? What Should I Do? Diabetic Cat

Discussion in 'Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)' started by MyDiabeticCat, Apr 11, 2017.

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  1. MyDiabeticCat

    MyDiabeticCat New Member

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    Apr 11, 2017
    So our male cat of 9 years was diagnosed with diabetes a couple months ago. We cought it very early in the stages, once we had noticed his increased appetite, increased thrist, and weight loss. We got him to the vet and the lady gave us vetsulin. We started off at 1 unit and things got better but never a lot better. His BG was at 423 at the time and we were told to raise his insulin to 2 units and from there we stayed for about a month before deciding ourselves to rasie his insulin to 3 units. His BG went to 364 and his appetite had never changed and neither did his thirst much.

    At this point, I went to the internet to find some answers other than raising his insulin more and more. I came acrossed a thread on this page talking about diet and carbs in dry food. After doing lots of research on that topic I found that our dry food we've been feeding him has 44% carbs... But the thing is, our vet told us "Its nothing that you are feeding him", when obviously it is.

    So I searched everywhere and found out that he needs to be fed wet food with low carbs because dry food is high in carbs. So we got some 9lives cat food with 5-7% carbs. Took away his dry food and started feeding him that food. Online I read that when you change a diabetics cat food from dry to wet you need to stop insulin for atleast 3 days.

    So we did just that. At first everything was going perfectly and his BG levels dropped to 234... And then 167... And then 132. Which we thought was amazing, but then he stopped eating and stopped drinking water, he completely had no energy and wouldn't walk much. It had gotten so bad that he would pee himself because he was too weak to go to the box. We took him to the vet and they told us that he was doing this because we stopped giving him the insulin shots... But I feel that maybe it was because his BG dropped so fast? I'm not sure and I hope someone can explain that to me. Did we do the right thing or not? After this, the vet gave us vitamin jelly to wipe inside his mouth and gave us some nutrients rich wet food to force feed him. He also put him back on 1 unit of insulin and they had us put him on an IV to hydrate him. After a week of this he started to drink and eat again. Now my main problem. Hes acting normal and walking around everywhere, meowing, drinking, cleaning himself and going pee in the box. We are still giving him 1 unit and we also had to give him the old 44% carbs dry food to get his energy back. His BG is now at this time 447... Highest its ever been to our knowledge. Hes so much better than he was and I thought we were gonna lose him and I'm so happy hes better but now I feel like we back at square 1 here. So I need help. I dont want him to almost die again but obviously he needs a better diet but he won't eat wet food anymore after this whole ordeal and is a dry food addict. Purina DM is really expensive but if its our only choice that'll have to do. So can anyone help my situation here? Thank you so much
     
  2. Dyana

    Dyana Well-Known Member

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    Dec 28, 2009
    Did the vet say he had ketones or DKA? That's what it sounds like.
     
  3. JanetNJ

    JanetNJ Well-Known Member

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    Jun 8, 2016
    Are you testing at home?

    Can you more gradually reduce the dry and increase his low carb wet?

    Perdcriptionfood is not necessary or ideal. If he insists on dry there are a few diabetic friendly choices better than dm. The dry dm is about 18% carb.

    My personal favorite is Young Again Zero carb food which is 1% carb and available at Youngagainpetfood.com they will send a free sample of the Young Again Zero if you ask through the contact tab. It's expensive but because it is nutrient dense and high in calories cats eat much less of it then regular dry.

    Another choice is Evo Cat and Kitten in the purple bag. It's about 8% carb. You can find it in some pet stores but I just buy it online.
     
    Yong & Maury GA likes this.
  4. Sharon14

    Sharon14 Well-Known Member

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    Aug 16, 2015
    Home testing and switching to a low carb wet food is your best bet. Try a different food than the 9 Lives, he may associate that with his feeling bad. Friskies Pate or Fancy Feast Classics are a good choice. If he will not eat the wet at all, the Young Again that Janet mentioned is a good choice for dry. Do not try to switch his food until you are home testing. That will help you keep him safe. Test before you give the insulin and get a few tests between shots. Also, please start testing for ketones. You can pick up test strips at any pharmacy. Other than that, keep reading, learning and post any questions here.
     
  5. MyDiabeticCat

    MyDiabeticCat New Member

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    Apr 11, 2017
    We are home testing him and the vet never said anything about ketones and I had never thought about that. I'll try different wet foods and see what kinds he may like before switching to a dry food. Thank you everyone for your help.
     
    JanetNJ likes this.
  6. MyDiabeticCat

    MyDiabeticCat New Member

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    Apr 11, 2017
    For 2 days now we've gotten a wet food that he does enjoy but we wouldn't eat much of it so what we've been doing to help him ease off dry food and onto the wet food is something I've been testing myself and so far it has been working and his blood stays in a range of 70 to 200 now. Which I think is pretty good.

    We took a cup of his original dry food and put it in a blender and blended it up into a powder. From there whenever hes hungry, we give him a can of classic fancy feast and mix a teaspoon of the powdered dry food into it. He actually really enjoys it and eats a lot more wet food than he normally would. So far, so good and I decided I'd post about it here to maybe help someone else with a dry food addict like our cat
     
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