Remission BG levels

[rivergirl]

Hello everyone! I am new to the board, I tried to find an answer to my question before posting, but I am still worrying and questioning if I am doing the right thing, so I figured I would ask, since there are so many of you here, with so much experience!
A quick introduction to my zoo: I have 5 kitties, 3 of them (River, Tess, and Baby Kitty) are healthy (thank goodness!), one (Dewey) has had kidney disease (which is progressing, but thankfully it has been a slow progression) for about 3 years, and the other is Bart, who is the cat in question, so I will tell you about him below. I also have 2 dogs, Lana and Zoe, both healthy for the most part! I have a big heart (maybe too big!!) for animals, and would do anything for my "kids"! So that is my quick intro to my household
My question is about Bart. Bart is about 6 years old, I have had him since he was about 6 months old. He was a rescue, and I would say he has always been a special needs cat, he was abandoned by his mother as a kitten and the best way I can describe him would be to say that if he were a human, he would be considered mentally handicapped. He does not like to be around the other animals or people, and he has his own room that none of the other animals can access, so as far as monitoring his health, I can tell what he's eating/drinking/etc. He has been mostly healthy, until early 2012, when he had some skin issues, which the vet treated with a steroid shot. The issue went away for a few months, but came back, and the vet gave him another steroid shot in mid 2012. His skin got better, but in Nov 2012 I noticed he lost weight, was drinking a lot, etc, and the vet then diagnosed him with diabetes after his blood sugar came back over 400. We treated him with prozinc, starting with 1 unit 2x a day, and changed his diet from free feeding on dry friskies, to free feeding on dry prescription food and a half can of fancy feast classics before each shot. His insulin was slowly increased, and in mid December he got his last dose increase, going from 2 units 2x a day to 2 units in the am and 3 units in the pm. I was monitoring his BG at home (with a One Touch Ultra Mini) and prior to the dose increase he was still testing very high, between 300 and 400 right before each dose. Within a day or two of the increase, he tested below 200, and stayed below 200 thereafter. The vet took him off insulin, and by March we were just spot checking his BG on occasion, which ranged from about 70-100. We decided to attempt a diet change at that time, and switched him to free feeding on Blue Buffalo Wilderness, with no wet food. His BG went down even more, and he has been testing as low as mid 50s to about mid 90s.
My question is, is it possible that he should go back to a regular (non diabetic) diet?? I have done a lot of reading and research, and I am just not quite sure what to do. It seems to me that testing in the mid 50s could be unhealthy, and since I believe his diabetes was caused by receiving steroid shots, and not a genetic or other issue, I just want to make sure that his blood sugar isnt too low and that I don't need to change him back to his pre diabetes diet.
Any advice/opinions are welcome! I realize that the vet can advise on the issue, but the vets first answer to any diet question is always prescription food, and I don't necessarily agree with that, so I wanted to get some different opinions on the matter. Thanks to everyone who takes the time to read or answer my post and best of luck to all of you and your kitties!

 

[Elizabeth and Bertie]

Hello, and welcome to FDMB!

Gosh, that's quite a houseful you have there!

The approximate normal range for a cat's blood glucose is about 49 - 130 (2.7 -7.2), although some cats will test a smidge higher or lower than this. So your cat's blood glucose levels are in the normal range. :smile:

Have you tested the blood glucose of any of your non-diabetic cats? Maybe that would reassure you...?

It does sound like his diabetes was caused by the steroids and returned to normal after a short course on insulin.

I don't know the food you are feeding (I'm in the UK so foods are different here), but here at FDMB we recommend feeding cats wet/canned food (and for diabetics ideally that should be low carb wet/canned food). Some of us here learned the hard way that feeding dry food was causing health problems for our cats (such as diabetes, or urinary tract problems). For the reasons why a wet diet is better than dry do have a look at this website, written by a vet (she can explain it much better than I can!): http://www.catinfo.org/

Best wishes,

Eliz

 

[terriy]

That is a large group you have! I just wanted to say Hi and welcome.
Terriy & Chicken Little

 

[Blue]

If you are not giving any insulin, I would not worry about numbers too low. One of my civvies tests around 42 all the time.

About the food, I think I would not want to take any chances of a relapse and would switch over to a low carb wet food... diabetes is not the only concern with dry food... you can see the health problems caused by dry food on Dr. Lisa's site www.catinfo.org

Gayle

 

[rivergirl]

Thank you Terriy & Chicken Little and Elizabeth and Bertie for the warm welcome!

Yes, it is quite the zoo here! We are pretty much the Brady Bunch. I got Bart and River when I lived on my own. I never really liked dogs, but my fiance brought his Beagle along to the park for our first date and I think she picked me to be her mommy the moment she saw me, and I fell in love with her before I fell in love with him haha!! He had Tess already, and right after we moved in together we took in his sisters cat (Dewey) because she wasn't able to care for him anymore.. Then after we were together for a few years I started getting the urge to have a child with him (a fur child, of course lol!!), so we got Lana a sister (Zoe). Then last spring the fiance came across a kitten who was living under a bush at his work, and being the suckers that we are we took the little guy in since he was all alone. Not that you wanted to know all that, but just thought I would share

In regards to the wet food, Dewey gets some a few times a week, to help keep his weight up, which is very important because of the kidney disease. When Bart was first diagnosed with diabetes I fed him primarily wet but left dry out for him to snack on. After he was in remission for awhile, I made the decision to switch to the Blue Buffalo Wilderness, which is a very high quality, grain free, dry food. My main reasons for switching were convenience and price. I said earlier that I would do anything for my "kids", and I would, and do, but I also have to balance things out the best I can with what we have, especially since I am unemployed right now Anyway, I'm not trying to make excuses, the truth is, I know everyone would probably be better off and I'm sure much happier with me if I gave them all wet food, but like I said, cost and convenience are the reason I switched Bart to dry. He is doing really well on it, so for the time being I think I will keep him on it. I think we are in over our heads with all these animals, but I don't believe in getting "rid" of them, either giving them away or other means... so we give them the best care we can with what we have They NEVER go without anything they need, and we don't take chances if one of them seems to be sick.. Dewey got a nice $200 trip to the Emergency Vet at 3 am for an enema earlier this year, that was fun!! Anyway, I will keep the wet food in mind, perhaps once I have an income and we are caught up on everything I will revisit the thought. I truly appreciate the info and links!

Thank you all for your advice, and thank you VERY much, Gayle, for letting me know about your civvie! I did test Dewey earlier, and he was 88, but then I realized he was the worst one to test on for this purpose, so I might try to test someone else later, like Elizabeth said. I don't really feel worried anymore after hearing what you both had to say, I think he's fine. Now I just feel bad for not feeding him wet food Seriously though, thank you, I don't feel like I need to worry about this issue anymore. I will definitely pay it forward by keeping an eye on the boards and chiming in when I have something helpful to add

 

[Deb & Wink]

Although that Blue Buffalo Wilderness food has no grains, it is still high in carbs. The grains have simply been replaced by potatos, peas and other fruits and vegetables. None of which a cat needs.

It is not a food I would recommend for a diabetic cat in remission. There are a few dry foods for diabetic cats.

It's not just the quality of the dry food, but the carb content which will make a difference. There are a couple of dry foods that are lower carb than the Purina DM 18% or other grain free foods that may appear to be low carb but are not. Hills m/d (15%) . These might help a great deal with the BG control for a diabetic cat or keep a diabetic cat in remission.

1. Natura/Innova Evo Cat & Kitten 8% carb but it has been hit by another recall.
2. Young Again Zero Carb, mail order only, expensive, some cats refuse to eat the different sized chunks, a couple of cats have achieved remission on this dry food. Manufacturer claims 0% carb but carb calculators indicate 5%
3. Nature's Variety Raw Instinct chicken 7%
4. Wellness Core Grain-Free Original Formula (tan gold bag)11%
5. Stella and Chewy’s ? % this is actually a freeze dried food but can be given as a meal. Better rehydrated.

Most dry foods are coated with animal digest and that is what cats love the taste of. There is a product called Fortiflora that you can buy to sprinkle on the canned food. Similar to the animal digest coating of the dry foods and cats love the taste.


p.s. My civie Monet tested 42 on my Relion Confirm glucometer the other day. Civie Delta was 55.

 

[BJM]

With a cat that has renal disease, you want a wet diet, never dry. The kidneys are already working at max capacity and if you reduce the water consumption by feeding dry, you give them more work to do ... which makes them fail that much faster. Please feed canned or raw food!

For great info on feline CRF, go to Tanya's Feline Chronic Kidney Disease website.

Before I knew about this, I treated several renal deficiency/failure cats. It was pretty horrible watching them slowly become sicker, as the toxins the kidneys couldn't remove built up in their bodies.