Smokey

I'm new. Was just diagnosed today. Took Smokey in because he was drinking a lot of water and urinating more than usual. Simple blood test showed sugar 400. Vet wants me to give 4 units of Novolin 2x a day. Does not have me checking sugar. He also wants me to only feed him Royal Canin Glycobalance dry food. He normally ate wet food with Royal Canin Urinary SO reduced calorie. After reading this site I'm really confused.

 

Hello and welcome.

If Smokey was diagnosed just today it is very understandable that you are confused.

The board is the right place for help. I hope we can expel some of the confusion.


You get aquianted in this part and then move into the Main Health Forum.


I will start with the dry food Smokey was given. Dry food is not at all appropiate as food for diabetics. It's very high carb and the reason to his high blood glucose levels and also the high insulin dosage.

We have an extensive Wet Food List for cats in general and for diabetics in particular you can start with to read.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf


Then you don't need the vet's permission to proactively home test. It is part of what us diabetics do. We home test the blood glucose with human meters and there are different brands of home testing blood glucose meters and price ranges.


You can read up about that and ask specific questions about what ever is at your heart. The board here is to help.

 

Hello and welcome to FDMB. Glad you found us but sorry you had to.

I agree with Ann that the dry food is far too high in carbs for a diabetic cat and that home testing can be done without your vet's approval.

What really alarms me though is that the vet has prescribed FAR FAR too high a dose of insulin. PLEASE DO NOT give your cat 4u of insulin. Starting dose would normally be 1u twice daily and starting with 4u would be very dangerous particularly if you are not home testing. You need to start with a low dose of insulin, determine how your cat is reacting to the insulin and slowly increase the dose IF needed.

Please come join us over on the Health Forum so we can help you get Smokey feeling better and keep him safe.