jrlepage
Member Since 2011
[This is a long post so for those without time to read: Long story short, we discovered Dr. Lisa's website at catinfo.org (especially see the diabetes link) and by switching our diabetic cat from dry Purina DM to canned food we have reduced him from 5.5 units of Lantus twice a day to 0.5 units twice a day, and from BG of low-to-mid 200's to a BG of 82 last night before his shot.]
Hello everyone, our 9-year old, 19 pound kitty Sunny was diagnosed with DM about 18 months ago, and while I briefly poked around here a year ago, I didn't post or spend much time because Sunny's clinical symptoms have been fairly well-regulated. However, his BG has not been until recently, hence my reason for wanting to share what we learned.
Sunny has been a dry food addict all his life, and has a ravenous appetite. Prior to being diagnosed, he often would cry through the night for food and being ignorant (and wanting to sleep), we would throw more dry food in his bowl. He also tended to cry after eating for a minute or so, either from eating too fast or because he was still hungry. When he ate, he would scarf it down like his life depended on it. Aside from his eating habits, however, Sunny was a happy, go-lucky kitty who loved to play and snuggle.
Then 18-months ago, Sunny started showing signs of the "3 P's" (polydispia, polyphagia, polyuria) to the point that we'd have to change the litter every couple of days. He would drink for 10 min and then play with his water, and his appetite was more ravenous than ever. At this point, we got him tested and his BG was in the high 300’s. Liver enzymes were slightly elevated from hepatic lipidosis, but he wasn't passing ketones.
Our vet started Sunny on 1U of Lantus BID, and we followed up four weeks later for a BG curve done at the vet's office. His numbers were still very high (mid to high 200's and low 300's) so we increased to 2U Lantus BID. Sadly, our vet is against home BG monitoring, and gave us the impression that those who home tested were cuckoo or going overboard. Her reasoning was she'd "rather have your cat hate us than you." The vet prescribed dry Purina DM, which we have been feeding him until recently.
As an aside, Sunny is an *awful* patient at the vet's office, to the point that he has to be sedated to have almost anything done. We're talking full-on "Exorcist" growling, hissing and biting. When Sunny's symptoms didn't resolve with 2U of Lantus, I decided that the trauma to him of going to the vet wasn't worth it, and was surely throwing off the BG results, so I got a home meter and did occasional testing (though not nearly enough). I gradually increased Sunny's dose up to 5.5U BID, at which point his outward symptoms stopped but his BG was still in the high 100's at nadir.
At this point I called the vet and she was shocked that I had gone up so high on the insulin, and told me to absolutely go no higher. She said that if his urination and drinking were okay and he wasn't losing weight, then to just keep doing what we were doing. So for about a year Sunny has stayed at 5.5U Lantus BID, eating Purina DM dry, with moderately high BG but no symptoms. Knowing what I do now, I am kicking myself for not digging deeper into the root of his problem, and allowing him to sustain whatever long-term damage he has from the high BG.
THE EPIPHANY:
We had a scary experience a few weeks ago that could have been tragic, but luckily has a happy ending. My wife and I went out of town for 4 days and left Sunny and his sister Cloud with my wife's parents, along with the insulin (having given them a crash course on injecting), as well as CANNED food. This was a pure happenstance, because we were out of dry food and happened to have a case of canned Purina DM that we had bought months ago but never used. Being ignorant about the much lower carb content of canned food, we left instructions to feed 1.5 cans per day and give his usual 5.5U of Lantus BID.
Those of you who know better are probably cringing at this point... Well, 3 days into our trip, we got a panicky phone call from my mother-in-law saying that Sunny had had a seizure. Thank GOD they had the resourcefulness to Google his symptoms and got him to eat treats and dry food. The seizure only lasted about 5 min and he recovered quickly. Within 30 minutes he was bright, alert and responsive. We were thoroughly confused (I actually thought they may have hit a vein while injecting), but told them to hold off on giving any more insulin until we got back the next day. confused_cat
At this point, I stumbled onto Dr. Lisa Pierson's AMAZING website at catinfo.org and learned about the nutritional content of dry versus canned food. After reading her entire site, I was dumbfounded that our vet (at a clinic ONLY for cats) A) prescribed dry food with so much carbs, and B) discouraged home BG monitoring. Three days ago we started Sunny on canned Purina DM (we will probably switch to Wellness brand, but had this on-hand), this time decreasing his insulin, and the results have been absolutely staggering.
Three days ago we gave 2U Lantus BID (down from 5.5), fed 1.5 cans of Purina DM, and a very small amount of dry food mixed in (maybe 1/8 cup total for the day). I was still trying to get blood from him and didn't succeed, so I don't have values from the first two days. On day two, I dropped down to 1U Lantus BID to be extra careful, and did the same feeding regimen. He actually had around 10 Whisker Lickins' also that day (in addition to the 1.5 cans of food and 1/8 cup dry food) as I tried to test his BG. I finally got the hang of where to stick his ear (and went freehand with the lancet instead of using the pen) and his BG read 82 at PMPS. :mrgreen:
We are ecstatic! This is a cat who we couldn't get much under 200 mg/dL even with 5.5U of Lantus, and with just a couple of days on canned food he was under 100 with only 1 unit of insulin. I decreased his dose to 0.5 units this morning (again, to play it safe) and because his AMPS reading this morning was 74!! (Note that he hasn't had any signs of hypoglycemia the past two days and we've been watching closely.) Today I'm going to try and get a +3 and +6 hour BG in addition to AMPS and PMPS. Will probably keep him at 0.5U BID for a few days and if his numbers stay low, come off the insulin completely while continuing to monitor. We will also focus on safely reducing Sunny's weight.
Long story short, if you are new here and feeding dry food, PLEASE read Dr. Lisa Pierson's website about feline nutrition and consider your cat's diet with just as much care as you give to their insulin. She gives an excellent (in my opinion), scientifically-sound argument for why canned food is superior to dry (not just for diabetic cats) both in terms of *much* lower carb content and increased water content for kidney health. It makes so much sense reading about the feline diet in the wild as obligate carnivores, and makes me furious at cat food companies who deceive us by marketing ingredients that seem healthy from a human standpoint (grains, veggies, etc.) but aren't part of a cat's natural diet! I will be forever in debt to Dr. Pierson for opening our eyes about feline nutrition!! We are thinking about switching to a homemade, meat diet once Sunny is stable.
P.S. I've started a Google spreadsheet for Sunny (same template that many others here use) and will add a link to my signature after I take a few more BG readings. What a great way to track your cat's progress!!
Hello everyone, our 9-year old, 19 pound kitty Sunny was diagnosed with DM about 18 months ago, and while I briefly poked around here a year ago, I didn't post or spend much time because Sunny's clinical symptoms have been fairly well-regulated. However, his BG has not been until recently, hence my reason for wanting to share what we learned.
Sunny has been a dry food addict all his life, and has a ravenous appetite. Prior to being diagnosed, he often would cry through the night for food and being ignorant (and wanting to sleep), we would throw more dry food in his bowl. He also tended to cry after eating for a minute or so, either from eating too fast or because he was still hungry. When he ate, he would scarf it down like his life depended on it. Aside from his eating habits, however, Sunny was a happy, go-lucky kitty who loved to play and snuggle.
Then 18-months ago, Sunny started showing signs of the "3 P's" (polydispia, polyphagia, polyuria) to the point that we'd have to change the litter every couple of days. He would drink for 10 min and then play with his water, and his appetite was more ravenous than ever. At this point, we got him tested and his BG was in the high 300’s. Liver enzymes were slightly elevated from hepatic lipidosis, but he wasn't passing ketones.
Our vet started Sunny on 1U of Lantus BID, and we followed up four weeks later for a BG curve done at the vet's office. His numbers were still very high (mid to high 200's and low 300's) so we increased to 2U Lantus BID. Sadly, our vet is against home BG monitoring, and gave us the impression that those who home tested were cuckoo or going overboard. Her reasoning was she'd "rather have your cat hate us than you." The vet prescribed dry Purina DM, which we have been feeding him until recently.
As an aside, Sunny is an *awful* patient at the vet's office, to the point that he has to be sedated to have almost anything done. We're talking full-on "Exorcist" growling, hissing and biting. When Sunny's symptoms didn't resolve with 2U of Lantus, I decided that the trauma to him of going to the vet wasn't worth it, and was surely throwing off the BG results, so I got a home meter and did occasional testing (though not nearly enough). I gradually increased Sunny's dose up to 5.5U BID, at which point his outward symptoms stopped but his BG was still in the high 100's at nadir.
At this point I called the vet and she was shocked that I had gone up so high on the insulin, and told me to absolutely go no higher. She said that if his urination and drinking were okay and he wasn't losing weight, then to just keep doing what we were doing. So for about a year Sunny has stayed at 5.5U Lantus BID, eating Purina DM dry, with moderately high BG but no symptoms. Knowing what I do now, I am kicking myself for not digging deeper into the root of his problem, and allowing him to sustain whatever long-term damage he has from the high BG.
THE EPIPHANY:
We had a scary experience a few weeks ago that could have been tragic, but luckily has a happy ending. My wife and I went out of town for 4 days and left Sunny and his sister Cloud with my wife's parents, along with the insulin (having given them a crash course on injecting), as well as CANNED food. This was a pure happenstance, because we were out of dry food and happened to have a case of canned Purina DM that we had bought months ago but never used. Being ignorant about the much lower carb content of canned food, we left instructions to feed 1.5 cans per day and give his usual 5.5U of Lantus BID.
Those of you who know better are probably cringing at this point... Well, 3 days into our trip, we got a panicky phone call from my mother-in-law saying that Sunny had had a seizure. Thank GOD they had the resourcefulness to Google his symptoms and got him to eat treats and dry food. The seizure only lasted about 5 min and he recovered quickly. Within 30 minutes he was bright, alert and responsive. We were thoroughly confused (I actually thought they may have hit a vein while injecting), but told them to hold off on giving any more insulin until we got back the next day. confused_cat
At this point, I stumbled onto Dr. Lisa Pierson's AMAZING website at catinfo.org and learned about the nutritional content of dry versus canned food. After reading her entire site, I was dumbfounded that our vet (at a clinic ONLY for cats) A) prescribed dry food with so much carbs, and B) discouraged home BG monitoring. Three days ago we started Sunny on canned Purina DM (we will probably switch to Wellness brand, but had this on-hand), this time decreasing his insulin, and the results have been absolutely staggering.
Three days ago we gave 2U Lantus BID (down from 5.5), fed 1.5 cans of Purina DM, and a very small amount of dry food mixed in (maybe 1/8 cup total for the day). I was still trying to get blood from him and didn't succeed, so I don't have values from the first two days. On day two, I dropped down to 1U Lantus BID to be extra careful, and did the same feeding regimen. He actually had around 10 Whisker Lickins' also that day (in addition to the 1.5 cans of food and 1/8 cup dry food) as I tried to test his BG. I finally got the hang of where to stick his ear (and went freehand with the lancet instead of using the pen) and his BG read 82 at PMPS. :mrgreen:
We are ecstatic! This is a cat who we couldn't get much under 200 mg/dL even with 5.5U of Lantus, and with just a couple of days on canned food he was under 100 with only 1 unit of insulin. I decreased his dose to 0.5 units this morning (again, to play it safe) and because his AMPS reading this morning was 74!! (Note that he hasn't had any signs of hypoglycemia the past two days and we've been watching closely.) Today I'm going to try and get a +3 and +6 hour BG in addition to AMPS and PMPS. Will probably keep him at 0.5U BID for a few days and if his numbers stay low, come off the insulin completely while continuing to monitor. We will also focus on safely reducing Sunny's weight.
Long story short, if you are new here and feeding dry food, PLEASE read Dr. Lisa Pierson's website about feline nutrition and consider your cat's diet with just as much care as you give to their insulin. She gives an excellent (in my opinion), scientifically-sound argument for why canned food is superior to dry (not just for diabetic cats) both in terms of *much* lower carb content and increased water content for kidney health. It makes so much sense reading about the feline diet in the wild as obligate carnivores, and makes me furious at cat food companies who deceive us by marketing ingredients that seem healthy from a human standpoint (grains, veggies, etc.) but aren't part of a cat's natural diet! I will be forever in debt to Dr. Pierson for opening our eyes about feline nutrition!! We are thinking about switching to a homemade, meat diet once Sunny is stable.
P.S. I've started a Google spreadsheet for Sunny (same template that many others here use) and will add a link to my signature after I take a few more BG readings. What a great way to track your cat's progress!!
