Unable to control my cat's sugar level (diagnosed 6 weeks ago)

[Oddy Acro Kitty & Rosario]

Hello All!
My overweight and huge cat (long with big bones and muscle) has been diagnosed with diabetes end of Nov last year, since Dec 6th he has been using Lantus, 2U, every week the vet increased 1U o even 0.5U
Now currently is on 5U morning and night, and literally has the same levels as when we started the treatment, we have been like this for over 5 weeks.
He Eats well, drink a bit of more water but no crazy, stool and urine is ok. Energy level are normal, i don't see him lethargic or drowsy after his shots.
Eats same amount of wet prescription diet food and his shots 1 hour after meal.
Daily urine chekc using Ketosticks where his values are ++++ but not sign fo ketoacidosis.
Gluco values fluctuate from 400 to 536ml. he has been loosing weight a total 800grs (6.66 kg now) since everything started and I feel hopeless.
His primary doctor said we might need to try intramuscular shots for better absorption. And he will like to make some scan and a new blood panel if on 7U we don't have any result.

Therefore tomorrow I'll go to another vet for a 2nd opinion.
I have read a lot of super helpful information, but i just want to know of someone had a similar issue as mine and if it was easy to discover any underlying issues.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Your vet has been increasing the dose by much larger increases than we would here. If you have been testing his blood sugars at home, it would help us help you if you could enter those values in a spreadsheet we can look at. Details on how to do that and other information that can help us are in this post.
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

You also do not need to feed prescription food. Which one are you feeding? We find that low carb wet or raw food is best, and there are quite a few commercial options available. Getting your cat onto a good food can make a huge difference in the amount of insulin needed.

The good news is that your vet has you giving a good insulin for cats. But with Lantus, we typically test the cat's blood sugars, then feed, then give insulin. You don't need to feed all the food in one meal or wait an hour after the meal for the shot. I don't think IM shots are what you need, just the right dose.

 

[Oddy Acro Kitty & Rosario]

Hi! Wendy & Neko, I enter all the that in the SS. His numbers are really high, he's not tired or feel dizzy, I make hime 2 20 min exercise by playing and change his food to wet food as described below, but he is loosing weight (by being overweight is a good thing, but strongly believe is due to his uncontrolled diabetes than exercise and diet) lost a total 800 grs less since we started, end of Nov 2021)
To Summarize: he's eating in a 12/12 window Hills Prescription Diet m/d GlucoSupport 5.57 oz split in 2 portions per day. Previously he was eaten Wellness Core Pate Chichen Chicken liver.
Their macros are:
Protein 52.1
Fat 24.8
Crude Fiber 2.7
Carbohydrate / NFE 13.1
This AMPS348 reading reduce his insulin to 3 (0.5U per kilo, current weight 6.6kg)
In your experience you shot them after your cat finish their bowl or you wait 30 min? that would be great to know, vet suggest to wait for 1 hour, but i think is too much.
Today I'll go to another vet for a 2nd opinion, I feel that i have been doing everything wrong after reading all the protocols this amazing page has.
Do you think I should start from zero and increase by 0.2 to 0.5, currently i can do a TR method, since i'm working from home.

Thanks a lot!

 

[Wendy&Neko]

A lot of people here who are giving Lantus just give the shot while the cat is eating and distracted. Some of the older insulins were much harsher and you needed to make sure the cat had eaten before giving the insulin. Not true with Lantus. And you don't have to feed just two meals a day. Feeder smaller meals more often is easier on the pancreas. We suggest to new people to try to pick up any food a couple hours before shot time, so that your test will not be influenced by food.

Thanks for the spreadsheet. With TR, you get a test before every shot, then at least one after than in the AM and PM cycles. Many cats go lower at night so we like to get a test then too. Getting one just as you go to bed is a good time, as long as it's at least 2-3 hours after giving insulin. And we determine what dose to give a cat based on how low the dose is taking the cat, not the preshot values. Most of the time the lows or nadirs are somewhere around 4-7 hours after the shot.

The Core Pate Chicken wet food is a better food for a diabetic than the m/d, plus cheaper too! But there others too. Not sure what is available where you live, but if you look at this food chart, you'll see some of the foods you can find. It's best if you can find something under 10% carbs, which is what we consider to be low carb.

Good luck with the new vet and the second opinion.

 

[Kindagot]

I am feeding my cat Wellness Core tasters. They are super low carb and both cats seem to love them. It had a huge effect on his BG swapping him to it from the dry.

 

[Oddy Acro Kitty & Rosario]

Hello All! Updates
Oddy has both adrenal glands enlarge, doctor said that it could even be Acromegaly or Cushing decease, at the momento he’s only on 5 units, for her until we don’t reach 2 units per kilo she won’t order the blood exams, just because is not conclusive. Now he’s on a gluco reader and that device is amazing, his curves are still high but steady, something that lantus offer. This week has started on 6 units and let’s see how it goes for the 8 days left of the free style Libre gluco reader. Food he’s back to wellness core pate turkey with 5 grs of carbs.
My question would be, is ok to change the cats alpha trak for a juman alpha track? Not sure how accurate would be if the gluco curves results are based on a human gluco patch and later follow up with a cats gluco meter?

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

There is no human AlphaTrack meter. The AlphaTrack is only for animals. You can easily use any human meter to test blood glucose. In fact, the Libre is a human meter.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

for her until we don’t reach 2 units per kilo she won’t order the blood exams,

Your vet is so wrong and out of date with current research that shows that 1 in four diabetic cats has acromegaly. The study had cats ranging from 1 unit to 35 units with an average of 7 units dose. You might want to hand the vet this paper. Studying Cat Diabetes: Beware the Acromegaly Imposter. Neko was diagnosed with both acromegaly and IAA (insulin auto antibodies) and never got to 2 units per kilo. She was about 5.6 kg and never got higher than 8.75 units. Enlarged adrenals are more likely to be Cushings.