Still learning and would love some advice

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Nate

Nate

Member Since 2016
Hi everyone,

We are new to dealing with feline diabetes and we were hoping to solicit some advice on what to do right now.

We have been monitoring our cat's (Floyd) bg for almost two weeks now and we certainly don't his diabetes managed yet. When we initially bought the meter, we panicked and increased his insulin from 1 unit to 2.5 units over the course of two days (mistake). Since then, we have been slowly decreasing his dosage because we believe that in response to the increased insulin Floyd began glucose dumping. That being said, we were still consistently over 300, but looking better. Being new to this we accidentally skipped a dose the pm of 5/16, and were shocked to see that Floyd was doing better without insulin than with. In fear of messing anything up (and now starting to get concerns that he was misdiagnosed), we have stopped giving him insulin and have been monitoring him very closely.

Surprise - we've had our best day and a half since we've started tracking since he has been off the insulin (while I acknowledge it isn't great because he is still in the 200s). Floyd's activity level and eating have been normal throughout all of this. Because he is still in the 200s, I imagine we were a bit optimistic to think that he didn't have diabetes, but I'm not sure what to do next. I'm thinking start small? Maybe half a unit tonight and monitor him to see what happens?

I'll also add that we have been in the process of transitioning him to wet food, but it is a slow process as he just doesn't like it so he is primarily getting EVO dry food at the moment.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this! Thank you!!

Nate & Alexis

Original post = http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-here-need-help.157479/
 
Welcome to FDMB. It sounds like you have had a rocky start to your treatment program with Floyd.

Congratulations on starting home testing!!

You mentioned that you are in the process of transitioning him from dry food to an all wet low carb diet. Changing from dry to low carb wet can drop glucose numbers, in some cases by as much as 100 points, depending on the kitty. Some of our members have even been able to get their kitties off insulin in a short period of time with changing to an appropriate diet.

Lantus should never be increased by such large increments as you did before. We all panic when we see high numbers but if dose increases ARE needed they are done in 1/4 unit incrememts. By increasing the dose that high it could have caused Flyod's glucose to drop quite low and then the body releases counter-regulatory hormones which will cause the glucose to "bounce" up much higher. So it could appear that the kitty needs more insulin when in fact less insulin is called for.

Setting up a spreadsheet..

instructions are here:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

and putting all readings you have done as well as the amount of insulin doses you have given, will give a much better picture on how Flyod is responding to the insulin. With the food change you need to be very careful not to give too much insulin, since as I explained some kitties can drop a lot with removing dry food from their diet.

It may be that Floyd will need some insulin, especially while you are still transitioning to wet food but without having more data it is very hard to say what starting dose would be best. If you need help with the spreadsheet just ask and someone can help you set it up. (I needed help :) )


ETA Sorry..I was told you already had a spreadsheet set up...I totally missed it...sheesh!!
 
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the partial addition of wet food might be impacting his BG in a good way./

i'm not sure what to suggest about the dosing. i'll leave that to more experienced members.
floyd is a handsome fella! :kiss:
 
Now that I have looked at your spreadsheet ( which I totally missed in my first posting :rolleyes: ) it would appear that Floyd may still need some insulin while he transitions over to the all wet low carb diet. You had started at 1 unit initially and this would be a good place to start. Since you are doing lots of monitoring you will be able to track the numbers through the cycle. You would need to hold the dose for 1 week...unless the numbers fall too low... His numbers are not too bad but still too high to go without some insulin. Once the transition away from dry food is totally complete, you may find that he will need less insulin, so definitely continue with the monitoring.

You can post a new posting every day with his glucose levels and get advise on a daily basis.



ETA What type of wet food are you changing Flyod over to?
 
Thank you all so much for your thoughts (and compliments - he's a handsome fella!). Is 1 unit the minimum you would recommend starting with? As you'll see in the spreadsheet, we had him on one unit initially, and that is when we got higher numbers than we wanted on our true to go meter (which we have replaced with a bayer and a relion because it was horribly inaccurate). I should also note that because of some life events, no one will be able to monitor his bg starting Thursday evening - Friday night (but we do have someone coming to give him insulin). Because of that, I was thinking a lower dose of insulin may be better? I could be way off here so let me know what you think.

In regards to the wet food - right now, we are just trying everything to see if he will like it. Our vet recommended the Wellness Core (which he doesn't seem to like), but I've had some luck with the BFF brand and another that I'm forgetting the name of right now. Any suggestions?

Thank you all so much for helping out in this stressful time. We just want to take the best care possible of our little guy and can't express how grateful I am to have found this community :bighug:
 
Nate said:
Thank you all so much for your thoughts (and compliments - he's a handsome fella!). Is 1 unit the minimum you would recommend starting with? As you'll see in the spreadsheet, we had him on one unit initially, and that is when we got higher numbers than we wanted on our true to go meter (which we have replaced with a bayer and a relion because it was horribly inaccurate). I should also note that because of some life events, no one will be able to monitor his bg starting Thursday evening - Friday night (but we do have someone coming to give him insulin). Because of that, I was thinking a lower dose of insulin may be better? I could be way off here so let me know what you think.

In regards to the wet food - right now, we are just trying everything to see if he will like it. Our vet recommended the Wellness Core (which he doesn't seem to like), but I've had some luck with the BFF brand and another that I'm forgetting the name of right now. Any suggestions?

Thank you all so much for helping out in this stressful time. We just want to take the best care possible of our little guy and can't express how grateful I am to have found this community :bighug:
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How far along are you with changing from dry to wet food? Good wet foods are the Friskies pate or the Fancy Feat pate...I believe it is the classic type...but no food with any gravy. I can't find the listing for carbs for Wellness Core right off..sorry.

Floyd's numbers the last two days without any insulin are not really bad, but they are high enough that he should have some insulin. If you could do a complete change from dry food to low car wet food that could make a difference.

You could try a starting dose of 1/2 unit which can be done easily if you have the syringes with the 1/2 unit markings. HOWEVER he should still be tested since it is very hard to say how quickly he could react to the change to wet food plus a low dose of insulin. Is there a time frame when you would be able to do glucose testing again. If you are away for a short period it might be prudent to wait until you are back to start insulin.
 
Tuxedo Mom said:
How far along are you with changing from dry to wet food? Good wet foods are the Friskies pate or the Fancy Feat pate...I believe it is the classic type...but no food with any gravy. I can't find the listing for carbs for Wellness Core right off..sorry.

Floyd's numbers the last two days without any insulin are not really bad, but they are high enough that he should have some insulin. If you could do a complete change from dry food to low car wet food that could make a difference.

You could try a starting dose of 1/2 unit which can be done easily if you have the syringes with the 1/2 unit markings. HOWEVER he should still be tested since it is very hard to say how quickly he could react to the change to wet food plus a low dose of insulin. Is there a time frame when you would be able to do glucose testing again. If you are away for a short period it might be prudent to wait until you are back to start insulin.
Click to expand...

Great, thank you for the food recommendation. I'll grab a couple of those tonight and see how it goes. It varies on the type of wet food how interested he is, but I haven't had any luck without putting at least some dry food on top of the wet food to get him interested. Fingers crossed getting him to wet food will be the difference! I will note that we were instructed to give him the EVO food since it is the lowest carb dry food available.

I will be able to test him for 24 hours until he will be left. I am thinking I will start him on half a dose tonight, test him regularly through the night, and go from there? I would be able to give him another dose tomorrow morning and monitor him through the day as well. It will be the following 24 hours that we would be unable to test. Is this preferable or am I better off just waiting 48 hours to start the insulin when we can test for more than 24 hours initially?
 
Hi Nate &Floyd! He is so handsome.
You mentioned having trouble getting him to eat without dry on top.
Might I suggest if you have Cat man do bonita flakes or pure bites freeze dried chicken treats. Sometimes I crush and sprinkle on top of his wet food. Fritz gobbles it all up :cat:
 
Nate said:
Great, thank you for the food recommendation. I'll grab a couple of those tonight and see how it goes. It varies on the type of wet food how interested he is, but I haven't had any luck without putting at least some dry food on top of the wet food to get him interested. Fingers crossed getting him to wet food will be the difference! I will note that we were instructed to give him the EVO food since it is the lowest carb dry food available.

I will be able to test him for 24 hours until he will be left. I am thinking I will start him on half a dose tonight, test him regularly through the night, and go from there? I would be able to give him another dose tomorrow morning and monitor him through the day as well. It will be the following 24 hours that we would be unable to test. Is this preferable or am I better off just waiting 48 hours to start the insulin when we can test for more than 24 hours initially?
Click to expand...

I would just wait until you are back. Lantus can take several days to build up the depot so you may not see the true results for a few days. You are doing a great job testing at home and waiting a few more days to restart the insulin should not be a problem. Floyd's numbers are higher but not in a terrible range. In the meantime you can continue the transition to wet food. You could also try putting a spoonful of tuna juice on the wet. The smellier the better to encourage eating :)
 
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