New member- HUGE blood glucose spike after eating?

Hello all,

My 10 year old fur baby was diagnosed about two to three months ago, and we are still having problems regulating her BG. She is currently on glargine insulin, 2u twice a day. Shes restricted to only the DM diabetic canned food as shes had urinary crystals in the past so we dont feed her dry anymore.

Today, her baseline numbers were 19.2 and after eating two hours later it shot up to 28.1! Its like her blood glucose curve is in reverse. Yesterday when I took her numbers, her baseline was 18.6 and six hours later when it shouldve been at its lowest came up as 21.1. Is it normal to see such a massive spike after food? Her other blood curves have been relatively normal this far (started at 26ish and would go down to about 14-16)

 

I'm going to be honest, I'm very new to this myself, I just didn't want you to feel like no one had seen your post. I only know what I've learned in the past 4 days, so I won't be much help but I do have two questions.

Do you know what % carb your DM diabetic canned cat food is? Is it possible she's eating/getting into something else?

 

Hello and welcome. What is your kitties name?

First of all, it's blood glucose, not blood pressure spikes you are seeing. You'll probably get a few more answers if you change your subject title to reflect that. Blood pressure requires special equipment that typically only vets have. If you go to your first post, on the top right is a Thread Tools drop down menu that allows you to change the title.

A "blood glucose curve in reverse", good way to describe it by the way, is like a result of something we call bouncing. Here is a description of bouncing:
Bouncing is simply a natural reaction to what the cat's system perceives as a BG value that is "too low". "Too low" is relative. If a cat is used to BGs in the 200's, 300's, or higher for a long time, then even a BG that drops to 150 can trigger a "bounce". Bouncing can also be triggered if the blood glucose drops too low and/or too fast.The pancreas, then the liver, release glucogon, glycogen and counter-regulatory hormones. The end result is a dumping of "sugar" into the bloodstream to save the cat from going hypoglycemic from a perceived low. The action is often referred to as "liver panic" or "panicky liver". *Usually*, a bounce will clear kitty's system within 3 days (6 cycles).

Cats often go lower at night, so it's possible she saw a lower number over night than what she is used to.

You also don't need to feed vet DM food for a diabetic cat. There are plenty of low carb canned food products that are commercially available, and also good for crystals. Good job stopping the dry food.

 

Hi there,

thanks for the reply. Kittys name is Shurshishka! Thank you for the information. Although weve been dealing with this for a while now I always mix the two up lol!

I asked my vet if any commercial brands would be ok and they said she HAD to be on vet food cause thats the only thing that would help get her diabetes under control. Since upping to 2u a dose it does seem to be going down steadily so that explains it. She started at 26-28 before food and is now at 18-20 after a month. I had her eating crave pate for a bit because she HATED the dm pate and we switched to savory, but I can tell shes starting to get upset eating the same thing all the time. No chance she got into her food, we keep the cans in the fridge until we throw it out cause she will dig through the garbage lol.

ive read before certain kinds of fancy feasts would be good for her diabetes AND urinary crystals. We had her on the DM yrinary diet before and it seems to have cleared, only sugar in her pee now. I also live in Canada. I know there is a sheet for low carb kitty food but what would also be good for crystals?

thank you for all the help. Im not sure if I can afford $60 wet food on a biweekly basis.

 

Your vet is wrong, and hundreds of kitties here are proof to that. The vet makes money of the vet food, plus they usually get only a few hours training on feline nutrition, often from the pet food companies. Plus we find many of the cats tire of the taste fairly quickly. The list of ingredients is also nothing special. I hope you aren't still serving the DM selects version, as it's too high in carbs for a diabetic cat. Here is a web site by a vet specializing in feline nutrition. https://catinfo.org/

I live on the west coast of Canada - plenty of low carb options here. If Shurshishka had crystals in her past, the ideally you'd feed a low carb wet food (or raw) that also has lower phosphorus. Some of the Fancy Feast (you want the pate's) are a little bit higher in phosphorus. This food list is a couple years out of date, but a lot of the foods in it are available in Canada. Pet food list - look for ones with carbs under 10%. The savoury selects DM is 10% carbs, so a little high. Most of the Weruva are also lower in phosphorus, but there are several others out there too. This Canadian Food list also contains some options available here, and a big cheaper. Definitely cheaper than DM! I made my own raw food with a premix and paid way less than $60 per week.

Are you home testing her blood sugars? If not, I'd wait until you are before changing her food to lower carb food. Better food can reduce the amount of insulin they need.

 

Thanks for the information Wendy&Neko, this forum has been so helpful with information.

yes I am currently monitoring her blood glucose at home. I have the AlphaTrak 2 (which I know is expensive but im planning to use up what i have before making the switch over to a human monitor). I will do some reading tonight and stop by petsmart tomorrow. I know she will be very pleased. Surprised to hear that the DM savory has more carbs in it, its what was recommended to me by the vet after all.

on those lists is there any specific phospherous content I should look for or is the rule the lower the better?

 

Unless your kitty has chronic kidney disease, I would just look for ones with less phosphorus. For a CKD kitty there are specific guidelines.

That's great you are home monitoring. If you'd ever like help with dosing (most of us don't talk much to the vets anymore about that), it'd help us if you put the data in a spreadsheet. Here is a link to the one we use:

FDMB Spreadsheet Instructions:
Understanding the Spreadsheet/Grid

Let us know if you need any help with this.

Not uncommon for vets to "insist" on DM.

 

No kidney disease thankfully that showed up in her many blood tests recently, just crystals on a CT scan. We joke saying that her hatred will make her live for many more years!

The dosage seems to be working for me fine so far, with 1u keeping her glucose consistent and 2u is bringing it down slowly but surely.

I will be sure to update a spreadsheet for her later on! Very happy we get to change her diet, and im sure she will be too. When she doesnt like the food she scratches the floor and tries to cover her food with a towel or piece of paper she finds lying around. I understand she cant be too picky going hungry for 12 hours a day all the time but I look forward to changing her diet.

 

Oh, you also don't need to feed just two meals a day. Like human diabetics do, it's better for cats to eat several smaller meals a day - easier on their pancreas.

 

i feed her about 2 cans a day / 1 can per feeding. How would you recommend I space it out?

 

Personal opinion, my cat's life is too important to use use test strips in a meter that the vendor of the meter does not certify. Abbott specially tests their AT strips and says not to use anyone else's as a substitute. Just get a human meter (also cheaper) and strips.

For feeding, it partly depends on when you are home but you could start with doing something like 1/2-2/3 at shot time and the other part of the can 3-4 hours afterwards.