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My kitty,Merlin, was just DXed with diabetes today. Background: Merlin is my 13 year old former feral cat who adopted me several years ago. He was an indoor/outdoor cat until July of this year. Two years ago he and his sister were DXed with asthma,I joined the Yahoo groups asthma board and learned to give them inhalers,we got along fine.Then about a year ago they were both DXed with Herpes ,add Lysine to their diet ,again things were good. In August of this year Merline was DXed with ,possible IBD.THE vet prescribed Prednosolone and diet change .This last month he has lost a pound which is happens with IBD but it concerned me so I took him to the Vet for senior wellness exam.We discussed a diet change and ,as the vet was more worried about the weight loss , a higher calorie food.He suggested Royal Cannin baby food for now,to get him some more calories. He called me at home just as I was coming in the doo,to say the lab tests had shown he had Diabetes,don't give him anymore Prednosolone, come back tomorrow to learn how to give insulin shots.
I come to you asking for insight,I want to help my little guy.
Thanks,
Cheryl and Merlin

 

If he needs the steroid, then you adjust the insulin around that.

You want to ask for a good long lasting insulin such as PZI, ProZinc, Lantus, or Levemir. The first 2 are specific for animals; the 2nd 2 are specific for humans and have been used successfully in cats. Because of the several medical conditions, you may wish to use one of the first 2 insulins in case there are issues with vomiting, diarrhea, or lack of appetite, as those are in and out insulins with only limited carry over, whereas the latter 2 insulins require consistent doses at consistent times and are less flexible if the cat is having food/GI issues which vary the glucose levels frequently. We do not recommend Vetsulin for cats; it was developed for dogs, which have a slower metabolism.

Once you are giving insulin, you must be home testing if you want to change diet at all. This is because switching from a high carbohydrate diet to a low carbohydrate diet may drop the glucose level 100 mg/dL. Also, testing at home gives more accurate numbers than at a vet, where stress may raise the glucose from 100 to 180 mg/dL. I'll post reference numbers in a separate post.

 

We suggest using an inexpensive human glucometer with pet-specific reference numbers. One many of us use is the WallMart Relion Confirm, or Confirm Micro, which is also sold at American Diabetes Wholesale as as the Arkray USA Glucocard 01 or 01 Mini (same manufacturer - Arkray USA). It uses a tiny blood droplet and the cost is significantly lower for test strips (like $0.36 each).

Comparing a human glucometer to a pet-specific glucometer is like reading temperature in Celsius vs Fahrenheit. Both are correct. You just need to know the reference ranges to interpret what the numbers mean.

[Glucose reference ranges are unsubstantiated and have been removed by Moderator]

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Examples of using the chart:

Ex. You are a new insulin user and you test your cat before giving insulin. The test is 300. It probably is safe to give insulin.

Ex. You are an established user of Lantus, following the Tight Regulation protocol. You've tested around +5 to +7 to spot the nadir. It is 200 mg/dL. You probably need to increase the dose, following the instructions for the protocol.

Ex. Your cat is acting funny. The eyes are a bit dilated. You are concerned and test the glucose. The number is 35 mg/dL. ACK! The cat may be in a hypoglycemic state. You quickly follow the HYPO protocol linked in the glucose reference values chart. (which we really, really, suggest you print out and post on your refrigerator.)