Taking dry food out of the equation & insulin needs!

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Steph & Cuddles (GA)

Steph & Cuddles (GA)

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Please check the muscle twitching thread below! (or above.. I know they move around now) I'm just really worried that this post went unnoticed because of the topic title most likely, and now they're going to shoot the same dose now, w/o dry food being fed anymore! I know nothing about dosing with the current insulins, but I DO know that insulin needs drop when you take away the dry food! nailbite_smile

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=45333#p486293
 
I cut out dry food over the weekend. My cat Tony (DX'd 2-3 weeks ago) is on 4U in the morning and 3U in the evening of (Caninsulin) insulin. This was recommended by the vet after a glucose curve last week... he was still on Hills MD Dry food though.

I removed the dry food and his BG went from around 550 to around the low 300's. I would NOT give Tony his insulin without testing first with the food switch.

Over the weekend i YouTubed glucose testing in diabetic cats and there are a ton of video's on there. The vid's really make it look easy... and to my surprise... it IS EASY! i don't even think he feels it.

Anyway, I still don't know if I'm giving Tony too much insulin or not (can't test all day... work) but when his numbers are in the low 300's, i only give him 3 units in the morning instead of 4. Again i have NO idea if this is correct... but i feel better about him having high sugar than going hypo because i know i'm slowly bringing the sugar down over the long run... it's all about balance!

I was totally stressed about doing the test... but i figured, it looks easy on youtube, and if everyone here can do it... i should be able to!
 
Great job testing! It truly isn't hard as you have proven - I think that we are all so concerned about hurting our kitties that we build it up to some gigantic procedure.

The action of Caninsulin isn't like the longer acting ones. In nearly all cats, the insulin only lasts maybe 10 hours, so by the time you are testing before the shot you are seeing a bg with basically no insulin. The lowest bg (and therefore maximum effect of the insulin) should be between 4 and 6 or 7 hours after the shot. Is there any way that you can get a couple of tests over a few days in that range? Maybe the moment you dash in the door from work? Or just before going to bed? The preshot numbers are very important to be sure that the cat is high enough to give insulin, but you really need to know how much it usually drops his bg to make complete sense of the preshot number with Caninsulin.

If you look at this page - about 1/3 of the way down there is a graph called "Feline Activity Graph". It shows that the bg was 450 b4 insulin was given and between 4 and 6 hours after the shot the bg had dropped to around 180. The bg then started to climb again. This is just to show why the tests are so important for Caninsulin - the preshot and the mid-cycle so that you are sure that your kitty isn't dropping too low. Also why its important to leave some frozen food for grazing in case the cat goes low - most cats will eat when they fell their bg going low.

http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Caninsulin
 
Very good points -

it will be tough during the week, but my fiance works funny hours... on Thursday she may be able to test at 11am which is +4... by the time i get home it's +10. We've actually left the wet food down during the day so he can graze... he usually doesn't eat during the day though... when we get home he is usually hungry though.

This coming weekend i plan on doing a 12 or 24 hour curve to get the real picture and make adjustments if needed.

thanks for the link! i didn't know all of that information before :)
 
What I used to do during the work week was test in the PM cycle--I would set an alarm for the number I needed, test, and go right back to bed (and I worried about the spreadsheet in the morning). Yes, it was a slight pain in the butt, but worth it to not worry about hypos and to adjust Bandit's dose correctly. And it ultimately saved me time when he went into remission because I was able to get him regulated relatively quickly.

Have you thought about switching to a longer acting insulin like Lantus? It has a better remission rate and now would be a good time to make the switch now that you've ditched the dry. It's a good opportunity to start over with the new insulin at a lower dose.
 
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