Home monitoring

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If you live in the US, most of us really like the Relion Confirm or Micro meter from WalMart...it takes the tiniest sample size and the strips are affordable at $35.88 per 100

What I did when China was diagnosed was just took the dry out of the house and put all my cats on canned Friskies. I can use the 13oz cans to save some money....and if China gets into their food, it's still low carb enough for her too

As long as there's dry food in the house, these cats seem to be able to get to it.....no matter what we do!
 
Good advice above.

The easiest is to put them all on the same food. If you really like to have dry out (some of my cats only like dry) I leave out a food called Young Again Zero which has no carbs so it's ok if my diabetic girl eats it. Otherwise I feed Fancy Feast Classic or Friskies Pate.
 
You are ahead of your vet about just "giving shots"
I am so glad you are going to be home testing and you will be too! It is critical..... as sometimes they are too low to shoot especially using vetsulin which is a harsher insulin. My vet did the same as yours.... if you ever consider changing insulins you may want to consider lantus as it is more gentle. I wish we had started on it. My boy did not react well to vetsulin he was very depressed and lethargic.
Also with changing to the wet food his numbers may be lower than they were originally... Welcome aboard!
 
My kitty has been recently diagnosed with diabetes. He has been on Lantus for a little more than a month. He is on the W/D Rx food and taking 4 units twice a day of the Lantus. The vet is asking us to come in once a week. We have not seen any changes in the levels at all (fluctuate from 380-600). After finding and reading this forum, I am switching to either the FF or Friskies food, and am going to try home testing. Here is my question: A lot of people recommend the Relion glucose meters at Walmart. These are human meters. The vet said it will not accurately calibrate for a cat. Is this correct? If so, is there a magical way to be able to calibrate it for my cat? The feline meters are quite a bit more expensive. Thanks in advance!!
 
Mindi S said:
The vet said it will not accurately calibrate for a cat. Is this correct? If so, is there a magical way to be able to calibrate it for my cat? The feline meters are quite a bit more expensive. Thanks in advance!!
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No it's not correct....the only thing you have to know is that using a human meter, you're looking for different numbers (but actually, not that different)

Normal blood glucose is 50-120 on a human meter.....as long as you understand that, that's all that counts....on the fancy pet meters, the numbers are 68 to about 150...so you can see there's not that much difference

Make sure you're testing before you switch his food! That W/D is really high carb and by dropping the amount of carbs, you're going to probably drastically reduce the amount of insulin he's going to need

4 units is a huge dose for most cats, especially if he's only been diagnosed a month....we usually start at around 1 unit twice a day and only increase in .25 unit increments

By the way...if you have some W/D left over, you can take it back and get a refund....it's got a 100% guarantee on it....just say your cat refuses to eat it anymore

You should start your own post too....that way our advice will be directed specifically to you and your "extra sweet" kitty:)
 
Please be sure you are comfortable home testing before you switch to the low carb food, you may also want to make the switch slowly to help avoid stomach upset. As for meters, the human meters do run lower than the pet meters, but we know that and dose accordingly. In fact the protocols here are all based on human meter numbers. The Relion is a good, affordable meter.
 
For information purposes: I use the Relion Confirm and checked it against the vet's meter yesterday for the first time. Sassy checked 80 on the Relion and 132 at the vet's. She is within normal range on both, though I wasn't expecting quite that big of a difference in readings. I know vet stress can make it higher there. (She is OTJ in remission right now)
 
Mindi S said:
My kitty has been recently diagnosed with diabetes. He has been on Lantus for a little more than a month. He is on the W/D Rx food and taking 4 units twice a day of the Lantus. The vet is asking us to come in once a week. We have not seen any changes in the levels at all (fluctuate from 380-600). After finding and reading this forum, I am switching to either the FF or Friskies food, and am going to try home testing. Here is my question: A lot of people recommend the Relion glucose meters at Walmart. These are human meters. The vet said it will not accurately calibrate for a cat. Is this correct? If so, is there a magical way to be able to calibrate it for my cat? The feline meters are quite a bit more expensive. Thanks in advance!!
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4 units is a very very high dose for one month. It took us 5 months to build up to 4 units.

Relion meters are awesome. I started off with the pet meter alphatrak, and i loved it, but the strips are way too expensive. I got a relion micro and its so cheap by comparioson. Both human and pet meters read glucose just fine, you just have to know which meter type it is to know the proper ranges associated with them. Human meters read lower, pet meters read higher.

Yes please be careful when you switch that food. You might find those 4 units will be way too much. Great time to get a meter and start practicing right before the switch so you know whats going on.
 
Does anyone know if one flavor of Friskies Classic Pate effects glucose testing/glucose in cats vs. another? We have successfully taken our cat off the W/D food and have him on Friskies Classic Pate now. I bought several flavors of the Classic Pate. The problem we are seeing is that when testing(home testing now!), sometimes his levels are high and sometimes they are normal. He is receiving 3 units of insulin twice a day right now. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this, and if we should just choose one flavor and stick to it instead of feeding him different flavors. Or maybe it is another issue entirely? Thanks in advance for your help/advice! This website has been a lifesaver, literally!!
 
Is there a way to know what changes to make (Kcals, protein, carbs) to lower his numbers? We are new at this and I hate to have to go through and test him on every can of food.
 
Setting up the spreadsheet is the best way to see what's going on. As for food you want under 10 carbs. Many Friskies Pates meet that requirement, but are at the high end. Perhaps try some Fancy Feast Classics, the Turkey and chicken ones are popular here. You may want to start a thread on this forum to ask your questions, others may have some ideas for you.
 
Mindi S said:
Is there a way to know what changes to make (Kcals, protein, carbs) to lower his numbers?
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As long as you're feeding a food that's less than 10% carbs (which the Friskies pate's are), that's the most important part....some cats are more carb sensitive than others, but the only way to know if your cat is one of them is to be home testing and keeping track of his numbers

Most of us put what we feed in the "Remarks" section of our spreadsheets so if there's something "different" going on with our cats, we can go back and see if diet may have anything to do with it.

Our spreadsheet really is one of the most important tools you can have to help with your "extra sweet" cat.....If you need help setting it up, just send me a private message and I'll be happy to do it for you. It only takes about 30 seconds once I have a little information from you.
 
Mindi S said:
Does anyone know if one flavor of Friskies Classic Pate effects glucose testing/glucose in cats vs. another? We have successfully taken our cat off the W/D food and have him on Friskies Classic Pate now. I bought several flavors of the Classic Pate. The problem we are seeing is that when testing(home testing now!), sometimes his levels are high and sometimes they are normal. He is receiving 3 units of insulin twice a day right now. Just curious if anyone else has experienced this, and if we should just choose one flavor and stick to it instead of feeding him different flavors. Or maybe it is another issue entirely? Thanks in advance for your help/advice! This website has been a lifesaver, literally!!
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Mindi, I know that the Mixed Grill and the County Style Dinner, while a pate, is higher in carbs than you want. They are 12 and 11 grams of carbs, respectively, so stay away from those. Otherwise, the other pates are fair game for variety. I primarily stick with the Turkey and Giblet, and the Liver and Chicken as they are lower in phosphorus AND lower carbs.
 
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