Not new, but new...Darrin

Hi all,
I'm "new again" here. When my previous boy Max went diabetic, FDMB saved my life learned SO much here.
I see things have evolved even more here in the past 10 years.
I adopted my current boy (now 16 ish year old ) Darrin after he was returned to a shelter I volunteered at in bad shape...7 lbs, so neuropathic he was walking on hocks and 'wrists'. It took a while, but he was regulated on Lantus for several years now, despite being obese. A couple of salient points:
I work 12 hour days, 1 hour each way from home, so TR isn't in the cards for us.
I'll be honest, I'm a fan of home testing, but he's a tough one to get it done. He's a big, strong boy, will rarely bleed from his ears and it is only me. That said, I'm trying to do at least spot checks in.
I can't get him to reliably eat wet food except those with gravy, so I do feed some dry along with the wet. He's on Purina DM and FF classic pate/Friskies Special diet (I have kidney kitties too).
So, that's my intro....

 

Welcome back.
Check out Young Again pet foods to see if their mature formula dry food might work for him. It is pricey and allegedly, they eat less so it comes out even with other dry food costs.
See my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for some other ways to evaluate how he is doing, particularly food and water intake and output, dehydration checks, plus urine ketone and glucose checks.
Are there any low carb or non-food treats he likes which you might use to help him accept testing, perhaps on his paw pad?
There is an older protocol which uses those, plus regular vet testing to adjust dosing, if necessary.

 

If your kidney kitties are eating the FF - you may want to change that - as FF is high in phosphorus. Check out Dr. Lisa's site and food comparison chart - where not only you can see the carb percentage in foods, but also the phosphorus levels (which ideally you want under 250 mg). www.catinfo.org

Getting him off the dry food will go a long way in regulating the diabetes. A product that I used and others do as well as a substitute for dry that seems to work and for most keep their BG levels in check is a freeze dried raw food product by Stella & Chewy's -- it comes in several flavors and can be purchased online as well as some specialty stores. http://www.stellaandchewys.com/products/cat-dinners/