Ok so update is Vet was not happy about me not taking there food or that I wanted to hold of a day or two to see how new diet would effect his BG. The insulin they want to use is ProZinc and $190 for a 10ml bottle. I am supposed to go back Wednesday at 5pm to check BG and give him first shot of insulin. She said it is very rare for cats to ever be able to be off of insulin or go in remission. The only way that was a possibility was if I bought the prescription food and even then unlikely. I think I will try and find another vet before Wednesday they did not seem happy about me monitoring at home... Would really like a vet who will work along side me to care for StirFry at home as much as possible. Anyone from Brighton Mi area?
HI THERE!!!
I am at least in your state!! I am from the metro Detroit area. Mufasa was diagnosed early November last year. I said the same thing to my vet and she was disappointed but at the same time she was for it too. Mufasa's first BG reading was 438, and he had not eaten for at least 2 days, and weighed in at 18.5lbs (He is big framed lol, no really he is). He had a minor UTI as well and had to be put on a mild dose of antibiotics, that he ABSOLUTELY hated. He would spit it out and the next day the house smelled sweet like the antibiotic.
Mufasa used to be on all dry food all day long. He has 2 bowls that are probably a cup and a half each and I would fill those up as they got empty (every 2-3 days). I would also feed him a 1/3 or 1/4 of we food in the morning when we woke up. We used to be strong supporters of buying only 9-Lives food.
So, fast forward to November of 2016. I was instructed to buy grain-free wet food only, because carbs are very high in the regular stuff that everyone in American usually buys for their animals. Not only that, no more dry food, and I was instructed NOT to leave the food down all day for him to nibble on it. Feed him 3 times a day. Well, after that all added up my husband looked at me and was like we need to figure something else out because we are going to go broke. I read up on making his own food. I started doing it in January of this year, shredded chicken, chicken broth and baked chicken livers. It's cheap way to feed your kitty good healthy food, but the time to prepare is what can be bothersome.
The exercise he gets is climbing the stairs. He is a healthy guy other than his sugar levels. He flies up those stairs like he was a 1 yr old. I keep his litter box in the spare room upstairs, and he gets fed down stairs. (ok, so it is not a spare room, it is HIS bedroom) But he loves climbing stairs and racing me. We race to the bedroom when it is bed time. Its cute.
Back in June he got a lil sick again, and I thought he had a piece of string cheese caught somewhere. My darling step daughter decided she was going to feed him string cheese. #fun We took him in again, this time there was nothing caught but he had an ear infection. And his sugar was at 483. BUT he weighed in at 14.78lbs. That is good at least. But with the sugar being so high, I felt disappointed. And the vet said it is time to make that decision to put him on insulin. He wanted to see Mufasa in 2 weeks, he said we can think about it and do our research. What was bad on my part, I canceled the appointment. (bad mama)
Now, last Monday he followed me down to the basement to talk to me during laundry. When it was quiet and time to go back up, I called for him and he let out a cry from the storage closet. I opened the door and he was squatting in pain. I panicked because I thought he was acting out from us being gone over the weekend. I took him up to his room, put him in his litter box, and he jumped out. So, I thought it must be dirty. I got ready to clean it and he ran to the corner of the room, and squatted again with a cry. I dove across the room with paper towel in my hand and caught it! But to my surprise, the paper towel was bloody. I freaked out and started crying. Hubby came up and said its time to get him his medicine. I spent 3 hours at the emergency vet. BG came in at 489, he had the worse UTI seen in a cat, and couldn't stop peeing blood. I didn't see the other usual doctors, this doctor was new. He explained everything and shown me the charts and the tests. I told him to write me the script for the insulin and needles and I will shop for a good price.
Here is the part you will learn fast about. The vet wrote me for Novolin-N with U-40 needles. To newcomers like you and I, that doesn't seem like anything. Once I joined here and the FB page for this group, I was alerted NOT to use that insulin and that the vet has to be wrong with the needles because Novolin is a U-100 Insulin. So I called the vet back and the doctor called me back after a day. He told me that is what he was giving me because he gives that to all his cats and that is what the practice gives as well and that is the correct needle. I told him about the message board and all the concerns, and he told me to not listen to anyone on these groups. And he was snotty about it. At this point I was so confused and didn't know what to do. Went home and hubby said we should hold off too long on this and that if the doctor is saying this is what he wants us to do, then we do it. I went to bed nervous and agreed to do it the next morning.
When I woke up I had a gut feeling to make sure again and to get Mufasa's records sent to me so that I can have another vet look over them (good advice from my friends here and on the FB page). That evening, while I was doing Mu-Mu's meal prep for the next 2 weeks, my phone rang and I let it go to voicemail. When I finally sat down to a tall glass of wine, I checked it. It was Mufasa's usual doctor calling me to tell me that not to use the U-40 needles with the Novolin and that she does not know what the other doctor was thinking. I tried to call the vet to catch her before she left but she had already gone but they put another doctor on the phone and she was freaked out for me. I told her everything and she assured me to not follow that doctors order and that Dr. Engel (voicemail) was right. Also told me that I should be getting ProZinc with U-40 needles and not the Novolin. We got everything all figured out. Then asked what was I feeding Mufasa and when I told her, she instructed me to get supplements to mix with what I was making him.
So, here we are today. His first shot of insulin was Friday evening before his dinner. I have been tracking his BG levels and we are still working on getting "normal". All the people here will help you with that. They are great, very knowledgeable and very kind. Mufasa gets 1 unit of ProZinc twice a day. When you see the unit size, you will not have sticker shock. My vet sells Prozinc for $119 for a 10ml bottle. But if that lasts 3 months, it is not that bad. I save $$ from making his food, and that money saved can go right to his medicine. I can also say, THANK GOD FOR CARE CREDIT! If you are having trouble balancing the finances, this is good. No one has $250 to drop on one visit to the vet. And that is only with the minor tests. Mufasa's 1st visit was $560, when they ran all the tests they could to find out what was wrong.
Sorry for being so drawn out, but I thought my story could help you. Don't be afraid to ask any type of question, no one will judge you here.
, grey panther! 
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. Many feed Friskies pate (non indoor formulas) and Fancy Feast classics (pate). 
