Thelda
Member Since 2023
I’m a new member, but I’m not new to diabetic cats. I’m here for your guidance and advice - not necessarily medical, but perhaps your reassurance that I’m not being overly…aggressive. This is going to be long, and I’m so sorry. Iago is my second older friend with diabetes - my Tom lived to 17. Iago is doing well in every other respect at 16, except he’s poorly controlled. We moved to a new area while continuing with his previous maintenance prescription of 2 units twice per day of Vetsulin. We started to notice him becoming more restless at night, so we decided we would take him in for a senior cat appointment. I should also add that a few months ago we changed him from prescription diabetes dry food (I believe it was Hill’s) to Tiki Cat Chicken and Egg because he became increasingly reluctant to eat.
All his blood work was fine, except for his glucose, which was 405. The vet increased his prescription to 3 units twice per day, and we returned the next week; it was 336. I should note that he is not a fan of having his sugar checked at home. It’s definitely easiest to check ears (Tom allowed it), but Iago flattens them down, and even with two of us, it’s basically impossible to get a reading on him. So the vet said to increase to 4 units 2x per day. I wasn’t feeling great about this for reasons I won’t go into just now, but we vowed to watch Iago carefully.
For the first day, he seemed fine. But the second night, it was clear that he’d started struggling. I dug out my ancient AlphaTrak kit and strips, and, now docile, Iago let me test him. I got a result of 36, which may or may not be accurate (2016 test strips), but it was obvious from his sluggishness, disorientation (he eliminated in his cat bed and not litter box) and near inability to walk that he was hypoglycemic. We’re so, so fortunate that he was still conscious and we stayed up the whole night to feed him treats and watch him slowly stabilize. He’s suffered no lasting effects from his episode and I’m so grateful.
Our vet attributed his episode to his picky eating, which I’ll concede is likely a factor. It’s possible that when we administered his evening dose he wandered away from his bowl and didn’t eat enough. She wanted us to continue with the 4 units. I said no, which seemed to shock her. So she said she would consult with the senior veterinarian. After a few days, she got back with me and proposed Bexacat. I said it sounded interesting and initially I said yes. But after I got off the phone with her, I looked it up and noticed almost immediately that it wasn’t meant for cats that have been treated with insulin already. I decided I didn’t want Iago on it, but I didn’t really want to confront the vet about whether they knew that it wasn’t meant for cats like him.
Instead, I asked if it might be possible for Iago to respond better to a longer-lasting insulin like Lantus. I asked about that one because my paltry internet research said positive things about it for picky eaters and I know that it really helped my other cat. Again, she consulted with the senior vet and they proposed ProZinc. That brings us close to the present. We began treating Iago with two units of ProZinc a week ago, and he had his glucose checked on Thursday. It was 316. So we’ve gone up to three units of ProZinc twice a day.
At this point, I’m just concerned that we’re going to see a repeat performance of lots of insulin spiraling up to a hypoglycemic episode. And I’m getting concerned, because I read stories about other owners of diabetic cats stating that it’s rare for cats to take more than four units of insulin per day. I’m not sure my current vet will have out of the box ideas to try for Iago, or if the response will just be “more insulin.” I used to live in a big city and could take my cats to an exclusively feline veterinarian. Now we’re an hour and a half away from them. I’d prefer to take Iago there, but he gets terribly, terribly carsick and he’s more fragile now. I can’t say for sure that the trip would be more beneficial than harmful for his health.
I would love to know what you think. My friend means the world to me. Thank you for reading.
All his blood work was fine, except for his glucose, which was 405. The vet increased his prescription to 3 units twice per day, and we returned the next week; it was 336. I should note that he is not a fan of having his sugar checked at home. It’s definitely easiest to check ears (Tom allowed it), but Iago flattens them down, and even with two of us, it’s basically impossible to get a reading on him. So the vet said to increase to 4 units 2x per day. I wasn’t feeling great about this for reasons I won’t go into just now, but we vowed to watch Iago carefully.
For the first day, he seemed fine. But the second night, it was clear that he’d started struggling. I dug out my ancient AlphaTrak kit and strips, and, now docile, Iago let me test him. I got a result of 36, which may or may not be accurate (2016 test strips), but it was obvious from his sluggishness, disorientation (he eliminated in his cat bed and not litter box) and near inability to walk that he was hypoglycemic. We’re so, so fortunate that he was still conscious and we stayed up the whole night to feed him treats and watch him slowly stabilize. He’s suffered no lasting effects from his episode and I’m so grateful.
Our vet attributed his episode to his picky eating, which I’ll concede is likely a factor. It’s possible that when we administered his evening dose he wandered away from his bowl and didn’t eat enough. She wanted us to continue with the 4 units. I said no, which seemed to shock her. So she said she would consult with the senior veterinarian. After a few days, she got back with me and proposed Bexacat. I said it sounded interesting and initially I said yes. But after I got off the phone with her, I looked it up and noticed almost immediately that it wasn’t meant for cats that have been treated with insulin already. I decided I didn’t want Iago on it, but I didn’t really want to confront the vet about whether they knew that it wasn’t meant for cats like him.
Instead, I asked if it might be possible for Iago to respond better to a longer-lasting insulin like Lantus. I asked about that one because my paltry internet research said positive things about it for picky eaters and I know that it really helped my other cat. Again, she consulted with the senior vet and they proposed ProZinc. That brings us close to the present. We began treating Iago with two units of ProZinc a week ago, and he had his glucose checked on Thursday. It was 316. So we’ve gone up to three units of ProZinc twice a day.
At this point, I’m just concerned that we’re going to see a repeat performance of lots of insulin spiraling up to a hypoglycemic episode. And I’m getting concerned, because I read stories about other owners of diabetic cats stating that it’s rare for cats to take more than four units of insulin per day. I’m not sure my current vet will have out of the box ideas to try for Iago, or if the response will just be “more insulin.” I used to live in a big city and could take my cats to an exclusively feline veterinarian. Now we’re an hour and a half away from them. I’d prefer to take Iago there, but he gets terribly, terribly carsick and he’s more fragile now. I can’t say for sure that the trip would be more beneficial than harmful for his health.
I would love to know what you think. My friend means the world to me. Thank you for reading.
