Newly Diagnosed, Questions

[Marc_Z]

My cat was drinking/urinating a lot and started not being able to retract back claws. I called the vet and they did a test at my home with my cat very stressed, that said was in the 500's.

I immediately, that day, did some research and changed his diet from kibble to Fancy Feast classics, one 3 oz can in the morning and one 3 oz can at night. He started downing the whole thing in the first setting, because it was new food and he loved it. Now he doesn't down it entirely, realized he needs to save it, if he wants to eat later.

I am on day three of changing his diet and diagnosis. I also ordered a AlphaTech 2 meter. I just got it today. I tested him 3 hours ago a few times and got in the 170 - 190 range. I tested him 20 minutes after he ate/inhaler and got 258 and hour after and got 262.

Seems like his numbers are all less than 300.

I have an appointment with the vet on Thursday and they are going to do a whole blood panel, x-ray of body. They are going to sedate him, since he is high stressed even when they come to my home. Some how he knows its the vet.

Now the real hard part about this, is my cat has serious asthma. Reason, he probably has it, because he was on a lot of steroids a year ago. Now he has been off of steroids for over a year and I use inhaled steroids to control his asthma. I already have the routine down on giving him his inhaler and feeding him twice a day, in case I need to add insulin. I know, his days of steroid injections are over. This is a real downer because I used it while I was on vacation.

I've read up on Glucose curves and how to administer insulin.

What do you guys think of his numbers. Anything different with cats with asthma, besides no more cortison shots?

 

[Julie and Honey]

Welcome Marc and Toast!

That is great you have changed his food and can already see good results from that. Depending on type of insulin and your cats weight, may want to feed in between am and pm meals.

Numbers looking much better! When testing am and pm before meals/shots, make sure he has not eaten 2 hours prior to these pre shot tests so the blood number is not influenced by food.

It may take up to a week for full food effect reduction in blood glucose to show, it’s possible he may even come down a little more! Occasionally cats can get into normal numbers just by changing to low carb food, but even if insulin is needed, by switching to low carb you are starting at a lower dose than if cat was on high carb food.

Also please keep in mind if vet suggested an insulin and dose, that the dose now may likely need to be reduced due to the food change.

You set up spreadsheet I see, wonderful! Looks like your testing times so far were after evening test and into the night?

Testing, food change, you are way ahead of the game on getting a handle on this already!

One thing that would also help is if you can set up a signature for Toast with particulars like his weight, diagnosis date, type of food, other health conditions, type of insulin, etc. this will help other members to answer your questions and not have to repeatedly ask about the basics of your cat.

Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

You can post future health related questions to the main Health forum. This is mostly an intro area. I would ask the question about asthma there and you will get a lot more eyes on it.

 

[AlphaCat]

Welcome to the diabetes cat club!

I just wanted to say welcome and I second everything Julie and Honey said.
You are way ahead of the game, which is great! I hope someone has better info on diabetic cats and asthma for you!

I had the same eating behaviors with my Fabby. When she stopped eating her full portion, it was rough. I got to a place where I was just trying to get as much food as possible into her because she wasn't eating enough. She wasn't feeling well, so didn't want to eat, but eating would help regulate her glucose, so it would help her. It's a catch 22. And like Julie suggested I was feeding 4 times a day, to get more attempts at eating more food.

Good luck to both of you!

 

[JanetNJ]

Welcome