Worried about Spooky!

[Unfeigned]

Hi guys! I'm a newbie and I'm hoping you can help me out. Our kitty Spooky is about 10 years old and he was diagnosed with diabetes about a month and a half ago. Since then we've inched up his insulin from 2 units daily to 3 units in the morning and 2 at night (both after his meal of 6oz grain-free wet food). He has access to grain-free dry food all day. He's been ravenous for our food for months, and still is even though we added the dry food to his regimen. He's pretty thirsty, although not as much as he was pre-insulin. He's been using places all around the house as his litter box, and we know he knows better than that.

We're most concerned: 1) because he's still so skinny; his spine is really noticeable when you pet him, 2) because as of yesterday or so it looks like his belly is swollen and round. That happened to another kitty we had a while back, and we had to put him to sleep. nailbite_smile It's Saturday night, so the regular vets are closed till Monday. He's not in distress, so we aren't calling the emergency vet yet (my dad got angry when I asked about the possibility).

Spook's a sweetie, and all this behavior isn't characteristic of him. We want our Spook-butt back!

Thanks, everyone.

 

[Blue]

Hi guys! I'm a newbie and I'm hoping you can help me out. Our kitty Spooky is about 10 years old and he was diagnosed with diabetes about a month and a half ago. Since then we've inched up his insulin from 2 units daily to 3 units in the morning and 2 at night (both after his meal of 6oz grain-free wet food). He has access to grain-free dry food all day. He's been ravenous for our food for months, and still is even though we added the dry food to his regimen. He's pretty thirsty, although not as much as he was pre-insulin. He's been using places all around the house as his litter box, and we know he knows better than that.

We're most concerned: 1) because he's still so skinny; his spine is really noticeable when you pet him, 2) because as of yesterday or so it looks like his belly is swollen and round. That happened to another kitty we had a while back, and we had to put him to sleep. nailbite_smile It's Saturday night, so the regular vets are closed till Monday. He's not in distress, so we aren't calling the emergency vet yet (my dad got angry when I asked about the possibility).

Spook's a sweetie, and all this behavior isn't characteristic of him. We want our Spook-butt back!

Thanks, everyone.

Welcome to the site. I amsure you will get many replis from people who can help you.

There are a couple things that jump out at me.... why the dose difference for am and pm? What insulin are you using? Most insulins work best if you give the same dose 12 hours apart for shtos.

Next, the food. Nope, the dry food's a bad idea because it's too high in carbs and will end up making you need to give your cat much more insulin. Cut out the dry and feed only wet. Refer to Dr. Lisa's food list and pick foods that are under 10% carbs
http://catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf
Just feed more wet food; the dry food will do nothing good for your cat.

Home testing... you need to know how the insulin is working, every day, so curves at the vet or no testing at all is dangerous. Pick up a human blood glucometer at any pharmacy, if you are in the US, get a Relion as they are the most economical, the strips for the meter and lancets for the meter's device. Pick up a container of KETOSTIX at the pharmacy as well so that you can test your cat's urine for ketones.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Home testing will help you see exactly how the insulin is working. We've taught hundreds of people how to test over the Internet; we'd love to help you.

One caution: while wet food is much better for your kitty (see www.catinfo.org) DON'T change the food until you are testing at home. Wet food can mean a drastic change downward in blood sugar levels. When we switched Oliver from dry to wet, he went down 100 points overnight. If we had given our usual amount of insulin, he would have hypoed.

 

[ohiogal]

When you say "He's ravenous for our food", does this mean you're feeding him people food too? Just trying to understand what could be going on here.

Is Spooky pooping normally? Is he throwing up at all?