Diabetic Kitty on Glargine - need some confirmation

My 13-14 year old kitty is named Baby.
His mom was from the pound and she was pregnant when I adopted her (unknowingly).

He is part Ragdoll. He is solid white, blue eyes and deaf.

He started urinating heavily and ravenously eating, so I took him in. He and his brother have been on what I think is decent quality cat food, such as Wellness, Merrick, or Max cat for pretty much their life. I feed meals in wet food and leave a small amount of dry out during the day, since I work.

At the vet, his BGL was in the 400s, so she put him on .5 units of glargine - and she suggested the Royal Canin dry food for diabetes...I promptly started researching and am weening them both off dry food and have switched to a mix of Fancy Cat and TikiCat (chicken variety). I have to blend it because he won't eat the strings of pulled chicken meat.

He went in for a glucose curve before I felt confident (two weeks later) and his numbers were still high, so she upped it to 1 unit/2x day. He showed slight improvement (but that has been about 3 weeks) and he seems to be plateauing. I got a glucose meter and have been checking his levels this week. Once I looked at them for a few days still hanging around 378, I was comfortable upping his insulin to 1.5 units twice per day, which I started today. The last BGL I took was at 298 - which seems to be a great sign. His pee spots are still quite large so I want to make sure he is getting enough.

Also- I'm in NYC. The vet will literally charge you more than your rent. Baby's mother is with my mom in Nashville and she had the same bloodwork done and with insulin (also diabetic), it was $800 less than I paid in NYC. Considering moving just to take care of my cats!

Any thoughts would be greatly appreciated!

 

Welcome to you and Baby! This is the right place for help and support.

What's really good so far:

• no dry food, only low carb wet food (have you checked the % carbs in your wet food?)
• a very low starting dose
• you're here asking for help
• most of the diabetes treatment can be done by you with little vet involvement - huge $$$ savings!

What will get your kitty under better control:

• testing blood glucose at home
• logging the data in the spreadsheet we use here
• asking any/all questions you have on the main health forum.

 

Hi Baby and his human,

First, I think it is great that you are home testing! Best tool we have for keeping our fur babies safe.
Second, I think it is great your vet started you on 0.5u that is just fabulous! Why? Too high of a dose will cause Bg's to be high just like too little does!

You say your are on Glargine - Lantus. The important note on this insulin is that it is a depot insulin - takes a few cycles to see the best results of a dose as well it is important to know how low it will take Baby not just about the pre-shot numbers.

Also, a suggestion - doing your curves at home will be lower than the vets due to stress! More realistic to normal patterns.

See you over at the main forum or Lantus forum.

 

Welcome Baby and Lendsey!
Will look for your over on Main Health