Newly diagnosed and lost

Hello ! I have a 10 year old cat who was just diagnosed diabetic. I started him today on Royal Canine food . The vet prescribed him 1 can of "satiety" in the morning and 1 can at night and mid day I am giving him a small handful of glycobalance hard food. Before now he was on regular friskies hard food (not a great diet). He was 18 pounds last year at his check up and 14 pounds yesterday. He does have an increase in urination and thirst but I was taken by surprise because he is a very happy, friendly and energetic cat. They gave me a prescription for Lantus and we are planning on starting it next week. Is it recommended to start Insulin right away or should I see if the better diet helps first? I am very new to all this but have been reading alot about it.

 

Julie, hi again. I was trying to find out about the Royal Canin Satiety food you are feeding Smokey and I can't find that on our food chart: https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
So, I can't say if that is high or low carb food. Many of us start out with Fancy Feast or Friskies pates because it's accessible at the grocery store, and costs less than food you get at the vet. We don't recommend feeding any dry.

I learned that an unregulated diabetic cat can't properly utilize food and that it's better to offer more frequent small meals to help with the hunger issues.

Did the vet talk to you about testing Smokey's blood sugar at home? We use this testing to know what the blood glucose level is real time; as opposed to visits to the vet which can cause higher test readings due to stress, and is intermittent at best. Do you remember what the BG was at diagnosis, and did the vet do one blood sugar reading or was there a Fructosamine test done? A Fructosamine test is like an A1C test for humans, a BG average over a period of time.

We can help you learn what testing supplies you will need and how to home test. Even if you are not using insulin yet, it's a good idea to see how the BG (blood glucose) is affected by a low carb wet diet. Testing is essential if you are injecting insulin. We always test before an injection to make sure it's safe to "shoot", and then during the 12 hour cycle between shots, to determine the lowest BG in that cycle. If you are making a diet change while using insulin, it is especially critical, as a low carb diet can significantly reduce the BG, and you need that information to intervene and prevent a hypo.

 

My vet didnt tell me his levels but I just looked at his online notes and it says "Glucose 467"

Is that high ?

 

The 467 BG is rather high. If you click on Idjit's spreadsheet in my signature at the bottom of my post, you will see a color coded legend line at the top. I don't have a great deal of testing data because Idjit went into remission very quickly, but you can see the tiers of levels of BG readings.
I would encourage you to start testing Smokey, set up a spreadsheet so you can record the tests and find a wet diet he will eat that you know is low carb.

Here are some links about home testing and about setting up and understanding the spreadsheet.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

I am going to tag some of the experienced members to see if they would recommend you begin the Lantus right away, with that diagnostic BG of 467. @Chris & China (GA) @Bron and Sheba @MrWorfMen's Mom

 

Thank you s much!

 

HI and welcome to FDMB. So sorry you've had to join us but very glad you found us!

I agree with Lou that 467 is a rather high BG however, our kitties are notorious for having elevated BG in the vet's office. Curiosity would have me ask how Smokey acts on the way to the vet and in the vet's office while being handled? Some kitties get so worked up their BG can be elevated by 100 points...some even more. And then there are the few laid back felines who take it all in stride.

I also have to agree with Lou regarding the diet choice from your vet. I'm not sure of the carbs in the canned food the vet prescribed but the dry food is definitely far too high in carbs (>30% by my quick calculation). Did the vet recommend trying the diet change for a week before starting insulin or was that your decision?

My suggestion would be to get yourself a glucometer and learn to test Smokey ASAP. If you can get a baseline BG at home in a comfortable familiar environment it will be easier to determine whether waiting a week is reasonable or not. The Relion meters at Walmart are often used by members here. It is definitely easier to make the diet change before starting insulin but with a BG that high I'm a bit reluctant to suggest waiting a full week without knowing whether that 467 was an elevated stress reading or not.

The other thing I would suggest given that high a reading is to get some Ketostix from Walmart and test Smokey for ketones. Don't know if your vet checked for ketones or not but if there are any ketones in Smokey's urine then insulin needs to be started sooner rather than later.

Last but not least, Fancy Feast Classic (pates) or Friskies pates are perfectly suitable foods for Smokey, far more economical and well within the "under 10% carbs" recommended for our extra sweet babies. You can return the so called prescription food (there is absolutely nothing prescription about it!) to the vet for a refund. Just tell them Smokey won't eat it.

 

You have been given great advice.
I would agree with starting to test the blood sugars if you can and getting a bottle of Ketostix and testing the urine for ketones. If there are no ketones in the urine I would be inclined to swap over to a low carb diet as suggested by @MrWorfMen's Mom first before starting insulin. However if you do this I would test the urine each day for ketones and if any appear at all start the insulin immediately. You can use this time learning to test the blood sugars as well.
We can help you.
If there is even a trace of ketones in the urine when you first test you need to start the insulin. And anything above a trace needs vet attention. Does all that make sense?
FD is very treatable. Ask lots of questions.
Bron

 

How do you guys test a cats urine ? (Sorry for the dumb question)

 

Hopefully Linda (MrWorfMen's Mom) will respond, but I grabbed a section of a response that she made to another member today about that:
"Some folks can hold a ladle under kitty's butt as they pee while others use plastic wrap crumpled up in the litter box to grab a small sample. That can be problematic is there are other kitties in the house but otherwise often works well."

I haven't any experience with having to get a urine sample, but I have also read that some members use clean fish tank gravel, or even raw lentils in the LB if they need to test the urine and can't manage the above.

 

Not a dumb question at all and there are no dumb questions here anyway!

It really depends on how shy your kitty is about their bathroom habits. If kitty is OK with you being around while they pee, some folks have a designated spoon or ladle they can put under kitty's butt while they pee. Others are more private and then you can try putting some plastic wrap crumpled up in the part to of the litter box that kitty usually pees hoping to catch a drop or two to test fro. The latter is obviously problematic if there is more than one kitty in the house because you won't know whose urine you are checking.

ETA I see Lou found a prior response to this. @Idjit's mom ...you are amazing!

 

If your kitty isn’t shy in the LB you can just slip a container under their butt but if they are it might be easier to use the ways Lou has said or put a small container in the place they most like to pee and with any luck they will pee in it.