New cat with high glucose levels - Diet change first

Hi! My name is Marcel, from France, and my cat Pep (male, castrated, 9 y.o.) has been diagnosed with diabetes a week ago.

He is an indoor cat, weights 5,3 kg. Not VERY fat, but he may loose 400 to 800 grams to be in his "natural" shape.

In regards to water, he has always been a good drinker (!), since he was a baby; demands nice and fresh water, and enjoys drinking it.

The story:

Pep was down and weak, had been 2 or 3 weeks like that, and urinating more than usual (15 to 25 % more).

We took him to the vet and run some tests. Instant glucose: 450 (but very, very stressed), and a couple of days later we got the fructosamine in 820.

The same day we scheduled a full day in the vet to make a glucose curve and determine insuline, etc...

BUT...

We did our research, we checked the food Pep has been eating for 8 years, and we found some interesting points, we can summarize as: he has been eating high carbs "cat-cookies", allways-open-buffet style for his whole life.

Yes, we feel now very sorry and guilty, but we cant´change the past. Now we are focusing in the future.

The same day we changed to a full raw diet (following the amazing info in http://catinfo.org/, among other sources).

Some points so far:

-the effect was immediate: after the first "real" meal (of his life?), the cat started to move more, be more awake and jumpy. This improvement continues day by day.
-he just loved the raw diet, no transition at all; and he eats less
-somehow smaller, more compat and "nicer" poop
-two days later, he looked like new again, with more energy; this tendence continues
-we are checking every day his BG at home (human meter), now ranging from 230 to 280 deppending on how much time ago he had his meal, and going down (paws crossed; we will have a clear idea of the curve in some days)


We decided to give him -and his pancreas and liver- some weeks to adapt to the low (almost null, really) carbs raw diet, and see how his sugar level goes, before we start with insulin.


Monday I will discuss next steps with his vet, and see if en 2 to 4 weeks we make the full testing again. Of course, if we see too high or too low glucose levels or any other unusual signs, we will take immediate action.

Luckily I work from home and I can check on him all day, play around, check the pee, food, etc...

I will be posting his improvements here, for reference, and to share with this great community.

Cheers!

 

Bienvenue, Pep et Marcel!

Pep est un très beau chat, n'est-ce pas?

OK. Enough of my schoolroom French.

It sounds like Pep has started doing really well and you're really on the case with home testing and monitoring his clinical signs.

While Pep is still running a little above the normal blood glucose (BG) range and not currently receiving insulin, as a precaution I'd suggest to you that you check his urine daily to make sure that he is free of ketones. Here are some helpful forum 'sticky' posts with more information and tips:

Testing your cat for ketones

Tips for collecting urine samples

Be sure to give a shout with any questions you have and let us know anything you need help with. And do keep us up to date with Pep's progress!


Mogs
.

 

You are doing great! Food change makes a big difference. My cat mango was on all dry food and he became diabetic since changing him to wet food his blood glucose levels have gone down tremendously so it's good that you're doing the food change and waiting a few weeks to see where he's at before starting him on insulin. I wish I would have done that first for my cat. This forum is absolutely great. They have helped me so much more than my vet. Welcome to The Forum! Looking forward to seeing how your cat does!

 

Welcome to you and Pep! What a beautiful cat! You're doing everything right and have learned a lot in a week.

 

Welcome! Beautiful boy.

 

Thanks to all!

We are now waiting for his pee for a ketones check, Critter Mon ;-)

 

Update, day 4:

-we made the 2nd batch of raw food, so far he loves it. Added fish oil for omega 3, and seemes to be a great plus.
-he is having only 3% of his body weight in raw food, endless free buffet is over
-he drinks and pees much less... now he is not thirsty all the time!
-his mood is excellent, plays around, "talks", runs...
-no ketones
-BG in 260, 270, 268... :-( we would like to be lower faster, but we will wait and see how it goes this week. Checking 2 hs+ after eating

 

Bonjour, Marcel.

Great to get an update from you! Pep sounds like he's doing really well.

You need to check fasting blood glucose levels too, Marcel. Make sure that Pep fasts for at least 2 hours before a meal, test BG and then feed.

With the numbers you're seeing on the human meter Pep's BG is still a little high (looks like he's still over the renal threshold - test his urine for glucose to check). It looks like Pep will need a little help from insulin in which case treatment shouldn't be delayed. I suggest giving your vet a ring to discuss Pep's BG levels and insulin needs. Pep's clinical signs sound really, really good so he may only need a very short course of insulin to let the pancreas rest for a while and recover more beta cell function. Be sure to keep testing for ketones in the meantime as a precaution.


Mogs
.

 

PS:

Normal cat BG reference range as measured on a human meter is 50-120mg/dL.


Mogs
.

 

Hi guys! an update

1-we visited the vet, and she encouraged us to keep going with diet alone for some more days and see how it goes
2-tha cat mood is perfect, very energetic
3-he loves his raw diet ;-)
4-BG going down! todays measure: 210, the lowest since we started.

looks like this may work... paws corssed!

cheers

 

Bonjour Marcel,

Great to hear that Pep is feeling better and enjoying his new nosh! Be sure to keep checking daily for ketones as a precaution.


Mogs
.

 

Hi guys!
Sorry for being away a long time, but no changes to report!
Until now!

Today I got the fructosamine results after 2 months of raw and no raw but full protein-based food, and we got 202.4 μmol/L. Two months ago, he got 823! a massive change!

I will wait some days and run extra tests and discuss with the vet. If things are confirmed to be in the right direction, I will share what I have done these months.

Cheers!

 

Fantastic news! It's amazing how much a proper diet can help a diabetic cat.