New to the group, ...my diabetic Foster Kitty 'Edith'

I've been doing Feline Rescue Work since 2007. Our Rescue pulls "Time Stamped" kitties of the Euthanasia List at a local, high kill shelter to give them a second chance in life. I take in the medical urgent cases and provide Senior and Hospice care for kitties in their golden years. Interestingly, I never had a diabetic foster kitty and then comes beautiful little Edith. She was on the list to be euthanized and we took her under our wing. She was transported to a Vet that our Rescue works with. That's where she was diagnosed with diabetes.

The Vet office fell in love with her and welcomed her to stay as their office kitty. Things changed,... so little Miss Edith is now with me. Per Vet she is on 2U of Lantus SID (in the morning, after breakfast) and the diet, per Vet, Fancy Feast - classic - pate but all fish flavors. No other instructions were giving to me, just to keep her on the insulin and feeding her FF. Basically telling me that I have to blind dose her. Since I never had a diabetic foster, I started to research Feline Diabetes to educate myself. I learned that you have to test their BG at home. I bought the glucose meter ReliOn Premier Classic, test strips and lancets a couple of days ago at Walmart and started checking her BG levels. I purchased different flavors of classic FF other then fish but also started looking into other wet foods with better ingredients for a diabetic cat with the focus on low carb - high protein.

Poor Edith's BG level is all over the place, from 380 - 441 mg/dl in the AM before her breakfast and insulin injection. The lowest it has ever dropped was 227 (6 hrs. after insulin). Even though I'm new to FD, it is very clear to me, that the dose and frequency prescribed by the Vet is not appropriate to control her BG. I have read that Lantus should be given BID since it "weans off" after 12 hrs. So, what do I do? How can I find the proper dose of insulin for Edith? I'm not home all day so it is almost not feasible for me to test Edith multiple times during the day. I apologize for the long intro. Edith and I appreciated any advice you can give us,... Thank you!

 

It sounds like you are already doing a wonderful job with Edith! What a lucky girl

Plenty of people here feed fancy feast classics and they work well for a lot of kitties (and are very affordable too!). It’s good idea to not feed fishy flavors quite as often, as you have already mentioned. However there are plenty of other good brands as well if you would like to switch. Here is a link to the food chart many people use if you have not already seen it. Anything under 10% carbs is a good option. Weruva is a good brand to check out for some “higher quality” foods too!

https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

You are also right that insulin should be dosed twice a day, as Lantus only lasts about 12 hours in cats. There are lots of lantus users who can help you decide on a dose for Edith. We use a spreadsheet to track the blood glucose (BG) readings, and that helps others to give you dosing advice. Here is the link for how to set that up. If you need help, please ask!

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

I also recommend checking out the lantus forum as well. There’s lots of good info there about how it works. Some members may be along to give you more advice, but it might also be a good idea to post there as well. Please ask any and all questions you have!!

 

Hi Sarah, ...Thank you for the info and link to the spreadsheet. I use catinfo.org a lot. Dr. Pierson is my "go-to person" for everything feline. I will look up the Lantus forum and will post there as well.

Isabell and The Kitty Gang =^..^=

 

Welcome to the FDMB! Glad to see you over here from the Facebook group!!

If you need any help, feel free to send me a PM. Take me about 30 seconds to set a new spreadsheet up once I have some information from you. Just click on my name and choose "start a conversation" to send a private message.

It'll also help us if you put some information into your "Signature". Click on your sign on name at the top right and there's a drop down menu. Choose Signature and a new box will pop up. Enter information like:

Your name/Cat's name, age, sex, date of diagnosis (approx. is fine), type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, any other health issues or meds? and a general location. When you have your spreadsheet set up, you'll put the link into the Signature too.

That way we don't have to keep asking the same questions over and over again!