1st time user who needs help

I am a new member. I have a 7-8 yr. old male, Ragdoll breed kitty, named Risky. He was diagnosed 3-4 months ago with diabetes. He started out at 21 lbs. and is now down to 16.2 lbs. He free feeds on Science Diet Lite (dry food) and loves Pounce treats (approximately 8 pieces daily) and canned Tuna (approximately 1/2 can a day). HE FREAKS WHEN HE GOES TO THE VET.... therefore the vet said to only bring him in once a month for a one-time draw of blood to check for sugar. They started him on 2.5 units of insulin and he is now up to 8 units, twice daily (ProZinc). His sugar level continues to go higher with each check and therefore the vet keeps increasing his insulin. In recent weeks, Risky has become extremely lethargic and his hind legs show a great deal of weakness. He continues to drink lots of water and urinate in large quantities. Please help ME help my sweet kitty, Risky.

 

Hi Martha,

Welcome to FDMB. Message boards are confusing, I get confused and I've been here a while. You've posted on think tank which does not get a lot of traffic, but I've asked on Health for people to come here. If you could repost on Health you'll get much more help.

Health is here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=28

Your cat has neuropathy, unregulated diabetes will cause that. The water intake and high numbers also show he's unregulated.

The best things you can do is change his diet, get rid of the dry if you can, that makes regulation really hard. Start hometesing, you can use a glucometer, you don't need to go to the vet, you can see every day how he is any time. Change his dose. I think he's getting too much and this may be causing the problem.

There are conditions that require high doses of insulin, but the neuropathy leads me to believe this is not a high dose condition, but just a missed the proper dose issue. His becoming extremely lethargic, that's hypoglycemia, another reason I think your dose is too high. When their blood sugar is too low it's called hypoglycemia, you can read about it here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887

Please try to post on Health, you'll get a lot more information than what I can give you.

I'm glad that you are here and hope that you will find FDMB as amazing as I do :mrgreen:

 

Hi Martha,

Probably the very best thing you could do for Risky right now is to learn to test him at home! Almost all of us test our kitties at home using just a regular human meter, we prick the outer edge of their ears just like a human pricks their finger to get a small sample of blood and test that before each and every shot. There is a pretty good chance that Risky is getting too much insulin and is in constant rebound where his body is trying to protect itself from going too low. Since the vet is basing Risky's insulin dose on the numbers he is seeing at the office and from the sounds of things Risky is under a great deal of stress at the vet's and stress causes BGs to rise. Now there are cats that do require that much insulin but they have under-lying health conditions that cause them to be insulin resistant.

The next thing that will help Risky a lot is to change is diet (once you are home testing) to a low carb/high protein canned diet. I have 2 diabetic cats as well as 11 non-diabetic cats and everyone eats exactly what my diabetics eat...Just good old fashioned Friskies pate style cat food...On this diet change and a short course of insulin one of my diabetics Maxwell is already in remission and off insulin. But if you do switch Risky's diet to low carb canned you will need to reduce his dose way down, because simply removing the dry food and yes that includes the Temptation treats can drop their blood sugar as much as 100 points.

I'm sure others will be jumping in shortly to give you all kind of pointers and links to read, but as I'm not familiar with your insulin I will leave dosing to those that are.

Just wanted to pop in and say Hi and Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be, but are so blessed to have found!

Oh yeah...just remember to Breathe...we will hold your hand and paw through it all, and can help teach you the best way to help your buddy Risky.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang

 

Hi Martha,
Kim was telling us about you last night, how you 2 met and that she was talking to you.
Just an fyi, if you go to the message board, insulin support groups, and PZI
(for the type of insulin) we have been waiting for you to join. you can also post on health as there are many people
there to help

First thing is I agree that Risky is getting too much insulin..did Kim talk to you about reducing
and possible changing feeding habits.
How is Risky behaving now?
What time do you shoot him up?
I know you are probably overwhelmed, just take a deep breath and we are all here to help you.

Denise and Shakes

 

Hi Martha,
Like Denise has said, Kim mentioned you to the PZI group, and gave us a little bit of background information on Risky. I am happy to see you're here already! One advantage that you have, regarding home testing, is that you have a very experienced board member close by who can show you just how to do it! The others have already given you some great advice about food/diet, hometesting, and explained some about neuropathy. This board is a truly amazing place, and everyone here is always ready to pitch in and help. We've all "been there", right where you are, new, confused and overwhelmed, wanting nothing but to help your poor sugarcat.
When we first came, we were overwhelmend not only with the scary knowledge that our kitty was sick, but also by the instant willingness of all the members here to help and set our minds at ease.

So, welcome to the "family". We will teach you all the dance steps.

Carl