Yuri’s evolution

R

Raluca

Member Since 2026
Hello!
This is my first post here, I usually post on FB, so I don’t know if I am doing the correct tu ing but here it goes.
He was diagnosed a month a go after a ketoacidosis crisiis. He is now on 4 ui of Prozinc every 12 hours.
I supervise his blood sugar as much as can at home.
He eats Purina one diabetics dry food and sometimes he eats a little bit of pate or wet food. We are trying to transition him but he is very stubborned and he prefers dry. We are pursuing this as a goal. But for the moment we are just trying to get his numbers lower.
We are really worried about him as he is a very active boy and happy and it just crushes us to see him suffering.
I guess with this post we ( me and my husband) need a little guidance. Maybe you can have a look at his numbers so far and tell me what you think. Is he on the right track or not. Thank you!
Yuri's Spreadsheet (Raluca)
 
Is he eating well now? A post DKA kitty needs to be eating well.
Purina dry diabetic cat food is between 13 and 17% carbs so is really a high carb food… but is better than most other dry foods.
I know it is hard to get a cat off dry food when they love it but keep trying. But the most important thing is to make sure he is eating lots of food as this will help stop ketones forming again. Keep trying with a low carb wet food. It doesn’t have to be a pate.

Are you testing the urine for ketones with Ketostix which you can buy from Walmart or a pharmacy? There should be no ketones.
 
Hello and welcome. Right now I would prioritize either getting rid of the dry food or at least get some Dr. Elsey’s Clean Protein dry (chicken is lowest in carbs, I believe) or some Young Again Zero dry food. Most cats really go for the Dr. Elsey’s. The dry food is going to make it very difficult for you to get his numbers down and is causing you to give more insulin than he would need on lower carb food. Of course, there could be other factors at play, but the food is a top priority. I know he must eat well after his DKA. You already know that wet food is best, but you can switch to lower carb dry food and keep working on finding a wet food he will accept (perhaps with a sprinkling of the kibble on top at first.)
 
Thank you for all your replies! I am not testing for ketones. When he got out of the hospital a month ago he was put of the danger zone.
I feed him the amount that it is written on the bag for his weight. Is that ok? Should I give him more? I know that being overweight is not good for diabetes, and he has a tendency to be fluffy although he is on the bigger size of cats he is 14.55 pounds, sorry if my conversion is bad I use European measuring system- 6,6 kg.
Also besides the 80g of dry food I give him wet whatever he would eat except for jelly ones. He likes 2 kinds of pates and one pouch with sauce. But as he is picky he is not consistent but I always give him.
Also yesterday we swiched to schesir born carnivore chicken and egg which I know is 11% carbs.
The food you mention is not available in Europe, so the schesir one is the lowest dry we found. And we sprinkle the dry on the pate, yes :) So fingers crossed!
So should I give him more than what I am feeding him right now? He sometimes goes by the food bowl but less than before. When he goes I usually give him a little bit and then try to balance to be in the range of the 80 grams. Most of the time it’s more like 90-100 probably.
We give him 2 bigger meals before the shots and then throughout the day and night we have a feeder.
Thank you!
 
One thing that will help us is if you set up a signature. You've done a great job with Yuri's spreadsheet. Setting up a signature will give us some additional, basic information -- his insulin, where you're located (so we don't offer suggestions that are helpful if you're in the US vs elsewhere), when he was diagnosed, etc. The information is in a post we refer to as helping us to help you.

Just so you have an idea of carbohydrate levels, we consider below 10% to be low carb, 10 - 15% is medium carb, and over 15% is high carb. Most dry food is not low in carbs.

For a cat that is recently recovering from DKA, we encourage feeding the cat 1.5 times his normal amount of food. DKA is typically the result of an infection or inflammation, not enough calories, and not enough insulin.
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
One thing that will help us is if you set up a signature. You've done a great job with Yuri's spreadsheet. Setting up a signature will give us some additional, basic information -- his insulin, where you're located (so we don't offer suggestions that are helpful if you're in the US vs elsewhere), when he was diagnosed, etc. The information is in a post we refer to as helping us to help you.

Just so you have an idea of carbohydrate levels, we consider below 10% to be low carb, 10 - 15% is medium carb, and over 15% is high carb. Most dry food is not low in carbs.

For a cat that is recently recovering from DKA, we encourage feeding the cat 1.5 times his normal amount of food. DKA is typically the result of an infection or inflammation, not enough calories, and not enough insulin.
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Thank you for you reply! I set up the signature. He lost some weight previous to the DKA then from the hospitalization. He gained a little back, but the doctors say that he is still overweight. I am giving him at the time the amount on the box and a little extra. At the moment his numbers are still high, but he is making progress with wet food. He used to not eat at all and now he started. We switched to the low carb dry food from tiki ( schesir in Europe) a fee days ago. We also went to the vet on Friday and suggested we continue with the food and if in 3 weeks his numbers are still high and no curve then maybe we should change to Lantus. What do you think?
The vet suggested we keep him on only diabetic food and that nothing else is better, but I am seeing his numbers a little better with the food you suggested on the list so…that’s what I’m doing.
What do you think about the Lantus switch?
Thanks!
 
At least here in the US, "diabetic" food is not truly diabetic. Brands like Royal Canin prescription diabetic food, especially the dry variety, are very high in carbs. The pet food manufacturers lost a class action lawsuit here because the "prescription" foods largely have nothing that was treating the condition they were supposed to treat.

When it comes to DKA, it's not a matter of what a cat's weight is. In fact, losing weight can be a problem. The cat needs a sufficient number of calories so fat isn't being burned. This is our Primer on DKA. It will give you more background on ketones. If Yuri is hungry, I'd feed him. I'd also suggest testing for ketones daily.

Prozinc is a good insulin for treating feline diabetes. Both Prozinc and Lantus are good insulins for treating feline diabetes and are supported by veterinary associations here in the US. I would give Prozinc more time. It's rare to see quick results. Getting a cat into remission can take quite a few months. If having a diabetic cat teaches us anything, it teaches us patience!
 
Sienne and Gabby (GA) said:
At least here in the US, "diabetic" food is not truly diabetic. Brands like Royal Canin prescription diabetic food, especially the dry variety, are very high in carbs. The pet food manufacturers lost a class action lawsuit here because the "prescription" foods largely have nothing that was treating the condition they were supposed to treat.

When it comes to DKA, it's not a matter of what a cat's weight is. In fact, losing weight can be a problem. The cat needs a sufficient number of calories so fat isn't being burned. This is our Primer on DKA. It will give you more background on ketones. If Yuri is hungry, I'd feed him. I'd also suggest testing for ketones daily.

Prozinc is a good insulin for treating feline diabetes. Both Prozinc and Lantus are good insulins for treating feline diabetes and are supported by veterinary associations here in the US. I would give Prozinc more time. It's rare to see quick results. Getting a cat into remission can take quite a few months. If having a diabetic cat teaches us anything, it teaches us patience!
Click to expand...
That is true about patience! Well, all I can say is that I cannot resist feeding him anyway 😅 of course with some healthy limits.
From my calculations for example Purina proplan diabetic formula here in Europe has around 15% carbs, while the tiki one has 11%-just for a comparison with US, because you were mentioning. I don’t know about Royal canin because although Yuri would eat dry food no matter what it was, for some reason he never liked Royal canin. So when we had to switch to diabetic I knew not to chose it. Even my other cat will not eat Royal canin dry or wet which says a lot a out their quality I guess…although vets keep recommending it and I see it advertised all over vets clinics.
Thank you very much for the suport! 🤗
 
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