Mila - Diagnosed for 1 year, JUST starting insulin.

HI all, I posed this in the intro forum and was suggested to take it here.

I've had a long, and tumultuous relationship with Feline Diabetes that reached a climax a few weeks ago, when I was told that my cat may be on death's door.

Mila is ~10 years old, I've had her for six. I adopted her from the SPCA because she had been there the longest out of any cat - 18 months!! She came right into my arms and from there it was true love.



A year ago, she showed the usual signs. Dropped weight, drinking rapidly, urinating all the time. I took her to the vet, suspecting diabetes, and he confirmed. Her sugar was 330 at the time. I was free-feeding dry food and switched to wet pate. the vet did NOT recommend insulin, stating that it was too low to start, and he wanted to stick to diet. I was given a glucose test machine and told to check her sugar regularly, and then down to semi-regularly.

Her sugar has gone up and down in that year but not dramatically; as low as 220 and as high as 390. 80% of the time it was between 300-350. Vet and I routinely discussed insulin, especially these past several months, even a once a day dose, and he stated that it wasn't necessary but I could start if I wanted to. I wanted her to gain weight, mostly (she went from 14lbs to 8 and then to 7). I continously passed on it even though I wanted to due to constrictions in my own finances.

Suddenly about a month ago, she stopped eating, was lethargic, lost further weight. This went on for about 2 weeks before going to the vet. Bloodwork indicated that her liver enzymes were raising steadily and he suspected cancer, or acute liver failure. Her sugar had climbed to 480, the highest it had ever been. I was set up with a veterinary specialist and told to count my days with her.

No liver failure, no cancer, nothing - just damage done to her body by diabetes running amok. Specialist told me I should have started insulin at diagnosis. Now she's been on insulin for a little less than half a week. Her sugar has gone up and down since then, but hasn't gone above 430. (it went from 298 to 430 to 320 in a few days, so i"m just riding the roller coaster...).

Right now, her appetite has returned BUT she's rejecting wet food. Everything from Friskies to Tiki Cat, pate to gravy. So to get her to eat something, I started out on garbage Friskies food (you know the kind...first 4 ingredients are corn), and have transitioned to Purina One dry kitten food (40% protein). Still not great I'm aware, but beforehand, but it's a stepping stone, and before she would go days and days without eating.

My next step is to transition to Dr. Elsey's dry Chicken so it's less guilt until I can get her to eat wet again. I should be starting that Mon/Tues when I receive a bag.

My goal for her is to gain weight and get her sugar under control. I'm very fortunate that her sugar, in this past year, has not skyrocketed to the 600 or 700 level. She's a tough girl. This is all a bit difficult for me because I live alone, I'm on a very tight budget due to my own health issues, but she is worth it.

Thank you for listening to my rant haha

UPDATE: I just checked her sugar. It is 223. She gets another injection in ~3 hours.

QUESTIONS I HAVE...

1- Any reviews for Dr. Elsey's Chicken dry food? My calculations say it is about 6-7% carbs and high protein.
2- About how long does it take for the insulin to fully bring her down to "normal" BG?
3- Any tips on healthy weight gain? I am hoping to get her to about 9-10 lbs. She used to be a very fat cat so she has lots of looser skin. This makes it a bit harder to inject her. She's also pretty fluffy with her fur so I struggle to make sure I get her actual skin and not just her fur. I'm pretty sure I've missed a few doses because of this. I'm hoping weight gain will help.

 

It's great if you can't get them to eat wet but keep trying. Wet food contains the water they need to keep their kidneys in better shape. Cat's don't die from diabetes (if they're treated)….they die from other things and kidney disease is one of the top reasons. You want to keep those kidneys as healthy as possible!

There's no pat answer for this....ECID (Every Cat Is Different). Keeping a good spreadsheet and testing as often as you can will help us to help you figure out how to get the best results though.

Not really....I'm having the opposite problem at the moment! I'm trying to get mine to lose some of her extra "fluffiness"!!.....although she did start out very skinny (Check out her pictures in my signature)

 

Welcome and I'm so sorry for all you and your kitty have been through.

I see you've gotten good info from Chris.

Nice job on setting up your spreadsheet. You'll want to test BG just prior to feeding and giving insulin in both the morning and evening.

 

Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein chicken is a little under 5% carbs. I use it for Mia's testing treat. If your cat likes it, you may be able to use it to help you transition her to eating wet food. Mia was hard to transition. Putting a few kibbles, crushed or whole, on her wet food was the only way I could get her to eat any of it for several months. I was using Young Again at the time, but I do not recommend that food since it has been known to cause runny, nasty poop. I did not have problems with it at first, but then I got a bag that caused the problem I had heard others talk about. Nasty! Won't use it again. Besides, when I really looked into it more closely, I felt more comfortable with the Dr. Elsey's ingredients.

PureBites freeze dried chicken is a good treat or food topper, too. I get the large bags that are supposed to be for dogs. It's the same thing as in the cat bags (nothing but chicken breast); the pieces are just larger. I crumble them on top of the wet food, and the girls love it.

 

About weight gain... when get you get her glucose under control, she will start to re-gain some weight.

 

My cat loves Dr. Elsey's. He also eats wet food twice a day and I leave Dr. Elsey's out while I'm at work. I find that his coat is much sleeker, shinier, and softer with the food change (and probably the insulin).