Meet my Kitty

My cat was diagnosed about two months ago now...
See, the thing is she never showed signs of diabetes prior to being diagnosed.
What had happened was, she has had a breathing issue since September now, and we were trying to rule things out by bloodwork, X-rays etc. She had three sets of bloodwork done, and all three times her sugars came back very high. Around 21, or so. So the breathing issue was put on the back burner because the vets said she needed to be treated for diabetes ASAP.
So here we are... Ambee is a 10 year old, DSH. She's been on insulin since being diagnosed and we test her sugars twice a day. We've got her down to between 7-11. She is on Humilin N, and is doing well but I do have some concerns.

 

Welcome. What are you feeding? A low-card canned is best. No reason for a vet prescription food. Where are you located since by the BG value you are not in the USA so I can't give you specific acceptable foods.
It is good that yo are home testing. Most of use record are cat's BG and other info in a spreadsheet that can be viewed by others. Here is how to create that spreadsheet.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/
What does of N are you using? N is not the best insulin for cats. It only last 8-10 hours. You said "We've got her down to between 7-11.".
At what time are you taking the BGs? You base dose on the lowest BG between shots which should be 4-5 hours after the shot for your N.

 

She gets a diabetic wet food twice a day with her insulin. It is a low carb food!
Located in Eastern Canada.
I do record her values and the time of her shots.

She gets 1 unit of N every 12 hours. I take her sugar before insulin and after. But usually three times a week or so I do an extra one at the 6 hour mark (half way) It has been lasting in her system for 12 hours. Thats when she is at her lowest (which is typically 5-7).

 

Hello to you and extra-sweet Ambee, and welcome to FDMB

Best wishes,
Eliz

 

N insulin usually lasts from 6-8 hours in the cat, with a nadir, of lowest glucose about +3 to +4 hours after the shot. Each Cat Is Different (ECID), so may be one with longer duration.
What specific food are you feeding? In the US, we refer often to the food list at Cat Info to identify low carb foods because veterinary prescription foods often are not actually low carb.
N hits pretty hard and because of that we recommend feeding 30 minutes before injecting.

 

Maybe the insulin is different? I'm not sure... I just know her routine:

Morning: we get up, I check her sugar. Then prep her food (her diabetic wet is chunky and she's not a fan of chunks so I smoosh it up for her) thats about a ten minute process, feed her. Wait until its half gone (she's had a couple teeth out so this process can take anywhere from 15-20 minutes)... Sometimes I wait until all the food is gone and then inject her.

I check her blood if she has any kind of symptom. Like when she gets cranky, I check (I know this may not be a sign of hypo but i panic! So I check sometimes 4 times a day).

My vet is surprisingly good. From what I've heard on FB groups peoples vets push in clinic testing etc. My vet from the get go was all for home testing, doing curves at home, and just trying to do whats best for Ambee. I have heard about the vet food not being so low in carbs, but this one is. However, I have thought about switching to fancy feast recently (and have asked my vet as well)...

Sorry if I sound like a "know it all" .
The first month of her begin diagnosed was mainly myself having anxiety attacks every day because I didn't know if I was doing things right, or if I was hurting her, or if she wasn't well. But I've got the hang of it now I think..... Our vet thinks maybe in a month or so we can take her down to .5 units because as I said she was at 21 for BG when diagnosed and now we've got her down to 10 (prior to her meals)

 

Here she is

 

What specific food are you feeding? What is written on the label? It is very likely acceptable but commercial foods are likely available that are just as good and less expensive. It would be nice if you could post a recent "curve? That is the BG throughout the day in the form
AMPS (BG before morning shot)
+X @+Y when X is the BG and Y is the time after shot
PMPS

 

I will when I get the chance!!! Likely by this evening I can.
I am leaning towards switching her to fancy feast, as it is less expensive and probably just as good for her.
I know the dry that she gets as a snack (about 10-15 pieces a day) is Purina DM. Which IS higher in carbs, and she has gained two pounds on it, (by the way she isn't overweight! they actually think that the prednisone she was on for a while may have tipped her to the diabetic side)... I am not around at the moment, so I can't telly ou the exact wet food name. I know its a weird flavour, if that helps lol. I believe it is diabetic management might be the name? Its a small can....
Will give exact info ASAP!

 

Also, FWIW she will be weened off dry shortly. As I am aware that dry does not help with remission, but we had her on it for a while because she wasn't used to having ONLY wet. So this was our way of saying, ok well you can't have dry all the time now, but you can have a snack as dry

 

What is PMPS?

 

'PMPS' is evening/pm pre-shot blood glucose
'AMPS' is morning/am pre-shot blood glucose.

Edited to add: Oh gosh, your kitty is adorable!

Eliz

 

PMPS is the evening (PM) BG before/prior to shot (PS)

 

Humulin or Novolin NPH, aka N, insulin is what I meant. The NPH stands for Neutral Protein Hagedorn.
We have a guide on using it here.