newly cat diagnosed

Hello, My Cat Garfield is 12 years old and I brought him to the vet when i noticed significant weight loss. He was diagnosed with diabetes with a blood sugar level of 513 at the time of the visit. The vet suggested that I could either just try to change his food and see how that worked but most likely that he would need to go on the insulin anyway, I chose to start the insulin immediately. He had me start out at 2 units twice a day, I did that and didn't really notice a change in my cat. called them back they had me increase him to 3 units twice a day. After a week or so at the 3 units I decided to check his level as I have gestational diabetes I used my glucose meter and his numbers were still very high, in the high 400's and I called the vet back again and they said to up him to 4 units twice a day. I did that for a day or two and his numbers were still high in the high 400's - mid 500's. After speaking with a friend that had two cats with diabetes she suggested to change the food to wet food I did that the vet said to get grain free which i also did. I have been giving him the wet food and monitoring him all day today, and this am I gave him only 1 unit as per the advice of my friend we think he may be getting too much insulin. Please any advice you could give me I never had to deal with this before and I have two small children and am 28 weeks pregnant with my 3rd child I am trying everything that I can for him but I can't seem to get his numbers under control... I just started today with the 1 unit and have been monitoring him all day. He is on Vetsulin.

 

Welcome! Congrats on testing him at home with your own meter. It's the best way to keep him safe and figure out the best dosing range for him. I'm glad you dropped his dose to 1 unit twice a day. It's easier to increase in small fractions than to deal with the crazy ups and downs and potential hypos of too high a dose.

Re food: Wet food that's low in carbs is best for a diabetic cat. However, some grain free wet foods aren't low in carbs. They might have carbs from sources other than grain - eg. potato. Many of us feed Friskies or Fancy Feast pate style foods and they're all under 10% carbs which is what you want. Here's a link to a great food list put together by a vet:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/#post-2138263

Re monitoring of blood glucose: Here's the basic testing routine we recommend:

1. test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe
2. test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes
3. do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture
4. if indicated by consistently high numbers, increase the dose by no more than 0.25 u at a time so you don't accidentally go right past a good dose
5. post here for advice whenever you're confused or unsure of what to do.

Re tracking blood glucose data: We recommend using a spreadsheet like this:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
It can be seen by all members and is the first thing we look at before offering advice. There are techie people here to help you with it if necessary.

You haven't said when your kitty was diagnosed. It can take weeks or months to get BG numbers under control so be prepared for that. If you decide to follow the methodical approach outlined above and keep a spreadsheet we can see we'll get you moving forward ASAP.

 

Kris covered it above so I just want to say welcome!

 

Thank you for all of the info , the 1 unit was thanks to a friend that is on this site and recommended I come join. he was diagnosed 1/13 so all of this has happened since then... in just the one day that I did the 1 unit just in the am not at night his numbers dropped, they were not in the high 400's and 500's. I am trying my best to do as much as I can as I do have a 3 1/2, 1 1/2 year old and I am 28 weeks pregnant.. and I have gestational diabetes myself, so I have a lot going on and am trying my absolute best... Yesterday here is what I was able to track. 9:30am- 433, 10:30am- gave him 1 unit and fed him, 12:45pm - 404; 3:08pm-368; 5:30pm- 377; 8:45pm- 399; 11pm- 394 This am he was 423. So per my friend bringing down to the 1 unit in the am just yesterday he didn't go as high as he was on the 3-4 units I was giving him. I am feeding him fancy feast wet food as per the vet I purchased a dry food that was grain free I was giving that to him until my friend told me that the dry food was higher in carbs. SO that is when I went and purchased the wet fancy feast... he is upset with me about taking the dry food away he woke me up at 5:30 this am trying to get in the bag.. : /

 

You certainly have a lot on your plate! Do the best you can. If you're game to set up that spreadsheet I referred to in my post above it would help us a lot to give good advice quickly. It can take a few days at a new dose to get a kitty settled. The fact that he's not as high on 1 u tells you that the other doses were causing him to rebound into the stratosphere.

 

Thank you, ill have to see when I can get the time to set up the spreadsheet I've been writing everything down that Ive been doing. It looks a little bit confusing to me and like a lot of steps so ill have to see when I have the time to look at it. Thank you for all of your help I hope I can get this all figured out for him quickly!