? Diabetic Ketoacidosis, diabetic fasting, eating too much?

I have a friend that seems to think that He knows everything in the world and has taken it upon himself to let me know that I'm killing my cat because I'm doing it all wrong.

He said that I can't get Peanut's numbers down because I'm feeding him too much. I have calculated his food requirements but I guess he could eat a little less so I won't argue with that one too much.

He also said that I'm feeding him too often. I feed Peanut twice a day, I give out the food after his injection and it stays out for about 6 to 8 hours and then I pick it up. I explained that he has to eat twice a day because of his insulin injection but I was met with argument. He said that he understood that he needed some food in order to get his insulin injection but that he didn't need a full meal.

He says that Intermittent Fasting is better. I would agree that Peanut is overweight and that IF is great for a non diabetic human to lose weight but we all know that fasting can cause dangerous BG drops in our FD buddies.

He is trying to tell me that by using the method that I'm using that I'm never going to get a handle on his diabetes and that I'm eventually going to end up killing him be giving him insulin that he doesn't need because if I just got him to lose weight and fed him less that his BG would naturally go down. He claims that I obviously don't really understand diabetes and I'm doing more harm than good.

He says that fasting is healthy for a diabetic lol. What?

And lastly that ketoacidosis isn't dangerous. He claims that we just don't understand it. Like a human eating a low carb diet and entering a ketogenic state, says that cats don't need carbs so if they enter a ketogenic state or even ketoacidosis then it's not dangerous. I tried to explain that it's two different things but he wasn't listening.

He is seriously ticking me off, isn't he wrong on all fronts?

 

YES.

 

Unfortunately there are far too many "experts" out there. I have been dealing with FD for 2 1/2 years and I certainly will not consider myself an expert, even though I live, breathe, eat and sleep FD.

Feeding the WRONG food is not good, but feeding more frequently can work very well with some kitties. It can help to prevent stomach acids and help to even out the ups and downs of glucose levels. Lantus is a long acting insulin that "usually" works for 12 hours in a kitty. Therefore there is some degree of insulin helping to support the glucose levels through this period. The older insulins that were fast acting were once directed to be used twice a day at the time of feeding.

Peanut is not a human and longer fasting periods will not necessarily be the best approach. Since diabetes prevents kitties (and people) from properly being able to utilize glucose (whether carbs or from protein that has been converted to glucose) a kitty who is fed only twice a day may not be getting the proper calorie intake, because their bodies are not utilizing it properly.

Diabetes is not always just about the food and the amount of food fed. An infection, dental inflammation, chronic pancreatitis and other issues can cause glucose levels to go higher. I have seen a few people where the numbers went higher because the insulin was getting older and losing some of its efficacy. For an overweight kitty losing some weight SAFELY AND SLOWLY can certainly help, but especially with a kitty any long periods of not eating can cause heptaic problems ( liver). Trust the people on here who have been living through this journey each and every day.

 

I'm sorry, but your friend has absolutely no idea what he's talking about. Please do not follow his advice, it could be very dangerous for your sweet Peanut.

 

Thank you everyone... I knew that I wasn't losing my mind. After dealing with this for 4 years I like to think that I kind of know what I'm doing at least when it comes to Peanut. I'm not an expert but I have common sense. Thanks for the reassurance.

 

Common sense and knowing your kitty trump any inexperienced advice you might get.

 

Even if you friend was a Veterinarian I would be inclined to disagree lol. Everyone here lives and breathes FD and I strongly believe experience is better than any school can teach alone.

 

Nicely put

 

I changed vets within 2 months of my initial diagnosis when it became evident that I already knew as much ( or more ) than she did. Best thing I ever did. Vets know a little about a a lot of animal diseases and conditions but they are not experts on a specific condition. Even with the experts you are sometimes at a point where it is okay to question and argue with their diagnosis/treatment. The more you know about your own kitty the more empowered you are,

 

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How's it going? Intermittent Fasting is the healthiest thing a mammal can do, period. Do your research and you will see the many studies proving that IF has countless health benefits in mammals. I used it to lose 70 lbs and rid myself of a bunch of chronic ailments.
My cat started drinking a lot of water, (insulin resistance or diabetes) I have fed him 9 lives dry food everyday with moist mixed in a couple times a week his whole life, and his bowl was always full of dry food to "nibble" on all day. Eating too frequently coupled with horrible dry food (or primarily carbohydrates) like I was using... this is what causes diabetes in mammals. Now we use the 16:8 method. You can feed your cat 2+ times a day. Mine eats 3-4 times a day, dry and moist, but ONLY between noon and 8 pm or even a bit smaller window. And we fast the rest of the time.
You don't need to restrict calories, the mammal can eat the same amount of calories, just within the feeding window. This works because I have done it and have seen the studies.

Humans get to eat a much bigger variety of foods while fixing their glucose metabolism...
Check out this "Diabetics Cookbook" written in 1917, (free) they were curing diabetes back then.
I found this book after I got healthy, but pages 12 & 13 show almost the exact foods I ate, and I also used IF.

https://archive.org/details/diabeticcookeryr00oppeiala
Look at pages 12 & 13, this is the diet doctors are slowly going back to recommending, because it works in normalizing glucose metabolism.

 

Crike. What a load of old cobblers.
Clearly doesn't understand the metabolism of a cat.

Yes. Your good sense wins the day for Peanut.

BTW. I suppose my old Ty 'fasts' overnight *. Does that count

* ( except if I think his BG would be dangerously low of course)