I just wanted to post a note and thank everyone on this group. In November 2013 my 13 year old cat Natty, was diagnosed with diabetes with readings of over 20 mmol/L blood glucose. After coming home from the vets with insulin, syringes and a $30 bag of special prescription food I started researching and found this page. I read over a lot of posts and I just had to let you know how things are going because I think the info I learned here was critical.
My vet went over the special food requirements and made sure we could give Natty her needles before we went home but he never once mentioned that we could get a glucose meter. Once we got home I felt like we were driving the car blind giving 2 injections a day and not knowing what Natty's glucose levels were. So I started reading and immediately took two critical pieces of advice - I bought a glucose meter and I switched Natty exclusively to low carb wet food (Fancy Feast).
After a few days I noticed that a few hours after her morning insulin Natty would eat like ske was going to devour the bowl along with her food. I also noticed she felt a little cold and she was hiding out on the bed all day (not that she was active before but she usually naps in whatever room we are in). Her glucose readings were also showing higher levels a few hours after her shot so I thought she may be "overcompensating" with glucose from her liver. I called the vet to ask if he thought we were giving her too much insulin and he was absolutely floored that we had a meter. I also told him that we took her off all dry food (as well as the Hills prescription wet) and he harrumphed that they were scientifically developed for diabetic cats. I said I was worried that we had just drastically reduced the sugar in her diet so I was concerned.
He said to keep with the same dose and he would evaluate in a few days when we took her in for a glucose curve.
We dropped her off at he vets in the morning for her all day glucose curve and left our meter as well for comparison. I guess by lunch time the vet had to administer glucose - first via gums and then IV. She was stressed and wasn't eating at the vet's so with insulin her blood glucose was crashing. Her readings were all 10 or less dipping down to 3. Based on those results the vet recommended we stop insulin and see how she responded.
The vet said he didn't mention meters because he didnt think we would want to do it (.) Then he mentioned as an afterthought that cats can go into diabetic remission (thankfully I read all about that on this forum). I will never understand why vets don't tell people about meters - if you can get used to the insulin needle the meter isn't any big issue. It also turns out that the vet clinic also uses a human meter to do the glucose curves - with just one sample selected to be laboratory tested.
We kept monitoring Natty's blood glucose daily for a week, then once a week and now I do a check every once in a while. It has stayed at around 4.8 mmol/L since early December - with no insulin. So Natty was on insulin for less than two weeks - and by just eliminating her Whiskas dry food she went From 20 to 5 mmol/L blood glucose.
So thanks to everyone that posts on this forum!! I may have to come back for advice if Natty needs insulin in the future but for now we are holding steady on an all Fancy Feast diet (with no complaints from her!).
My vet went over the special food requirements and made sure we could give Natty her needles before we went home but he never once mentioned that we could get a glucose meter. Once we got home I felt like we were driving the car blind giving 2 injections a day and not knowing what Natty's glucose levels were. So I started reading and immediately took two critical pieces of advice - I bought a glucose meter and I switched Natty exclusively to low carb wet food (Fancy Feast).
After a few days I noticed that a few hours after her morning insulin Natty would eat like ske was going to devour the bowl along with her food. I also noticed she felt a little cold and she was hiding out on the bed all day (not that she was active before but she usually naps in whatever room we are in). Her glucose readings were also showing higher levels a few hours after her shot so I thought she may be "overcompensating" with glucose from her liver. I called the vet to ask if he thought we were giving her too much insulin and he was absolutely floored that we had a meter. I also told him that we took her off all dry food (as well as the Hills prescription wet) and he harrumphed that they were scientifically developed for diabetic cats. I said I was worried that we had just drastically reduced the sugar in her diet so I was concerned.
He said to keep with the same dose and he would evaluate in a few days when we took her in for a glucose curve.
We dropped her off at he vets in the morning for her all day glucose curve and left our meter as well for comparison. I guess by lunch time the vet had to administer glucose - first via gums and then IV. She was stressed and wasn't eating at the vet's so with insulin her blood glucose was crashing. Her readings were all 10 or less dipping down to 3. Based on those results the vet recommended we stop insulin and see how she responded.
The vet said he didn't mention meters because he didnt think we would want to do it (.) Then he mentioned as an afterthought that cats can go into diabetic remission (thankfully I read all about that on this forum). I will never understand why vets don't tell people about meters - if you can get used to the insulin needle the meter isn't any big issue. It also turns out that the vet clinic also uses a human meter to do the glucose curves - with just one sample selected to be laboratory tested.
We kept monitoring Natty's blood glucose daily for a week, then once a week and now I do a check every once in a while. It has stayed at around 4.8 mmol/L since early December - with no insulin. So Natty was on insulin for less than two weeks - and by just eliminating her Whiskas dry food she went From 20 to 5 mmol/L blood glucose.
So thanks to everyone that posts on this forum!! I may have to come back for advice if Natty needs insulin in the future but for now we are holding steady on an all Fancy Feast diet (with no complaints from her!).
