Diabetic Burmese diagnosed 18 months ago

My 14 year old Burmese boy Selby was diagnosed approx 18 months ago with diabetes. About six months ago his Lantus dosage was lowered because of his low blood sugar result. Since then he's had two attacks of Pancreatitis. He hasn't looked well since the last attack. He's eating lots but his coat is dull and he's moving slowly. He's obviously not feeling well. His urine output has increased a lot and he's also drinking lots - I have a vet appointment this Friday to check his levels and urine.
Could he have something else going on now?
Thanks Elaine

 

Hello Elaine and Selby, and welcome to FDMB,

The symptoms you describe could be indicative of a number of different things, but I'm wondering, first off, whether it is actually Selby's diabetes that is causing these symptoms, because they sound so typical of unregulated diabetes...

May I ask, are you testing Selby's blood glucose regularly at home? And if so, what sort of numbers are you getting?

And what food is Selby eating?

PS. If you edit your message title to include 'Lantus' then you may attract the attention of more Lantus users.

 

Hi Elizabeth and Bertie, Thanks for your response.
We're in outback Australia and so far have had to rely on two weekly trips to the vet to monitor glucose levels.
I'll have to investigate if I can buy the equipment here to home test. Our vets haven't mentioned that I could do that.
His levels have been erratic over the last few months. Our vets have dropped his insulin dosage by more than 2/3 over that time.
He's now going in tomorrow for testing.
Thanks again, Elaine

 

HI Elizabeth and Bertie,
I forgot to mention diet. He and his friend our first Bengal have a mixture of raw and canned food. No dry food at all. He's not on a special diet - should he be?
Elaine

 

Hi Elaine,

It sounds like Selby is eating exactly the right kind of food!

Most of us on this forum hometest our cats using ordinary glucose meters that are made for humans, so, if there are human diabetic supplies available to buy where you are then you should be just fine. The idea of hometesting can sound a little daunting, but it's not at all invasive; it only involves taking a teensy drop of blood from the outer edge of your cat's ear. There are very few nerve endings there and it shouldn't hurt your cat. Folks here will be able to give you lots of tips about how to do it. I test my cat while he's munching on a few treats. :smile:

If you can hometest this will give you a huge amount of information about how insulin is working in your cat, and it will help you to keep him safe. This is especially important since it seems like Selby is needing less insulin as time goes on.

Has Selby had any blood tests (other than blood glucose) done recently? Just wondering if he should have his thryroid and kidney functions checked..?

 

Raw and canned foods are fine for diabetics as long as they are grain-free and low carb :smile: The only "special diet" a diabetic cat needs is grain-free and low carb. Many commerical foods fit the bill and are affordable.

What kind of raw food are you feeding? A homemade recipie or a commercial brand?

What brands of canned food are you feeding? Not all commerical brands are low carb for a diabetic. Here are sugestions for suitable low carb canned foods available in Australia:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/phoru...felinediabetes.com/phorum5/read.php?8,1863468
http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/read.php?8,893499,893612

You can also check these charts:
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/Food Chart Public 9-22-12.pdf
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=64843

Food that has under 10% carbs are best.

Interestingly, someone posted a link on Think Tank about a study done on Burmese cats predisposed to diabetes: viewtopic.php?f=22&t=82465

Blood gluocse test kits and supplies can be bought online as well as at the local pharmacy. Daily testing, especially before giving the insulin shot, is important. It's the only way to know how well the insulin and dose is working for your cat. The occasional test done at the vet's office does not give you any useful info other than at that moment your cat's level was high.

 

I can't help you much - the others are much smarter than me. I've not even filled out the part that says my dear kitty has now passed away. I made a friend called Joan on this site. Her boy was a similar breed to your kitty (maybe the same). I sent her stuff to get her started on bg testing. She lives 200 - 300Ks north of Adelaide on a sheep station. She is wonderful. She and her delightful husband have been to dinner at our house in Melbourne. She now has two kitties after her beloved Oscar died. She got Oscar off insulin but then he developed heart failure. She was always taking him to specialists. I wonder if you would like to write to her? She can tell you her experience with Lantus. I'm sorry that I am just so busy at the moment. Recovering from Shingles and now daughter in law has it with tiny children to be cared for and we have overseas visitors arriving on monday. But if you PM me I can give you Joan's email address if you would like to write to her. I am very remiss in not contacting her lately and will happily introduce you two via email if you make contact with me.

warmest regards from the city,
Marilyn in Melbourne

 

Thanks all for your responses. I've spoken to our vet who is okay with home testing but warned about him getting annoyed about taking blood from his ears. He doesn't like too much attention...
His levels were high so he's having an extra 1/2 - up to 2 twice a day.
Urine test okay, waiting on blood tests for thyroid etc.
He badly needs dental work done so if blood tests are fine will book him for that. Anyone have any negative effects from anesthesia with a diabetic cat?
As far as diet goes he's having Fancy Feast plus a couple of other canned foods made in OZ - no grain added, I always check the labels. The raw(chicken, heart and beef and egg yolk) is sometimes mixed in with the canned. I also have powdered vitamin supplement I add to the raw.
Thanks again for your help, Elaine and Selby

 

Hi Elaine,

My diabetic boy has had 2 dentals done and was just fine. Anaesthetics are pretty good these days. :smile:

Regarding testing, my cat is NO lap cat, so I can't hold or restrain him while testing, but he just chomps on a couple of treats while I test him. And the test probably only takes 30 seconds. Other folks here give a treat after the test. But it's important to always reward your cat - even for a 'failed' test attempt. Your cat will soon learn to associate testing with treats!

Fingers and paws crossed here that the bloodwork is good. (Well, apart from that silly little feline diabetes thing! ;-) )

 

Elaine there's some good hometesting pics here:
http://www.sugarpet.net/bloodtst.html

Most people, at least initially, warm the cat's ear before pricking the edge, but I'm guessing that it's getting pretty hot where you are now so your cat's ears will probably be warm enough already!

If your cat has dark ears then a teensy smidge of vaseline on the test site can help you to see the blood droplet.

 

Is your Fancy Feast the pate kind or the chunks with gravy or the grilled or the medleys or the... gosh, FF has a bunch out there!

The pate is the diabetes friendly kind while all other kinds are too high in carbs. If your cat likes the gravy add water to the pate (as most of us do to increase water intake) and mash it a little to produce gravy.