Gabriel's SS

I hope this link works.

How do I learn what these numbers mean and what advice do you have for the next step(s)?

He is still resisting moist diet. Tried Dr Elsey dry but the kibble is to small and hard. Looking into Young Again dry food but it contains guar gum. Any views on the use of guar gum in a diabetics food?

Gabriel is scheduled for a curve at the vet Weds. As he is not currently taking insulin what should I do?

Also any advice on how to explain the human meter numbers to the office when they only use pet meters?

 

Hi! Just going to link your previous post as there was interesting info in it that may help anyone stopping by - https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/4-6-21-gabriel-ketone-q-behavior.245825/

I'll tag @Bron and Sheba (GA) and @Bandit's Mom too as they stopped by last time and so they can see how well Gabriel is doing without insulin. FWIW, I've always heard 50-120 on human meter is considered "normal" (i.e. Gabriel looks great ).

For transitioning to dry, have you seen this section on catinfo.org - https://catinfo.org/#Transitioning_Dry_Food_Addicts_to_Canned_Food_ -if you haven't seen it before, perhaps there is something in there to try (and the whole site is great too if you poke around).

 

So as of right now he's not on any insulin, is that correct ?

 

No insulin. Just keeping to a low carb diet.

 

Okay, really dumb question. What do I tell Gab's vet who told me last week to start twice a day again at 1 unit? (which I obviously did not do because my angel is right next to me).

And what about that curve scheduled for Weds?

Thank you You and everyone who helped us (plus the wealth of info shared on the site) saved my baby's life.

Okay, now what do you recommend as the next steps for Gabriel?

 

Hi Nikki
Can you tell me exactly what you are feeding Gabriel and when you are feeding him.? What are the carbs you are feeding him? is he eating any wet food?

It would be more helpful if you could get tests in each day before food and once during each cycle.
thete is no need to take him to the vet for a curve if you are testing at home. The home testing is more reliable and cheaper as well.

Are you still testing for ketones? If not please do. This is important until we establish if Gabriel is ok to stay off insulin or not.
If he’s not eating a wet diet it is really important that you keep trying to get him on one. Dry food is too high carb and he won’t be able to continue to stay off insulin if you are feeding high carb dry.

I have to go out for a couple of hours but I’ll come back to see your answers a bit later.

 

Feeding only moist food. Haven't found a dry I'm comfortable with. It's moist food tough love, tossing what he doesn't eat and replacing it so he can graze. Taking up the food for awhile, repeat.

Biggest meals are in early a.m./8 p.m. Unsuccessful trial on various low carb wet foods. Right now on FF. Just tried Dr Elsey's wet duck and he ate it....always has drank plenty of water-loves his cold Poland Spring water.

Will test 4 times a day per your advice and will continue ketone testing.

 

Hi Nikki, thanks for that information.
That is good you have him on a wet diet. Make sure he is eating plenty. There are lots of different brands of low carb to offer him. I know it can be hard when they won’t eat it thought! Have you tried sprinkling Parmesan cheese over the top or forta flora, a probiotic that can be bought online.? Apparently it’s very smelly and cats love it.

I would put off the curve at the vet......just ring and say you will rebook at a later date...or you are home testing and you don’t need to get a curve done (which is entirely true). As far as telling the vet you are not giving the insulin...just tell him you are home testing and his numbers are in the normal range without insulin. He can’t argue with that. If he says anything about using a human meter, just say you are quite comfortable with using it and it was used for many years by vets until the recent advent of the pet meter. You don’t need your vets permission to home test. If you had followed his advice and given the insulin and were not testing, I hate to think what the outcome would have been.

please keep posting so we can see how Gabriel is going

 

OMG, did the tech at the vet's office disagree with me for not bringing Gabs in for the curve tomorrow. I got everything from the human meter is never accurate so how can you tell what is normal, I'm risking Gabriel's life by not bringing him in (how am I going to know if he is still diabetic?), to the ketone sticks don't measure glucose spillage into the urine until it's too late (that really made no sense to me). It sounded like she really didn't know much about feline diabetes which scares me because even though my learning curve has been quick because I love Gabriel so much, I'm still trying to understand this new world.

Thank you for giving me the confidence to disagree. Tech wanted me to bring in Gabriel to see if the meter readings match and to see if there is glucose spillage in the urine. I declined for now.

Prior to eating this a.m. BG=105.
3 hours later BG=78.

 

Well done Nikki speaking to the vet tech. I agree it is scary the amount some don’t know about FD.
The human meter is all the vets ever used until the last few years when pet meter came on the market. The human meter runs a bit lower than the pet meter but it’s accurate and is what our dosing methods are based on.
As for asking how you would know what is normal ...don’t they realise people these days educate themselves on medical conditions.
And the glucose spilling over into the urine used to be the way they could tell if the BG was high (but not how high) without a blood test. But with home testing those methods are not needed and are less than accurate.
With home testing you know exactly what is happening with the BG.
Her comment..’how will you know if he’s still diabetic’ is concerning because Gabriel will always be a diabetic, if he goes into remission he will be a diet controlled diabetic. If you ever go off giving him a low carb diet, the BGs will rise again and insulin would be necessary.

That is good the BG is going down after food. That means the pancreas is working ....how much we will be able to see with some more BG testing.
Ideally we like to see all green BGs for the cat to have a strong remission.

Keep up the testing !

 

5/1/2021 -
Can someone review Gabriel's SS?
And, what are recommendations for the next step.

He's up to about 8 oz of moist food per day. Last couple of days his appetite has dramatically increased. Drinks plenty of water. Don't know if appetite increase is because I found a brand/flavor he likes, he's feeling better, just hungry, or something else.

 

Hi Nikki
Just confirming Gabriel is not on any insulin at the moment?.
That is good his appetite has increased. Are you feeding snacks?
Looking at the SS, the BGs all look good.
Can you take his BG before his two main meals and again about 3 hours later each day?
That will help us see if the pancreas is doing it’s job? do that for a couple of days and then I think we need to get him onto the OTJ trial.