I want to change my cat's diet

Hi. I am new to this forum, may was diagnosed a month ago and she had been on insulin, I can home test and she is still high (22)

I really want to change her diet, my vet does not agree. How do I go about it? Thanks

 

Welcome.
What are feeding now?
Why does the vet say you should feed that?

A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food. Here is a list of commercial low-carb canned

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/shortcut-shopping-list-all-8-or-less-updated.117688/

When was the 22 (396 USA) measured with respect to shot and feeding?
What insulin and what is dose and frequency (twice daily I hope)

Many of use here record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/
This allows people here to see history

 

Hello! Diet is very important. Low carb raw would also be an option. If you want to make your own, there is a recipe on catinfo.org. You can also buy it frozen or freeze dried. When changing diet do it slowly over about five days to avoid tummy issues. If you are feeding a high carb wet or dry food (and yes the dietetic dry is high carb) you must be testing your cat's bg at home since switchimg to low carb food can dramatically affect bg and reduce the amoumt of insulin required.

 

Is your kitty eating dry food or canned food now?

 

Any food changes should be made slowly, 20-25% different food, while you are home testing, for safety.
If you are dropping the carbohydrate content, it may drop the glucose possibly by as much as 100-200 mg/dL and may reduce the required insulin 1-2 units less.

 

Hi All
Thanks for getting back to me. I tried to move her over to just wet food (Sheba pate) a week or so ago I was 3 days in and my hubby took her for a check up at the vets. Our vet strongly disagreed with the diet and sold him £50 of food both wet and dry, I was unable to make it as had an issue with my horse. I succumbed to the fact my husband now thought this was best (the cat is my MIL's, she recently passed away)

Hubby started feeding her the food and changed it over slowly, he felt this was the best thing then we had a disaster - Maya on Saturday ate her breakfast - I gave her a Sheba as I said to Hubby she didn't look like she enjoyed the new MD food the vet had given and he said ok, gave her insulin and an hour later she was out of it- she had been vomiting and we hadn't noticed. I took her BG and it was 1.7, I got it back up by getting her to eat every 15 mins. Anyway since then hubby has realised that the vet probably is on a different page to us and he now agrees with changing her diet.

Today i took her BG before insulin and after her breakfast - 28.4! I have given her usual dose of 2 units of insulin, reduced her dry food down and given her Sheba pate for during the day. I will continue to reduce the biscuits down, we have 3 cats in total this could be expensive but worth it. I will check her BG before I give her insulin twice daily.

I am in the uk, anyone recommend other foods? Maybe something cheaper than Sheba? She didn't like the wainwrights pate, i have loads of that if anyone wants it

Thanks

 

Hello and welcome to you and to Maya (waving 'Hi' from Surrey!)

There is a list of UK foods in the link in my signature (at bottom of this post); and also a link to general food info for UK'ers.
You will see that there are lots of options for diabetic cats.
Many of us buy online from stores such as Zooplus or the Happy Kitty Company. But there are supermarket brands on the list also.
How much is Sheba per kg or 100g? Do you know?

And as BJ says above, do switch over to wet food gradually. Fast food changes can upset a cat's tum. But also, switching to low carb can reduce the blood glucose quite a bit in some cats, and you may find that you need to reduce the insulin dose accordingly in order to keep kitty safe from hypoglycemia. Your kitty will need more blood glucose tests during the switch-over to monitor the effect of the diet change.

I know there's a lot to take in at first. But it will all soon become second nature to you. Honestly!

Eliz

 

Thanks for the info. Husband went for more insulin today and the vets are now going on about Orijin dry food. Does anyone know what this is like? Thanks

 

Hi Laura,
As dry foods go, Orijen is considered one of the better ones available in the UK. It is grain free (so is better for grain-intolerant cats) but does contain other sources of carb such as potato, lentils etc.
http://www.zooplus.co.uk/shop/cats/dry_cat_food/orijen/45156#analysis

According to my calculation the 'Cat & Chicken' version comes out at around 15.8% calories from carbs. But some dry foods have carb levels much higher than this.
(For diabetics we recommend foods that have less than 10% calories from carbs.)
.

 

Laura, I must have been tired when I read your post above, because I missed that Maya had previously dropped to 1.7.... That is dangerously low, and it means that the insulin dose is too high. Hypo can be very serious indeed. (A member of this forum recently lost their cat because of hypo. Very sad. )

I know that Maya has subsequently had some very high numbers, but don't let those high numbers fool you. They may be temporary, and might not show the true picture. Let me explain....
When a cat's blood glucose drops lower than she is comfortable with her body can respond by releasing stored glucose into the bloodstream. It can also release counter-regulatory hormones, the purpose of which is to try to keep the blood glucose high for a while. It's a protection mechanism.
Sometimes people see high numbers when they test their cat and think that more insulin is needed, but it may be that the reverse is true.

That's great!
We recommend, for those new to feline diabetes that no insulin is given if the blood glucose (prior to the shot) is below 11. That is to try to allow some buffer of safety.
Also, as well as doing 'pre-shot' tests, it's important to know how low the blood glucose is dropping. This is crucial.

If Maya dropped to 1.7 it is absolutely the case that the insulin dose is too high and needs to be reduced immediately.
Laura, are you using Alphatrak or a human meter?

I'm guessing, since you're in the UK, that the vet has prescribed Caninsulin? (Please correct me if I'm wrong).
If my cat was still on Caninsulin I would try to ensure that his blood glucose didn't generally drop below 5 (on a human meter) or 6 on an Alphatrak. That would allow some margin for error if, for example, the cat wasn't eating as much as normal, or if he threw up the food.

Caninsulin can start to drop the blood glucose about an hour after the shot, and a cat may experience the lowest blood glucose about 4.5 to 5 hours after the shot (but 'your mileage may vary' ).
Are you able to get tests during the insulin cycle to see what is happening? We really need more information here....

Oh, here's the link to the Hypo document which you may wish to read and then print out and keep handy:
How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!

Eliz

 

Hello!

I am using alpha trac 2 and yes Caninsulin. We have done a few BG curve days before the change of foods (which is still being slowly changed over) and plan to do one on Sunday when we have completely moved over. The 2 previous curves showed Maya beginning the day at 23 or 24 and it would drop to as low as 17 and then rise back up maybe even higher than the morning. It would mostly stay at 22/21 all day though.

Tonight at 8 pm her BG was 14.7 and now at 10pm it's 21.8

Thanks

 

There is a fantastic spreadsheet that we use to record BG results. The instructions are here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/ having the spreadsheet done will help us to help you immensely and you will also find it a wonderful tool for yourself. It sounds like Maya may be one of the many kitties for whom canninsulin is not the best choice of insulin but we shall see. Please make note of all the food changes in the comments section of the spreadsheet.

Good catch on the 1.7 that is a horribly low number. I'm so glad you caught it and were able to bring her back up with food.

 

Hi Laura,
The higher numbers you are seeing are probably Maya bouncing because of low numbers as Elizabeth mentioned above. So don't be tempted to raise the dose. The bounce can take up to 6 cycles to resolve and there is nothing you can do about it but wait.
You need to intervene with honey or high carb food if the BSL drops lower than 3.8mmol/L if you are using an Alphatrak monitor. Here is a link about this.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...ncern-for-veterinary-glucometer-users.142488/
I would encourage you to set up the spreadsheet Serryn mention above and to put in your signature that you are using Alphatrak 2. It will then appear below your posts and people can see, otherwise people may not realise you are using the Alphatrak 2 and that is very important when interpreting numbers.

 

Here is our Vetsulin/Caninsulin Guide which you may find helpful. One of the important notes is to wait about 30 minutes after feeding before you inject the insulin. This helps bufffer the rapid drop which can happen and rapid glucose drops may trigger bouncing too.

 

Hi Laura,

Another bod from the UK here.

For safety, May's blood glucose levels need to be regularly monitored DURING the food transition because there is a strong possibility that her Caninsulin dose may need to be reduced. (To give you an idea of how lower carb food can change the game, when I transitioned Saoirse from dry, high carb food to low carb wet food her insulin requirements went from 3 units twice a day down to half a unit twice a day in less than 48 hours.)

In general, it would help you a lot if you could get daily tests in during each cycle as well as the preshot tests. As Eliz has mentioned above, Caninsulin tends to start dropping the blood glucose (BG) level very soon after onset. Even if you can get a test 2 hours after each injection it can give you very valuable information on how the dose might be working in your kitty. Every cat is different and so is their particular response to insulin, but as a guide if you can get tests at preshot then 3 hours (+3) and, when possible, 7 hours (+7) after a dose they can give you an idea of how low a dose is taking May's BG level. If the dose is too high, you may see a significant drop in BG within the first 60-90 minutes after the injection is given, so it can be very beneficial to get tests around these times, too.

I'm very glad that you caught that 1.7mmol/L reading. On an Alphatrak meter, that's really low. Well done steering May back up to safe numbers. Some cats become much more sensitive to insulin after going low like that. That's another reason to get more BG data to find out what May's current dose is doing.

I also recommend getting a 'before bed' test so that you'll have some idea of where May's blood glucose is heading on each night time cycle. Many cats tend to run at lower BG numbers at night. If you get a low-ish number early in the PM cycle it lets you know that closer monitoring is needed.

Fingers and paws crossed that you'll be able to get May into much better numbers soon.


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