? New - Food and Insulin Storage

Hi! My kitty Simon was newly diagnosed Monday. He was around 350 and went back today for further testing/confirmation. They said he was even higher at 400. He had no indications of diabetes prior to this and it was just a general checkup. Everything else looked fine. I decided to have blood work just to be sure (he’s 12). Then we found out.

So, he starts injections tomorrow. I am confused mainly on where to store the pen? They are all in the fridge now but after I use it, then what? I also read that injecting cold insulin isn’t good. So do I leave the pen out that’s in use? He gets 1 unit for now. He’s on Lantus

Lastly, all my kitties (9) are and have been eating blue buffalo dry cat food with supplemental wet food (friskies) every few days. Can he stay on it or should I remove all dry and start meal feeding twice a day? That was the plan anyway. Again, 9 cats so it’s going to be a change to feed them all twice a day manually.

Would love some advice! Thank you!

 

Hello and welcome! Sorry to hear Simon's been diagnosed but you'll find amazing help here.

The Lantus pens stay in the fridge (do not leave it in the door though), they are good up to the expiration date (usually 1-2 years) if kept in the fridge unopened, so only use one pen and leave the others sealed until you use up the first one. There's nothing wrong with shooting cold insulin but if you like you can warm the pen up with your hands before injecting. Not necessary though.

With food, you do not want Simon to have access to any dry - it will spike his blood glucose and makes cats require more insulin to offset the excess carbs. I would get rid of dry completely if you are able (because diabetics are very good at getting into contraband!!). Friskies Pate is appropriate for diabetics so if that's what you're feeding you can just use it for everyone. Anything less than 10% carbs is fine, which are mostly pates like Fancy Feast Classics, Friskies Pate, 9 Lives Pate, etc.

Free feeding is encouraged for diabetics! Twice a day meals are really hard on the pancreas and not recommended, so keep doing what you're doing. With 9 cats it may be difficult but we use autofeeders (mainly PetSafe 5) to keep food available when we're away from home for the day or asleep at night (food availability at night is important too).

Please let us know if you have any further questions! If you are going to home test (which we highly recommend, saves on vet bills and keeps the kitties safe) we will be able to help guide you and Simon on your new journey. You're already doing great on the best insulin there is.

 

Thanks for the welcome!

A few clarifying questions, how do you free feed wet food? Or are you talking about dry?

Im not sure how to free feed wet food other than at set times. My only option to be sure Simon does not get dry food is pull it up for all. Which means no food out at anytime.

 

You can leave wet food out the same as you would dry - some people freeze chunks of it and set it out so it'll be ready to eat a little later but I've never had a problem sitting wet food out for a few hours.
Your only issue would be if your cats are going to scarf all the wet as soon as it's placed and not leave any behind - then you would just have to use an autofeeder or manually go out to give snacks a few times a day. Not sure if your cats are indoor/outdoor but I would feed my non-diabetics outside and the diabetic inside and then take her snacks directly to her during the day, wherever she happened to be at the time.

Onset - the time when insulin starts to kick in (usually at the 2-hour mark on Lantus)
Nadir - the time when blood glucose is lowest during the 12-hr cycle (usually around the 6-hour mark on Lantus)
+1, +2. etc. - means how many hours have passed since the cycle started (the cycle starts when you shoot insulin)

Usually you want to give a snack at onset, and a couple more times prior to nadir. So if Simon onsets at +2 and nadirs at +6, you might want to give snacks at +2, +4, and +5.
Nothing "bad" will happen if he eats after nadir, but you don't want to burn up the insulin too fast, because then it won't last the full 12 hours. So you would mainly feed before nadir.

You won't know what Simon's onset and nadir is though unless you test his blood glucose daily, the ones I listed above are just examples. Everyone has to tailor their schedules to their own kitties haha!

 

Hi Kristopher. Welcome to you and Simon.

Important Safety Info

Changing from a higher to lower carb diet may lead to a really big drop in blood glucose (BG) levels. Therefore, for a cat receiving insulin it is not safe to change from higher carb to lower carb food UNLESS the blood glucose level is monitored regularly throughout the days of transition so that the insulin dose can be adjusted. When the carb load starts to reduce it can have a dramatic effect on BG levels and they can get much lower very quickly, requiring reduction(s) of the insulin dose. Members here can help you learn to home test Simon's BG levels. Here is more information on safely transitioning to a lower carb diet from vet, Dr. Lisa Pierson. Please discuss any proposed food changes with your vet.

Just to get a better picture of Simon's status, can you tell us if the vet ran a fructosamine test to confirm the diabetes diagnosis? For information, a fructosamine test result gives a measure of the average blood glucose level over the past two weeks and it's intended to get round the problem of single blood glucose 'snapshots' - an in-office check, or a blood glucose value in a drawn blood sample - being temporarily elevated due to vet/travel stress. I ask because you mention that Simon was not yet showing any clinical signs of diabetes (drinking/urinating more, unusually hungry but possibly losing weight, lethargy, low mood, poor hair coat condition).


Mogs
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Hello Kristopher, We are so glad you found us! You have already been give excellent advice. With 9 cats its not going to be easy but it is possible. We have many member with multiple cats. One I know of has 12. lol
We would like to have you start here:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!




One thing you may want to look into is setting up a spread sheet. This will give you a better idea how insulin is working in Simons body. It will track the hour to hour and day to day for you to give the optimum amount of insulin to help Simon heal. It really IS the only way to make decisions on how much insulin Simon needs. you can find that info here:
Suggestions, Tech Support & Testing Area

Again welcome to the best darn site on this planet to learn everything you need to know about feline diabetes!
jeanne

 

Welcome!!!

I just want to add that another option to warm up the Lantus is to just rid the syringe in your hands after you’ve filled. No need to warm up the entire Lantus pen. or leave the syringe out for about 20 minutes or so before shooting. I’m one of those people who leaves wet food out overnight for my cats. They don’t eat it right away, but it’s always pretty much gone in the am, so it’s doable.

Ask as many questions as you need to!

welcome again!

 

yes, they did run that test and it was positive.

 

what I have started doing is getting my dose ready and leaving it on the counter for a few minutes before giving it to him. Alternatively I hold it in my hand for just a bit. Seems to work just fine this way.

 

What’s interesting is the vet said to switch to wet food and get rid of dry. Wasn’t hard but it’s something I need to figure out. I have them all on wet and switch to the same food but higher protein and only 15% carb. Protein is around 53%

I’m going to take his glucose tomorrow morning hopefully.

 

A fructosamine isn't negative/positive, it gives a number. If the number is higher than normal that would indicate diabetes.

15% carbs is a little high for diabetics, anything under 10% is good, ideally under 5%. There's a lot of food that fits the bill, we most commonly use Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies Pate. Catinfo.org has a chart with all the nutrition information of every wet food in the US. I'd link it but I'm not on my computer at the moment.

 

That’s perfect! It stings less going in when it’s warmer

 

Yes. Fructosamine is a 3-week blood glucose average that confirms diabetes so it’s not just an one time test that could be inaccurate

 

That’s what I was meaning. It showed this wasn’t a stress vet visit thing. He also had high sugar in his urine.

He doesn’t munch on the dry food much but I figure it’s way better than what was there before. I’m on the hunt for a lower carb dry food to keep my sanity and the other kitties happy. He gets friskies patte.

 

@jt and trouble (GA) what’s Dr Lisa’s low carb dry that’s recommended?

 

I can try to look that up. I dont know off hand I only know of the Young Again and that Dr Easly's(sp???)

 

I did a quick read and I dont think Dr Lisa recommends ANY dry food. Sorry I hope the ones I listed are ok.

 

Dr. Elsey's clean protein dry chicken not the salmon. I did use this with Teal'c while transitioning to all wet because it is low carb. He loved it. After we transitioned the remainder of the bag worked good as a testing treat, just a few pieces.

 

https://www.chewy.com/dr-elseys-cleanprotein-chicken/dp/146270

 

What is the protein, phosphorous, carbohydrate, fat, sodium and fiber % on DRY MATTER basis?
This variety contains approximately 59% Protein content on an as fed basis (62.6% on a dry matter basis), 0.95% Phosphorus content on an as fed basis (1.08% on a dry matter basis), 4.12% Carbohydrate content on an as fed basis (4.69% on a dry matter basis), 18% Fat content on an as fed basis (19.46%...more

By on Jul 15, 2020
This is a question that was asked on the Chewy site about carbs, it is low
It is a little expensive though

 

Thank you all!

I began home testing today and have a sheet setup to track. When should testing take place? I’ve done one prior and one mid day so far. I’ve looked and can’t seem to find that info (lots of info here so apologies).

 

you will find both your signature set up and the spreadsheet here:
Suggestions, Tech Support & Testing Area

 

Thanks! Got everything setup.

 

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  • Caregiver & kitty's name (optional)
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Ta for the info, Kristopher. While it's not good that Simon has been diagnosed with FD, it's good that you caught it before clinical signs appeared. I see Simon's already on Lantus, a good insulin choice for cats, and you've got the diet issues in hand. While there's never any guarantee, Simon should have a good crack at achieving remission. (Anti-jinx! We're fierce superstitious round these parts! )

Fingers 'n' paws crossed!


Mogs
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