Greetings from Caterpillar

Hello everyone! My name is Dani. I'm here for my sweet boy who was just diagnosed yesterday. Caterpillar is big sweetheart. He's always snuggly and affectionate, never mean even when you're bathing him. He has always put on weight easily, but I attributed it to his coming from a hoarding situation before I adopted him. He cannot be free-fed because he eats all food available no matter what. The problem is I have had multiple roommates who free-feed their cats--and thus Caterpillar as well.

I brought him into the vet because he urinated on my bed and my roommate's bed three times in one night; I thought he had a UTI again. Luckily there was no infection, but unfortunately there was sugar in his urine and his blood sugar clocked in around 406. I left the appointment with a new donated bottle of Novalin N, some U-100 syringes, and an overwhelming amount of questions. I've already been reading a lot of the resources and posts on this site and it has been so valuable even one day in. Based on what I've read, I definitely want to start testing his blood glucose at home and change his diet.

I probably made his diabetes worse when I switched his morning grain-free dry food to a 'fat cat' formula high in carbs. I'm planning to phase it out but not sure of the best way to do it while giving insulin. His evening food seems okay--Nulo Medal Series wet food. Has anyone else used this for a diabetic kitty?

I also have concerns about my vet. The diabetic consult offered by two vet technicians taught me how to give an insulin injection, but I didn't receive any handouts and I had to ask about signs of hypoglycemia. I wasn't told to monitor his behavior after a shot or for how long. They also started him with 3 units twice a day. After his third dose this morning, I called them to ask about lowering it. He has been very lethargic and passive for 1-5 hours after a shot. He was still responsive and came to the kitchen when I rattled kibble, but definitely not normal behavior. They said to lower his dose to 2 units twice a day and call them tomorrow. I'm wondering if I should switch to another vet. Is there an article here about what to look for in a vet?

I'm so glad I've found this community and I look forward to being a part of it! -Dani

 

Hello and welcome Dani and Caterpillar!

Novalin is not the most commonly used insulin for cats, I understand that was a donation, but there are other Insulins used for cats that produce more predictable and “gentler” results if that is something you want to explore. I am tagging @MrWorfMen's Mom who might be able to add some insight. I would also suggest posting concerns about insulin dosing on Novalin forum.

You can also post health questions to the main Health forum.

Here is some info on Novalin
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-novolin-humulin-nph.186097/

Yes, 3 units is too high a starting dose! Recommended according to above link is 1 unit every 12 hours.

Between the recommended starting dose and lack of information from current vet and apparent lack of concern for things you really need to know, I think you would be better helping your cat to look elsewhere. They don’t seem very knowledgable about dosing. Also Novalin is not the first choice for cats.

Great you are going to start testing! Many people here use human meters because the strips are much cheaper than for the pet meter.

The Nulo shredded is 8-10% carb (see page 42) and the Nulo pates (top of page 42) are 1-5% carbs. The Pates are PERFECT!
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

We try to stay under 10% carbs ( third column) on chart to give them a good chance of getting diabetes controlled.

Yes, you will need to gradually wean off the dry because removing the dry all together will produce a sudden drop in sugar levels and will likely need a lower dose just from the food change. The kibble may be the only thing keeping him from going dangerously low at this point on that dose of insulin..

 

Hi Dani and Caterpillar!

I see you haven’t posted again since you joined but you’re on tonight. How are things going?

I used Novolin N (NPH) for about 3 months. Every Cat is Different (ECID), but eventually my girl was doing so poorly on the NPH that she went into diabetic ketoacidosis. Kitty metabolism is too fast for it to last a full 12 hours. Alice was regulated on it only when I switched to every 8 hours instead of every 12. I would encourage you to look into a longer-lasting insulin in the future. I am low-income and understand the value of “donated” all too well. If finances are a concern, feel free to post on here or even privately message me and maybe I can help you work some things out.

I also used to feed Solid Gold dry years ago and liked it a lot because it didn’t have things like corn or other fillers in it, but it’s not going to be low carb enough in the long run, unfortunately. I hope the transition off dry is going well.