Nub McClaws, long story (sry), have questions

Hello, I am glad I found this board because I am not sure what to think, or more importantly what to do next, if anything. I have read through quite a few posts and I don't see anything quite like this.
Here's the background:
We have 8 cats, 4 are feral rescues, 2 are strays. The 7th is 18 y/o, the last one is 10 y/o and was my daughters cat.
Kitty is 8 y/o, previously feral male, neutered, overweight, although not as much as before.
2.5 months ago, he was limping, so took him in to check for injury. Vet gave him steroids and sent him home. Five days later, kitty is clearly sick, losing weight, still limping, lost his joy. Vet checks BG and it's around 420. No keytones, tho. Limping appears to be neuropathy. Stays in the hospital for 5 days to get regulated. Comes home on 4 units of Vetsulin BID. It's working out great. His BG varies from 80 to 200, he's more active, very happy to be home and his joy is back. We isolate him from the other 6 cats he spends regular time with so we can monitor food and water intake. He starts making friends with the 8th cat (arrived a couple of years ago and was just never accepted into the pride). He doesn't mind the shots, but does not like ppl messing with his ears, not even a nice scritch. Hard to get a curve for this one (his name is McClaws). Cat has lost about 25% of body weight since 1 year ago, and that's a good thing.
Everything is going along just great, he's adjusting to different food and to being alone most days. He doesn't care for canned food, but eats it when he's really hungry. We put out food morning and evening and he free feeds. Thanks to the internet including this board, I feel I can manage insulin and BG checks, I just need to get experience, confidence and a better understanding of how this cat works.
Then the vet says we need to get him off vetsulin b/c it isn't available anymore. Arrange to have him admitted to be regulated again. Night before, vet assistant leaves message don't feed him after 6pm. OK, that doesn't make any sense. We decide we aren't going to give PM shot.
The next morning, he's at 270. Vet gives him "a small dose" of Prozinc. Goes from 270, to 230, to 150, to 100 to 80 by 5pm. Then 60 at 7 (glad the vet stayed) when he gets started on dextrose. Drip all night, next morning he's at 100 with no more insulin in the last 24 hours. Stays around 100, never over 170 for the next 2 days. BUT (always one of those), he doesn't eat during the day when people are around, not even Wednesday when he was clearly famished. He eats some overnight, maybe 1/3 to 1/2 of what he would normally eat. I suspect they give dry food. At home he gets some of both.
Vet is perplexed, says he knows cats go in remission, but he's never seen it happen in this short of a time frame. Can't be somogyi after 3.5 days, can it? So that was Friday at 5pm and this is Tuesday, 7 days, 14 hours since his last insulin. His BG is 93. He ate at 7:30, 2 hours ago.
I really think the cat was diabetic for several months before, looking back. Hard to tell with 6 other cats sharing food, water and boxes. But since he's been isolated, their boxes aren't nearly as soaked. He has his own. Doesn't have problems going, and doesn't flood the box either.
Right now, everything seems OK. He's still got some signs of neuropathy and he isn't as active as he was on Vetsulin it seems. But he's not a couch spud, either.
What should I expect next? What should I look for? Should I continue working on changing his diet to all low carb canned? I hate to mess with success. OTOH, I'd like to see him loose a little more weight and get some strength back. What should I do to prolong remission? Or should I just thank God I didn't kill the cat and for the miracle and relax?
Thanks for listening.

 

I would bet you dollars to donuts that the diabetes is steroids induced. SOMETIMES steroid induced diabetes is temporary - then it is called "transient diabetes". Other times, the damage is permanent and the cat is, and will remain, diabetic.

My own Stormy Blue is a steroid induced diabetic. He was having skin issues so the vet gave him a whopping big steroid injection. Within the week, he was exhibiting classic symptoms of diabetes and wound up in the ER hospital in critical condition from severe dehydration. After about 2 months of Vetsulin insulin, he crashed, (that was last year - on Father's Day), and it took me over 12 hours to get his blood glucose level up into the "normal" range. He has not needed insulin since, with the exception of a couple of times when he stole high carb foods.

Stormy Blue is now, and will always remain a diabetic. He is, however, diet controlled. All of his canned foods are 5%, or LOWER in carbohydrates. This keeps his BGL within the "normal" range. Perhaps if you, too, feed your baby nothing but low carb canned foods he may never need insulin again.

However, you still will need to home test daily for at least 2 weeks in order to make certain that his bgl is remaining normal. If there are no high numbers, gradually you space the bgl tests out until you are testing weekly, or even bi-weekly, or if your baby just appears to be "off" a bit".

~M

 

got a great answer --

steroid-induced diabetes can be temporary - LUCKY YOU!!!!

just keep an eye on your pal -- test blood sugar periodically, and low carb - high protein canned food is good for all cats -- hopefully will help prevent a recurrence.

Kitty may remain "borderline" with steroids, infections, bad teeth tipping him over into diabetes again -- that is why it is good to keep an eye on it -- testing BG once a week or couple times a month.