Introduction: Janet and Rusty

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by spinsterweaver, Aug 28, 2016.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. spinsterweaver

    spinsterweaver New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2016
    Hi there! Took a minute, but I finally found this place.

    I'm janet and my Feline Overlord is Rusty, an orange domestic shorthair who is about 14.5 years old and was diagnosed last March. I've been fairly aggressive with management, but his vet is not so aggressive and I didn't start getting his sugars myself until June, and then it was only infrequent. Blood tests at the vet showed his numbers going up, up, up and we were increasing insulin accordingly -- 2 units, then 2.5, 3, and finally 4. A week later he crashed and ended up in the ICU with glucose 25 as well as dehydration and weight loss of about 3 pounds in two weeks (possibly faster, but those are the days he was officially weighed).

    So we are back to square one. I'm testing his BG twice daily and giving him 1.5 units Lantus if below 180 and 2 units above 180.

    I'm happy to tell you more about us, but since this is just the intro page I'll stop here. As I said above it took a minute to find you because of a broken link. I will go back and find it and then report it if someone would be so kind as to tell me where to do that.

    I'm really glad to find this place, and I look forward to learning from you all.
     
  2. Larry and Kitties

    Larry and Kitties Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    Welcome
    - It is good that you are now home testing. We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:
    http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
    - Lantus is best if dosed consistently. A sliding scale like you can be used with insulins like ProZinc and N but not with a depot insulin laite Lantus or Levemir
    - What are you feeding? A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food. Here is a list of commercial low-carb canned.

    For specific questions please bost n the Health forum
    http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/feline-health-the-main-forum.28/
     
  3. spinsterweaver

    spinsterweaver New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2016
    - Lantus is best if dosed consistently. A sliding scale like you can be used with insulins like ProZinc and N but not with a depot insulin laite Lantus or Levemir

    The doses I reported were those recommended by the specialist vet after the crash. I will contact both the specialist and my regular vets to confirm that is what I should still be doing.

    - What are you feeding? A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food.

    I've been feeding Hill's w/d wet and m/d dry. I started with all w/d because Rusty was about 15 pounds at diagnosis and they wanted him to lose weight. When his weight wouldn't drop the vet said his BG was more important so I switched him to m/d. I went to the combination because he doesn't really like wet food and I asked which it would be better for him to free feed on. I postulated that m/d dry wouldn't be so likely to spike his sugar and the vet agreed. I'm also walking this line because I have another cat who is not diabetic and I live in too small a place to separate them for feeding, so they have to be able to be on the same diet.
     
  4. Larry and Kitties

    Larry and Kitties Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Dec 28, 2009
    If you have to feed dry I would try Young Again Zero Carb (not really zero carb) or Evo Cat and Kitten Turkey and Chicken. They have about 1/2 the carbs of M/D
     
  5. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2016
    Welcome! I agree with the above poster on the Young Again Zero Carb food... It's really improved my cats numbers.
     
  6. spinsterweaver

    spinsterweaver New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2016
    Question for you and JanetNJ: Is the Young Again Zero Carb ok for my other Overlord, Timmy as well? Timmy is about 13 years old and otherwise very healthy, and I am not able to separate them for feeding due to the small size of my apartment.
     
  7. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

    Joined:
    Jun 8, 2016
    Yep, perfectly fine. I have it out for all my kitties to graze on. It is expensive, but even with a lot of cats munching on it, the 11lb bag lasted 4 weeks. There are coupon codes for first time buyers, and if you email them and ask they will send you a free sample. They have different varieties, but you would want the one that is called Young Again Zero. I feed my cats wet food too because it's good for them to get the moisture (esp. my old boy with Kidney Disease), but I leave this out all the time. My diabetic cat gets a half of a can of fancy feast or a serving of Purely Fancy Feast at shot time, but otherwise she eats this. If you look at my spreadsheet in my signature you can really see how using this food has stopped all her mid day high numbers, and now she has gone down to preshot numbers in the 100's.
     
  8. spinsterweaver

    spinsterweaver New Member

    Joined:
    Aug 28, 2016
    - What are you feeding? A low-carb canned is best. No reason for a prescription food. Here is a list of commercial low-carb canned.
    I think you neglected to include the list. :)
     
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.

Share This Page