Edgar's almost used up all nine of his kitty lives...

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vexedgirl

Member Since 2015
Hello there,

My 13-year-old strawberry blonde boy was diagnosed with diabetes last Saturday. This little guy has had SO many health problems over the years! When he was 2, he had a urinary blockage because of stones. After surgery, we discovered that his ureter was too damaged from the blockage and he had to have PU surgery. Then around age 6, he had complete kidney failure. I learned at that time that apparently one of his kidneys was small and shrunken and probably had been for many years. After dialysis and antibiotics, his remaining kidney kicked back in. Although it's only about 25% functioning, he's hung on with it pretty steadily. His kidney levels are always a bit high, but still manage to stay within safe ranges. THEN a couple years ago, he started having partial complex seizures. I thought he was dying from a heart attack. Now he gets Keppra three times a day (yes, that means I have to PAY someone to come give him his afternoon pill most days), and he's only had a couple breakthrough seizures in the time since.

But now the diabetes. Thankfully, everything else is still holding. Blood, urine, etc. And an ultrasound ruled out pancreatitis.

I've only just begun to treat him, and he's currently prescribed Lantus (2 units twice a day). His BG is pretty darn high. Earlier today it was in the 600's, and before dinner it was in the 400's.

Many times in the past, I've tried to switch him to wet food. I've tried just about every brand on the market, including super fancy organics and some that looked better than what *I* was having for dinner. I've also tried canned tuna of all varieties, and even home-cooked chicken. This guy won't eat any of it. *sigh* So for now it's a dry diabetic diet.

Anyway, that's it for now. Hi everyone and thanks for the great resource!
 


There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as Friskies pates. see Cat Info for more info, including tips on switching. As a better option than the diabetic dry food, you might try Young Again 0 Carb or Evo Cat and Kitten Dry (available in the USA).
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir, which you have.
- And home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!)
 
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Sounds like you are in the same boat as me and several other board members when it comes to the totally "soft food" averse kitties. I am into my 4th yr. of an ongoing project to get my Menace to eat canned food and now with the diagnosis of diabetes I wish I had been successful when she was a kitten. Alas I have to make sure she eats so she wins the food battle every time despite all the ploys I have used to get her to try canned food. She seems to not recognize anything soft as edible and tries to bury it like poop!

Where are you located? I ask because I am in Canada and our selection of appropriately low carb kibble from Canadian manufacturers is non-existent. We have had access to the U.S. foods BJM mentioned (ie Young Again and EVO) however our Food Inspection Agency is rolling out new pet food import regulations making it much harder if not impossible for us to access these foods. EVO has now been discontinued from the Canadian market and Young Again is still trying to figure out if they can ship across the border come June. So the hunt goes on.

I am currently investigating this whole issue along with researching foods to find the lowest carb kibble available here. So if per chance you are from this side of the border/ocean, I will make sure to keep you posted on my findings.

In the meantime, all you can do is make sure your cat is eating as hunger strikes can be deadly but insulin doses can be adjusted to keep kitty safe. You are both adjusting to a new routine and lifestyle. I think keeping kitty's normal routine as much as possible at least in the early days goes a long way to gaining their co-operation for shots and testing. And changing diet and starting insulin at the same time proved most frustrating for me as I had no idea if the diet or insulin were causing changes in her numbers. If I could back up the clock, I would have changed Menace over to a lower carb food for a trial before starting insulin so I'd have some idea just how much carbs affect her. Hindsight is 20/20.

Take baby steps and don't get frustrated with kitty or yourself. He's just being a cat. Like humans, they are all unique individuals who have their own preferences and we MAY not be able to change their food to the perfect diet! After all , their unique personalities are why we love them! :cat: For now , aim for the best food option he will eat!
 
One idea is to bake the canned, low carb food until it is a pilaf or a crunchy texture. Spread it in a wide shallow pan (ex jelly roll pan), bake at a temp suitable for crackers, turn periodically to help it dry out and to check the level of dryness. You may be able to slowly cook it less and less.
 
Hey all, thanks very much for the advice!

BJM, I do have a monitor already. Got the Alpha Track 2 for pets, which is what my vet recommended. I feel more comfortable knowing I'm using one for animals rather than humans. I've read about some of the misreads that can occur when trying to cut corners like that.

MrWorfMen's Mom, thanks so much for your encouragement! Yep I've tried for YEARS (and every technique on the planet) to get Edgar to eat wet. I've even had vet tech pet sitters try. And of course they've tried at the hospital. But Edgar would rather starve than eat wet. We do our best, you know?

Thanks for the list of other potential food choices, BJM.

And lastly, I'm in NYC. :)
 
NYC eh! Lucky you! Dang! That means I can't recruit you to join my "Canadian Catfood Crusade"!

So at least you won't have a problem trying the recommended kibble and for what it's worth (which probably isn't much with our picky eaters:banghead:) my girl loves the EVO Cat and Kitten and readily ate what little of the sample of Young Again I gave her before I decided not to frustrate either of us any more in case it too goes extinct in our increasingly "3rd world country"! Can you tell I'm a little upset? :arghh:
 
Cost is a big reason folks don't use the pet meters. The test strips for the Alpha Trak run per $1 each. When you test before each shot to make sure it is safe to give insulin, that is $2 per day. To check around the nadir (+5 to +7 hour post shot for most cats), is another $1 at least once a week. Running a curve at home - testing every hours from pre-shot to pre-shot will take about 7 strips or $7.

As far as errors go - you can have testing errors with any meter. Strips can fail or be defective or too old. Enough blood may not get picked up. The meter may actually be defective.

Using a human meter is merely like reading temperature in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit. If you have the reference numbers to use with cats, they are a successful tool in managing feline diabetes. And we have those. See my signature link Glucometer Notes for more details.



 
BJM said:
One idea is to bake the canned, low carb food until it is a pilaf or a crunchy texture. Spread it in a wide shallow pan (ex jelly roll pan), bake at a temp suitable for crackers, turn periodically to help it dry out and to check the level of dryness. You may be able to slowly cook it less and less.
Click to expand...

Or you can use a food dehydrator to make it crispy. That is what I used when I was trying to convert my dry food addicts.
 
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BJM said:
Cost is a big reason folks don't use the pet meters. The test strips for the Alpha Trak run per $1 each. When you test before each shot to make sure it is safe to give insulin, that is $2 per day. To check around the nadir (+5 to +7 hour post shot for most cats), is another $1 at least once a week. Running a curve at home - testing every hours from pre-shot to pre-shot will take about 7 strips or $7.

As far as errors go - you can have testing errors with any meter. Strips can fail or be defective or too old. Enough blood may not get picked up. The meter may actually be defective.

Using a human meter is merely like reading temperature in Celsius rather than Fahrenheit. If you have the reference numbers to use with cats, they are a successful tool in managing feline diabetes. And we have those. See my signature link Glucometer Notes for more details.
Click to expand...
Well, I've already bought the feline one and it's the one my vet recommends, so....
 
And when my vet starts paying for the meter and test strips without charging me, I'll use one.
$2 *365 = $730 per year just on pre-tests to keep your cat safe
$7 * 26 = $ 54 per year for a curve every 2 weeks if you're following Start Low, Go Slow to adjust the dose safely
Plus whatever tests you might do because you observe something that concerns you (hiding, not eating, vomiting, diarrhea, etc), so you test.
You can get 3 times as many tests using the ReliOn Confirm/Glucocard 0 meters, or spend some of the money you save on other expenses.
 
BJM said:
And when my vet starts paying for the meter and test strips without charging me, I'll use one.
$2 *365 = $730 per year just on pre-tests to keep your cat safe
$7 * 26 = $ 54 per year for a curve every 2 weeks if you're following Start Low, Go Slow to adjust the dose safely
Plus whatever tests you might do because you observe something that concerns you (hiding, not eating, vomiting, diarrhea, etc), so you test.
You can get 3 times as many tests using the ReliOn Confirm/Glucocard 0 meters, or spend some of the money you save on other expenses.
Click to expand...
I hear ya.

Bought the EVO food yesterday. He liked it, but I'm worried because his GM reading this morning spiked up pretty high. Of course, he's still not yet in a place where it's controlled and this whole journey has just started. It's hard to not be constantly paranoid; he's gone through so many health crises through the years. Plus I have a few serious/severe health issues myself. I feel like I spend all my time in doctors/vets offices.

I just want to know when he's going to get back to "normal." Or if ever. Every time I think about how low his energy is right now or I think about how he used to run and how long it has been since he's chased after something or done anything other than eat and sleep, it makes me start to cry. It doesn't help that I have ZERO family around. Plus there are a whole lotta other life things going on at the moment... Just a lot to try and manage all at once.
 
vexedgirl said:
Hey all, thanks very much for the advice!

BJM, I do have a monitor already. Got the Alpha Track 2 for pets, which is what my vet recommended. I feel more comfortable knowing I'm using one for animals rather than humans. I've read about some of the misreads that can occur when trying to cut corners like that.

MrWorfMen's Mom, thanks so much for your encouragement! Yep I've tried for YEARS (and every technique on the planet) to get Edgar to eat wet. I've even had vet tech pet sitters try. And of course they've tried at the hospital. But Edgar would rather starve than eat wet. We do our best, you know?

Thanks for the list of other potential food choices, BJM.

And lastly, I'm in NYC. :)
Click to expand...

My Goofus is the same, no wet food for him, IF he eats it, and that's a BIG IF, he vomits within 5 minutes. He loves the Evo cat and kitten dry, so that's what he gets. His numbers don't bounce around much, once in a while a little bump, but mostly he's pretty steady. Just had full blood work up done and all else looks good.

It can all get pretty overwhelming, that's for sure, and it sounds like you've really been thru a lot with Edgar (love he name by the way!). He's lucky to have you. As for normalcy, try not to think about it too much, it'll only make you crazy.
 
It will get better. Unfortunately, it is a process, not an event. You're still working to get him on a new, low carb diet, a stable insulin dose, and to get blood testing going consistently.

Can we get you started using our grid to record your glucose tests? It will help us give you better feedback. Instructions are here.

Understanding the spreadsheet/grid:

The colored headings at the top are the ranges of glucose values. They are color-coded to clue you in as to meaning.

Each day is 1 row. Each column stores different data for the day.

From left to right, you enter
the Date in the first column
the AMPS (morning pre-shot test) in the 2nd column
the Units given (turquoise column)

Then, there are 11 columns labeled +1 through +11
If you test at +5 (5 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +5 column
If you test at +7 (7 hours after the shot), you enter the test number in the +7 column
and so on.

Halfway across the page is the column for PMPS (evening pre-shot)
To the right is another turquoise column for Units given at the evening shot.

There is second set of columns labeled +1 through +11
If you snag a before bed test at +3, you enter the test number in the +3 column.

We separate day and night numbers like that because many cats go lower at night.

It is merely a grid for storing the info; no math required.

 
thanks I will think about using the spreadsheet in the future. right now I don't have time to keep up w/ it. finishing my PhD, working on dissertation, working ungodly hours at a foster agency...i'm doing the best i can w/ even managing the basics at the moment
 
Then please, when you provide any test numbers, use these conventions for reporting and asking any questions.
AMPS for morning pre-shot glucose test
PMPS for evening pre-shot glucose test
+# of hours post-shot for any tests done between shots.
The nadir, or lowest glucose, often falls between +5 to +7 hours post-shot. It is used to adjust the dose.
 
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