Welcome Tiffany!
Believe me, we were all in your shoes when we we first started out. But things WILL get easier as you absorb more knowledge. It's all very overwhelming at first, but you take it one step at a time and you'll do great.
I'm going to answer your questions here (sorry for the long post!), but the best place to get answers to any sort of questions you have is the
Health Forum. There's a ton of experienced folks there that can help you out with any questions you can think of!
First, food. You can feed any canned food that's less than 10% carbs, and there's a great list
here of all the commercial foods with their carb content listed. I would just buy a bunch of cans of different flavored Fancy Feast or Sheba pates and see if any appeal to him. You can try mixing his FF salmon in with it and see if that works? Or
Fortiflora also helps get cats onto new foods because it has the same flavorings dry food has to get cats to eat it (and can help prevent digestive upset from the new food). You just mix it in with the canned food. You can also try mixing tuna or tuna water in with the food. And feeding more frequently (4 times a day or more) also helps because he can eat smaller portions at a time--this is especially helpful if he's a cat that takes a few bites and then walks away.
I definitely hear you on the Lantus sticker shock! When Bandit was diagnosed back in 2009, Lantus was $110 for a vial and $250 for a box of 5 pens (the pens are more economical, and I'll explain that in a minute). I remember thinking that was expensive at the time! When he needed to go back on insulin for a short time last year, I wasn't worried about the cost at first because I make a bit more money now than I did in 2009, but then I priced it at a few different pharmacies and I was shocked to find the price had risen to $270 for a vial and over $500 for a box of pens!
Fortunately, I came back here to FDMB and discovered that you can order Lantus from Canada
from this website for a fraction of the cost. All you need is the script from your vet, and you can either scan it or fax it in to the company. It does take between 1-3 weeks to reach you, so make sure you give enough lead time to order--typically it takes a week, but on rare occasions it can get stuck at customs and take a little more time.
The best bargain is to order the 5 pack of the Lantus
solostar pens. You draw the insulin out of the pen with a syringe just like a vial. It costs about $170 after shipping, but each pen, when handled properly, will last you 2-3 months, so the 5 pack of pens will last you a year or more. That breaks down to being less than $15 a month for insulin. Because cats need very small doses of insulin, you end up throwing away most of the 1000 unit vial because it goes bad before you can use most of it. The pens each hold 300 units, so you can use nearly all of it up without any waste.
Even though the pharmacy says the Lantus only lasts 28 days, that is only accurate when it's left out at room temperature. Lantus can actually last 3-6 months with good handling. You'll want to keep it in the refrigerator where it won't get jostled around (not in the door), and when you're drawing insulin out of the vial or pen, make sure that you shoot the excess insulin into the sink and not back into the vial--the lubricant from the syringes will shorten the life of your insulin if it gets back into your supply.
How much does Boogey weigh? Is he overweight/underweight? 2u is a bit high for a starting dose for a cat unless he's a large framed cat, like a Maine Coon. I would definitely start home testing as soon as you feel like you're ready to start. It's the best thing you can do to not only keep your cat safe, but also get him better! Daily home testing gives you better control over blood sugar, and the better control you have the more likely it is for your cat to go into remission.
Don't be afraid of home testing. Some cats struggle at first and some cats don't mind it at all. Those that struggle (Bandit was just awful the first two weeks!) will come around and accept it, but you need to make it part of their routine. Make sure you're confident and not thinking, "Oh, poor kitty!". Cats can sense your nervousness and will act nervous, too. Be matter of fact about it, and make sure you give a diabetic safe treat after every test. The testing does not hurt them at all--cats have less nerve endings in their ears than people do in their fingers. They just don't like that you're doing something new and strange with them. There's a lot of great tips here:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/. Bandit now comes running when he hears the meter beep on, and sits patiently and purrs through the test.
