Insulin confusion

Hi,
Several months ago I recieved a call from my vet that the insulin I had been using wasn't available for sale any longer, and when I ran out of my current supply, I had to put my cat on a low carb diet. Since then, my cat (Gracie) has been eating friskies special diet wet food twice per day. She has lost alot of weight,(especially towards her back, on each side) but seems to be happier, friskier, more friendly, and purrs constantly. Today I see that she has made a few messes away from her box, and I am concerned. After reading this forum, I must question- Is insulin available or not? Have I been told to do something that could do more harm? I am so confused and worried!

Thanks!
Dan

 

Vetsulin was no longer being manufactered, but there are many other insulins that you can be using for your cat. Do you home test? Has the vet been testing BGs? Switching to a low carb wet food is a very good thing and should have been done even with insulin, but if your cat needs insulin, there are many products out there that are available and work well on cats. The human insulins Lantus and Levimir are becoming more commonly prescribed for cats after studies on Lantus have proven very high success rates. There are also animal insulins like PZI (and others, but I am a Lantus user so I don't know much about them).

Talk to your vet about getting back on insulin. If the BG numbers are high and your vet won't prescribe a different insulin, find another vet. There is no reason your kitty needs to suffer without insulin just because the vet can't make money selling you Vetsulin anymore. Learning to home test blood glucose and urine for ketones will help you monitor your cats diabetes and get her feeling well again. There are tones of stickies around this site loaded with information so read, read, read.

 

Thank you so much for the reply. I will read everything I can. The weird thing is my cat seems SO much happier now than she ever was while she was on insulin!!
Dan

 

I would recommend learning to test blood sugar at home, and getting some insulin for your kitty again if needed.

There are lots of different insulins available but the best ones for cats are:
Lantus aka glargine, Levemir aka detemir (human insulins)
or
PZI (pet insulin)

 

How much does your pet weigh? If they went from 18 to 16lbs, then that might not be a bad thing. If they went from 9lbs to 7 lbs, then I would be concerned. I've read that one of the possible side effects of regular insulin injections is weight gain. So, I would guess that once you went off insulin, then you might see some weight loss.

 

She lost quite a bit of weight initially (was chunky), but hasn't really lost any more for a long time. I'd better take her to the vet for a wellness checkup..
I really appreciate all the folks here on this message board.
Dan

 

What was your cat eating before the Friskies Special Diet food? Cats often become obese and develop diabetes because of grain filled dry foods. The behavior changes you are seeing in your cat since taking her off insulin (am I understanding correctly that she is no longer getting insulin?) may be because her diabetes has gone in to remission from the change to lower carb foods. That can happen, especially if she also lost weight because of the food switch. When was her blood sugar levels last taken at the vets?

 

My cat was eating purina one dry food (for seniors I think). She has not had her blood levels taken since I switched her to the wet food, low carb diet. I will have to get that done asap.

Dan

 

PZI Idexx was discontinued also, but there are many insulins you can use such as others have already mentioned.

If this were my cat, I'd want to have bloodwork checked for hyperthyroidism. I'm not trying to be an alarmist, but weight loss mainly in the back end is indicative of hypert and the signs of hypert are close to diabetes. Increased drinking and peeing is a symptom.

Another symptom of hypert is being friskier. An elevated metabolism which is caused by increased hormones from the thyroid would make a cat friskier.

So, if this were my cat, I'd get to the vet, check for hypert and maybe run a fructosamene test to check average blood sugar over the past few weeks.

 

Good point about hyperthyroid. However, she was hyperthyroid and was on meds, and then had her glands removed... Then she became diabetic.

Dan

 

If you had a thyroidectomy done, usually only one gland is removed. Usually only one gland is enlarged leaving the second gland in place which is still probably hyperactive. Removing both glands runs the risk of removing the para thyroid glands, a move I think many vets try to stay away from. The hypert often comes back. My own girl Spunky had that done and within a year was HyperT again.

Also, if your vet removed both thyroid glands then all this time you would have been giving meds to supplement the metabolism, which I suspect is not the case, therefor I think only one gland was removed and still suspect HyperT as a possible cause.

 

I'm pretty sure that the vet said that both glands were removed, other than a very small piece of one that was left to stimulate the metabolism. Heres a quote from a vet site regarding what my cat went through..

"Enlarged thyroid glands can be surgically removed. Methimazole is given for 1 to 2 months before surgery so that thyroid hormone levels are normal at the time of surgery. If both glands are enlarged, they can both be removed and most cats will still produce enough thyroid hormone by a few thyroid cells scattered through out the body to prevent hypothyroidism (abnormally low thyroid hormone levels)."

Dan

 

Dan, do you plan on taking your kitty to the vet to see about getting insulin or checking the BG? I'd still run the fructosamene and T4 to be safe.

No matter whether your kitty is hypert or not, you have a cat that is losing weight and if still FD, needs to be on insulin. Lantus (Glargine), Levemir, ProZinc, PZI they are all still manufactured and are great for our kitties.

Regarding thyroidectomy; I realize that both glands were removed, but even the small piece left behind can become HyperT again. The only treatment for HyperT that is really a good cure is the I131 treatment.


http://www.vetinfo.com/surgical-thyroid ... idism.html

Before the surgery the cat receives antithyroid medication, to get to a normal level of thyroid hormones. The surgery involves certain risks, such as surgery risks (i.e. excessive hemorrhage and infection); in rare cases, the laryngeal nerve may be affected.

In rare cases, after the surgery, the cat may display symptoms of hyperthyroidism; these may be experienced temporary of for life.


http://pet-diseases.suite101.com/articl ... thyroidism

Hyperthyroidism can also be treated surgically, by removing the diseased thyroid gland (thyroidectomy). While this surgery is curative and does not require special facilities (unlike radiotherapy), there are risks inherent with the surgery.
• Hyperthyroidism can recur if diseased thyroid gland tissue remains post-surgically.
• Hypothyroidism may occur post-surgically and require permanent hormone replacement therapy.
• Hypocalcemia may occur post-surgically due to the absence of the parathyroid gland which is sometimes removed or damaged during the surgery due to its proximity to the thyroid gland. Hypocalcemia can be life-threatening if not treated promptly. Calcium supplementation may be necessary temporarily or permanently after the surgery.

 

Yes, I do plan on taking Gracie to the vet. She initally last the weight right after I started her on the special diet, wet food, and stopped the insulin injections. She hasn't lost any more since several months ago. I feel confident that the new diet and lack of injections led to her initial weight loss. I hope she isn't HT again. Her surgery was several years ago, and she is already 15 years old. Just just seems so happy!!
confused_cat
Dan