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:?: Our diabetic cat has recently started to go to the bathroom throughout the house. We took him to the vet and the vet said things looked fine no blood in the urine. His numbers were in the 600's tho and he had us up his insulin and brought the numbers down to 261 but the problem continues. Any ideas? I'm close to having to put him down hoping u guys have some ideas that might help?

 

We need some more information about your kitty. What kind of insulin is he on? What is the dosage?

 

He is on Humelin 15 units twice a day and is a hefty 23 pounds.

 

That is an enormous amount of insulin. There are some kitties who have agromegaly and require more insulin, but still 15 units is a lot for them. Is it 15 units twice a day? What dose did you start with?

It is possible, if your cat is getting too much insulin, that the peeing is a response to that.

 

We started with 7 units several years ago. It can be too much even tho his numbers r tooo high?

 

There is a phenomena called rebound. http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Somogyi_rebound It basically means that if a cat is getting too much insulin, his body produces more glucose to compensate. It can mean a vicious cycle of highs.

We advocate starting low and going slow. Most cats here start at 1 unit twice a day, and go up slowly. If you started at 7 units, you may have been over his ideal dose in the beginning.

 

Just saw your post about dry food. If he is getting all dry, that will explain some of his high numbers. But DON'T CHANGE TO A WET LO CARB FOOD UNTIL YOU ARE HOMETESTING. In some cats, that can mean a drastic reduction in blood glucose levels, and until you figure out your insulin, it would not be safe. My cat's numbers went down 100 points overnight when we changed from dry to wet. If we hadn't been testing him at home, we would have given him too much insulin and caused a hypo.

 

totally agree with Sue here.

learn to hometest and you will get a better idea as to what is going on.

consider dropping the dose down or changing to a better insulin

then work on proper diet

and in the meantime, do some research on acromegaly, cushings, etc....to see if possibly your kitty has any of the physical symptoms of these diseases which often require large doses of insulin.

 

We know how to home test. We were giving him 12 units but his numbers were so high our vet had us increase it to 15 and test at 2pm after 1 week because that is the half way point and his numbers were 261. 100 points is alot I'd almost like to start over with canned.

 

you could do that i think. do you know about ketone testing? it will be very important to do this if you drop down to 1 unit twice a day and change diet. huge changes with diabetics can freak out their systems so making sure ketones don't creep into the picture is necessary.

also, fwiw, test before each shot too to make sure a shot is even necessary

 

Good that you are homesting :thumbup How often are you testing?

Since your cat has been on Humulin for several years now with no improvement in blood glucose levels, you should consider a different insulin. ProZinc, Lantus (glargine), and Levemir (detemir) are good insulin choices. If you do change insulin, start at no more than 1 unit twice a day.

Starting over on just low carb food while still keeping Humulin and that huge dose is just recipie for disaster. Other board members canr recommend the best way to go about the food change with your current insulin and dose.

 

You could start over - with one unit twice a day and wet lo carb food. And then you should be checking for ketones, to be sure that he isn't a kitty that requires a large amount of insulin. Fantastic that you hometest. You need to test before each shot, and then 3-5 hours into the cycle to find out how low the insulin takes him. Humulin usually is a insulin that hits hard and fast. There are fewer people here who have used it, and very few who use it now except newbies whose vets (for some strange reason) are still prescribing it. Milder, longer lasting insulins are much easier to regulate with.

But for now, you could start over - but be religious about testing and ketones. Here is a chart for the wet, lo carb food. We try to stay between 8-10% carbs: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm