Newly Diagnosed, Pearl Female 7yrs | Feline Diabetes Management Board

Newly Diagnosed, Pearl Female 7yrs

N

nicolengo95

New member
Hello Everyone,

First I'd like to begin by saying thank you to the creators and members of this group, all of this information has been so helpful and has given me hope knowing that I am not alone.

Diagnosis Story:
Pearl up until about 3 or 4 months ago has been a totally healthy cat, with the cutest swinging belly pooch. We noticed she was losing a significant amount of weight (8.8 pounds to 6.7 pounds and no longer has a belly pooch), shedding more than she ever had huge clumps of hair at a time, and also urinating outside of her box which she has never done. As far as her behavior she is totally normal other than the before mentioned. Normal activity levels, eating and drinking normal, and same sleep schedule. So we took her to the vet Friday 6/20 and did blood work. We found out Saturday 6/21 that she has diabetes mellitus, and have an appointment on Monday 6/30 to see what our next steps are.

Current Status/Food Change:
She and her sister were eating Blue Buffalo Basics Whitefish and Potato for the past year. I changed both cats food to Royal Canin Glycobalance yesterday. She and my other cat Polly have free grazed their entire lives so I chose to continue to let them free graze with Glycobalance dry (1/2 dispensed twice daily) and will schedule feed them the wet food at 7:30 AM/PM daily. I just ordered the Alpha TRAK meter and test strips from Chewy. She is great with drinking water, so that's not a huge concern. We also decided to switch both cats to the Glycobalance to avoid any chance of pearl eating something she shouldn't and I have a furbo camera on the food bowls to make sure she is eating.

Questions:
- Our Vet has suggested starting her on Lantus as soon as possible. From what I've read the pen seems to be the best option for us as far as accuracy on dosing and lifetime of the insulin.
I saw someone post about a coupon for 5 Lantus Pens for $35 but I've having trouble finding that if someone could forward that to me I would really appreciate it.
- How did you approach the multicat/free graze situation, and is it okay that I switched both cats to the diabetic diet? I know its pricey but I would rather be safe then sorry

I would be grateful for any and all of the advice you can give me. See attached photos of my beautiful girl. She is truly the light of my life and I need her to be okay.

IMG_6521.jpegIMG_3136.jpegIMG_2424.jpegIMG_6278.jpeg
I also have attached the link to her spread sheet which hasn't been started yet, but I did include her diagnostic labs. They showed elevated glucose, and crystals protein and ketones present in her urine.
  • Nicole
  • Pearl Female 7
  • Diagnosed 6/21/2025
  • Lantus (starting Monday 6/30)
  • AlphaTRAK
  • Royal Cannon Glycobalance Wet Food & Dry Free Graze
  • Dosing approach, unknown
  • Ketones present in urine when diagnostic testing was done
  • Pearl's Diabetes Spreadsheet
 
Also I would like to note that the vet recommended the Glycobalance, and after reading a lot of the forums I'm seeing that is not the best option at all. I'm really confused considering that the vet recommended it.

If anyone can help recommend the best option for a newly diagnosed cat.
 
Hello and welcome to you and cutie pie Pearl. Some of the information you listed can go in your signature, details in this post: New Here? How to Help Us Help You

Lantus is a great insulin for cats, so I'm glad to hear your vet is starting her on that. If you are in the US, information in this post may help you: Sourcing Insulin More Economically. Has your vet suggested a starting dose? You'll also need U-100 syringes with 1/2 unit markings on them.

Since Pearl had ketones on diagnosis, you really do want to start insulin ASAP. And start home testing ketones your self. You can get urine testing sticks to do that, information here: Tips to catch and test a urine sample and here: Ketones, Ketoacidosis and Diabetic Cats: A Primer on Ketones

For food, I transitioned both cats to the same food. Low carb wet or raw food is ideal for cats. You are right that the Glycobalance is too high in carbs. Vets don't get a lot of training in animal nutrition, and at least in Canada, it's the food vendors who do the training. Sigh! And the vets have so many different types of animals to know about, it's a lot of information to know.

For a newly diagnosed cat, find a low carb food that she'll eat. Will she eat wet food? There is a food list here (a bit out of date but still mostly good just vendors come out with new products all the time), that lists a lot of the foods available in America. You want foods that are under 10% in carbs. Ideally you wouldn't be feeding them fish all the time, but just as a treat.

You can get automatic feeders that keep wet food cool, they have a space under the feeder for an ice pack. That way you can feed it all day and night.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
Hello and welcome to you and cutie pie Pearl. Some of the information you listed can go in your signature, details in this post: New Here? How to Help Us Help You

Lantus is a great insulin for cats, so I'm glad to hear your vet is starting her on that. If you are in the US, information in this post may help you: Sourcing Insulin More Economically. Has your vet suggested a starting dose? You'll also need U-100 syringes with 1/2 unit markings on them.

Since Pearl had ketones on diagnosis, you really do want to start insulin ASAP. And start home testing ketones your self. You can get urine testing sticks to do that, information here: Tips to catch and test a urine sample and here: Ketones, Ketoacidosis and Diabetic Cats: A Primer on Ketones

For food, I transitioned both cats to the same food. Low carb wet or raw food is ideal for cats. You are right that the Glycobalance is too high in carbs. Vets don't get a lot of training in animal nutrition, and at least in Canada, it's the food vendors who do the training. Sigh! And the vets have so many different types of animals to know about, it's a lot of information to know.

For a newly diagnosed cat, find a low carb food that she'll eat. Will she eat wet food? There is a food list here (a bit out of date but still mostly good just vendors come out with new products all the time), that lists a lot of the foods available in America. You want foods that are under 10% in carbs. Ideally you wouldn't be feeding them fish all the time, but just as a treat.

You can get automatic feeders that keep wet food cool, they have a space under the feeder for an ice pack. That way you can feed it all day and night.
Click to expand...
Good to know, they have only been switched to the Glycobalance for one night so far so I will go ahead and go to the store and return it and get something better.

They are both great with wet food, but they free graze through out the day and I like having something out for them to do that, but the dry would be more of a snack and not their main diet. They are pretty picky when it comes to current foods, is a variety diet recommended for diabetic cats (such as the tiki cat variety or Stella variety packs) or is it safer to just stick with one specific food.

Up until a year ago they were both primarily wet food cats, but the other one has allergies (lucky me right?) Since she isn't on insulin yet should I just go ahead and make the switch before she starts the Lantus on Monday that way the reading are accurate moving forward?
 
There are a couple low carb dry foods, though wet food is better for cats in general. Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein Chicken and Young Again are the names. My current cat (not diabetic) is a grazer. I just add water to the wet food so it doesn't get crusty.

As far as variety or not, that's not important. What is most important is that they eat. I rotated proteins with Neko, my diabetic, so that if she went off one protein, she'd still eat the others. Appetite was very seldom an issue with her though. My previous cat I'd fed just one food, and the manufacturer changed the formula and I was stuck, hence having several options after that.

If your other kitty has food allergies, do you know what to? There are still low carb wet or raw food options that are different proteins. I found it so much easier to feed both cats that same food.

Yes, you can go ahead and make the food switch now.
 
You are amazing. Thank you!

We are not sure on the "allergy", the vet thought maybe chicken but so thats why we made the switch to an all fish diet. Come to find out all fish isn't great either. It's been quite the journey trying to figure out what the best option is. But there was no definite answer. She gets scabs around her neck & head, even on the all fish diet and no abnormal lab work which makes me believe it is most likely stress induced since she is a strictly indoor cat so environmental allergies are ruled out.
 
I have a food allergy cat at home, it doesn't show up in blood work, just in vomit. LOL. Fish and beef (two common allergens) are not food for her. Chicken is also a common allergen. Amazing how many cat food products have either fish or chicken in them! You get good at reading labels. You could still try turkey, duck, lamb, rabbit and still lots more out there.
 
I find it nothing short of amazing that a pet food manufacturer sells a diabetic line of food all of which is high in carbohydrates. The Royal Canin dry food is particularly high in carbs! The good news is you have lots of choices for low carb foods. I have a kitty with IBD who can't eat poultry. I don't feed either beef or fish and I have a ton of options. One thought is that if you don't want to leave canned food out, there are freeze dried and air dried raw foods. They recommend adding water to the food but it is likely fine to leave out if you are concerned about leaving canned food out for hours. Like Wendy, I used a timed feeder with my diabetic cat, added water, and would leave the food out for several hours so there was food available when I was at work.

In like Wendy's suggestion of trying novel proteins with your cat who ostensibly has allergies. If you think your cat's reaction is stress related, have you ever tried one of the diffusers, like Feliway? I've seen some other brands advertised recently, as well.

I did a quick search for "Good Rx Lantus Coupon" and this is their link for coupons. I pulled the link that's relevant for pets.
 
Hey Everyone, just wanted to send an update on Pearl. We are official on Tiki Cat After Dark canned pate +, and Dr. Elseys Duck dry food! Both of my girls love it and are happy. I went to the vet on Monday to get demonstrations on how to inject and give insulin, to which they were COMPLETELY unprepared, they didn't have the correct needles for the Lantus pen so they couldn't show me how to inject her, and they poked she 3 times trying to get her glucose reading before I finally told them no more and I would just figure it out on my own. Needless to say I think we need a new vet, our usual vet has been out for the last few visits.

We are still waiting on the needles to come in the mail, should be today and we will be starting insulin immediately.

Question: My vet is adamant that I don't have to test her glucose levels prior to give her insulin, and to give it to her without checking and that feels so wrong. But they are saying that once she's been on the insulin for 7-10 days then we will do a curve and adjust the does if needed. Do you test prior to every shot or no? I'm so confused.
 
You want syringes, not the needle tips for the Lantus pens. The pen doesn't dispense insulin in small amounts. You want U-100 3/10cc syringes with half unit markings

Take a look at any of our spreadsheets. We test before every single shot so you know it's safe to give insulin. I've had pre-shot numbers that were way to low to shoot. We also test at least once during both the AM and PM cycles. Without test data, you have no way to know if your cat's numbers are crashing. When I've been dealing with a snarky vet who suggests testing isn't necessary, I simply ask what would they do if this was their child? There is no way a pediatrician would tell a parent to give their child insulin without knowing what the child's blood glucose level was. Shooting blind is the best way to cause a symptomatic hypoglycemic episode. We actually had a member who didn't test, gave her cat the usual dose of insulin, and came home a few hours later to find that her cat had died from hypoglycemia despite our incessant warnings to test. Your vet is being irresponsible with your cat. You also don't need your vet's permission to test.
 
Yeah they also are the ones who suggested the needle tips instead of the syringes. Thank you so much for validating my concern on their suggestion on not testing! I knew something felt off! They started her off at 1 unit of Lantus AM & PM. Does that seem like a lot?
 
With the dry food still in the picture, we would have her follow our Start Low Go Slow (or SLGS) dosing method, and 1 unit would be the starting dose. Have you managed to test her ketones at home yet? Have you started blood testing yet? Just wondering if the switch in diet has improved her blood sugar numbers.
 
So I have been testing Pearl's levels, I will add to my spreadsheet shortly, but her sugars are low. 77 last night and 99 this morning before meals. I am really hesitant to start giving her insulin, and I think I might need to take her to another vet to get a second opinion.
 
Agreed! Those are perfectly normal numbers. I wouldn't shoot. I wonder if the diet switch made the difference. Keep testing once or twice a day, and we'll see if she maintains normal numbers. Could you put AT or Alphatrack in your signature, so we know that's the meter you are using. For a few lucky people, the switch to an appropriate diet is enough.

Did you ever hear what her blood glucose levels were at the vet? Some kitties get really stressed at the vet and show it with higher numbers. I had a non diabetic that tested around 220 at the ER vet blood work, and 53 at home the next day. Typically a fructosamine test is done to confirm that blood sugars have been high over the last couple weeks, not just the one time. Another indicator is if there is glucose in the urine. The fact that she had normal eating and drinking habits is also odd. Was there any explanation for the other things you noticed, losing hair loss clumps and peeing out of the box? Is she still losing weight, losing hair, and peeing inappropriately?
 
I hope the diet change was enough to make Pearl not need insulin! Good job questioning those nice normal BG number!
Glad your kitties like the new food!

Pearl is such a sweet girl. Wishing you both lots of good luck 💚😻😻💚
 
I haven't noticed any other odd behaviors. I haven't noticed anymore weight loss or more excessive shedding either. She seems totally normal and content. Her glucose was 221 on the day they tested at the vet. They never tested again at the office, just went straight to a diabetes diagnosis and insulin. I have been able to collect urine for her ketones test, but I just ordered the non-absorbing litter rocks so fingers crossed I have more info on that soon.
 
When my non diabetic tested at the ER clinic in the 220's, I got the b/w results and immediately tested at home. So when the vet called and wanted to talk diabetes, I was able to say no to that. When Neko tested over 400 the first time at the vet clinic, which was pretty obviously diabetic given increased thirst and appetite, her vet still ran a fructosamine to make sure.

Great news that Pearl's otherwise back to normal. I hope she starts gaining weight again.

You should give the vet clinic a call and let them know you didn't start insulin because she tested at 77 at home. It doesn't hurt to educate them, and may help another cat. Some vets just aren't as up to date on feline diabetes as they don't see as many of them as they do dogs, but still might be good with other types of care.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top