Please help

My husband is under the impression that diet alone can cure the cat. He wants me to stop STOP her insulin for 2 days and feed her 3 times per day.
He thinks that diabetes can be cured naturally.

Please-somebody help me explain to him why this is a bad idea-
ketoacidosis amongst other things!

I asked him to ask his brother in law to D/C HIS insulin and see if he can heal naturally!


Please help...l am so upset at my husband!

 

Are you hometesting? If so, it will be real clear whether the diet lowers the bg levels enough, or whether insulin is needed. It is fine to try the wet lo carb for a few days, but hometest so you can be sure the bg levels do not go dangerously high.

I like your analogy with your brother in law. Human diabetics can try diets, but if they need insulin, they need insulin.

 

A diabetic cat is one that is unable to produce insulin from it's pancreas.

Just like humans, insulin in a nut shell is energy for brain food and other essential body functions.

Kitty may have a shot at being diet controlled eventually, but in the short term they need insulin. This gives the Pancreas chance to heal (bit like being on xygen in intensive care) and for the beta cells to recover to start producing their own insulin again.

This only has a shot if it is type 2 diabetes and then not guaranteed it will happen. Seen kitty's Go OTJ in a couple of weeks, some more than 2 years.ECID (Every cat is different)

If the issue for hubby is how much time your spending on this, concentrate on shots,testing and the right food and just try and update on the board when you can (particularly if you need help). It is a commitment doing everything, but once kitty is somehwre near regulated it's no more than a few mins a day.

You also need ketodiastix to test for keytones-if you stop insulin even for a couple of days you can be risking life and costing yourself a fortune at the vets.
Does that help?
Hope you can make him understand.
Good luck

 

Insulin IS a natural treatment. You can feed lots and lots of food but the cat is basically going to starve to death because the body can not utilize the food properly without insulin.

 

I would like to really thank everybody for their supportive posts. I came on here in a mini tizzy, as I was so upset. Hubby wanted me to hear him out on a theory... He is going to let me take care of kitty, and continue insulin and not come off of it.

Thanks so much, and my apologies if I caused a nuisance.

 

I am home testing. I have been testing her blood glucose. I do at least once per day unless I am able to get a urine dipstick. Sometimes I can get a urine...if she goes on the mat ourside the box. I have tried other litters and she will only go on clumpy litter. She is very finicky.

She is a very patient cat with the ear pricking!

 

Scooter has Diabetes Mellitus...I do not know if that is type 1 or 2...sorry

What is OTJ if you don't mind? (I am not up on the lingo yet....I am new)

I have the dipsticks, but getting urine, if you read any of my past postings...it is quite a dilemma...

 

For cats, usually theres no way to tell if they are type 1 or type 2. Thats why we recommend starting insulin along with diet change as soon as possible.

OTJ is "off the juice" Juice being insulin. ;-)

for other slang.. you can check out Melissa and Popcorns "sticky" at the top of this forum for the glossary.

You are getting urine to check for infection.. she was talking about ketostix/ketodiastix to check for ketones in the urine.

Glad DH saw the light!

 

I have Ketodiastix and can only obtain urine sometimes if she goes on the mat outside the box...(read my prior post please

she has not had any ketones in her urine.

Today and yesterday have been her lowest BG sugar reading I have seen...and she was started on treatment one week ago today. Does it take a week for insulin to kick in?

She is more active, and playful

Her sugar was 133 at 4:30 PM which is the lowest I have seen all week!

 

sorry! got you confused with another newbie!

Yea, getting urine is hard. I was not able to test Merlyn much for ketones, luckily he didnt get them. Some folks put saran wrap on the top of the litter..it works best if your cat has a favorite corner or spot to pee in the box. If she pees up against the back maybe you can hang a curled up piece of foil or something back there.

Wow 133 is a great number. That is a number where testing her blood glucose before shooting is important. Generally we recommend that folks dont give insulin under 200 unless you know what her response will be. If you have given insulin you might want to check her BGs tonight.

Yes it can take about a week for insulin to kick in..

 

Hi again,
catching up with the time zone difference.

What insulin are you using?
Lisa is right aboutthe 200, but if your testing at least once a day and are prepared to test more we can help yo. The 131 sounds an excellent number, but what you need to know is how low that number goes in a 12 hour cycle.

How many units are you giving too?

We have forums for Lantus,levemir,Pzi and the short acting insulins such as vetsulin/Humulin.

No one really knows if their kitty is type 1 or 2 (unless they go OTJ! :mrgreen: )

Your doing great