Chellie
Member
Hi,
This page has been so helpful so far, grateful to have it.
BACKGROUND: My 13 yo male cat Cash was diagnosed with steroid-induced diabetes a little less than a month ago. He was on prednisolone for suspected lymphoma/IBD starting last November. It took two weeks from diagnosis for us to wean him off the steroids. Luckily, a month prior to diabetes diagnosis we had started him on a new hydrolyzed diet which was really working so we are hopeful it is just IBD. Cash was having very scary muscle weakness/ataxia/stumbling symptoms before diagnosis, from what I understand now must have been extremely high BG.
Anyway, vet started us on 1 unit PZ twice a day. After two weeks his numbers were still high— Blood glucose curve using Alphatrak 3 at the vet post first insulin shot of the day showed 429/ 443/ 402/ 596. Started him at 2 units when we took him home that night. Several days later we got a Freestyle Libre 3 put on his back so have been monitoring at home. Even at 2 units he stayed over 400 (the threshold for the Libre) for most of the day so it’s hard to say how high he was still going. He would spend some time in the 380s-390s as well.
FOOD: 300-325ish calories a day. Originally eating Hills z/d wet exclusively which is what healed his stomach but it’s so high in carbs (40%). Experimenting now with giving him half z/d and half Instinct original rabbit which is 8% carbs so the carb intake is less but still not ideal. Worried to jump into a totally new food situation too quickly because of his IBD which could result in throwing up/not eating. His food gets broken into smaller meals throughout the day - at 6:30am; noon; 5:30; 10pm snack. He has always been a dry food grazer so it’s hard to give him a ton of wet food at once.
Current question:
After around 4-5 days of 2 units, vet suggested we go up to 3 units since the upper 300s was as low as it was getting. From what I’ve read, 3 units is a lot for a cat and I worry about rushing it. But I know his numbers are high. I immediately bumped him to 2.5 to ease into it. He has been on 2.5 units (twice a day, at 6:30am and 5:30pm) for 2 cycles and has now gone into the upper 200s overnight, the lowest being 279. He is also spending less and less time above 400 in general thankfully. My questions are: should I give 2.5 more time? Should I be switching him to a lower carb wet food before the jump to 3 units? (With his IBD that might mean a longer transition time though) Or because his numbers are so high, is it reasonable to jump to 3 now? Struggling with how to balance all the variables. Thanks so much!!
*also wanted to mention that ever since we bumped him to 2 units clinically he is doing much better. He is getting around well, muscle weakness has greatly improved, and he is much more like himself which has brought great relief. We still need his BG to get much lower though!!
This page has been so helpful so far, grateful to have it.
BACKGROUND: My 13 yo male cat Cash was diagnosed with steroid-induced diabetes a little less than a month ago. He was on prednisolone for suspected lymphoma/IBD starting last November. It took two weeks from diagnosis for us to wean him off the steroids. Luckily, a month prior to diabetes diagnosis we had started him on a new hydrolyzed diet which was really working so we are hopeful it is just IBD. Cash was having very scary muscle weakness/ataxia/stumbling symptoms before diagnosis, from what I understand now must have been extremely high BG.
Anyway, vet started us on 1 unit PZ twice a day. After two weeks his numbers were still high— Blood glucose curve using Alphatrak 3 at the vet post first insulin shot of the day showed 429/ 443/ 402/ 596. Started him at 2 units when we took him home that night. Several days later we got a Freestyle Libre 3 put on his back so have been monitoring at home. Even at 2 units he stayed over 400 (the threshold for the Libre) for most of the day so it’s hard to say how high he was still going. He would spend some time in the 380s-390s as well.
FOOD: 300-325ish calories a day. Originally eating Hills z/d wet exclusively which is what healed his stomach but it’s so high in carbs (40%). Experimenting now with giving him half z/d and half Instinct original rabbit which is 8% carbs so the carb intake is less but still not ideal. Worried to jump into a totally new food situation too quickly because of his IBD which could result in throwing up/not eating. His food gets broken into smaller meals throughout the day - at 6:30am; noon; 5:30; 10pm snack. He has always been a dry food grazer so it’s hard to give him a ton of wet food at once.
Current question:
After around 4-5 days of 2 units, vet suggested we go up to 3 units since the upper 300s was as low as it was getting. From what I’ve read, 3 units is a lot for a cat and I worry about rushing it. But I know his numbers are high. I immediately bumped him to 2.5 to ease into it. He has been on 2.5 units (twice a day, at 6:30am and 5:30pm) for 2 cycles and has now gone into the upper 200s overnight, the lowest being 279. He is also spending less and less time above 400 in general thankfully. My questions are: should I give 2.5 more time? Should I be switching him to a lower carb wet food before the jump to 3 units? (With his IBD that might mean a longer transition time though) Or because his numbers are so high, is it reasonable to jump to 3 now? Struggling with how to balance all the variables. Thanks so much!!
*also wanted to mention that ever since we bumped him to 2 units clinically he is doing much better. He is getting around well, muscle weakness has greatly improved, and he is much more like himself which has brought great relief. We still need his BG to get much lower though!!
Last edited:
