Hi Mark,

It takes awhile to regulate a cat's sugar. The best way is to start out
very low, like 1 unit per day, then recheck in a week. It takes a week
or two for the body to adjust to a new dose. If they were doing multiple
switches in a couple of days -- that will tell them nothing.

You might try another vet who is more familiar with diabetes, or ask to
be referred to an internist vet (you will need a referral for that.) We
took our diabetic cat to an internist and she saved his life.

Also, some vets start out insulin way too high, like 4-5 units, and it
overloads the cat's system. Their sugar levels start swinging wildly and
it looks like the cat is not responding to insulin, when really they are
responding too much and on the downswing of a wild curve.

There is a wonderful group of diabetic cat owners that helped me with
our cat. They know more than some vets! I can't say enough about the
support and knowledge that they share. It's the message board on this
website: http://www.felinediabetes.com/. It's under "communication" in
the column on the right.

Good luck with your cat!

Rhonda

BigBlocky! wrote:
Hi. I have a cat whose diabetes was until recently manageable through diet.
He started to lose weight so I took him to see the veterinarian. She told
me that his blood sugar was high enough that dietary intervention alone
wasn't going to be good enough - that he'd require insulin. I left my cat
at the vet's office for a couple of days while they attempted to regulate
his blood sugar with insulin, but they were mostly unsuccessful. I'm really
at a loss here with the only thing in my mind to try is a taurine supplement
as I have read that it helps increase insulin sensitivity. Does anybody
have any ideas that might help? I'm grateful for any information you can
provide.

Thanks and take care,

MarkM