AutumnMom
New Member
Starting a thread in hopes of helping other people who are deciding about using Senvelgo, or have recently started using it.
Autumn was diagnosed March 4. She is overweight (14 pounds), but has no other health issues. She is a very skittish kitty, and very afraid of people. I chose to try Senvelgo to reduce the stress on her from shots and blood-testing. I'm fortunate that one of the vets at the clinic has specific training on Senvelgo and has been networking with other vets to answer my questions.
Autumn tested at 0.2 for blood ketones before we started her on the meds. Her blood glucose was 500 (some of which may be related to stress). At her 3 day test her BG was 137 and her ketones were at 0.3. At her 7 day check on Friday, her BG was 87 and her ketones were 0.2. She drinks a lot of water, but not as much as before we started meds. She had some vomiting the first day of meds, and she was eating, but not very interested in food.
I tried to do an immediate switch to low carb wet food, and Autumn is not a fan of wet food. I got some Dr. Elsey's, which she loves. I talked with my vet about her low appetite, as failure to eat on Senvelgo can trigger a DKA. The vet said that because Senvelgo causes the cat to excrete excess glucose, low carb food is not as much of a concern. She advised I leave Autumn on her previous food until after the 14 day acclimation period. That helped her appetite, and two days after returning to the previous food she's eating normally again. I still plan to transition her to low carb food, but I will do it over a month or so to let her adjust more easily. My vet calculated the calories she needs for slow weight loss, so that will be our focus.
I asked about ketone and glucose monitoring. Ketone monitoring is important because your cat needs to be able to produce insulin while taking Senvelgo. The vet should test for ketones at day 3, 7, 14, and 30, then at all follow-up appointments. After the 14 day introduction period, DKA is less of a risk, unless your cat stops eating or develops another medical condition. My vet suggested that it's a good idea to be prepared to do home monitoring. She said that home glucose monitoring will not be the best indicator that something is wrong, because the medication makes them excrete excess glucose. If they develop ketosis, the blood glucose will be normal (eDKA). There is some potential for hypoglycemia, but since the medication only affects one receptor, there is still one functioning normally to protect against HYPO ( in one study, they tested Senvelgo on non-diabetic cats, and had no HYPO episodes).
I asked about how you tell if a cat goes into remission on Senvelgo, and she had to network to find some answers. There have been no studies on remission with Senvelgo, so no protocol has been developed. The only way to determine remission is to take them off of Senvelgo and monitor BG. She said this has risks, particularly if cat is not truly in remission, or if they come out of remission while not on medication. The insulin producing cells can be damaged, and the cat would no longer be able to take Senvelgo.
Hope this very long thread will be helpful. I'll post updates as Autumn continues her journey.
Autumn was diagnosed March 4. She is overweight (14 pounds), but has no other health issues. She is a very skittish kitty, and very afraid of people. I chose to try Senvelgo to reduce the stress on her from shots and blood-testing. I'm fortunate that one of the vets at the clinic has specific training on Senvelgo and has been networking with other vets to answer my questions.
Autumn tested at 0.2 for blood ketones before we started her on the meds. Her blood glucose was 500 (some of which may be related to stress). At her 3 day test her BG was 137 and her ketones were at 0.3. At her 7 day check on Friday, her BG was 87 and her ketones were 0.2. She drinks a lot of water, but not as much as before we started meds. She had some vomiting the first day of meds, and she was eating, but not very interested in food.
I tried to do an immediate switch to low carb wet food, and Autumn is not a fan of wet food. I got some Dr. Elsey's, which she loves. I talked with my vet about her low appetite, as failure to eat on Senvelgo can trigger a DKA. The vet said that because Senvelgo causes the cat to excrete excess glucose, low carb food is not as much of a concern. She advised I leave Autumn on her previous food until after the 14 day acclimation period. That helped her appetite, and two days after returning to the previous food she's eating normally again. I still plan to transition her to low carb food, but I will do it over a month or so to let her adjust more easily. My vet calculated the calories she needs for slow weight loss, so that will be our focus.
I asked about ketone and glucose monitoring. Ketone monitoring is important because your cat needs to be able to produce insulin while taking Senvelgo. The vet should test for ketones at day 3, 7, 14, and 30, then at all follow-up appointments. After the 14 day introduction period, DKA is less of a risk, unless your cat stops eating or develops another medical condition. My vet suggested that it's a good idea to be prepared to do home monitoring. She said that home glucose monitoring will not be the best indicator that something is wrong, because the medication makes them excrete excess glucose. If they develop ketosis, the blood glucose will be normal (eDKA). There is some potential for hypoglycemia, but since the medication only affects one receptor, there is still one functioning normally to protect against HYPO ( in one study, they tested Senvelgo on non-diabetic cats, and had no HYPO episodes).
I asked about how you tell if a cat goes into remission on Senvelgo, and she had to network to find some answers. There have been no studies on remission with Senvelgo, so no protocol has been developed. The only way to determine remission is to take them off of Senvelgo and monitor BG. She said this has risks, particularly if cat is not truly in remission, or if they come out of remission while not on medication. The insulin producing cells can be damaged, and the cat would no longer be able to take Senvelgo.
Hope this very long thread will be helpful. I'll post updates as Autumn continues her journey.
