeeding. But in my opinion it took a lot more energi from me to worry everytime I was a work if my cat Prop went into a hypo while I was not at home.

I have two cats as well and the one won't eat the wetfood. That means she only eat when I'm home. If i'm away for more than 12 hours I have someone to come by and feed her.

But for me the insulin and me having to be home every 12 hours and worry while I was away, was the main problem, so if I were you, I would begin to experiment with the wet food and monitor her bg very closely with hometesting. The bg can drop a lot just by changing a bit of the dry with wet, so don't make the change and just leave for work.

The other thing is that Caninsulin is not really a good insulin for cats since the drop hits the lowets point pretty early, for my cat it was between 3-4 hours. That means she could be at 22 at the amps and then hit 4 only 3 hours later. That is a big drop in numbers and not very healthy. The rest of the hours until next shoot she was high again. Most people here prefere Lantus, an insulin product that works more slowly and keep the cats numbers down for a longere time. You should consider talking to your vet about a change. In Denmark where I live it is not possible to get Lantus for animald though.
 
Oh and yes this diabetes thing is extremely overwhelming (not spelled right i think ) at first, but your are already doing a lot for your baby just by getting the knowledge you can get from this site. It will be easier in time, but for now it is hard, because you worry about you cats health. But just keep in mind we (everybody in here) have all been where you are and we know what you are going through, so don't be affraid to ask.

As I said in the beginning I am pretty new my selves and I think a lot of the people from the US begin to wake up soon and I know they will give you a lot of good and qualified support.
 
Kyla,

Are you in Europe? If you post your city and country, we may have some members who can help you out locally. Wet lo carb comes in such different brands in different countries. I know in England they prefer the pate flavors of Felix and Whiskas. Here is the non US food chart: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/nonusfd.html

Be aware that when you change from dry to wet, it can make a big difference in bg levels rapidly. Our Oliver went down 100 points overnight when we switched foods. So be sure you are testing regularly with the food change and adjusting the dose as needed.

As Charlotte has said, this is a steep learning curve and very difficult to absorb at first. We all felt that way and can all say it does get so much easier, once you feel more in control of the numbers. Get tests as you can. If you can adjust the test and shot in the am so that you can get another test as you go out the door, that helps. Get a test as you walk in the door, and a couple tests before bed. Data will be your friend.

We do prefer the milder longer lasting insulins but members have had a difficult time getting anything other than Canninsulin in Europe. But as Charlotte can attest, regulation and possible remission is possible with it. It will just take some work.
 
KylaD said:
We give the insulin about 12 hours apart, we haven't missed a dose,we changed his food, he is now on Royal Canin Diabetic dry food...Is it normally this hard to regulate? Should a Cat even be getting 5 units twice a day?? Is there anything I could be doing differently?
Click to expand...

I think the Royal Canin Dry food is your problem. It's 24% carbs, when a diabetic cat should only consume less than 10% carbs in their diet. I would guess that's also why your dose of insulin is so high right now. It's going to be hard to regulate your cat until there's a diet change to low carb wet food.

However, and this is very important: Changing to a low carb wet diet can dramatically reduce your cat's need for insulin.
You want to test frequently and perhaps lower the insulin dose a bit before the diet change is made.

Also, slower acting insulins (like Lantus, aka glargine) seem to have a better success rate with cats. If you are able to change insulins, that would also help you a great deal.

Good luck!
 
There are some health conditions that cause insulin resistance. There are sticky posts in the "Insulin Support Group: Acromegaly, IAA & Cushings" with details about these conditions.

However... Since you are feeding dry food - that is the first "culprit" I would work on.

Transition your cats to high protein, grain free canned food.

I leave this out 24 hours per day for my 4 cats (one diabetic). Fortunately, they are grazers and none are fat.

The main thing about feeding two meals per day is to make sure they come to you at shot time. If you have no problems with your kitty coming at shot time -- don't worry about giving two special meal times.

it is actually easier on the pancreas to have small meals thru the day and night rather than two big pig-outs.

Caninsulin was recalled -- you might check into getting Lantus or Levemir. My Tiggy is on Levemir, and I really like it.
 
Thanks so much for this information!! I am on my way to the Vet now. Going to talk about options, she seems really open to things but whether she agrees on the food change or not, I am doing it!! I will post our plan of action once I get back.!!

Also, I am in Canada :)
 
If you are in Canada, there has been a recall of Canninsulin and you should have other choices. We have many Canadians here whose vets prescribe the longer lasting insulins like PZI, Lantus or Levemir.

Here is the info on the recall. (Canninsulin is called Vetsulin in the US): viewtopic.php?f=19&t=311 You might print it off for your vet.

When you get back start a new topic and ask for Canadian help. We have lots of members there.
 
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