Just joined, newly diagnosed

Hello all,

Seems to be some very knowledgeable kitty parents here! Joining to get some good advice for my furry child

Recently diagnosed, have not started insulin yet (Lantus is what vet recommends). Her blood level at vet was steadily creeping up over the last couple of months. Mid 200s in September, last week mid 300s, at that point vet did fructosamine and it came back low/mid 500s. I know usual starting dose is 1 unit 2x/day. My vet recommended 1 unit 1x/day for first week and then test before increasing?

After doing research, I switched her food to all wet 3 days ago (alternating Tiki chicken which is zero carb and Fancy Feast Classics chicken pate which is very low carbs) hoping to bring her sugar down some naturally over the next week before starting insulin. Previously she was on Tiki but also grazing on dry during day and getting dry treats daily. Vet agreed to this suggested course of action in the short term as I was afraid to start insulin and reduce her carbs at the same time for fear of her sugar going too low (especially over the holidays when everyone is gone). Hoping it might come down enough with the food change that I can hold off starting insulin next week? Taking her to vet after diet change for one week to check glucose to see if anything has changed significantly before starting insulin. I bought same meter vet uses and will check against theirs at vets to make sure my new meter is accurate.

I am monitoring her food intake and urine output since changing food 3 days ago. Her urine output has gone from peeing 5-6x in 24 hours down to 3-4x. I am hoping that means her sugar may be dropping on it’s own a little bit? She is not drinking as much water as she used to, but part of that could just be she has a lot more water in the wet food. I am feeding her small amounts every few hours for now (6-8 mini meals a day) as she is hungry often but I don’t want her throwing up a big meal.

Main concern now is removing carbs all at once can possibly cause rebound effect by her liver secreting sugar and actually increase her blood sugar? Hope I am not making her worse by changing her diet suddenly, although I am on the 4th day carb free now and she seems fine.

I know this is just for intro, but wanted to give some background. Will post in future to main board.

Thanks,
Julie (and Honey)

 

Welcome! Insulin dosing for cats should be twice a day rather than once. The AAHA guidelines reflect that (in case this is something you plan to discuss w/your vet and want a respected source reference to point to): https://www.aaha.org/guidelines/diabetes_guidelines/treatment_for_cats.aspx

It sounds like you are off to a great start switching to low-carb wet food and getting a meter. Post any questions that arise on the main forum, and you will get a lot of good support and advice here.

 

Thanks

Thanks! I asked vet tech about splitting initial dose twice a day vs once a day to start and she said no, I will ask vet. I think it makes more sense.

 

Welcome!

 

Thanks!