How long did it take your kitty to get regulated?

Just curious on how long it took for your furry friend to be considered regulated...

 

It took me two years, but I know many others who accomplished it sooner. ECID (Every Cat Is Different), so there really isn't any way to tell how long it will take.

 

i considered my kitty regulated after 22 days when his BG was regularly in low-mid 100's 98% of the time (using pet meter) while being allowed to free feed.

 

Wow! That's awesome!

 

Yeah, my current vet just keeps saying it takes time. My old vet said it could take as long as 12 weeks. Well, were at like 10 weeks now, and nowhere near regulated. So yeah I guess it does take times sometimes

 

It really is different for every cat..it took Bandit months the first time (and a year to reach remission) but only a week or two the second time around. It really is a marathon, not a sprint!

 

Yeah, the thing that is scary is she's brought possible insulin resistance a couple times. Not saying he is, but you never know...

 

I don't think you've been home testing long enough to say it's insulin resistance yet... and if he's still feeling crappy from the pancreatitis that can keep his BG high. Give it some time and keep testing and adjusting accordingly... it's hard to be patient, I know!

Do you need some food suggestions for him? Bandit also has a history of pancreatitis, and it was rough keeping him eating. Again, ECID, but lower fat foods seemed to help him through the pancreatitis. Will Rufus eat shredded type foods or only pates? Cerenia also helped a great deal until it resolved.

 

Well, right now (for the last couple months) he's been pretty strange in eating. He will not eat any wet food unless it is liqufied (1 can food to 1/2 can water). He'll eat dry food every once in a while (didn't even attempt for 1 month, now he tries daily). He'll eat hard treats. Has difficulty chewing. 2 diff vets and a dental specialist don't think he has teeth issues, but I do. They all think it's the pancreatitis causing his issues with chewing. Specialist won't do anything until his numbers are lower, but they might be high from dental issues. Real catch 22. He used to eat ANYTHING.

He's eating fancy feast and he's allergic to it, and I need him to eat a rabbit protein. But he's being picky. Plan is hopefully once he's regulated, dental check-up, and then wysong rabbit and young again LID Zero. He's got a lot going on so we're hoping they all resolve once we get him regulated.

 

We've tried cerenia multiple times and doesn't work. Honestly, I'm 99% sure the fancy feast is making him feel like poop but that's all he'll eat. Pepcid works wonders! We are going to try getting him on odenstaraon (sp?) and get him going on that and try to switch to wysong.

 

If you're going to feed the Wysong Epigen canned, it's not nutritionally complete so you also have to buy their "call of the wild" supplement. Have you tried Nature's Variety instinct limited ingredient canned? Merricks also makes some canned limited ingredient diets.

If the protein doesn't end up being the issue, I would definitely try some low fat foods (there are some non-seafood ones out there...tiki cat and weruva).

 

I inquired into Wysong canned not too long ago:

Good afternoon Julia,


Thank you for your interest in Wysong.


If you are feeding the Epigen™ canned diets solely, then they are designed to be used with our Call of the Wild™ powdered supplement, which was designed to balance the Epigen™ canned diets by providing organ meat, fats, connective tissue, proteoglycans, minerals, vitamins, enzymes, probiotics and innumerable other micronutrients in the levels and proportions found in natural prey. If you are using the canned diets as a supplement to other foods, such as one of our dry diets, then it would not be necessary to add the Call of the Wild™.


Our feline Uretic™ canned diet is formulated to meet the nutritional levels established by the AAFCO Cat Food Nutrient Profiles for Maintenance.


If you have any further questions please let me know.

Wishing you and yours the best of health,

Vicky C.
Wysong, a Family Owned and Operated Organization
800.748.0188 | Wysong.net | ProteinKey.com| WysongHealth.net | WysongEpigen.net
WysongOptimal.net | WysongPetHealth.net

 

When this whole thing started, he was eating Royal Canine Selective (rabbit), deli turkey, and cosequin. And one of these things caused severe ear infections. He was losing less hair and was licking himself less. Now that I have removed turkey he is MUCH improved, but still licking. The fancy feast have meat byproducts in them so who knows if there is any turkey in them. The cosequin is fish, but I get different answers as to whether or not it would cause allergies/intolerance. I've tried the Merricks chicken and beef and he's picky with those too. So I don't know.

 

Oh wow! Thank you so much for this! I had no idea this was available. I did buy some taurine supplement to use. The only thing that scares me is chicken is listed as an ingredient. I'm really trying to stay with a novel protein. Vet says if allergic to turkey, good chance he's allergic to all poultry.

 

And why in the heck is there garlic in it???

 

I've been at it for 10 months now trying to get Rupert regulated... It will be a yr March 21st.

 

not necessarily, one of my cats is allergic to chicken but, not allergic to turkey.

 

We caught Tux really early, so it didn't take long to get him regulated. Basically took ten days, and then his numbers settled down after jumping around for that time. He then spent the next two weeks at 1u Lantus as his numbers settled down even further, then 0.5u for another week and a half, then 0.25 for a couple of days before I took him off entirely two weeks ago because his numbers were stable as a rock. They've remained so, just did his tests tonight and they were 61 before his meal, 62 two hours after his meal. Yeah, that's pretty stable. But like I said, we were really lucky, Tux was still in very robust health with no ketones and no damage to nerves or retinas, just peeing a lot for about a week before I made the appointment because my vet had warned me at our last well kitty checkup a few months before to keep an eye out for that because that if he started doing that, it meant something bad was happening. (I don't know if my vet was prescient or not, but it definitely saved Tux a lot of health problems, as did the fact that he started Tux on Lantus first thing!).

 

I didn't have time to regulate him, he decided he was done with the juice before that (fingers crossed that it lasts, it's only been a few weeks). He did have major pancreatitis that brought on the diabetes, so imho that can explain the dramatic (good!) turn of events.

 

Wow! Definitely lucky! So happy that it's going good for you guys!

 

Awesome! Great to hear good stories! Continued success Quintus and Stephanie!

 

A complete poultry intolerance is rough because it's in most low carb foods--but considering you've already ordered the wysong and supplment, I would see if it works. As Sylvie mentioned, an cat with an intolerance to turkey may do fine with chicken or duck. Also, the most common food intolerance in cats is fish, so you may be fine just getting him off the Fancy Feast. If the Wysong doesn't end up working, you might need to seriously consider a raw diet. They have been known to really help cats with pancreatitis. The instinct raw rabbit has pork but no poultry, and the lamb is just lamb.

 

It is tough. He seems so nauseaus now, I think that's the biggest issue in to getting him to eat better. I visited my old vet and the vet tech had some raw chicken and gave me a pouch. Rufus sniffed it and walked away, but loves chicken any other way. I kind of feel that I'm being recorded for a show on how long it takes for a human to go nuts when a cat is being a cat

 

When are you starting the Zofran with him? I would get that on board sooner than later. Nausea is the biggest hurdle to get over after a pancreatitis attack, and you usually need an anti-nausea med on board. Pepcid can help him if he has an acidic stomach, but not with the nausea caused by the pancreatitis.

 

Well, the thing is, is he really nauseaus or what. Crenenia doesn't help. Pepcid mostly makes him feel better. He's always gassy and stomach gurgling. I just called the vet about the ondansetron and they'll call me back. they did say yesterday I could go to the pharmacy to pick some up if I needed it sooner then them ordering it. So maybe it's a mix of nauseau and bloated/gassy/acid? Can't give the pepcid with the cerenia, hopefully can with the zofran. I asked about gasx or similar, but vet said nothing like that for cats.

 

Did you try mixing a little hot water with the food and mashing it to bring out the smell? Worked wonders with old Quintus.

 

Yeah, I've tried all the tricks. I do think he likes the fish because he smells it the best. And that is something I brought up before to the vet, about his sense of smell. He breathes like he congested sometimes, but antibiotics and allergy meds haven't helped.

 

BunBun took about two months. Patches a little longer. Badger almost a year and then only after I had the polyps surgically removed from his left ear. Dulce went into remission after less than a month. On the other hand my Bailey never got "regulated" in the almost 10 years he was with me

 

Bailey was "unregulated" for 10 years?!

 

Ondansetron. (Generic is way cheaper than the branded Zofran version.)

If your vet can't offer the generic you should be able to get the generic at a regular human pharmacy with a written Rx from the vet.

If you do need to treat with ondansetron and famotidine in tandem then dose them separately, allowing about 2 hours to elapse after giving the first before giving the second (using a water or snack-size food chaser to wash the meds properly down the oesophagus).


Mogs
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Has your vet mentioned or talked about treating him for feline asthma at all?

http://www.vet.cornell.edu/fhc/health_information/felineasthmawhatyouneedtoknow.cfm

For diabetics, inhaled steroids are usually the best route because they have less of an effect on BG.

 

Vet called today and said it would take a week or so to get it, as they don't carry it. She said I could try the pharamacy if I want to get it quicker. Vet wants $18 and CVS wants $151.99. But now that you say generic, not quite sure if that is what vet is getting or name brand. CVS is for name brand and I didn't even ask about generic.

Also, the vet tech said no pepcid while on it. It's one or the other, because they both are an antacid. IDK.

 

Thanks for the info! I don't think it's that. He doesn't seem to have those symptoms listed. I was asking her about a possible polyp but she doesn't think so. I think I'll get a lot of questions answered once he has his dental check up. And while I know steroids are needed sometimes, I don't know if we could do them again. I feel so bad now from him getting steroid induced diabetes.

 

I think the plan will be to put him on gabapentin and zofran for a couple days, and then switch his food. Keep him on both, or at least zofran, for 2 weeks to keep him going. I have Wysong rabbit, and have ordered the duck and beef and also the call of the wild supplements. Fingers crossed.

I did discuss his teeth with the vet. Nobody thinks he has issues except me, but we cant get him in til his number are better. I asked the vet if I should give Rufus gabapentin everyday for like a week to test to see if his numbers get better, as pain can increase numbers. I kind of wanted to do the pain meds and nausea meds seperatley to see which was the issue, but now may be a good time to do both just to get him going.

I also haven't take any bg tests because she told me to wait a couple days because his ears were a little beat up

 

yes

 

I use this to find best price for meds that can be obtained from human pharmacies. There is a wide variation of prices.
https://www.goodrx.com/
Not infrequently human meds produced and labeled for animals is less expensive than human-grade meds because frequently QC/paperwork for animal meds are less

 

I had no idea they could live that long even after being regulated. Gives me hope for my little buddy

 

Thanks for the info! I actually called Sam's and they weren't much cheaper. Then he asks if I'm a plus member, and I say yes. Oh ok then it's $10! Wow!