How Do I Start with Insulin First or Diet?

Hello, I have a sugar kitty she is 10 yrs old. Her name is Baby, she is a beautiful calico.
we were diagnosed with diabetes about 2 weeks ago. Her sugar was 392. It was recommended that she be put on ProZinc insulin (1 to 2 units twice a day) and Purina Diet Management dry cat food. I have not started yet as I have been trying to do research. But I have finally found the right place. My question is, do I start insulin and diet change at the same time or how should I do this? Once on the diet approximately how long will Baby have to continue to take insulin? thank you looking forward to a healthy kitty!!!

 

Hello and welcome to the FDMB. You have definitely come to the right place for help and great advice.
Can you tell us a little bit about Baby please?
How much does she weigh?
What have you been feeding her?
Are you intending to home monitor her blood? We highly recommend you do. You will need to buy a monitor and strips. If you tell us which country you live in we can tell you which is the best monitor to buy and where to get it.

Re the food. It would be better to do any change to the diet before you start the insulin because changing to a correct diet can lower the blood glucose levels.
It is not necessary to use the PurinaDiet Management food and definitely Not the dry food. We recommend that all kitties only have canned or wet food which is low in carbohydrates.
Dry food is high in carbohydrates and will only raise the blood sugar higher.
Many of the canned cat foods found in supermarkets are suitable.
Here is a link to a lot of information on food for cats.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/food-links.133016/#post-1475521

Please ask lots of questions, we are only too happy to help.
And please consider testing Baby's blood sugars. This way you will be able to keep her safe

 

Start with low carb canned food first, asap. See the food list and feline nutrition info fro veterinarian Dr Pierson at Cat Info. The column at the right has a downloadable pdf of common Us canned food composition. Pick anything with 10% or lower in the C column (carbohydrates).
Lots of us feed Fancy Feast Classic pates or Friskies pates (except Mixed Grill which is too high).

 

hello, thank you for answering my questions. I was going to try and start her on the primal freeze dried formula.
what do you think of that cat food is that a good one to start with?
she weighs 10 pounds so how much should I feed her?

 

thank you for answering my questions, Baby weighs 10 pounds she weighed 12 but lost 2 over the past 2 months.
I do plan on testing her blood sugars at home. the food I was planning on using was primal freeze dried formula, is that a good one to start with? how long should I what before I add the insulin into her treatment plan?

 

I started testing the day before I changed food and kept testing 2x/day until his BG stabilized. In my case I just took away the dry food because he was eating both canned and dry. However if you will be feeding a new food it is recommended you transition about 25%/day so as not to upset their system. For Billy it took about three days for his BG to get most of the way down, although it did continue to decrease another 30 points or so after that. Your milage may vary... I tried Primal freeze dried turkey and in Billy's case it didn't affect his BG.

 

I couldn't tell you about Primal. I feed Friskies pates as I am feeding about 15 cats.

 

that is wonderful that you are able to take care and love so many cats. I was wondering if I were to us Friskies pates how much and how often would I feed Baby? She is 10 pounds and is not on insulin yet.

 

Hello, and welcome to FDMB.

Many cats will remain on insulin for life. My Bertie has been on insulin for 8.5 years now.
However, quite a few cats will go into remission (ie become diet-controlled diabetics) after a short time on insulin and a switch to a lower carb diet. Remission can be temporary or permanent. Cats that have become diabetic as a result of steroid treatment have a particularly high chance of going into remission.
And a small minority of cats don't need to start insulin at all after switching to a low carb wet diet. We have seen cases like this on this forum, but they are few and far between.

As others have said, it could be a good idea to transition your kitty to low carb wet food before starting insulin. (Assuming your kitty has no history of ketones/DKA, in which case it would be better to start insulin ASAP.)

Eliz

 

You're on the right track adjusting diet before giving insulin unless, as Elizabeth and Bertie points out, your cat has a history of ketones/DKA.
In the absence of ketones/DKA, by switching to a low carb diet, you'll be able to better determine if insulin is needed and at what dose. If Baby needs to be on insulin, helpful members in the ProZinc forum can guide you. It's a good idea to wait at least a week, when switching diets, before starting insulin.

Fancy Feast Classics is another inexpensive low carb wet food you can feed Baby as long as she doesn't have kidney issues (if she does, then you'd want to stick to a lower phosphorus/low carb food).

As for how much to feed, see the recommendations on the cans/labels. As for how often, I feed CJ several small meals a day to keep her at a steady weight. If Baby needs to gain weight, you'd want to aim for a low carb food with high calories. @BJM would some of the low carb kitten foods be a good choice for Baby?