New Diagnosis.. overwhelmed

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MeowsMom

Member Since 2016
Meows was diagnosed 2 days ago.
Glucose 478

Insulin
Vet reccomends Lantus - so expensive - Walmart Pharmacy suggestted Novaline ($200 cheaper)

Does anyone have thoughts on that? I'm reading that remission is more likely with Lantus??

Food
We currently use a mixture of wet and dry food, but usually keep a bowl of dry food out all day - as I'm usually gone long hours. Obviously that has to stop.

Vet is going to give us some samples today of the DM and MD brands.. does anyone have any input on that?
I hear a lot of talk about Fancy Feast? Is that just as good?


Home Monitoring

This scares me. I'm reading you have to prick your kitty in the ear to do this? Aw man.

And Im confused about the schedule..

Test first?
Then feed him?
then give him his shot, right?

If the test happens to be higher than it was... what then? feed and shot, I assume.
If the test happens to be a lot lower..what then..? No shot, and call the vet?

Do you test every day before every shot?

So many more questions but that's a start.. my head is spinning.
 
Welcome! The experienced kitty parents will be along soon but feeling overwhelmed is 100% normal at this stage and you are in the right place for help and support. There is so much to take in at the beginning but you have made a good start by joining the forum. Lantus is a good insulin and a lot of cats on the forum are on it - but I am guessing you are in the US where it is very expensive, many users order from Canada where it is cheaper and the experienced Lantus users will be able to give you more information on that. Home testing is one way of feeling less overwhelmed and more in control of your kitty's care. It takes a bit of getting used to at first but soon becomes second nature - for you and the kitty. Start by reading some of the pinned posts where there is a wealth of information and try to learn as much as you can. I am in the UK so can't give you any US specific advice but you don't need an expensive pet glucose meter, a human meter will do. Most cats are tested on the ears but I test on the paw pads. Test, feed, shoot is the way to go - I test before every shot, the gaps in my spreadsheet is where a caregiver has been unable to get a reading. You should also check the urine for ketones and you can buy the testing strips wherever they sell diabetic supplies. I order online and use keto-diastix. It is important not to change the food if you are giving insulin until you can do home testing as change from dry to wet does bring down the glucose and the important thing is to keep your kitty safe, also - there is no such thing as a silly question so ask away and the helpful folk on the forum will answer.
 
Mark's Marine Pharmacy in Canada

All you need is a vet to fax them a script over, or you can get a copy of your script and fax/email to them. They are a legitimate pharmacy, not an "online pharmacy" and I can guarantee you that as they are located in my home city, I've driven past them several times. I've been told that you just need the script once, and they will refill it for you without a new prescription every time.

The best deal is the Lantus Solostar 5 pack of pens. You would still use a syringe to draw out the insulin. Bonus with those, is that they are almost like "mini" viles so you can end up using each pen until the last drop, while with viles you usually end up having to throw half of it away. The pens, unopened and refrigerated properly, can last until the expiry date, which is around 2 years.

5 pack of pens from Mark's: $144.99 + $25.00 express shipping fee.

Depending on your dose, a 5 pack of pens could last you close to a year - so it's basically like you're only having to buy insulin once a year!
 
Last edited:
Novolin is Novo Nordisk's trade name for a family of Recombinant DNA origin insulins. They include N (sometimes called NPH), and R (very fast actions) and mixture of the two. Only N/NPH is OK, but not that good, for cats. It only lasts 8-10 hours. Lantus is better but as you know it is more expensive.
There is no reason for the expensive prescription diets like MD and DM. Fancy Feast is fine especially the Classic varieties since they are lower carb than the gravy ones. Here is a list of low-carb, commercial canned food.

Most of us here test our cat's blood glucose at home using a human meter. We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
Here is a link to home testing
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
 
You should check out catinfo.org for a list of food acceptable food for a diabetic cat. You want less than 10% of calories to come from carbs. The fancy feast classic pates fit the bill in that regard. The canned dm is also low carb (the dry is not) but it is more expensive and not any better. Fancy feast and friskies pates are high in phosophorus so if your kitty has kidney or other renal issues it might be best to find a food lower in P. Something like Wellness core or the grain free pates may be a good choice. Simply changing to a low carb diet can affect a cat's BG. So if you change food while giving insuline you must be testing. If you haven't started giving insulin you can change food without worrying about this. Some cats do get digestive problems if the change is too rapid. My cat was on a mix of fancy feast and dry and was not on insulin so I removed the dry cold turkey. What wet food are you currently feeding?
 
When our boy Leda was first diagnosed the vet gave us NPH (Novolin H) to start. Just having insulin at all helped Leda immensely, he stopped losing weight, stopped peeing all the time, and his neuropathy (wobbily back legs) went away. We switched to Lantus after a couple of weeks (on the advice of his vet), and it has done a much, much better job of bringing his blood sugar down into reasonable levels. So if there's a way you can get Lantus affordably, I expect that it will work better for both you and your kitty.
 
Thank you yes I'm in California. The cheapest I've found is $256 a bottle from Costco

I will look into the Canadian pharmacy thank you!
Alexi said:
Welcome! The experienced kitty parents will be along soon but feeling overwhelmed is 100% normal at this stage and you are in the right place for help and support. There is so much to take in at the beginning but you have made a good start by joining the forum. Lantus is a good insulin and a lot of cats on the forum are on it - but I am guessing you are in the US where it is very expensive, many users order from Canada where it is cheaper and the experienced Lantus users will be able to give you more information on that. Home testing is one way of feeling less overwhelmed and more in control of your kitty's care. It takes a bit of getting used to at first but soon becomes second nature - for you and the kitty. Start by reading some of the pinned posts where there is a wealth of information and try to learn as much as you can. I am in the UK so can't give you any US specific advice but you don't need an expensive pet glucose meter, a human meter will do. Most cats are tested on the ears but I test on the paw pads. Test, feed, shoot is the way to go - I test before every shot, the gaps in my spreadsheet is where a caregiver has been unable to get a reading. You should also check the urine for ketones and you can buy the testing strips wherever they sell diabetic supplies. I order online and use keto-diastix. It is important not to change the food if you are giving insulin until you can do home testing as change from dry to wet does bring down the glucose and the important thing is to keep your kitty safe, also - there is no such thing as a silly question so ask away and the helpful folk on the forum will answer.
Click to expand...
 
Wow. That sounds much better over $100 cheaper. Thank you.
Erica & Carter said:
Mark's Marine Pharmacy in Canada

All you need is a vet to fax them a script over, or you can get a copy of your script and fax/email to them. They are a legitimate pharmacy, not an "online pharmacy" and I can guarantee you that as they are located in my home city, I've driven past them several times. I've been told that you just need the script once, and they will refill it for you without a new prescription every time.

The best deal is the Lantus Solostar 5 pack of pens. You would still use a syringe to draw out the insulin. Bonus with those, is that they are almost like "mini" viles so you can end up using each pen until the last drop, while with viles you usually end up having to throw half of it away. The pens, unopened and refrigerated properly, can last until the expiry date, which is around 2 years.

5 pack of pens from Mark's: $144.99 + $25.00 express shipping fee.

Depending on your dose, a 5 pack of pens could last you close to a year - so it's basically like you're only having to buy insulin once a year!
Click to expand...
 
Thank you. I've downloaded the spreadsheet and will get familiar with it.

I'm gonna stick with Lantus.

Okay so fancy feast is a good choice. Thank you
Larry and Kitties said:
Novolin is Novo Nordisk's trade name for a family of Recombinant DNA origin insulins. They include N (sometimes called NPH), and R (very fast actions) and mixture of the two. Only N/NPH is OK, but not that good, for cats. It only lasts 8-10 hours. Lantus is better but as you know it is more expensive.
There is no reason for the expensive prescription diets like MD and DM. Fancy Feast is fine especially the Classic varieties since they are lower carb than the gravy ones. Here is a list of low-carb, commercial canned food.

Most of us here test our cat's blood glucose at home using a human meter. We test before each shot and periodically between shots. We record our reading and other info in a spreadsheet. See:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
Here is a link to home testing
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/
Click to expand...
 
MeowsMom said:
Wow. That sounds much better over $100 cheaper. Thank you.
Click to expand...
You're welcome!

To put it into perspective, my first pen lasted my cat a month and a half. And his dose slowly increased from 1 unit to 3 units twice daily, so your pen might last a similar amount of time or even longer possibly. I would suggest going into the Lantus forum and getting familiar with all the information in the "stickied" threads. Lantus pens can last a while but there is a proper way to store them and draw the insulin out as to maintain the potency of the insulin for as long as you can.
 
Currently were on a mix of dry and wet.

He eats the dry more often - this is a new brand we started recently called "Luvsome" which says its high in protein not sure of the carbs tho.

And currently were on Friskies pate for wet food

He's never been too finicky with eating, he's more of a binger who will eat anything so I think the food transition to just wet will go smoothly. He prefers the wet anyway.


his kidney levels are normal so it sounds like fancy feast will be ok

We start insulin tonight- so I'm just gonna slowly wean him off this dry food .

His glucose is so high 478, I'm not real worried about it going too low but I'm brand new at this so I'm not familiar with all that.

Thank you for all this info!

["QUOTE="billysmom (GA), post: 1693262, member: 12196"]You should check out catinfo.org for a list of food acceptable food for a diabetic cat. You want less than 10% of calories to come from carbs. The fancy feast classic pates fit the bill in that regard. The canned dm is also low carb (the dry is not) but it is more expensive and not any better. Fancy feast and friskies pates are high in phosophorus so if your kitty has kidney or other renal issues it might be best to find a food lower in P. Something like Wellness core or the grain free pates may be a good choice. Simply changing to a low carb diet can affect a cat's BG. So if you change food while giving insuline you must be testing. If you haven't started giving insulin you can change food without worrying about this. Some cats do get digestive problems if the change is too rapid. My cat was on a mix of fancy feast and dry and was not on insulin so I removed the dry cold turkey. What wet food are you currently feeding?[/QUOTE]
 
Thank you.

I'm gonna stick with the Lantus. He's gotten very lethargic the past few days and we start insulin tonight so I'm hoping for instant results like your baby had. :)

Madrona and Leda said:
When our boy Leda was first diagnosed the vet gave us NPH (Novolin H) to start. Just having insulin at all helped Leda immensely, he stopped losing weight, stopped peeing all the time, and his neuropathy (wobbily back legs) went away. We switched to Lantus after a couple of weeks (on the advice of his vet), and it has done a much, much better job of bringing his blood sugar down into reasonable levels. So if there's a way you can get Lantus affordably, I expect that it will work better for both you and your kitty.
Click to expand...
 
If he turns out to be a dry addict and he won't change, check out Young Again Zero Carb for dry it's about 5% carb. They are internet only and look expensive but my cats have been eating from the same 8 pound bag for a month and a half. (they get about a 1/3 of a cup a day and 20 ounces of wet food as well)
 
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