1/6/2024 New Member Regi

[Regi62]

So glad to have found you!

My name is Regi and I adopted a feral cat (LK for Little Kitty) in 2019. He was wounded and I was able to trap him and get him vetted and neutered. All blood work was done (perfect) and he was checked for FIV, etc and all came back negative. The vet was unable to age him so the general age of 2 was given.

It took me 14 months to touch him. Even then it was impossible to pick him up and pilling him was impossible. He did become a love bug when he discovered what a brush was and sleeps on my bed every night.

I had six other cats (mine plus the ones I inherited from my dad) who as time and age went on, required my attention. During the COVID period, I lost 3 of my elderly, precious babies. And about 6 months ago, I noticed that LK needed a dental so I put that in my “to do” list while I dealt with cats with lymphoma, tumors and the like.

Saturday before last I was finally able to get him in a cage (a process of epic proportions!) and get him to the vet for his dental which resulted in discovering (1) the most recent test came back FIV positive (2) his mouth was in a much worse state than we had guessed and (3) his glucose was at 500+.

Dental was completed and the vet kept him to monitor his glucos3 so he was able to stay over the Christmas and New Year holidays to keep an eye on him. His glucose did drop significantly on its own without insulin and I’ll be taking him back to monitor it. Because of all the handing at the vet, I am now able to pill him and he gets a probiotic every evening as do the others.

The question: because he was absolutely and completely terrorized of the vet visit and his teeth were a mess, could the high glucose be caused by the sheer fear and bad teeth rather than being diabetic causing the teeth issue? I have to ask because of the fact his glucose dropped feom 500+ to 100+ (still to high but the vet is hoping it will continue to fall and he’ll go back in 2 weeks for a check up).

I found out yesterday that my sweet 14 year old that I inherited from my dad has a mass in her stomach so we’re waiting on the biopsy to come back to determine options.

All that to say, I’m a little overwhelmed and appreciate you help and time.

Regi

 

[Basic's Mom]

Regi, I'm very glad you found this forum too. Thank you for all that you do for the cats in the world. Truly appreciated.

Yes, bad teeth can absolutely affect the blood glucose. Any infection or inflammation can.

The 100 bg reading at the vet says a lot to me. Most cats dislike the vet and it stresses them. Stress can also increase blood glucose levels. I would watch as my cats just skyrocketed as we enter the vets office.

An expert will be by at some point to give you a much more of a detailed response.

I'm sorry for your losses over covid. That was a lot at one time. I'm also sorry to here about your female's mass. I'll remain positive for you.

Even if LK isn't diabetic which im hopeful he isn't, this place is a good place to find information on how to prevent diabetes. If he is borderline, switching food can help tremendously.

 

[Regi62]

Regi, I'm very glad you found this forum too. Thank you for all that you do for the cats in the world. Truly appreciated.

Yes, bad teeth can absolutely affect the blood glucose. Any infecti

The 100 bg reading at the vet says a lot to me. Most cats dislike the vet and it stresses them. Stress can also increase blood glucose levels. I would watch as my cats just skyrocketed as we enter the vets office.

An expert will be by at some point to give you a much more of a detailed response.

I'm sorry for your losses over covid. That was a lot at one time. I'm also sorry to here about your female's mass. I'll remain positive for you.

Even if LK isn't diabetic which im hopeful he isn't, this place is a good place to find information on how to prevent diabetes. If he is borderline, switching food can help tremendously.

 

[Regi62]

Thank you so much for your sweet welcome and kind words. After all the cats I’ve had in my life, I know sooner or later I’ll have one who is diabetic so I’m glad to get prepared now.

I asked the question about fear and glucose because my glucose goes up when I go to the doctor because I am terrified of all things medical (too many bad experiences with my folks which rubbed off on me) so my glucose jumps when I walk in the door.

I’m definitely going to search the files for the best food option. I have 4 different cats to contend with, each with their own health issue (one a 4 year large cell lymphoma survivor who has skin cancer (treatable), one with hyperthyroidism, one with the mass (likely cancer) and my LK. It’s a balancing act for sure.

Thanks again for the kind answer.

 

[Basic's Mom]

Clicking on the link below will connect you to the information often referenced here as the food chart. All canned foods sold in the US have been been broken down into a spreadsheet with their caloric analysis provided. Using the online calculators often doesn't give you true numbers.

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

I reference this chart often.

Food is considered low carb when it is under 10%. Medium carb is 11-17%. High is 18% and higher.

You will notice that there aren't any kibble on this list. There are only 2 low carb kibbles. Young Again and Dr. Elsey's. Neither are cheap. If you do end up trying either, just like all diet changes for a cat, as you know, please make this change very gradual. My cats never really adjusted to the Dr. Elsey's even when slowly introducing. It caused GI issues. I've discontinued my diabetic male on it. My female is more strong-willed than I am, I hate to admit. She still demands it, literally screaming, but I can't give her more than a tablespoon a day without it causing her to get sick. It is a dilemma because I can't feed her the kibble I used to. Her brother would for sure get into it. Even if he wouldn't, I don't want her on it knowing the caloric analysis on the kibble.

There's tons of knowledge within this domain.

You're welcome.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Did the vet do any other tests than the blood work? A urinalysis can show if there is glucose in the urine, and a fructosamine can show average blood sugar over around two weeks. However, multiple blood tests at the vet going down is a good trend.

For the record, I've had a non diabetic cat test over 220 at the vet after a stressful visit there (and 53 at home the next day) and we did have one member here who's cat absolutely hated car rides go over 400 right after a couple hour ride. And back down below 100 on his own the next day. He was in a remission trial, so not taking insulin.

What food is your kitty eating now? If he's eating higher carb food, you might be able to get him into normal range with a change in diet to low carb food.

 

[Regi62]

Clicking on the link below will connect you to the information often referenced here as the food chart. All canned foods sold in the US have been been broken down into a spreadsheet with their caloric analysis provided. Using the online calculators often doesn't give you true numbers.

Whoever puts the list together is simply brilliant. Thanks for providing the link.

I was relieved to see that the canned food I’m currently feeding (Fancy Feast Classics, BFF and Tiki Cat) all are 0-3 carbs. I bought some Tiki Cat kibble to transition until I could figure this all out and just bought a sack of Young Again to try.

I totally get your dilemma of feeding multiple cats with multiple needs.

Thanks again for sharing all this awesome info.

https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

I reference this chart often.

Food is considered low carb when it is under 10%. Medium carb is 11-17%. High is 18% and higher.

You will notice that there aren't any kibble on this list. There are only 2 low carb kibbles. Young Again and Dr. Elsey's. Neither are cheap. If you do end up trying either, just like all diet changes for a cat, as you know, please make this change very gradual. My cats never really adjusted to the Dr. Elsey's even when slowly introducing. It caused GI issues. I've discontinued my diabetic male on it. My female is more strong-willed than I am, I hate to admit. She still demands it, literally screaming, but I can't give her more than a tablespoon a day without it causing her to get sick. It is a dilemma because I can't feed her the kibble I used to. Her brother would for sure get into it. Even if he wouldn't, I don't want her on it knowing the caloric analysis on the kibble.

There's tons of knowledge within this domain.

You're welcome.

 

[Regi62]

Did the vet do any other tests than the blood work? A urinalysis can show if there is glucose in the urine, and a fructosamine can show average blood sugar over around two weeks. However, multiple blood tests at the vet going down is a good trend.

For the record, I've had a non diabetic cat test over 220 at the vet after a stressful visit there (and 53 at home the next day) and we did have one member here who's cat absolutely hated car rides go over 400 right after a couple hour ride. And back down below 100 on his own the next day. He was in a remission trial, so not taking insulin.

What food is your kitty eating now? If he's eating higher carb food, you might be able to get him into normal range with a change in diet to low carb food.

Hey there. The vet did a full senior panel pre dental and did daily blood tests over the course of almost two weeks to watch the trend. He kept my boy from 12/23 to 1/2 and went every day even over the holidays to check his blood. Because of the cost of the dental (full extraction) and the fact he’s also taking care of my other 3, he didn’t charge me a dime for boarding him. He is truly an animal lover and I’d walk through fire for him.

They all eat Fancy Feast classics or BFF or Tiki Cat which are all showing 0-3 carbs. I bought some Tiki Cat kibble until I could get this figured out (also
Because I have 4 cats all with different needs) and I just forked out for a 4 lb bag of Young Again and we’ll see how that goes.

The info that you provided about those glucose spikes gives me hope maybe we can get this under control in a stress free environment and controlling the diet. Thank you so much for taking the time to tell those stories.

again, I’m so glad I found y’all.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

It sounds like you've got all of your cat on an appropriate diet. I hope the Young Again is their Zero Carb food -- it's not really zero carb but it is low in carbs. I don't know what the carb count is on their other food.

The fructosamine may not have been a part of a senior blood panel. You may need to ask your vet about whether one was done.

One thought is if it should turn out that LK is diabetic, there may be an option other than injecting insulin. There are a couple of newer options -- Bexacat and Senvelgo. They are oral meds and in particular, Bexacat can be mixed into food. This is a link to information on Bexacat. Please note that you can't use these types of medication if your cat has taken insulin.

 

[Regi62]

It sounds like you've got all of your cat on an appropriate diet. I hope the Young Again is their Zero Carb food -- it's not really zero carb but it is low in carbs. I don't know what the carb count is on their other food.

The fructosamine may not have been a part of a senior blood panel. You may need to ask your vet about whether one was done.

One thought is if it should turn out that LK is diabetic, there may be an option other than injecting insulin. There are a couple of newer options -- Bexacat and Senvelgo. They are oral meds and in particular, Bexacat can be mixed into food. This is a link to information on Bexacat. Please note that you can't use these types of medication if your cat has taken insulin.

The vet did try an oral medication that he had learned of after attending a symposium and I imagine it may be one of the ones he mentioned. I’ll ask him when I talk to
Him on Monday or Tuesday. He taped LK off of that to see with the dental surgery and with time if the issue addressed itself.
Thanks so much for your reply.