Newly diagnosed cat

Hello all!
I have two cats -aged 12 and 13. The younger one, Luther, was diagnosed diabetic on Saturday. I have two questions-1) how long/how many doses of insulin before Lither starts acting more like his old self? He is still waking me up in the middle of the night for water (even there is some there) and not affectionate or playful or anything. I guessed a change wouldn’t be instant and we (the vet and I) might have found the right dose just yet. 2) what are your suggestions to limiting his food intake while not depriving the other cat? I don’t want to separate them, but Carson does like to have food to snack on.

 

Welcome! Questions are best posted on the main health forum where they will get more attention. Give us a little more information like what kind of insulin and what dose, what you are feeding and how often, and whether you are doing home glucose testing. If you add basic info to a signature, you will not have to repeat it every time you post.

The AAHA guidelines say that it is ideal to feed four times a day (using an auto-feeder, if necessary) and that is okay to free-feed if your cat is underweight. I feed my girls four times and leave whatever is left out for them to graze on until the next meal or until two hours before Mia's shot time so that I can get a glucose test result that is not influenced by food. You want a low-carb wet food.. definitely under 10% carbs but lower is better. If you can feed both cats the same food on the same schedule, it will definitely make life easier for you. There is a cat food database that is very helpful when looking for foods that are appropriate, and catinfo.org will give you all the information you could ever want (and more) about feline nutrition.

With Mia, the excess drinking stopped within a few days of being on insulin and switching to wet food. It took a little longer for her to start to have more energy. I remember being thrilled the first time I saw her show any interest in playing with a toy.

 

Feed him if he's hungry! Most unregulated cats need to eat more then a non diabetic cat. Most of us feed several times a day. Just no food 2 hours prior to the preshot test so the number is not food influenced.


No dry food.... Most of us feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods.

 

welcome Jessica and Luther!

 

Welcome!

 

Welcome to you and Luther!

 

Thank you so much! Previously I was feeding them both Friskies wet food (not pate) in the morning and Ian’s dry food at night. I will switch ASAP. my vet gave me some m/d glucose/weight management wet and dry food to start Luther on his new plan. I will discuss with the vet and will plan on changing both Carson and he to strictly Friskies pate.
As far as the insulin goes, I am using Vetsulin. 2 Units twice a day. We go back on Saturday for a checkup and I get more thorough blood work results back tomorrow. Luther also seems to have an enlarged thyroid and arthritis in his hind legs
Thanks again, and I am learning a lot from all of the posts I have found so far.

 

Ask about adequan for the arthritis. It's life changing
for your cat. 2 units is double the usual starting dose of 1 unit.... So please read up on hypoglycemia in case he has a problem so you will know what to do.

 

Welcome, Jessica!

Lovely picture of Luther and Carson in your avatar.

There's very important safety information on switching a cat already receiving insulin from a high to a low carb diet at this vet-authored site:

catinfo.org - Feline Diabetes and Safe Transition to Low Carb Diet

Please read the above before switching the food. Also, it is safest to be home testing BG before starting the transition because BG level can come down quite significantly and typically the insulin dose needs to be reduced. Be sure to discuss all this with your vet. S/he should be able to show you how to home test Luther's BG levels. Also, these links are very helpful:

Testing and Injecting Tips (with very helpful diagram of testing 'sweet spot' on the ear)

Home Testing Links and Tips (with 'how to' videos)

Most people home test with human glucometers using a cat-specific reference range (human meters read lower than specialist pet meters). The test strips for human meters are much more reasonably priced. Popular meters are Walmart's Relion Micro and Relion Confirm (affordable strips, and only need a very small blood sample).

It's also a wise precaution to check your kitty's urine for ketones (with Ketostix or similar). Here are some more helpful links for you:

Testing your cat for ketones

Tips for collecting urine samples

There's a bit of a vertical learning curve at first but we'll do all we can to help you. Just pop over to Feline Health with any questions you have.



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