weight loss

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RemyandAngel

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My cat Remy was overweight when he was diagnosed with Diabetes. I know health wise that is bad for him and he has been losing wt since he has been on insulin. He started out just over 16lbs last sept. He is now 14lbs even. My question is this, when do you become concerned that the disease is causing too much weight loss. I know extreme wt loss can be a problem with this disease. His vet was happy that his wt was decent at his last visit. He is a bigger bodied cat and he doesnt look thin, but i want to catch the wt loss before its too drastic. Any advice would be helpful
Thank you
 
Can you give us more details? What insulin? What dose? Are you testing at home?

If a kitty is unregulated, he is literally starving because he can't process his food. That could be the problem. We can certainly help you get your kitty on the way to regulation if you are willing to test his blood glucose at home so you can adjust the insulin so his numbers are within a regulated range.
 
He is on Lantus twice a day. He gets 3 units in the am and 3.25 in the pm. I home test him prior to each injection. With a curve done monthly. His glucoes ranges from 150-240
 
Wonderful that you are testing at home! That's a lot of insulin, but some kitties require it. What does he eat? Dry food can really raise bg levels: http://www.catinfo.org Have you seen the stickies on the Lantus forum? viewforum.php?f=9 They have lots of good info on Lantus and how it works.

I am be preaching to the choir here. You don't have any info in your profile, so I can't tell how far along you are in this sugar dance.
 
Another point ... Lantus works better when the dose is consistent - that 3u and 3.25u may be causing issues. For your testing, it would be great if you can test around mid cycle so that you know that nadir as dosing is best done based on the low point of cycles, not the ps numbers.
Also, do you do the curves or are they done at the vet office? If you are home testing, there is no need at all to have curves done at the vet office because the numbers are very likely going to be higher at the vet than at home. You can easily do your own curves on the weekend by testing every 2 hours yourself.

The food has already been mentioned so I'll just add that dry would also include treats. Even things like pill pockets have sugar in them and can make a difference. There is one flavor, the duck and pea allergy variety of pill pockets that have no sugar.
 
I really appreciate the info. I have done a lot of research on Lantus so I realize it works best when dosing is the same. This dose is what keeps my cat consistent without roller coaster lows and highs. He gets dry food as I was not able to convert him to canned food (yes I know that is not the best for him). The curves are done at home monthly. I have great vets that come to my house as needed so he has not been to a vet clinic in over 3 years. The vet and I have worked very hard to get him stablized and his current glucose levels are the most consistent they have been since being diagnosed. I am compfortable that he is doing well other than a slightly elevated liver enyzme. I was just curious about the wt loss. I was just wondering what other people have seen in an animal they consider a stable
 
The difference between 3 and 3.25 units is only 8% and I would not expect that small difference to be the case of the weight loss. The BG look pretty good. How much are you feeding? Can you just feed more?
 
Here are our general guidelines for bg levels:

Treated but not regulated [often above 300 (16.7) and rarely near 100 (5.6), poor clinical signs]
Regulated [generally below 300 (16.7) with glucose nadir near 100 (5.6), good clinical signs, no hypoglycemia]
Well regulated [generally below 200-250 (11.1-13.9) and often near 100 (5.6), no hypoglycemia]
Tightly regulated [generally below 150 (8.3) and usually in the 60-120 (3.3-6.7) range, no hypoglycemia, still receiving insulin]
Normalized [60-120 (3.3-6.7) except perhaps directly after meals -- usually not receiving insulin]

I wonder the food is what is keeping your levels a little higher, and maybe his weight down. (Not sure - you aren't far off.) Have you read this site: http://www.catinfo.org She is a feline diabetes specialist (DVM) and she has great ideas for switching difficult cats from dry to wet.
 
Thanks again. Since I considered my kity well regulated (or at least for him ) I was not worried too much about his glucose levels/insulin causing the wt loss. I agree the dry food is probably causing the levels to run high. I did read everything from every specialist I could find about converting him to canned food. I was very diligent about it, but he would not convert. He has never been a food motivated cat. He will literally not eat for two days rather than eat something he doesnt like. His only hope would probably be to be hospitalized and converted that way, but to me that is not worth the stress on him. Is there a range somewhere that may tell me what normal wt loss is for diabetic cats?
 
Doubt it. It's that every cat is different thing. Oliver had not lost weight when he was diagnosed. Some cats lose an alarming amount.

I do think most cats that are well regulated do maintain a healthy weight. Have you tried the lo carb dry food? Not ideal but better than high carb dry.
 
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