WET FOOD WORKING

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buddybean

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I know I have been on here manyy many times before wondering what to do about my buddy's sugar level and that the fact that he is fat. I have tried and tried to get his sugar under control. Even under vets diet which was science diet prescription I still get his sugar levels at 300 and above. He has his own suite in the living room an I monitor his food intake. the Science diet was not giving me good sugar levels. I ck his sugar every other day.
Feb 3rd his weight was 20lb and to note he was 20lbs last yr ....I started him on a wet food diet..I know should have done this before...but his food is under 300 cals a day per wet food. 1/3 of dry food per day.. evo/core wellness. Here are his #'s since Feb 3rd.
Feb 5 180
Feb 7 152
Feb 9 203
Feb 12 110
Feb 14 241
Feb 15 187
Feb 16 198
Feb 18 169
I tried the chart thing.no time in my life to chart it. I am keeping up with my man Buddy though.
So I think this wet food is working?
going to weigh him March 3 and hope for a few oucnes lost but am happy with the sugar levels.
Buddy's Mom trying!!!
 
Good job on switching to canned food. Here's the thing the prescription food is still high in carbs.
If you completely took away the dry & went to a lower carb canned I really think Buddy's numbers would be even better.
You have some really good numbers. Are those preshot numbers? I hope you weren't shooting insulin into some of those numbers ie 110 on Feb 12.

Remember you always want to test before food. How much insulin are you currently giving?

Test, feed, shot.
 
oh no. I was judging units per sugar levels. HIs is 168 and he is out side n the screen in porch which he loves... so when he comes in I will feed him his wet food and give him 3 units.. I think is safe.
 
Wow. Am I reading this right? You test every other day and shoot 3u twice a day without knowing what Buddy's BG is? nailbite_smile

I know ECID but this amazes me. I wouldn't have a cat anymore if I tried it. A lot of those numbers are really low for 3u. I must be reading it wrong.
 
I have been giving Buddy shots that I think are per his 'bg level. My vet upped me to 5 units per 350 sugar and gave me bad food. hence why I don't consults him anymore. Buddy is getting 2 units now. Should he not get any insulin?
 
If Buddy was my cat....
I would be testing everyday, before food, & hours after food.
I would not give him 2 units until I had more BG numbers with a chart. 2 units is a lot without any daily numbers.

How would you know buddy didn't need insulin anymore if you don't test?
 
Buddy did not get any insulin last night and I just checked his sugar and it was 241 and he has his wet food. I will ck it in 8 hours to see what his sugar is. Shouldn't I give hm some insulin this morning for a BG of 241?
Thanks for all of your advise.
 
Yes, you probably should give him insulin, but not much. I can't tell you exactly how much.

What I would do is start a new thread asking about how much you should dose at his current BG of 241.
 
Good morning! I'm pretty new here too. I have to share with you that if we followed our vet's rec to shoot three units bid, our Charley would be dead. He hypo'd at two. You can see from his spreadsheet that we are now at .5, against his vet's advice. His numbers aren't perfect but they are better. Charley is happy, his coat is great, and he is eating well. The best advice you'll get here is to test and test often. A human doesn't take a blanket dose of insulin, so why would a kitty? This is a group of the most loving and supportive people you will find. So, ask questions. They will help.
 
I concur w/ Charley (and the others who've posted). My vet wanted to start Grayson at 2 units. We changed the food first, then agreed to start with 1. I've NEVER shot more than one unit - and have gone as low as .2 (2/10) ... When Grayson reached 250, my MINIMUM threshold which I'll shoot, I gave him HALF of what he was previously getting. Others reduce slightly, but mine was based on his numbers and a LOT of eyes from this board.

Can't say it enough: Test, test test! You'd rather err on the safe side than have a DKA episode! Good luck!

Lu-Ann
 
Hi and welcome...
First off , what is your name?
Welcome to PZI and lets get started.
ook first, we recommend testing before every shot, morning and night
this way you know what the BG level is and how much to shoot
We recommend starting low and going slow
with a 241 I would recomend starting at .50 unit of insulin.
The insulin should be given every 12 hours
What is your normal shooting time. I would start there and the way
we recommend is to check the BG level, feed, then shoot the insulin.
never shoot on an empty stomach (Buddy's not yours)

We also suggest that you try to get some numbers in between the 12 hours so you know how low he is going
The nadir, which is the lowest point he goes on insulin is usually at 6 hours, give or take.

Please come back with any questions you might have

Denise and Shakes
 
Oh we also suggest to the newbies to not shoot on a numbers less than 200
we suggest waitning 20 or 30 mintes and retesting to see if he is going up
and if you have a shootable number
 
Thank to all the caring cats and their Moms. My name is Jan and I not a newbie here. Buddy has had diabetes for some time now and I have been so frustrated with my vet who thinks wet food is wrong. I tried to follow his food plan with Science diet prescription for over weight cats. I cup a day and Buddy's BG was still over 300 and he is still fat.
I have had a bad yr last yr. I lost 2 of my 8 cats in 2 months due to intestinal tumors. My heart broke to have let 2 of my babies to go to rainbow bridge in such a short time I have been so sad. And thought I might have lost another one last month. See, all my kids are old. All rescues.
Buddy's BG was 197 @ 1930. I have not prepared a shot according to some I should not give him a shot. Will test him in the AM
Thanks for all the advice.
Jan and Buddybean
 
So sorry you and your kitties have had a tough year.

When you get a number under 200, you can wait 20 minutes without feeding and retest to see if he is over 200.

Have you changed to wet low carb completely? We had Oliver on Science Diet light for years trying to get him to lose weight. Once he was diabetic, we switched to wet LO carb. In 6 months, he was at a good weight and off insulin.
 
Welcome Jan and Buddybean

All the others are giving good advice so I won't even try.

Have you done curves yet? Curves are when you test 1 to 2 hours in a 12 hour cycle to check how the insulin is doing in Buddy's body and usually around the 5,6,7 mark you test every hour. Just did Sneakers today and yesterday and got some weird numbers so I will post it for remarks.

Good luck with Buddy- those seem to be good numbers and be glad you still have Buddy around :!: . Do you have a hypo kit made up? There are directions in the Health forum for one of those.

Heather
 
to hmjohnston I have done curves before. I know all this and researched it all. I am doing the best I can. Buddy is 14 yrs old and 20 lbs and I have been fighting this for 5 yrs to get him regulated. He is still alive and well and has no health problems other than 2 fangs missing due to old man teeth and diabetes. He is a well kept man. I just sometimes need reassurance that I am doing something right for him. I still have 5 more kids that need my attention and geesh have to work to pay for these crumb snatchers. My husband buys 70 cans of friskies on post every month.... cheap. and people look at him weird.
I do appreciate all the help I ask for.
thanks,
Jan
 
Hi Jan & Buddy, good to see you back & posting.
I am so sorry about your past 2 cats. It's not easy losing a furry friend.

You are doing the right thing for buddy by asking questions & gathering information to help buddy.
Its a little frustrating to have a vet who goes to school for so long & just not know everything about diseases in cats. Some vets just don't know what is best to treat certain diseases. The good thing is there are vets who do know what is best. Maybe you could find a new vet. A good way to go about finding a new vet in your area is posting in Health about finding a vet in your town. Maybe a member could refer a good vet to you who knows more about FD & is open to ideas. You are paying for a service your vet provides & if don't like the service you get, have the freedom to fire your vet & find a new one. Maybe the time is now.

Buddy sounds like his pancreas is trying to work. You are getting some really good numbers. This is the time you need to be a little careful with the insulin. With his pancreas working & you ejecting insulin, Buddy could go into a hypo range. This is where home testing really comes into play. You need to know where his BG is at. It sounds like buddy is really close to maybe not needing insulin or needing just a little bit. Now that is great news!

I know you said you kind of have a busy schedule, but what kind of schedule do you have Buddy on? I am not sure if you know this. Forgive me if you already do. A 12/12 hour schedule is best for diabetic cats. So feed & shot every 12 hours or a close a possible. Some members even feed 4 times a day & shot 2 a day. Like Sue said don't shot if Buddy's BG is under 200. Even if it rises try to keep on that 12 hour schedule.
So say you feed buddy @ 6pm & his BG was 200 you won't give buddy insulin. You would test in about 30 minutes if it rose then you would give him just a tiny bit. Its hard to say how much probably about .50 you won't want to give to much. If you tested him in a couple hours & his BG is much higher I would wait until next shot time. Remember you can always strata new thread to get dosing advice. It makes it easier for members to help you with dosing if you provide a couple of your BG test results. Especially, the preshot number.

I hope this helps. Please keep coming back to get help with whatever question you have. Buddy will love you even more for it.

Jenn & Baxter
 
I am sorry to have missed your dosing question yesterday. If you would, start a new thread every day you are on and we can see if you need advice and give it right away.

I can set you up with a spreadsheet with your older numbers on it. There are a few pieces of info I need first. Check your pms.
 
Five years! oh woe is me!

I've only really been testing for four weeks now so that is really new to me. I like to talk about the new things as they keep my mind focused on what I need rather than running around like a rabbit on what i don't.

You are doing really well. And 70 cans... I will never think my case of Fancy Feast as too much ever again.
 
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