? Insulin Dosage Adjustment and Ravenous Hunger in Cat

[Natalieee]

My cat is currently on 3.5 units of insulin administered once daily at 6am. We are using Vetsulin. Do you consider this a high or average dosage for a cat? He is 10 pounds, 13 years old. He was diagnosed with diabetes 6 months ago, we updated his dosage in December from 2.5 units.

Since the diagnosis my cat is always hungry/looking for food and his behavior has become very strange. I caught him chewing on the sponge in my sink on a few occasions. I understand the reason why he feels constantly hungry. I just want to provide him with whatever comfort and support I can. Has anyone else dealt with similar behaviors? Should I speak to his vet about increasing insulin or would a different adjustment help him? He is on a wet food diet.

Thank you.

 

[Deb & Wink]

Hi Nataliee. Please start a new thread in the Feline Health Main and Welcome forum.

We don't know how much you know, and everyone is asked to start in that forum first.

You can copy what you wrote here, and start a new thread there. Thanks.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Natalieee
Vetsulin should be giving twice a day not once a day.
3.5 units does sound like a high dose but it depends how you arrived at that dose.
Are you home testing the blood glucose levels? Without doing that we can't tell if 3.5 units is too much or not.
If you are not home testing I would strongly encourage you to do so. It is the only way to keep your kitty safe, and is not hard to do.
Has the vet done any tests on the blood glucose levels at all?
How much insulin did your kitty start off on and how was it increased.?

There are better insulins for cats than vetinsulin, which is really an insulin for dogs.
I would ask your vet about swapping over to a longer acting insulin such as Lantus, levemir or Prozinc.
Unregulated cats can be very hungry because they can't utilise the nutrients in the food, so will remain hungry all the time.
I hope this has helped. There is a lot we/you can do to improve things.
Keep asking questions, we are happy to help

 

[Ken S]

My cat is always hungry and our vet has said to feed her all she wants to eat. My question is: how can 2 injections a day keep her BG in the good range of 80-150? Wouldn't her BG go up after every meal? She eats cans of FF only.
Today we visited him, 2 hours after her AM injection, and about 30 minutes after she ate, he said her BG (256), is good considering the time of her injection and last feeding. She has lost a few about a pound in the last 2 months. We have been on 1 unit of vetsulin twice a day and free feeding FF wet food all day. She eats 8-10 cans a day and only weighs about 5 lbs currently. She is a small framed kitty to be sure.

 

[Deb & Wink]

My cat is always hungry and our vet has said to feed her all she wants to eat. My question is: how can 2 injections a day keep her BG in the good range of 80-150? Wouldn't her BG go up after every meal? She eats cans of FF only.
Today we visited him, 2 hours after her AM injection, and about 30 minutes after she ate, he said her BG (256), is good considering the time of her injection and last feeding. She has lost a few about a pound in the last 2 months. We have been on 1 unit of vetsulin twice a day and free feeding FF wet food all day. She eats 8-10 cans a day and only weighs about 5 lbs currently. She is a small framed kitty to be sure.

@Ken S

Please create a new thread for yourself over in the Feline Health - (Welcome & Main Forum)

It's where new members such as yourself should put their own separate first post. This forum is lightly viewed. More people to see your post in that other forum. Copy and paste what you said here into your own thread. Thanks.

Actually, update this one. From about a month ago.
New member Sadie from Houston TX

 

[Deb & Wink]

How are you doing Natalieee?

 

[Natalieee]

Hi Natalieee
Vetsulin should be giving twice a day not once a day.
3.5 units does sound like a high dose but it depends how you arrived at that dose.
Are you home testing the blood glucose levels? Without doing that we can't tell if 3.5 units is too much or not.
If you are not home testing I would strongly encourage you to do so. It is the only way to keep your kitty safe, and is not hard to do.
Has the vet done any tests on the blood glucose levels at all?
How much insulin did your kitty start off on and how was it increased.?

There are better insulins for cats than vetinsulin, which is really an insulin for dogs.
I would ask your vet about swapping over to a longer acting insulin such as Lantus, levemir or Prozinc.
Unregulated cats can be very hungry because they can't utilise the nutrients in the food, so will remain hungry all the time.
I hope this has helped. There is a lot we/you can do to improve things.
Keep asking questions, we are happy to help

Thank you for the information. HUGE help. I wrote a new post here with more information on Flea: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hi-from-natalie-and-flea.233114/

Due to my work schedule, I was originally only able to administer the insulin once a day (this was discussed with and approved by his vet). Flea is currently with my mom and getting insulin 2x daily.

We are testing blood glucose levels using urine strips, his vet has tested for BG as well... levels are still higher than she would like on last visit in July (he was on 3.0 2x daily), so now he is on 3.5 2x daily. I think we originally started Flea off with 2.0 once daily.

I will look into other options of insulin as well. xo

 

[Natalieee]

Hi Natalieee
Vetsulin should be giving twice a day not once a day.
3.5 units does sound like a high dose but it depends how you arrived at that dose.
Are you home testing the blood glucose levels? Without doing that we can't tell if 3.5 units is too much or not.
If you are not home testing I would strongly encourage you to do so. It is the only way to keep your kitty safe, and is not hard to do.
Has the vet done any tests on the blood glucose levels at all?
How much insulin did your kitty start off on and how was it increased.?

There are better insulins for cats than vetinsulin, which is really an insulin for dogs.
I would ask your vet about swapping over to a longer acting insulin such as Lantus, levemir or Prozinc.
Unregulated cats can be very hungry because they can't utilise the nutrients in the food, so will remain hungry all the time.
I hope this has helped. There is a lot we/you can do to improve things.
Keep asking questions, we are happy to help

Forgot to ask, what method do you use to home test BG?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

We home test the BGs with a glucose meter. Most of us use a human meter such is the ReliOn Prime from Walmart which is very reasonable and the test strips are cheap which is important. I would strongly recommend you start to home test the BG. It is much safer than testing the urine which is many hours behind because the urine has to be made and is stored in the bladder for hours whereas blood tests are current.

Are you feeding your kitty a 1/2 hour BEFORE giving the insulin?

 

[Natalieee]

We home test the BGs with a glucose meter. Most of us use a human meter such is the ReliOn Prime from Walmart which is very reasonable and the test strips are cheap which is important. I would strongly recommend you start to home test the BG. It is much safer than testing the urine which is many hours behind because the urine has to be made and is stored in the bladder for hours whereas blood tests are current.

Are you feeding your kitty a 1/2 hour BEFORE giving the insulin?

No, our vet told us to feed him while giving the insulin, but I did read this on the forum yesterday. We are going to try feeding him 1/2 hour before insulin today. I will also look into the glucose meter. Thank you so much.