Diabetic Cat Side effects

We have a cat Zeus here, who has been diabetic since we rescued him about 4-5 years ago. We guess he is about 7. We have been treating him for diabetes since we got him.

We check his BG levels before every shot, and until now have not had to many complications. Generally he is about 15-21 mmo pre shot depending on if he has managed to sneak and of the dog kibble. We have been using Humulin N isnsulin for about 4 years now. He is only needing 1u twice a day.

About 2 months ago we started noticing him having some trouble with his hind legs (he had this back when we got him) so we starting mixing in methylcobalamin as we did back then and he seemed to get a bit better but was still having some trouble. Then I finally clued in that he seems to be losing his vision. He gets stuck in the corners sometimes, or has trouble locating food by sight.

We took him to the vet and he agreed he seems to be having some trouble with his eyes. We did a fructosamine to check how well his control is, and it came back at 408. Which is apparently good control.

At this point I am worried about him as he should have eye troubles at his age, and we don't have a lot of money.

The vet says there a lots of more tests we can do to try to narrow it down but we cannot afford them all.

Does anyone here have any suggestions on what we can do to help with the best we can?

 

Maybe more experienced people will chime in here, but it sounds like your numbers are still high in general. A fructosamine score of 408 is in the normal range, but it is on the extreme high side of things. Normal range is 150-420 I believe. (someone correct me if I am wrong). I know some effects of long standing unregulated diabetes is cataracts and neuropathy in the hind quarters, which is what you are mentioning. I am not as familiar with mmol #'s but 22 I believe equals out to around 396mg, which is pretty high for having been on insulin for 4 years already. I personally would suggest switching to either a gargline insulin (Lantus, levemir) or the new ProZinc as both have had good success with tight regulation and even remission in cats. Humulin has not had a good track record with getting cats regulated.

 

I would have him checked for hypertension....dogs get the cataracts from diabetes, rare that cats do.......I would also suggest getting him off the N insulin. Others will chime in but have his blood pressure checked and maybe, if possible, kidney values.

 

We have managed to find Lantus here as an alternative to the N, but it's $70 a bottle and has to be replaced every 28 days, where as the N is only $20 a bottle and we usually keep it for two months. 22mmol's is a rare occurance, and usually means he has managed to get into the dog kibble. His normal pre shot is about 17...

He drops fairly fast once he gets his shot, and he drops pretty low even on 1u of the N.

 

N is a fast acting, short duration insulin. A kitty needs to be fed a good half hour before shooting. Majority of kitties do not get long enough duration on N. Drops them down and then right back up. If you are hometesting, you can do a curve to see what his numbers are from a.m. pre-shot to the p.m. ps. If you go to the Insulin Forums and click on the Lantus groupt, there is all kinds of info on Lantus, buying, storing, using the pens instead of the vial.

 

The problems with the hind legs could be diabetic neuropathy, and the problems with the eyesight could be diabetic retinopathy. Have you done any recent BG curves to see how things look over the course of the day?

 

There are many more affordable ways to get lantus, including the lantus cartridges. ANd not everyone throws out their lantus after 28 days.... AND lantus is a much better insulin than N so you may end up needing less of it and for a shorter amount of time, with fewer medical complications.

 

Other options would include ProZinc which is $80-90 a vial and lasts for months because it is not as finicky as Lantus.

 

When comparing Lantus (and other U100 insulins) to ProZinc with regard to cost just remember that q 10 mlvial of Lantus contains 1000 units of insulin vice the 400 in 10 ml of ProZinc. The best buy may be the 3 ml pens/cartridges since each 300 units and cost less than 10 ml of ProZinc.

 

These are his readings I've taken lately. Obviously only the days we've done more then his usual pre-shot.

March 1st:
7:30am 17.8
7:20pm 12.7 (Unusually Low, but gave shot 1u of N)
9:00pm 4.9
10:30pm 2.0 (Scared me, gave honey)
11:00pm 2.6
11:30pm 3.6
12:00am 3.8

March 3rd
7:20am 25.0 (He got in the Dog Kibble at night)
9:30am 18.2
12:00pm 15.5
2:30 17.8
4:30 19.2
7:30 21.5

March 6th
8:30am 16.6
10:30am 15.1
12:30pm 9.2
2:30pm 6.4
4:30pm 8.9
6:30pm 13.5
8:00pm 17.1

I'm going to do another curve on Saturday as well. I will go check the insulin forums, I didn't see them before.

 

That first day with the low numbers is scary!

It looks like, based on limited data, that your cat does better than to be expected on N in that there is longer duration than most cats. More data would be helpful, but you don't need to curve, to determine what is normal for your cat. If the last day or two are normal, then you have room for an increase of 1/2 a unit (for example) and then let it sit for a few days to see what that dose change does.

Jen

 

If you could afford a consult with a veterinary ophthalmologist, that could give you some answers to the vision issue.

 

Did the vet find anything wrong with Zeus' eyes? A regular vet can find out many thinks by looking at the eyes with an ophthalmoscope.

 

I don't believe that he looked at them. He seemed to think that it could be more related to the diabetes. I'm going to go talk to him today.

Just from browsing around the web, I'm wondering if he has cataracts. His eyes are a bit cloudy. And the descriptions of what happens is similar to what he is going through.

 

He really does need to get his eyes checked....