Vet changed our diet, advice?

Hi everyone!! So my Coco has been on 1 unit of ProZinc every twelve hours since her diagnoses in June. Well on Monday (July 1) I took her in for her usual 2-week BG check and it was 35!!!! Which was a total surprise because she was acting normal. I had no idea how that could have happened. So they put her on an IV to get her BG up and sent me home until I could come pick her up. Well, when I got home I went into another room and found a pretty good size pile of vomit. I saw it had pieces of rose petals in it and I remembered that morning she did sneak onto a table and got into a rose we got from a friend, I just didn’t realize she had ingested any and I thought I had stopped her before she did (all her life she would always try to get flowers, and if she ingested any she always threw them up and went about her day, so the vomiting wasn’t from sickness, it was from the rose). So when I picked her up I made sure I told the vet what I had found, and they said that since she had less food in her stomach that could very well have contributed to the low number. When I picked her up they had gotten her BG back into the 300s. So they said no more insulin until Wednesday (today July 3) and to bring her back to see if maybe it was signs of remission. I also want to add that I feed her morning meal at 9am and she’s a grazer, so the meal will last her usually until around 5-6 pm, but I had noticed on that day that her bowl was completely empty by 1pm which was very unusual for her, and I had read somewhere that one of the signs of hypoglycemia is increased hunger. Also, the amount of vomit I found was definitely not enough to be her entire meal. So anyway, I kept her on the same diet, same times, just no insulin shots this time. So today, I took her back to the vet as instructed, and her BG was in the 250s and creeping to the 270s. So the vet wants me to try Hill’s Prescription Diet Multi-Benefit w/d canned food, without any insulin shots, for 2 weeks. And in 2 weeks if her BG is normal, she’ll stay on this food and be considered in remission. She is to have 1 and 1/4 of a can every 12 hours. And so I bought enough for the next 2 weeks until her next BG check.
So, not only is this food mad expensive, but I see a lot of fellow owners on here that say prescription diabetic food is very unnecessary. I mean, if it really will help her I’ll pay whatever price, but if it’s as unnecessary as everyone says then I don’t want to continue with it. Since diagnosed, she eats 3 Fancy Feast Classic Pate cans a day: we buy chicken, turkey, and beef. I think we’ve been doing well on our FF diet, and I’d hate to change it on her.
So, if anyone could just give me their thoughts, opinions, experiences, research, etc. I would so very appreciate it. Just kind of lost and stuck here right now. Do I stick with this? Do I get a second opinion?
I am so sorry this post is so long.
Thank you so much in advance!!!

 

I would definitely not change the diet to the prescription diet. I have not had a chance to check the carbs but I am sure it will be high. (Sorry I have to go out but wanted to answer quickly) Stick with the FF diet.
I would recommend you go out and buy a human glucose meter and start testing the blood glucose levels yourself. Levels of 270 need insulin still.
Here is the link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Links to foods.
Look for the prescription diet vet ordered
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet...fEUz9YmzMGMxkmcBk6uRR0/htmlview#gid=113878384

 

Also wanted to add, you will need to reduce the dose of insulin with the drop to 35. Coco could well be heading towards remission but reducing the dose lower and keeping Coco on insulin a bit longer will give you a stronger remission. I am going to tag @Rachel and @Djamila as they use prozinc and can advise you re the dose moving forward.

 

This sounds like what happened to my Sophie. I was not home testing and all of a sudden without any symptoms she had a VERY bad hypo. The vet told me she was “in remission” when she in fact wasn’t, she just needed her dose reduced, which I would have known if I had been home testing her blood sugar

The fancy feast is way better for diabetics than any prescription food the vets will try to push on you

 

I wouldn't be too keen on going 2 weeks withouth insulin not knowing what her BG is either. If you think you can home test that would be so useful.

 

Hey! Sorry I've been out of pocket for a few days. I agree that the prescription food isn't any good for your cat. The FF is better and will help keep her levels lower.

270 isn't bed, especially with the added vet stress. However, it doesn't really tell us the whole story. If she was my cat, I'd buy a human glucometer. I'd check her BG levels myself at home (test before each shot, and whenever you can in between. You can test different times on different days to get a complete picture without having to stick her all day every day ). Chart it out using our SS if you can..that will help you and your vet see patterns. Then when you bring her in for her BG check, show the vet your chart (if you feel okay about sharing). That might help both her and you make decisions on remission.

I do think you need to reduce the insulin. I'd probably drop to no more than 0.5 units for now, and only if her BG is above 200 before eating. If it's not, stall 15 minutes without food and check again...see if it's rising. If you're unsure, post on the Prozinc board and some experienced eyes can take a look at it.

 

My cat had a sensitive stomach and I had to slowly wean him off the prescription diet. Ugh, so much money for not very high quality food. I would not get started on that. Just say you can’t afford it. His blood sugar actually went down when I got him off the prescription food, because it’s not even especially low in carbohydrates. Ugh. You can see what most of us here feed in our signatures and also look at the food charts on the site, but many people go for some flavors of fancy feast.
Your cat can go into remission if you slowly lower the insulin dose, but I think just quitting might be too sudden.

 

Hi everyone!!
Sorry for the late response!! As I said in an earlier post, I am horrible at replying and updating because I’m hardly ever on a computer. But I have vowed to stay faithful to this website and log on at least once a day.
So, I ended up NOT changing Coco’s diet. She’s happy with the food she has, and I’ve heard too many bad things on here (and from scientific researched articles) that Hill’s is just not good for our diabetic babies!! So I lied nailbiting and said she wouldn’t eat it and returned it, but oh well!!
@Bron and Sheba - Thank you for your information. I’m going to look into home testing supplies, and we have lowered her dose to 1/2 a unit, twice a day. And thank you for tagging others with much more experience than I have. I really appreciate it!! <3
@Sarah&Soph - Yes!! Key words - without symptoms!! At the vet, he took her back to have her weighed and check her BG, and he came back without her and I’m thinking to myself “uhmm where’s my baby?!” LOL! But when he said “35” I was like . I didn’t understand and thank goodness she just happened to have a vet visit that day. And yes, I do agree now with the FF, definitely won’t be changing!
@Myrtlesmum - Yes, I am looking into home testing now! I didn’t like the fact that he said no insulin either, I noticed her symptoms started coming back. So we agreed on 1/2 unit twice a day!
@Rachel - Yes, I’ve noticed that the FF is keeping her levels stable, even if they are in the mid-200s, they aren’t rising and they aren’t lowering much. So we’re staying on our normal diet with 1/2 unit twice a day! And YES!! I do agree it could be lower, she is a MESS at the vet, so anxious and scared, I do think it rises at the vet. And I am for sure looking into home testing now! Thank you so much for your information and input!!
@Margie and Jackson - Right?! I don’t understand why such a low quality food is SO expensive!! I’m hoping with our insulin decrease, remission comes. Because I really think she’s on the path. Thank you for replying!!

UPDATE:
So right now my concern is her constipation. She goes to the litter box 4-5 times, situates herself like she’s going, and comes out but has done nothing. Finally on the upteenth time she does this, she has finally let out a hard poop ball. That’s usually at night, then by the time I wake up, there’s usually 3-4 of the hard balls. Well I took her to the vet yesterday (July 12) because she vomited Wednesday morning and Thursday morning, and if you knew me, you’d know I’m such a worrisome person. My first thought is that she has some kind of blockage like an intestinal tumor or something . Even though 2 vets have told me they really don’t think it is. So at the vet, she had an X-ray done and it showed that she was pretty backed up with poop. They also said the vomiting could be from straining to hard to go. So she got an enema, and she produced about 4-5 of her hard balls, plus 1 more on the way home. She didn’t go anymore that day. The vet gave me Lactulose, 2ML twice a day. I gave her her first dose last night around 10:30. She was very good for it. When I woke up there was a small pile of poop balls, which she hasn’t done in forever (at least not at once like that!! ). So I was happy with that. I already had been putting 1 TBSP of pumpkin in her evening meal. But is Lactulose the only answer? I’d like to get her off of it eventually, but I’m just not sure with her. If Lactulose is a forever thing, then that’s what I’ll do. I just hate forcing it (even though she does fine). Any other advice? Do I stick with the pumpkin and Lactulose, or just one? Also, do you think I should ask for an ultrasound and\or CT scan to rule out a tumor? Thank you everyone, I love this website and everyone on it <3

 

Good for you for sticking to your guns! It took me a long time to learn how to do that lol.

I think constipation is fairly common in diabetics - Sophie struggled with it for a while as well. One thing that may help is mixing some water with her food if you don’t already. Sophie will let me make hers pretty soupy because she doesn’t like to chew lol, but it might be good to start out with just a little and then slowly increase it to see what she’ll let you get away with!

Pumpkin can help as well. Other popular choices are slippery elm bark and Miralax, which I used for Sophie for a while.

 

Miralax is pretty popular for constipated cats because you can mix it into their wet food and they are none the wiser. Only about 1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon, once or twice a day. Some people use it just to get their cats "going" and then maintain with the pumpkin. My sibling's cat gets Miralax every day. It is important that a cat taking Miralax gets lots of water because it works by drawing extra water into the intestines = wetter/easier to pass poops.

Interesting: https://www.mspca.org/angell_services/feline-megacolon-and-deobstipation/

"Stool softeners are also a common first line choice for any cat that is having difficulty defecating. Lactulose (0.5 ml/kg BID-TID)3, has historically been the laxative of choice. The dose of this medication may be adjusted by the owner to achieve a desired stool consistency. It is an indigestible sugar that osmotically pulls water in to the bowel. It can sometimes be difficult to give to cats due to the flavor and mouth feel, limiting client compliance. MiraLax™ (polyethylene glycol 3350) may be replacing lactulose as the stool softener of choice for cats with megacolon and obstipation. It has virtually no flavor and can be easily sprinkled on or mixed with wet food. The starting dose is 1/8 to ¼ teaspoon BID, and this dose is titrated upwards depending on desired stool consistency. Polyethylene glycol (PEG) 3350 is not absorbed from the intestinal tract and binds to as many as 100 water molecules resulting in a softer stool. It was shown to mildly increase potassium levels and may result in some dehydration if a patient does not drink adequately. High doses can result in diarrhea – like any laxative."​

 

Add some extra water to each of her meals.
many people on here add about 1 Tablespoon, it could help with constipation.
Pumpkin is very good, you can do it as long as it is tolerated.

It certainly not forever thing, it'll do the work much sooner I hope.
Long term Lactulose may not be advisable.

 

give the enema , Pumpkin and Lactulose some time to start working.
If no improvements in a few days or the condition worsens earlier than that - call your vet. Post here, too!
There will be plenty of opportunities to spent money on diabetic cat later on.
@Mary & Coco

 

One of the vets at our office mentioned Miralax can take three days to work when we had constipation issues, but in my experience, it hits the kitty within 24 hours. (A lot of folks here seem to give that 1/8 teaspoon dose on a regular basis as it's a common problem on a low-carb diet, but I've only done it a handful of times as needed.) Perry is really picky but didn't even notice that I'd mixed it into his food.
Good luck!