Scared Hungry foster cat

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Acadia and Vixen

Acadia and Vixen

Member Since 2021
Hi all,

I’ve taken in a diabetic foster cat. She’s been in sheltered for 6-9 months, and we have no idea how long she’s had unregulated diabetes. She came to me underweight, and with sugars in the 500-700s.

I’m doing glargine, and the shelter instructed q12 food/insulin. This worked for our resident cat and she went into remission (but vetsulin, not glargine).

Foster cat, however, is so so anxious and also a bit food aggressive. She’s still so underweight. I don’t think feeding q12 is working for her. I can’t free-feed - she eat until explodes. I AM considering feeding frequently. She gets wet low carb food only.

Heres my fear/possible plan.
- feeding small meals say, every 3 hrs
- total calorie count per 24hrs calculated to get her weight UP (knowing I’ll need to titrate everything down later when she’s regained weight)
- continue q12 insulin (adjusting every 3-4 days based on BGs every 3 hrs or so)
- not aim REALLY tight control (ie be fine with nadirs of 100-150)
Fear - what about overnight when I’m asleep? I’ll skip at least one of this mini-meals - maybe two.

thoughts, advice, other plan ideas for this poor scared sick kitty?
 
Good morning! I'm not qualified to make the call, but just wanted to know I'm rooting for you and thing you're amazing for taking this sweet kitty in! I think your plan looks pretty good and with regulation will come less fear. Skipping mini meals in the middle of the night I don't think should be a problem as she probably isn't getting that anyway under current circumstances, but I will defer to others who know much more than me. Thank you again for helping this sugar baby get healthy!
 
Hi Welcome! You have a big heart taking in a foster kitty and helping get his diabetes under control :bighug:

Unregulated kitties cannot absorb nutrients efficiently so they need 1.5-2x their normal food intake. And, most kitties do great with a larger meal at PS times and then a few smaller meals throughout the day. For Jax, I feed half of his food for his cycle at PS and then snacks at +2/+4/+6. I use an auto feeder to feed the snacks - especially helpful at night (because sleep!). Of course, if Jax is having an active cycle, I'll test and feed as needed.

If you are able to get set-up with a Spreadsheet and signature, that would help everyone here help you and your sweet sugar cat. Can you check out The Basics: New to the group? Start here post. If you need help or have any questions, just ask!

Hope that helps some - perhaps a mod can stop by when they log on - @Marje and Gracie or @Wendy&Neko or @Sienne and Gabby (GA) :bighug:
 
HI, As you had a diabetic kitty before, you probably already know this but every cat is different and until you can see some data for your new cat it would be difficult for anyone to give you advice.

With regards to food, lots of cats here do weel with lots of small meals, so this isa good plan. However, some need help in the beggining of the cycle, and some will not do weel with food on the second part of the cycle. Her extreme hunger is part of being in very high numbers and it should get better as BG gets controlled.

Overnight food - many here have an automatic pet feeder (i bought a used one off ebay) to give them support at night?

Lantus is gentler than vetsulin, but it works a bit different due to the depot. It might be a good idea to read the sticky notes on top of the forum to get your head around it and ask lots of questions!
 
I’ll have to come back in a bit to respond as it’s cat feeding time around here but I did move your thread to Main Health where we ask all new members to start. The insulin support group is for more advanced Lantau users.

Bkess you for taking in this sweet soul. BBL.
 
You could use an automatic feeder for providing meals during the night. But you want to make sure it closes or changes to an empty slot 2 hours before your AM test so the food does not affect the BG reading.

Thank you for taking her in. Once she becomes stabilized and her glucose levels are under control you may be able to reduce the number of meals she needs.
 
Feeding multiple small meals is fine. Some cats like to graze. As Lisa noted, you want to hold food 2 hours prior to a shot so the pre-shot test number isn't influenced by food. A timed feeder is an option for the PM cycle or times when you're away from home. You'll want to keep an eye on the blood glucose numbers. For some cats, if you are providing food after nadir it can cause numbers to rise a bit more quickly since there's less insulin available to offset the effect of food.

I would encourage you to get a few more tests. With Lantus, the dose is based on the lowest point in the cycle. The pre-shot test lets you know if it's safe to shoot. You may want to do a curve (testing every 2 hours) so you have an idea of when onset and nadir occur. I should also point out that Lantus is a very different insulin than Vetsulin. It has a much longer duration and doesn't drop numbers in the same way as Vetsulin. You are able to test, feed, and shoot all within minutes since Lantus onset isn't until about 2 hours after you give an injection. You may want to take a look at the sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board so you get a feel for how Lantus works.
 
Do you know what type of food Vixen was getting before she came home to foster with you? What type of food is she getting now? I'm just a little worried with the 1 unit jump up insulin dose lately if there was also a change in food. We typically change insulin doses by 0.25 or 0.5 units at a time. If you haven't got half unit marked syringes already, I'd look at getting some.
 
sadly, we have no idea what she was being fed... She spent Aug 2020 - mid Jan in a shelter that's very very overfilled and under-staffed. There were a few records that suggested she had some glucoses into the 600s there, and had recently been titrated up to 5 or 6U, twice a day. But it also looked like she was being fed at like 8a and 5p... And we don't know how long she's had diabetes - she may have had it since before going into the shelter system. I would be very skeptical that there was any regularity to what was happening at the first shelter although they do their best.

She was transferred to the new rescue 1/20 or so and was started on Purina DM. They stepped backward to 2U BID, then 3U BID, now 4U. I'd like to slow the changes down now. For the last day or two her polyuria has slowed down, which seems to be a great thing. I'm also transitioning her to Friskies pate, so also don't want to step up insulin perhaps until that's settled in a little.

Today was the first mini-meal day and, so far, it's been AMAZING! Her behavior and calmness is so much better, and sugars more steady too. I'm really hopeful!
 
Yes, it's a good thing when the polyuria slows down!

Having worked at a shelter, I'd suspect they had dry food down as well as possibly wet. You tend to feed whatever gets donated. Good to hear you are transitioning her to something that works for diabetics.

Good job on data collection today, with a couple more days like that, we'll have a better idea what to do next with the dose. Given that you've seen numbers under 200, if you need to increase, it wouldn't be more that by 0.25 units.
 
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