? New here. Kitty just diagnosed last week.

Hi there. I'm new to all of this. My kitty was just diagnosed last week. Yesterday was 7 day on Insulin. She's on Vetsulin. 1 unit 2 times per day. When the vet diagnosed her, her Glucose was at 500. He showed me how to inject the insulin and did her first unit that evening. The next morning, I gave her another unit. That afternoon, I took her Glucose and it was around 260. It's been running 250 to 270. I take it in the evening before I give her her nightly unit.

Yesterday, her Glucose was at 340. Is that normal? That one day it might be running 260 or so and the next, it's up that much?

I had also started giving her Fancy Feast treats in these little packets. It's basically a one-inch piece of chicken that she eats while I get her shot ready.

Could that have anything to do with it?

She is also on Hills Science diet M/D. I have three other cats and cannot feed her separately and keep her out of the community food bowl - so the vet suggested that food for all of them.

Thank you in advance for your help.

Joan

 

Hi Joan... Great job jumping right into home testing! Sounds like you have a great vet!

It's very normal for the numbers to vary. Would it be possible to get some mid day readings? Like one at 4 hours after the shot and 6 hours? Then the next day at like 5 hours.... Or even better do a few curves where you take readings every two hours for 12 hours.... That will give you a great picture of what's happening.

One thing that could have caused the higher reading is that she went low the day before and had a bounce up.... Meaning her body was protecting itself by releasing some stored insulin from the pancreas to compensate for dipping low. Insulin needs change over time. Now that her numbers are generally lower she may benefit from a reduction in dose, but the only way to know for sure is to know how low she's going at her lowest.


If you get a chance, one of the tools we use on this board is a spreadsheet. If you click the link in my signature you will see mine. Here's a link to how to set that up :

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/


Hills MD food is a little high in carb for diabetics believe it or not. Seams strange since it's marketed to diabetic cats. It's about 12% carb and considered a mid carb food. Ideally she and the others should be on a wet low carb food like fancy feast classic or Friskies pate. There are two dry food available that are under 10% carb.... Evo cat and kitten in the purple bag, and my personal favorite Young Again Zero carb food that is LESS than 1 % carb. If you are interested in getting a free sample of the Young Again Zero you can email or call the
Company and they will send you some. Youngagainpetfood.com

 

Thank you so much @JanetNJ. I really appreciate the information. Unfortunately, I work away from home and can only do mid day readings on the weekends. Would that help? I can do the curve on the weekend and see how it progresses throughout the day.

Her Glucose was back to 255 yesterday when I took it after I got home from work. I guess I got a little freaked when it went up so high - but it's good to know the numbers can vary. I am seeing the vet this weekend and will discuss all of her readings for the past two weeks with him.

I really appreciate the info on the dry food. I have 3 other cats and it would be great to be able to still have a dry food that has less carbs. I cannot feed Sophie wet food and then keep her out of the community food bowl where the others eat. One person suggested switching them all to wet and I am contemplating that also. It's good to know there are some lower carb dry food choices.

I really do appreciate your feedback. This board is amazing!

 

Welcome to FDMB Joan and Sophie. This community is a treasure trove of information and support and we encourage you to ask any and all questions you have.

One thing to be aware of is that a wet food diet or to a lower carb dry food to a lesser degree is likely to have a dramatic effect on BG levels and that in turn means Sophie's insulin dose will likely need to be reduced. You need to be sure to make any change to wet food very slowly and to monitor Sophie closely while doing so to avoid having her BG go too low. We recommend testing before each shot and to not give insulin for any reading under 200. Testing about 1.5 to 3 hours post shot will give you an idea of how low the dose of insulin is taking Sophie and if you can snag those tests and some around 6-8 hours post shot too when you are able, you will get a good picture of just how well the insulin is working for her.

 

definitely do curves both sat and sundays since you are home. They will give you a clearer picture of how she responds to insulin throughout the day. I am more concerned with how low she goes mid cycle then how high it is at shot time. Her numbers really are pretty good for a new diabetic. Many people see numbers in the 400-500 range, or even higher.

I know what you mean about the communal food bowl... i have 7 cats. haha But I have young again in two bowls and evo in another and that seems to do the trick.

I honestly credit the young again food with getting my cat into remission. You can look at my spreadsheet in my signature and see the dramatic difference it made on her numbers. she was in remission four weeks after starting to eat it.

 

How is everything going?