Giving insulin to cat who insists on tiny meals

Timewarpcat

Timewarpcat

Member
My 6 year old 8 pound cat was just diagnosed with diabetes. She probably got it from steroid treatment for brain swelling due to toxiplasmosis infection, although she wasn't on the prednisalone very long. Less than a month. She takes phenobarbitol to control seizures, and that does raise blood sugar.

My vet is going to set her up with a Freestyle Libre in a week or so. For now, I'm giving her 1 unit insulin 2x/day and put her on pate wet food and proplan diabetic dry food. Her blood sugar was over 400 and the fructosamine was high too. She is a stressed cat in general. That will be affecting the numbers, but not this high, the vet said. She does drink and pee a lot.

I don't have a diabetic meter at this time. The vet told me that the dose she started the cat on, 1 unit 2x per day, is very low and should not cause hypoglycemia. My husband and I are home all day and monitoring her closely and check her behavior in the middle of the night as well.

My problem is that this cat is a dry food cat, and only ever eats tiny meals. I have always offered her wet food, and over the years, she will now eat some. I will never be able to get more than 1 can of fancy feast into this cat per day.

This morning, she ate about 2 bites of Fancy Feast, and maybe 10 kibbles, and she got the 3 calorie pill pocket with her phenobarbitol. She will eat enough over the whole day, but be aware that ever since I had to give her antiseizure meds about 4 months ago, I've been restricting feeding so she will always accept the pill pocket at 8 pm sharp. So she will definitely eat in two 4 hour windows per day. But she will not eat all her meal in one sitting.

She has had an upset stomach from the diet change as well, and that has been a problem with getting her to eat too.

So this is supposed to be a medium acting insulin... can I still give it? What do you think?

Thanks for any advice!
 
Update 45 minutes later, when I decided to give her a half unit, she ate more dry kibble, so I was able to give her the full unit. And it was 45 minutes late. I suspect that if I'm off by an hour or so sometimes, it's ok. The seizure med timing is important too.

This is how it's going to be with her much of the time. :/

I forgot to mention that I got some Young Again zero carb dry food, but I'm only using that a little bit since she's on insulin and I lack data. The information from the company gives me pause.. the tone in which it is written is not very professional.
 
Quite a few people here use the Young Again.

I would wait for the Libre before doing any further diet changes, 1U absolutely can be too much, we just never know (my own cat dropped down from 2.5U to about 0.25U after a diet change.

I can't advise too much without data, but typically as long as they eat a tbsp or two you're likely ok to give insulin. I cannot say for sure what is safe without BG data, so fair disclaimer on that.

It is most important that she eats the bulk of her food within the first 6 hours after the shot while insulin effect is strongest, ideally within the first 3-4 hours.

Is 8 lbs her ideal weight? Does she seem to be losing weight?

You could also consider compounding the seizure med? Some cats like that better, I'm assuming it's one that can be compounded.
 
Idk if it can be compounded. The cats accept the royal canin pill pockets readily. The vet felt that 2 pill pockets per day are not enough carbs to make much difference.

She is probably about a pound overweight. She gained about a pound on the prednisalone, then lost the extra weight slowly.

She will nibble plenty of food in the 2 hours after her pill pocket, just not all at once. I'm taking up the food after about 2 hours. Thanks a bunch!!
 
No problem!

Some cats "feed their own curve", my cat is one of them. So as he feels the insulin start to drop his BG, he will eat accordingly - more food as the drops are bigger, then small nibbles once evened out. Other cats need to be offered regular snacks, they're all different. If she's grazing it sounds like she might be ma aging it herself.
 
There was a reason I'm not using that...I think there's an ingredient that can't be given to cats.

I could do an ear gel, but so far, the cats are taking the pills very well. The vet told me the compounding pharmacy would make that for me if I need it.
 
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