Hello everyone! I'm new here, and new to being a mom to a diabetic kitty. It's only been 2 weeks since he was diagnosed. He hasn't consistently been on insulin for the whole 2 weeks because unfortunately he's having a bad case of what they suspect is cystitis so he had to go off his prozinc for a few days due to not eating/hiding under the bed all day every day. Now he seems to be recovering and we're trying to get in a routine. My concern is that they switched us to Purina DM strictly wet food diet, which prior to this he was on a strictly dry food diet. Luckily he LOVES wet food so this isn't a problem for him but I suspect this will also be affecting his glucose levels? He was not on this wet food the last time they checked his levels, which were 180 but he had been on a little insulin few days prior - his original reading when he was diagnosed was 276. He goes in 6 days for a follow up and to check his levels again. I have read a lot of parents on here checking their own levels and it sounds like something that would surely put me at ease however my kitty is TERRIBLE with being handled. The shots themselves are a big adjustment. Some shots are easy if he's distracted enough, sometimes he has decided he WILL NOT let you touch him and will hide under the bed for hours. So I'm not sure blood testing will work with him, however I did order a kit & will make an attempt. For now, and in case it doesn't work out, I am really worried 2 units 2x a day is a lot. I read on here that starting with 1 unit is standard and I feel his starting 276 isn't as high as some people have reported. I don't want to go against the advice of his vet & mess up his progress/possible remission, however I'd feel a lot safer giving 1 unit instead especially since I'm not able to home test his levels. Is this advisable? Any tips appreciated, thank you in advance
Hi Daphne! I'm fairly new here as well so I can't give any specific advice, but here are my two cents: The prozinc forum is pretty lightly trafficked, so I suggest you start out in the feline health main forum. There are some experienced members over there that can answer your questions. My sugar cat was also prescribed 2 units 2x/day, after getting some advice here I started at 0.5 instead. Good thing, since she almost went hypoglycemic on 1.25 units last night. As for food, most people here feed friskies pates or fancy feast classics because they are much cheaper than the prescription food and fit the profile of low carb and wet even better than the rx diets. Hopefully you can get some better help in the main forum.
