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yygms1978

yygms1978

Member Since 2016
I've recently been posting often here as the first four years with this illness I wasn't aware of this site. Evidently I have been doing things wrong by feeding my diabetic Merrick dry food which is about 30% carb. After reading many of your posts I made the decision to incorporate more wet and a better dry food. For what food I've been giving a little bit of Fancy Feast and incorporating Wellness Core also. I just picked up the Evo cat food also and was soon going to transition to that as I would have done that in place of the Wellness Core because I know it's lower carbs but the store needed to order it.
Before the change of foods I was getting numbers no higher than the low 300s. Unfortunately I'm not able to get many 5-Hour readings because I'm at work or asleep when this happens. But the couple that I did get about a week ago Were low one of them being 60 and one of them being in the low 100s. I was without any strips so I did not test for about 5 or 6 days. Recently I've been testing and he is in the mid-to-high 300s. Most recently just now which is 8 hours post shot at 343..
I'm wondering why this is if I got rid of the very high carb food and am now using a lower carb food even if just slightly lowe. I am also very stressed out because his legs appear to becoming weaker. Four years ago he had neuropathy and lost a lot of hind leg function. 6 months Into it he got them back!. I have not noticed increased drinking or increased urinating. So I don't even know if this is diabetes related or if it's arthritis but it hurts me to watch. I have been his sole caretaker as I live alone for the past 4 years and financially and emotionally this has weighed on me greatly. I am sure I will have more questions so thank you in advance for being patient with me! I'm just very overwhelmed with all the information I'm reading here and trying to make positive changes and it saddens me when I see them not happening. I apologize for not having a spreadsheet I am a teacher and once the summer hits I will have more time to take more readings.
 
Even the "lower" carb dry foods can still cause high BG in some cats--Bandit is one of these. He can eat canned foods at 9-10% carbs with no problem, but if I give him just a few pieces of EVO dry as treat his blood glucose will shoot up over 100 points. This is because dry foods (even the lower carb ones) must contain a starch to bind it together, which is high glycemic. Would it be possible for you to phase out the dry food completely? If your cat will eat canned food, there's really no reason to feed the dry. You can freeze canned food and set it out (or in auto feeders if your cat will gnaw at the frozen pieces like both of mine will) for when you're not home or sleeping.

Dry food (in any form) also is hard on the kidneys and urinary tract in cats because it's chronically dehydrating (cats have different moisture needs with their food than people or dogs), so it's best to get away from it completely regardless. Unregulated diabetic cats have a lot of stress on both, so you want to do your best to help reduce that stress by keeping them as hydrated as possible. That means feeding a canned diet, and possibly even adding a bit of water to it to get as much moisture in them as possible.

There is a supplement called Zobaline that works wonders with neuropathy in cats--if Cody has been unregulated for some time, it's likely the issue. It's a methyl-B12 supplement, so there's no harm in trying it out. I would definitely give it a shot--I've seen it work wonders with neuropathy in several of the diabetic cats I've helped treat. Getting his numbers under good control will also help the neuropathy a great deal.

Once school is out, I would definitely recommend getting your spreadsheet set up and heading over to the Lantus forum! There's a ton of very helpful folks there that can give you detailed dosing advice to help get his BG under better control. :)
 
First of all, take a deep breath, school will be out soon....
These :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug: are for you. Absorbing all the information available on this forum takes some time. I've been reading here for a year now and I learn something new every day. :bookworm: I also found that posting daily for assistance really helped my learning so I could help my kitty better. :cat: Hang in there. You are not alone.
 
Thank you. I've been afraid to go to totally wet food since I'm. Not home to monitor him. Was thinking about doing it in a few weeks when schools out. And I'm aware that I will most likely have to adjust his insulin and honestly I'm Overwhelmed and don't know what to do when to do it if that makes sense. So it's like I've been avoiding cause I'm afraid of any mistakes I could make with dosing once I make the transition.
My vet didn't think it was neuropathy since for first few weeks of testing he was getting low..good readings. I just ordered the supplement cosequin for him thinking it may be arthritis.
 
Also. What determines if a cat is "regulated". We've been 4 aND a half years with no major problems having to adjust the insulin here or there based on his food behavior. We've also done blood work every 6 months. How do I know he is he's not regulated. We've been 2 units twice a day for a long time now. As I said I haven't seen an increase in urine or water. His weight went up over a pound within past six months also.

Also when I transition to totally wet within 2 weeks what am I looking for that's to cue me to drop insulin amount. What kind of numbers and when. Ahhhh! scared . We've never had a case of hypo (that I've known of) and I never home tested past 4 yrs . I guess I've been lucky! !!! And now that I am. .I am more worried!
 
HI!!
I am not an expert I just want to welcome you and reassure you that you are not alone!
Instead of thinking "it has been 4 years" lets be happy it has not been 5:bighug::bighug:
when we know better we do better:cat:
I am sure some experts will stop by -- regulation (Tight regulation) is when your cat is under the renal threshold and internal damage is not happening.
Dre and I have been at this almost a year and we still have tons to learn.... keep watching -read other threads-- take a break when you need to-and the 1 thing I can tell you is the more data (home testing) you have the better the experts can help you:)
:bighug::bighug::bighug:
 
yygms1978 said:
Also. What determines if a cat is "regulated". We've been 4 aND a half years with no major problems having to adjust the insulin here or there based on his food behavior. We've also done blood work every 6 months. How do I know he is he's not regulated. We've been 2 units twice a day for a long time now. As I said I haven't seen an increase in urine or water. His weight went up over a pound within past six months also.
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A cat is considered well regulated if most of its daily blood glucose numbers are under the renal threshold--in cats, the renal threshold can be anywhere from 180-250. A cat that is tightly regulated would have most of their daily blood glucose numbers in the normal range for a cat. Some people here shoot for a well regulated cat with their dosing (Start Low Go Slow), and some shoot for a tightly regulated cat (Tight Regulation Protocol), but the goal with both is to get their BG under the renal threshold so that their body isn't suffering damage from the diabetes. Here are the different stages of regulation:
  • Not treated [blood glucose typically above 300 mg/dl (16.7 mmol/L), poor clinical signs]
  • Treated but not regulated [often above 300 (16.7) and rarely near 100 (5.6), poor clinical signs]
  • Regulated [generally below 300 (16.7) with glucose nadir near 100 (5.6), good clinical signs, no hypoglycemia]
  • Well regulated [generally below 200-250 (11.1-13.9) and often near 100 (5.6), no hypoglycemia]
  • Tightly regulated [generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin]
  • Normalized [60-120 (3.3-6.7) except perhaps directly after meals -- usually not receiving insulin]
Unfortunately, it's very difficult to tell if a cat is regulated or not if you're not home testing. Home urine testing can be an indication--if the kidneys are spilling glucose into the urine, a cat is not regulated. Behavior and urine output can be an indication he's maybe regulated, but without home testing there's no way to know for sure-it's more of a guess.

yygms1978 said:
Also when I transition to totally wet within 2 weeks what am I looking for that's to cue me to drop insulin amount. What kind of numbers and when. Ahhhh! scared . We've never had a case of hypo (that I've known of) and I never home tested past 4 yrs . I guess I've been lucky! !!! And now that I am. .I am more worried!
Click to expand...

Don't be scared! You'll know when to drop the insulin from your home testing numbers, or if you're very nervous you could drop the dose when the dry food is removed, knowing that that the food change will likely reduce his insulin need, and then work your dose back up to what he needs with one of the two Lantus dosing methods. Make sure you're testing at least 3 times a day--once before each shot to make sure it's safe to give insulin, and one mid-cycle test to see how low he's dropping. If he gets below 50 (if you're using a human meter, 70 if you're using a pet meter) at any point, it's time to drop the dose according to the guidelines and treat the low BG. It usually take a severe hypo incident to show physical symptoms--you'll be catching any mild hypos (if you even have any--Bandit dropped below 50 maybe 4 times in the approximate 2 years total he was on insulin? I just fed him some higher carb canned food and he was fine...we've never had a severe hypo incident.) in plenty of time to treat them. If you're not sure what to do, you can always ask for advice in the Lantus forum. There's always someone there to help.

You should feel way less scared now that you're home testing, because you're not depending on luck anymore! Your home testing numbers will tell you exactly what to do, and if he drops too low you'll catch it and treat it. And his numbers will also tell you what to do with the dose. I like to think of regulation like shooting at a dart board--the bullseye is tight regulation, the area around that is good regulation, etc. When you're not home testing, you're shooting at the board blindfolded, and hitting that bullseye is pretty impossible. Once you're home testing, the amount of data that you collect lets you stand closer to board, making it much easier to try and hit what you're aiming for.
 
I understand why you feel worried about the safety of your little one when you can't be home to monitor and intervene when necessary. Last summer when I was exactly where you are right now I too felt overwhelmed and unsure that I would know what to do when it was necessary or even how to do it. I learned pretty fast with help from the kind and experienced people like @Julia & Bandit who has given you great information above. :) Although I know it's the end of the school year and you have mountains of details to attend to... yes, I'm a teacher too... my suggestion is that you use your weekends when you have a tiny bit more time to begin getting a few more tests. Maybe two hours after insulin in the morning and two hours after insulin in the evening would work for you??? Don't worry about interpreting what those numbers mean right now. That can come later. We will help you. Just start getting some more tests now so you can look back in a few weeks and begin to learn how insulin works in your cat. Knowledge is power and such a confidence booster in my experience. :bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug:These are for you because it's Wednesday and encouragement is always needed on Wednesdays at the end of a school year.
 
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