Bacio
Member Since 2015
Hello Everyone! 
It's been a while since I last posted here, and now that my kitty (Bacio) has had normal BG (Blood Glucose) for 6 months now (with no insulin!) I wanted to share my full story in the hopes that perhaps it can help someone else. By no means am I a medical expert or should my approach to treatment be taken as any kind of one-size-fits all.
This will be a long story, but I will put the things that I believe were the key to my kitty returning to health in bold.
Bacio (12yrs) was diagnosed with Feline Diabetes (FD) back in September of last year (2015). I could tell something wasn't right with him, when he was urinating 150% more than normal. Other than that, he had no other visible symptoms of a problem. He was completely himself and had never once in his had to visit a vet for illness before. After a week of watching his behavior closely and seeing no change, I decided it was time to go to the vet.
The vet did a full blood workup for Bacio and sent us home. I received a call the next day, letting me know that Bacio's BG reading was 499 (120-80 is a normal range) and he did in fact have FD. The vet wanted us to come back in as soon as possible so that we could get started with insulin treatment. Luckily, I work as a freelancer and was able to make time for an appointment that day. I am so grateful to have had that flexibility with my schedule throughout this whole journey. I really feel for people who have to give their kitties insulin and leave for work! That would be very stressful.
The vet & nurses showed me how to draw up the insulin (Novolin, cheap because it's human insulin, dangerous because it's easy to give to much) into a syringe, inject, the whole business. I was told I would have to give Bacio a shot once every 12 hours, following a meal. I had been feeding my cat a 100% dry food diet of Halo's Spot's Stew Sensitive Stomach, which I thought to be a quality food for my cat (silly me
). The vet recommended I change his diet to a special (and expensive) prescription food, W/D or M/D. I asked about any chance of reversing the diabetes and the vet told me he sees a cat no longer need insulin about once every 3-4 years in his practice. The odds were not in our favor. 
He also said the we would have to come in for BG readings every day the next few days while my cat was being regulated with his insulin dosing.
My vet advised me against home testing, because in his experience it's very traumatic for cat's and hard to get an accurate reading. I do believe the vet I saw was a quality practitioner, however, I do not believe he was necessarily an FD expert. I understand that this is the case with many vets, as their training on the topic is limited in schooling (from my research).
I absolutely cannot imagine injecting a living thing with any amount of Insulin without testing BG. You really must home test. My kitty, like most, doesn't like to be poked. I was shocked at how little he minded his ear prick, he ended up understanding the routine and appreciating the treat that came after.
After I returned home with a box of syringes, insulin & a sick kitty, I hit the internet and thankfully landed here on FDMB. I read pages and pages of stories and scary BG drops, everything. I wanted to educate myself as much as possible because if there was any chance to beat this I was going to give it all I could, not only for my kitties sake, but also for mine--for US!
After about a week of feeding my kitty W/D & adjusting his insulin, he was improving but it wasn't quite enough. Based on what I read on FDMB, I decided to take matters into my own hands and forgo the advice of the vet. I switched my cat, cold turkey to Fancy Feast Classics with about 1 tablespoon of pumpkin puree twice a day. My kitty has never had an adverse reaction to switching up foods and is not picky, he will eat anything! Still, I knew this dramatic diet change would require that I monitor even closely for BG changes.
Sure enough, within a few days, he no longer was requiring ANY insulin and his BG appeared to be stabilizing. I maintained a very consistent feeding schedule, just in case he would need an insulin shot.
A few weeks went by, a few months, and here we are. While I still keep syringes & insulin on hand, and occasionally test his BG before a meal, it looks like we've hit a solid remission milestone. Bacio (a Maine Coon mix), who was just a bit overweight (14lbs) now has stabilized his weight at 12.5lbs on his new diet. His litter box habits are normal and he has plenty of energy & fun every day, keeping his 100lb+ German Shepherd in line. Tomorrow will be his 13th birthday.
Another thing that I believe helped my kitty recover quickly was an early diagnosis. If you study the "mechanics" of FD and the organs involved, the pancreas is capable of regenerating healthy B-cells. This is something unique and amazing about cats! Also, be a little bit of an obsessive perfectionist when it comes to treatment timing and logging. Log every single reading, keep dates of diet or behavioral changes, litter box habits, everything.
One of the best phone calls was calling the vet after my kitty had normal BG for a month with no insulin. The vet was surprised and interested in what I had done to help put Bacio into remission. As you might guess from this post, I explained everything in detail...
I am so grateful places like FDMB exist. There is a great support group here and everyone is very keen on owners educating themselves and helpful in teaching others. Here's a link to Bacio's chart if you're curious about this journey to remission.
Thank you all for your support! Every kitty who has an owner on here reading is so very lucky. I wish every kitty a long, happy life with or without Feline Diabetes!
It's been a while since I last posted here, and now that my kitty (Bacio) has had normal BG (Blood Glucose) for 6 months now (with no insulin!) I wanted to share my full story in the hopes that perhaps it can help someone else. By no means am I a medical expert or should my approach to treatment be taken as any kind of one-size-fits all.
This will be a long story, but I will put the things that I believe were the key to my kitty returning to health in bold.
Bacio (12yrs) was diagnosed with Feline Diabetes (FD) back in September of last year (2015). I could tell something wasn't right with him, when he was urinating 150% more than normal. Other than that, he had no other visible symptoms of a problem. He was completely himself and had never once in his had to visit a vet for illness before. After a week of watching his behavior closely and seeing no change, I decided it was time to go to the vet.
The vet did a full blood workup for Bacio and sent us home. I received a call the next day, letting me know that Bacio's BG reading was 499 (120-80 is a normal range) and he did in fact have FD. The vet wanted us to come back in as soon as possible so that we could get started with insulin treatment. Luckily, I work as a freelancer and was able to make time for an appointment that day. I am so grateful to have had that flexibility with my schedule throughout this whole journey. I really feel for people who have to give their kitties insulin and leave for work! That would be very stressful.
The vet & nurses showed me how to draw up the insulin (Novolin, cheap because it's human insulin, dangerous because it's easy to give to much) into a syringe, inject, the whole business. I was told I would have to give Bacio a shot once every 12 hours, following a meal. I had been feeding my cat a 100% dry food diet of Halo's Spot's Stew Sensitive Stomach, which I thought to be a quality food for my cat (silly me
). The vet recommended I change his diet to a special (and expensive) prescription food, W/D or M/D. I asked about any chance of reversing the diabetes and the vet told me he sees a cat no longer need insulin about once every 3-4 years in his practice. The odds were not in our favor. He also said the we would have to come in for BG readings every day the next few days while my cat was being regulated with his insulin dosing.My vet advised me against home testing, because in his experience it's very traumatic for cat's and hard to get an accurate reading. I do believe the vet I saw was a quality practitioner, however, I do not believe he was necessarily an FD expert. I understand that this is the case with many vets, as their training on the topic is limited in schooling (from my research).
I absolutely cannot imagine injecting a living thing with any amount of Insulin without testing BG. You really must home test. My kitty, like most, doesn't like to be poked. I was shocked at how little he minded his ear prick, he ended up understanding the routine and appreciating the treat that came after.
After I returned home with a box of syringes, insulin & a sick kitty, I hit the internet and thankfully landed here on FDMB. I read pages and pages of stories and scary BG drops, everything. I wanted to educate myself as much as possible because if there was any chance to beat this I was going to give it all I could, not only for my kitties sake, but also for mine--for US!
After about a week of feeding my kitty W/D & adjusting his insulin, he was improving but it wasn't quite enough. Based on what I read on FDMB, I decided to take matters into my own hands and forgo the advice of the vet. I switched my cat, cold turkey to Fancy Feast Classics with about 1 tablespoon of pumpkin puree twice a day. My kitty has never had an adverse reaction to switching up foods and is not picky, he will eat anything! Still, I knew this dramatic diet change would require that I monitor even closely for BG changes.
Sure enough, within a few days, he no longer was requiring ANY insulin and his BG appeared to be stabilizing. I maintained a very consistent feeding schedule, just in case he would need an insulin shot.A few weeks went by, a few months, and here we are. While I still keep syringes & insulin on hand, and occasionally test his BG before a meal, it looks like we've hit a solid remission milestone. Bacio (a Maine Coon mix), who was just a bit overweight (14lbs) now has stabilized his weight at 12.5lbs on his new diet. His litter box habits are normal and he has plenty of energy & fun every day, keeping his 100lb+ German Shepherd in line. Tomorrow will be his 13th birthday.
Another thing that I believe helped my kitty recover quickly was an early diagnosis. If you study the "mechanics" of FD and the organs involved, the pancreas is capable of regenerating healthy B-cells. This is something unique and amazing about cats! Also, be a little bit of an obsessive perfectionist when it comes to treatment timing and logging. Log every single reading, keep dates of diet or behavioral changes, litter box habits, everything.
One of the best phone calls was calling the vet after my kitty had normal BG for a month with no insulin. The vet was surprised and interested in what I had done to help put Bacio into remission. As you might guess from this post, I explained everything in detail...
I am so grateful places like FDMB exist. There is a great support group here and everyone is very keen on owners educating themselves and helpful in teaching others. Here's a link to Bacio's chart if you're curious about this journey to remission.
Thank you all for your support! Every kitty who has an owner on here reading is so very lucky. I wish every kitty a long, happy life with or without Feline Diabetes!
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