Young cat, not improving. Help?

[AngelaTheGeek]

Hi,

I'm wondering if anyone else out there is having the same struggles that me and my boy Bubba are having. He is young, just over 6 yrs, and was diagnosed in February.

We have now been through 4 types of insulin and he is now on 3 units of prozinc twice a day. I do home spot checking and curves with a contour usb that we have checked against the vet's machine multiple times. We are on mostly canned food with a supplement of low carb dry food. And, now he has neuropathy. No matter what we try, I can't seem to get his levels below 400 on a regular basis.

We have done all the urine and blood tests, and everything else seems to be fine.

Has anyone else had a similar experience with a young cat? I am at a loss. I'm doing so much research and home care that my vet is even at a loss. I'm afraid I might be missing something. Maybe there's another disease that masks itself behind diabetes?

Any input or suggestions would be great.

 

[Blue]

I am sorry you are having a bad time of it with your cat. You mentioned going through 4 insulins, and from your past posts, you started with N, which is a horrible insulin, then went on Lantus, which is a great and long lasting insulin, and now you are on Prozinc 3u BID. I am wondering how come you changed from Lantus and what was the 4th insulin you tried.

It's fantastic that you are home testing; you will be able to see how well or poorly the insulin is working.

Would you be able to provide a bit more info like the doses on the other insulins and the numbers on those doses?
Your past posts mention only 2u BID for Lantus so it could be that you switched too soon and did not give the insulin a chance to get to the dose your cat needs. Some cats are good with less than 1u BID but others may need more and over the amount you are giving. It could be that you could work your way up to a dose of maybe 5u BID and then you would get good BG numbers.

For the food, you could also try removing ALL of the dry food as your cat could be very carb sensitive. One of my diabetic cats, Shadoe, will get numbers in the 300s if she gets even 3 pieces of dry foood because it's just too high carb.

There are insulin resistance type conditions, acromegaly, IAA, or cushings, that could cause your cat to need a higher dose, but first it would be good to ensure the health issues and dental issues are out of the picture, and the diet is low carb wet food only.

If you could post a bit more on the doses, the insulins and the BG numbers you have, it would help others in helping you.

 

[LynnLee + Mousie]

i was going to suggest the same thing, share some data if you have it regarding glucose levels and dosing because 4 insulins in 5 months throws up a red flag for me too. N i wouldn't even bother with unless absolutely necessary but lantus and prozinc should be given several months just themselves to get them figured out and working good.

 

[Karen & Smokey(GA)]

Another thing about changing insulins:

You should always 'start over' with the new insulin. That is, start
at 1unit bid. Don't start the new insulin at the old (probably higher) dose.

Did you do that ?

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Another thing about changing insulins:

You should always 'start over' with the new insulin. That is, start
at 1unit bid. Don't start the new insulin at the old (probably higher) dose.

Did you do that ?

I agree. If you start a new insulin at too high of a dose, you may be experiencing Somogyi rebound. This means that in order to protect itself from becoming hypoglycemic when too much insulin is given, the cat's body produces extra glucose and therefore your BG readings will be high. I suggest that you start back at 1 unit BID and gradually over a period of weeks increase it until you find the optimal dose. You will need to stay at a dose for at least one week before making any changes to give the body time to adjust to it and if an increase is still needed, only increase it by 1/2 unit. Again, stay at that dose for at least one week before making another increase.

Another possible cause of the high BG levels is if your cat has an infection. Has your vet ruled that out?

The last potential cause I see in your post is that you feed "low carb" dry food. Even though it may supposed to be low carb, it probably is also affecting the BG levels. All dry food will raise the BG levels. However, before you take the dry away completely, please lower the insulin dose. Otherwise your cat may become hypoglycemic.