reply from confused

[don & chubby & gus]

Thank you all for your replies. I have allready a copy of Melissa and popcorn, and Jojo and bunny's posts. As soon as I start learning how to do things here I will have a picture of chubby. I have not started home testing yet because I cannot, at the moment, afford to. It is my first priority though(sreadsheet to). I take care of 22 other little buddies that came across my path. Chubby was an outside, pretty wild guy when I first noticed him. It took 9 months of sitting in the mourning and eavning to just get 1 pet. Things grdually got better to a point. It wasn't until last christmas (2 years) that I cought him in the basement. I still cannot pick him up but he will climb un my chest when I lay down and then enjoys being scratched. He is still fairly skttish but that is ok. I can only imagine what he has been through. Chubby and I will get through this as well with what I learn here from all of you.

Thank you

Don & chubby

As of this eavning, 7-11-10, chubby has not recieved anymore glargine since yesterday. I will call the vet in the mourning and see what they say. Just from what I have seen so far, a unit once a day may be to much. The Purina DM is a dry food with high protein and low carbs and that is what the vet said to feed him.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Hi Don,

First, I know it is hard to take advice from strangers on the internet. But the truth is that everyone here has or had a diabetic cat and successfully treated them. Most vets see only a few diabetic cats a year. This site sees hundreds a week. I see it like a GP - they know a little about a lot of things. I love my vet but she started us on a dose of 4 units twice a day and was not up to date on the food issue. I came on this site the same day and started hometesting, lowered the dose and went for a wet, lo carb diet. I am convinced it saved Oliver's life. If we hadn't been hometesting, we would have given him too much insulin. On the advice received here, Oliver was off insulin in 6 months. We still agree to disagree with our vet on diet, and we go to her for all medical stuff. But I get my information about diabetes here.

A meter (ReliOn from Walmart is the least expensive), lancets and strips will cost less than one vet visit. And you would know what is really going on with Chubby's blood glucose rather than guessing what is happening. We have ways to test difficult cats. Chubby doesn't sound difficult but he may take a little extra work on your part since he is skittish.

Insulin like lantus usually works 12 hours in cats. Insulin doesn't last for 24 hours. Giving insulin once a day is problematic.. It can mean that his blood sugars will go lower with the insulin, and then way up during the 12 hours he has no insulin. Human diabetics have described this as a roller coaster - a very uncomfortable one. It makes much more sense to cut the dose in half and give it every 12 hours.

Dry purina is not low carb. It is 15% carbs. Read the ingredients. It has corn and other grains. This is like feeding donuts to a human diabetic. We try to stay between 8-10% carbs. Please check out this site by a vet who explains why dry food is not good for cats: http://www.catinfo.org

I know it is strange to consider advice from the internet. But we do know what we are talking about. It is possible if you go to a wet, lo carb diet, Chubby could go into remission - without insulin. But the only way to know that is to test him at home and really know where his levels are.

 

[pamela and tigger]

The Purina DM is a dry food with high protein and low carbs and that is what the vet said to feed him.

ANY dry food will raise the bg levels even the vet prescribed one. So since you are withholding his insulin for the time being you might change him over to a low carb canned food diet and maybe he won't need any insulin at all. I take it you are going to have his bg levels retested in a couple of days at the vet?

You can read what Dr. Lisa says here about dry food diets and why they are bad particularly for diabetics (many, many vets agree with her):

http://www.catinfo.org/

As already mentioned it is a good idea to also check his urine for any ketone buildup plus you can test for glucose in his urine at the same time with some Ketodiastix from your pharmacy. Here is a link with some info:

http://www.sugarpet.net/urine.html