Jasper

My foster cat was diagnosed with diabetes a couple of months ago. We still don't have his insulin regulated. HELP!!

 

Welcome
We need more information:
What insulin and what is dose?
Has was the dose arrived at?
Do y have blood glucose curv es?
Most of us here test are cats blood sugar with a human meter, That way we know what is going on.
What are you feeding? A low-carb caned is best. Also, no reason for vet prescription diet.

 

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir.
- And home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!).

 

I'm using Prozinc and started out with 1 unit and we are up to 4 units now; with 2 weeks between raising up 1 unit each time.
He was eating both dry and canned. When he was raised to the 4 units I quit all the dry (high carbs). Now I learn not to raise insulin and cut carbs at the same time. But, it has been a week and he does seem okay. But, now he is not scheduled to have a glucose test for another week. He eats about 6 or 7 ozs of canned cat food ( 4 health at Tractor Supply) in a.m. , about 2ozs at noon, 6 or ozs again at 7 p.m. I also give him about 2ozs at night. He gets his insulin at the two bigger feedings. PHEW......that's alot of food.

His glucose tests are out of this world, they are in the 500s and 600s.
His last one was 570, down from 610 prior. That is with 3 weeks between. . I would like to know more about testing at home. I have not talked with the vet about this yet.

 

You can choose to test on your own. Vets don't mention it because they don't think owners will do it or because they are concerned about you making decisions instead of leaving it all to them. Personally, I would never give a child insulin without having confirmed it was safe to do so. And human diabetics learn how to manage their diabetes following protocol; you can do the same for your cat.
get yourself an inexpensive human glucometer such as the Target Up and Up, or the ADW Glucocard 01 or 01 Mini (branded and sold at WalMart as the ReliOn Confirm and Confirm Micro), matching test strips, and lancets for alternate site testing (25-28 gauge). You aim for the outer edge of the ear, outside the vein which runs along the perimeter.



Uh ... brown rice, dried potatoes, barley, peas, guar gum, carrageenan, carrots, dried fruits are all things an obligate carnivore does not need in its diet. And carrageenan is used in research to cause irritation of the GI tract. Have you read over Cat Info yet? It is a terrific resource on feline nutrition. Once you are home testing, you can safely change the diet to better options.