What Should I Do?

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Lizzy'sGuy

Lizzy'sGuy

Member Since 2018
Hello everyone, Thanks for the warm welcome on the inrtoductions forum!

So I have just started my cat on insulin but I have a couple concerns. First off she had been eating purina one indoor advantage her entire life with occasional wet food pouches as treats (she loved the gravey sometimes wouldn't eat all the food but licked up all the gravy). But as soon as I received the diagnosis I went a small pet shop in town that sells only high quality pet foods and none of the purina or fancy cat ect foods. I bought a case of canned bff and a case of the pouch bff (I do realise now that the gravy is thickened with ingredients that add carbs). But with her love of gravy food previously I started her on 1 3oz pouch morning and night. We saw an immediate change in her behavior more energy, she groomed her self and was no longer greasy looking in just 4 days of the food change. When I went to the vet and picked up her insulin I let him sell me a case of purina db control food and have been feeding her 1/2 a can morning and night at least 10 min before giving her the insulin. Once the insulin treatment started we have noticed her seeming to be lacking energy again and I am worried that it is either the new db food, insulin, or that the combination could be lowering her blood sugar too much. therefore I am wondering if I should hold off on the insulin until I can get a tester (Have been looking on the forums maybe I'm blind but i haven't found anything about tester suggestions especially with the cost of test strips being reasonable i am leaning towards ordering an alphatrak 2 hoping I can share the results with whatever new vet I decide upon any helpful links would be appreciated). I am asking because I have read alot about how hypoglycemia can be so much worse for her than a couple days of hyperglycemia. What should I do? Much appreciated. Oh and Lizzy thanks you all too she is a vocal cat and I assume that's what she just said. :cat:
 
Also pertinent info as soon as I changed her to the gravy pouches her extreme thirst and frequent urination pretty much ceased
 
I learned it was critical to test before injecting insulin. Especially when changing the diet, reducing carbs. It could result in a hypo, which you DO NOT want. Alphatrak strips are expensive, you have to order them, wait for delivery. We did, then got a Relion Confirm from Walmart, we can buy strips any time, much less expensive. Many members use a human meter. You are going to decide what meter, but hopefully will always test before shooting.
 
I would finish your food changes and start testing before starting insulin. Give it 3-5 days. Many kitty's will go into remission on food changes alone.
 
The only problem is there arent any walmarts near me and I went to Walgreens and their human test strips were 50 - 100$ for 50...
 
Lizzy'sGuy said:
The only problem is there arent any walmarts near me and I went to Walgreens and their human test strips were 50 - 100$ for 50...
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You can order online from walmart, we did. You can get the less expensive meter and strips, order lots of strips, and get free shipping. Then always make sure you have strips on hand, order ahead of running out. Still less expensive.
 
Thanks for the advice! I actually just found out there is a Walmart alot closer than i thought, I am going to go there tomorrow and pick one up rather than wait for online delivery. The only other question I had is if the blood needed matters a whole lot the ones I was looking at were measured in OL? I think and between .04 and .06 my cat is a small medium build I'm not sure how much that matters. Also I noticed Idjit's mom you are from WA as well you wouldn't have heard about any good vets in or around the snoqualmie valley?
 
Sorry, I am in Spokane, other side of the state. Where are you? Regarding the meter, we chose Relion Confirm because it needs a very small blood sample, 0.3? Same as Alphatrak 2. The strips are more expensive than Relion Prime, which requires a larger sample.
 
So I've been looking into the relion confirm and it seems to be a fairly solid testing device I'm just worried about the range people are talking about being between 15-30 points off which on a cat I would imagine could be more harmful than on a human with us being larger creatures so my question is obviously how much does that discrepancy matter on a cat vs a person
 
Lizzy'sGuy said:
So I've been looking into the relion confirm and it seems to be a fairly solid testing device I'm just worried about the range people are talking about being between 15-30 points off which on a cat I would imagine could be more harmful than on a human with us being larger creatures so my question is obviously how much does that discrepancy matter on a cat vs a person
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We use different "safe" ranges for human and pet meters to make up for the difference.
Human meters the "take action" number for hypo is 50. With the pet meter it's 68.
I've used ReliOn prime almost the whole time. Before that I used another human meter.
Some vets don't accept Human meter numbers so some people buy both meters and only use the pet meter for curves to keep their vet happy.
 
It is my understanding that even between pet meters and strips , as well as human meters and strips, that they aren't always going to be consistent. The ranges are different, true, but the ranges given in the insulin forums are based on human meters. It's just the different ranges you have to learn. High will still be high, low will still be low, it will let you know how your kitty BG is ranging. When you get your spreadsheet going, it will reflect which type of meter you are using, the colors will reflect the ranges of the numbers you enter. Take a look at some of the members spreadsheets. I would not have changed to human meter if I didn't feel confident in the measurements.
 
The human meters usually top out at 600. So any reading over 600 just says "HI". The pet meters give numbers over that but I'm not sure what the highest is.
 
Ok thank you for clearing that up, I really do appreciate it I am going to get a relion confirm tomorrow and start testing and keeping track of her bg on a spreadsheet. That is assuming they have one at the place near me if not I will go to the other one I just can't give her insulin if it's going to hurt her and her behavior before and after hasn't been very promising. I will track her bg levels and I'm hopeful that it will give me more insight into her feeding and insulin schedule. Vet told me to give her the same dose no matter what, and that she could go into a coma if she had too much insulin but didn't give me any options other than hospitalization. Found out that same vet sent my gfs mom a half off coupon for vet visits. They don't use him anymore for their dogs for a similar event. Another vet found a rock in the dog's stomach and he just pooped it out instead of the surgery suggested by the former vet.
 
Alternative site lancets might be easier to use in the beginning. They're thicker so it gives you a better drop of blood. Their ears "learn to bleed" the more you test so you might be able to switch back to the thinner lancets later.
My old vet started my cat on a deadly starting dose (7 units prozinc and he was only 9 pounds- skin and bones!) with the same advice- shoot no matter what they eat. That is how I ended up here and they helped save him.
Good luck home testing.
 
Thanks StephG I am planning on testing her tomorrow. I will figure it out from there, I am not going to give her insulin tonight or tomorrow morning. She was doing alot better from the diet change, but I will tomorrow night depending on her bg results. I'm trying! I just don't want to make it worse. Also looking for opinions on her diet. Bff canned or the DB purina any knowledge is appreciated, she seemed better before, but I guess the testing will be the proof.
 
There's nothing special about the "prescription" foods except the price.

If you look at the ingredients, you'll see they are really pretty lousy too. If you're going to pay that much for a can of cat food, you can get much higher quality protein in a multitude of other foods (Like BFF)

Purina DM ingredients:
Meat by-products, water sufficient for processing, chicken, chicken hearts, liver, soy protein isolate, salmon, oat hulls, artificial and natural flavors, guar gum, minerals and vitamins

BFF ingredients (Tuna and beef for example):
Tuna Broth, Tuna, Beef, Tapioca Starch, Sunflower Oil, Guar Gum, vitamins and minerals

Even a so called "cheap" food like Friskies doesn't contain soy protein (it's protein comes from meat/meat by-products) and you won't find oat hulls either.
 
Honestly that was my biggest regret in buying the db food, and my first 5(9 miscalculated that) ingredients were alot worse than that, purina DM "liver, poultry by-products, meat by-products, water sufficient for processing, chicken, salmon, oat fiber, salmon meal, artificial and natural flavoring" and many more. Should I change her to the bff canned or the fancy feast classic I always hear about? the whole reason I got the bff was because of the lack of "weird ingredients". I wish I had realised what I had been feeding her in the first place but the only place to look now is forward, and what I can do to make the rest of her life healthier and happier. I wish i knew then what i do now and had the finances to feed her better when i had her 6 yrs ago but now is better than never
 
Most of us are feeding Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies pates because they're affordable and under 10% carbs.

A lot of people think that "cheap" foods are bad, but the cheapest canned food is still better than the most expensive dry.

Also, people tend to look down on "by-products"....a cat in the wild eats "by-products"!! The don't kill prey and just eat the "good parts" (by human standards)

There's just no reason to spend that much on "prescription" foods when there are so many other options out there!!

Lots of great information on Dr. Lisa's "Feeding your cat" website including a Food Chart that shows the nutritional breakdown of most foods available (there are a few new ones out not on the list, but it covers almost everything)
 
Thank you I have been reading dr Lisa's suggestions on her site from day 1 and everyone on this site have echoed what she suggested for the most part so I am going to transition lizzy back to canned bff and start home testing her bg tomorrow hopefully the purina db isnt giving her some digestive problems from what I've observed (She threw up once a couple hours after eating when I was at work and then again pretty soon after I came home from work my gf was home taking care of our sick son) both times small amounts, but still worrying. I am planning on getting a tester tomorrow. hopefully we can figure out her cycle. I do work during the week usually leave by 6am and don't get home until 4pm so the weekends are going to have to be the time to get her curve.
 
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