Honeymooners duration

Hello! Hope everyone's well and happy!
Just a quick note - I wondered how long the average Honeymooning period can last or is every case individual?
What is the longest your pet has been without relapse?
Thanks.

 

Sundance went two years without the need for insulin. And I firmly believe that if her hypertension and other conditions had been diagnosed sooner/properly she would not have needed the insulin again as soon, if at all.


Many cats have periods where they are off the juice and then need a little help. I would say that many more end up on a honeymoon for the rest of their lives. And there are those that honeymoon for a significant period and then need insulin again forever... It really does depend on the cat...

The best thing for anyone to do who has a cat that is off the juice is to stay consistent with feeding the low carb foods and do watch out for other conditions.


When I first joined FDMB in December 2005, it was said that 35% of cats can go off insulin... Now it is said that it is closer to 60 or 70% if they follow the right protocol. We've come a long way!!

 

Peeps is at 15 months off insulin and she is still going strong. She was only insulin controlled for about 9 months. Changing her diet changed everything.
She usually runs only a few points above the normal range when I test her.

 

Cuddles went on her honeymoon & never came back. She passed from cancer in 07, and hadn't needed insulin since her first honeymoon date. Some kitties do just fine with a low carb wet food, but others may need help with insulin at times. When she had an infection (UTI, etc..) her BG would go up around 200, but once we got rid of the infection, her BG would go back down again w/o insulin. I think it is just that ECID!

 

Stasha has been OTJ since 6/16/06. Hard to believe it's been that long. It's an individual thing.

 

Wow! These posts are really encouraging!

I got a little nervous when Merlin needed a short acting steroid for his asthma, as his BG levels started to rise but then went back down again - phew!

We do have some challenges ahead though: I'm moving on the 7th January and he does occasionally suffer lung infections from his asthma and inflamed gums from time to time...hoping to keep him calm in the move (loads of tactics at the ready!) and have got the AeroKat device to help with his asthma so doing our best.

We were very lucky with Merlin's diabetes - he was off the juice after only 2 weeks and that was around a month ago now. Hoping that by monitoring his other conditions and keeping as consistant as possible with diet etc, we may get to quote time spans off the juice like yours. Thank you for inspiring us!

Hope you all have a lovely New Year!

 

I hope all goes well with your move. Just keep doing what you are doing, it sounds like whatever it is, it is working!

 

Thank you Will do! Let's hope it keeps working!
Merlin's injured his back today, although I've no idea how. It is an old injury he seems to have agitated. Hoping he doesn't have too much pain or i'll have to give him his 'cat calpol' and that means keeping him indoors (it masks the pain and he could injure himself further) and not sure if it would affect his BG levels...these things are sent to try us it seems! For now, he seems happy though and that's all that matters. Lots of extra snuggles!

 

Aww... I hope Merlin wil be OK. Pain can cause higher BGs, so treating it is a good idea.

FYI, Beau was OTJ 3 months and had/has a blip on the screen - BGs climbing to mid 200s after an overnight bread episode (younger cat got bread down from shelf). He is getting 0.05u of lev very 24-48 hours to keep him in low 100s. He dropped to 46 on that dose the other day, so may be able to get back off insulin soon (paws-crossed/antijinx).

 

Stormy Blue was only on insulin for about 3 to 4 weeks. His last "official" dose was the day before this past Father's Day. By that point, he was on micro-doses of Vetsulin - literally one drop shots. He still managed to hypo 36 hours after his last "official" dose. Prior to a prednisone shot for skin issues, he had no issues with diabetes. In fact, when the blood work was done at the time of his skin issue, his bgl was in the low 40s - that was moments before the shot. I firmly believe that in Stormy's case, the prednisone caused him to become diabetic.

In any case, he has had two small doses of insulin since Father's Day '09 due to his carb sneaking ways. Once he stole of piece of garlic cheese bread and yes, ate the whole thing before he was caught (bgl shot up to "high" on his glucometer so I stuck him with a micro dose). The second time he got into the dog kibble and ate God knows how much, and once again, he shot to "high" on the glucometer. Once again, he got a micro dose. He has become extremely sensitive to carbs, so he is fed nothing over 5% in carb value.

There have been other a couple of times when he has managed to steal things high in carbs, (Stormy Blue needs to go to a 12 step program for carb addicts), and yes, his bgl shoots up, but it has not gone to "high" so he's not had further insulin doses. *knock wood* But I do have a vial of Lantus waiting in the 'fridge - just in case. I'm praying with everything in me that he remains diet controlled for the rest of his life.

~M

 

Thank you for all of your responses. Wow! Cat's can be sneaky! :lol: I think I'm lucky here though, as Merlin has no interest in human food! :shock: This does, however, exclude sweet cereal milk and ice cream! Thankfully, these he can't access by himself although he does get moody when he knows I have the milk and I almost feel guilty sometimes. I know it's all for the greater good though, nomatter how much he tries to convince me otherwise!
I will certainly give Merlin his pain medication if I think he's unhappy but at the moment he's not acting like he's in pain as such - just taking the stairs slowly going down and jumping off the bed more carefully. I can stroke his back without him yelping or swiping at me, which he used to do before, when he was in pain. Here's a question though...could pain meds alter his BG readings?
Thanks again. Have an awesome New Year!

 

It will be 2 years for Raja in March and I hope we never have to get back on insulin.

She is on a very strict diet but when I got the kitten I bought dry kitten food which Raja got into often, so eventually I just had to put the kitten on the wet food like Raja and got rid of the bag of food. I've found some treats I can give them and that's it. I check her blood sugar periodically, usually when I think something is wrong like she seems to be peeing more, drinking more, or eating more and it's never high so I'm hoping for the best.

 

Since Buzz has only been OTJ about 3 weeks, these stories are definitely inspiring! Thanks for posting, everyone.

 

More and more inspiration! Thank you everyone and wishing you all more juice free enjoyment!

 

If the latest guesses about what causes remission are confirmed, then the answer to duration of remission is "indefinite, but fragile".

The pancreas heals, and once healed to about 50% capacity, can handle normal day-to-day insulin needs unless something goes wrong.
If nothing goes wrong, that can last theoretically a lifetime.

But if something goes wrong, a 50% pancreas cannot kick in the extra emergency insulin required to keep things level, and they can quickly spiral out of control, leading to a relapse.

Things that can go wrong include:

* hi-carb food binge or poor diet
* steroid dose
* stress leading to high BG
* infection or some kinds of illness
* failure of some other organ (common in elderly cats)

any of these can lead to hyperglycemia that might be too great for the scarred pancreas to handle and whoops, there goes your honeymoon!

 

tiger was dx in 12/04, began 1st honeymoon 4/25/05. it lasted til 5/07, then began again on 9/30/07, back on insulin in 12/08, then back otj as of 2/11/09, til now!

 

Chico was dx'd 1/3/2006 & started on Lantus that day. The last insulin he had was 3/22/2006 and he has been fine since. Chico has constant issues with upper respiratory problems that can put him in the emergency room approximately twice a year with high fevers. When this hits him, he tests much higher, but returns to normal as soon as his temps come back down. We generally stick to Wellness canned with ocassional Wellness Core dry or Evo. Chico is a dry food junky, so we have to watch him constantly or he would eat the whole bag at one time.

 

Thanks for that information Steve. That does explain a lot...and about 90% more than I get out of the vets!
Susan: Wow - Tiger sure keeps you on your toes! Let's hope you get a nice, longer Honeymoon again!
Heather: Merlin has upper respiratory issues too and as he's asthmatic, this does worry me but thankfully so far, so good. Fingers crossed! Bless Chico - I bet Merlin would have a field day with his Whiskas pouches if he could too!

I have just moved into a new place and have not had Internet (I still don't but borrowing a friend's to update you all! :smile: ) so sorry for my delay in getting back to you all.
Well, the news is good! Despite the asthma flaring up before the move (and 2 small steroid doses for this) and the move itself (plus the snow and ice!), I finally got a BG reading from Merlin after 4-5 days and he scored an excellent 3.3 (59.4) and is very happy and playful in his new home - yay! cat_pet_icon
Anyway, I better go and get back for more furbaby snuggles :smile:
Hope you all have a great week and I'll catch up with you all sometime in the next 2 weeks. :smile:

 

nancycoxmarafioti: I moved your post into a new thread on our Feline Diabetes Health page. Click this link: viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4360 (title is : "New Member 3U bid")

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Bella has been off the juice for over three years now. Until recently I had to feed RX food to get rid of bladder stone, ans sadly she will need insulin. I am waiting it's arrival via mail, so I can start her on the protocal.