The vet says....

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DeirdreKM

Member Since 2012
My vet says the reason Sasha isn't getting regulated is because I am not feeding him Purina DM, as he suggested. I told him I did my own research and learned that Fancy Feast Classic is low in carbs and good for diabetic cats, and for dry food I am giving him Wellness CORE, which is grain-free and has lower carbs than Purina DM. His response? "You shouldn't believe everything you see on the Internet". So now I am torn. Do I do what the vet says, or trust what I have learned on here? Sasha is on 3 units of Lantus AM & PM and is still having readings in the 300's. Vet says putting him on only Purina DM would help. Don't know what to do!
 
I can tell you our story...but its just our story.

Ruby was diagnosed last Christmas with glucose readings in the 300s and 400s. She was a life long dry food eater until January 9th, when I finally had her transitioned off of dry and onto Fancy Feast Classiscs. Her last shot of insulin was on April 19th and she has been diet controlled since.

Keep in mind that every cat is different (ECID), but I truly believe, that if she had kept eating dry food, any kind of dry food, that she would not be diet controlled today.

I will let others here, with more experience, give advice on the amount of Lantus you are giving Sasha, but I will suggest that you listen to the advice you do find here (and on the Lantus board). I believe that Ruby would not be the happy cat she is today, without the advice and guidance I received.
 
DeirdreKM said:
My vet says the reason Sasha isn't getting regulated is because I am not feeding him Purina DM, as he suggested. I told him I did my own research and learned that Fancy Feast Classic is low in carbs and good for diabetic cats, and for dry food I am giving him Wellness CORE, which is grain-free and has lower carbs than Purina DM. His response? "You shouldn't believe everything you see on the Internet". So now I am torn. Do I do what the vet says, or trust what I have learned on here? Sasha is on 3 units of Lantus AM & PM and is still having readings in the 300's. Vet says putting him on only Purina DM would help. Don't know what to do!
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1) a vet cannot know everything about every species; that is impossible.
2) a vet cannot stay up to date on everything about every species and every condition; that, too, is impossible
3) a vet may, therefore be out of date or uninformed on something, usually what is not seen often
4) vets do not see tons of diabetics unless, maybe, in a specialty endocrine clinic
5) almost every member here has, or has had one or more diabetic cats
6) almost every member can tell you that feeding low carb canned or raw food has brought the glucose levels down at least some (100 points has been reported here).
7) those who have fed DM will tell you it is expensive and is no superior to Fancy Feast in terms of ingredients
8) dry food generally has a carb content too high, plus it is water depleted and may leave the cat in mild dehydration as they do not drink enough to compensate for the lack of water (per Cat Info).
9) experts in feline diabetes, such as Dr Rand at the Centre for Companion Animal Health, have developed successful protocols using over the counter low carb canned/raw foods, plus regular glucose testing and long-acting insulins to control, and in many cases, obtain remission, of feline diabetes, with participants from online feline diabetes support groups (Diabetes Katzen) The site is in German, so I linked it inside Google Translate.
 
my vet told me- feed the dry he sold, do NOT moniter (not needed), shoot 1 u twice a day (blind) and if you are early or late up to 1.5 hours it is OK, come back in 2 weeks for a curve..... ALL WRONG (IMHO) and I had to FIGHT for a lantus subscription.

I firmly believe my cat would not be here and half way through an OTJ trial in a month if I would have listened to him. he would have Hypod while i was at work the first few days and i would have come home to a cat who had passed away.

My cat went from over 600 numbers with a DKA to an OTJ trial in a month with the help of this board. I have not gone back or talked to the vet since I got him back and got my perscription.

The relion meter and strips have been my best friend and I feed friskies and TJ tuna and petsmart canned that are low carb. I can't afford FF right now. You have to make decisions about your own cat but do read all the stickies and info all over this board.

GOOD LUCK!! ;-)
Misty & Bast
 
There isn't anything terribly wrong with Purina DM canned food. But your vet is wrong in saying that it's some sort of magic bullet that will make things better. It isn't any lower carb than the grocery store brands most of us use. It's just something he's bought into the sales pitch for.

The big drawbacks to DM are the cost, and the lack of variety. It only comes in one flavor I think?

Ask your vet if he will supply you with the DM for 50 cents a can or less. That's what you can buy Fancy Feast or Friskees for. They are no worse than DM in terms of carbs, and come in tons of flavors. Their ingredients are at least as good, if not better. If your vet can't match Purina's grocery store brand prices, tell him "thanks, but no thanks". And as Misty just pointed out, you can do better than 50 cents a can and still not sacrifice much (if any) in the way of "quality", still maintain low carb numbers, and successfully manage and treat this condition. Cats go "off the juice" on this board on a weekly basis. Very few of them have needed prescription food to do so.

And if he actually clicks on the link to Dr. Pierson's site, and doesn't believe what she has to say about proper diet for diabetic cats....then I'd find a better vet.

And do anything you can do to get any dry food out of the diet. It isn't good for cats, no matter how low it might be in carbs. There are worse things than feline diabetes, and dry food can be the primary cause for a lot of them.

Carl
 
My vet told me to shoot my cat with insulin 1.5 units of Lantus twice a day and not to ever test her, they would do that every couple of weeks. Her readings were never higher than at the highest 250 usually and mostly around 200 normally.
My vet also told me tried to sell me the Purina DM. Most vets know very little about feline diabetes. When I told her about this board she also said you have to watch out for all the " fanatics on the internet" and basically to do what she told me to do.
My cat has been gone well over a year now, but IF I ever had another diabetic, I would lastly leave it to MY vet to handle my cats diabetes. I would come right back to this board to the people who have managed their cat diabetes for years. Some of these people have been giving their cats shots of insulin for years.
Thats my story and you will probably hear the same thing over and over. Good Luck with your kitty.
Edit:
I would suggest you try to post over in the Lantus forum about the amount of Lantus your are shooting. These people really know so much about this insulin, dosing and how it works and will help you with everything.

Terri
 
What do you want to do? Continue to feed what you are feeding and get the vet to understand that the food is just fine? If you want him to understand that Fancy Feasts are just fine, I'd take in the sheet that shows the verified protein/carb/fat content of all the food and ask him what it is in DM that he thinks is different that would help your cat reach remission (if he say supplements - make him NAME WHICH ONES).
If you think he might have something, then give DM canned food a try, there is nothing in there that is BAD for a diabetic, it is just not worth the price they ask for it. Tell him you will dry the DM well for X days/weeks. If you don't see a change in the BG numbers, you are going back to the cheaper foods. I suspect you probably will lose the cat's interest before the time is up. Smokey LOVED DM for the first little bit, but quickly lost interest in the taste and refused to eat it so we switched by default.
I would get rid of all the dry food if you can. Dry food is nothing but a negative in a diabetic's diet.
 
if you don't want to pay the high cost for prescription food, then don't. one of the vets i have used when it comes to food, i just say, thanks but no thanks to prescription foods, i have it covered and it is one of those things that i don't discuss with the vet.

if you can agree to disagree with the vet great, if not, you may be in for a fight or finding a new vet.
 
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