Fostering Diabetic Kitty

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LuanneP

LuanneP

Member Since 2017
Hi guys,

I'm fostering a 9 year old Diabetic boy named Merry who just arrived tonight. He's been diabetic since sometime in 2013. This is the schedule he came with (he uses a timed feeder so the below is in his feeder), the wet food is ProPlan Vet Diet DM & the treats are Royal Canin GI Fiber Response kibbles:

6am - 1/2 can wet food
*insulin right after he eats & 2 treats
8am - 4 treats
Noon - 6 treats
5:30pm - 1/2 can wet food
*insulin right after he eats & 2 treats
10pm - 6 treats

His insulin is Lantus 100 u/ml & his previous person was giving him 1 unit right after his canned food feedings.

I realize kibble is bad for him but she was only using it as treats & to keep him happy between meals. I'd love to feed him a better quality high protein, low carb canned food at some point but for now I won't change the brand so I don't cause any GI upset or extra stress.

I'm not up that early to give him the insulin at 6am so would be safe for him to wait until 8am tomorrow morning to have his insulin? And then have the 2nd dose at 8pm? Does it have to be right after a canned food meal? His previous person seemed to think it had to be.

Merry is a big boy, he's about 12 lbs, but he seems on the thin side so I'm not sure he's getting enough food. He's so used to the timed feeder she said he sits by it & waits for it to open.

I'd like to increase his canned food consumption but I don't want to change anything too quickly since he's only been here for about an hour. Or is it safe to increase his canned food by 1/2 a can right off the bat to start with & feed him 3 canned meals per day? I'm just not sure how that effects testing his BG & giving his insulin. I have the test strips & the glucometer for testing his BG (I've tested BG & given Insulin before with cat & dog clients I've pet sit for).

Once he's settled I would love to work on trying to get him into remission but my hands are tied a bit since he belongs to a rescue group but I'm hoping they'll agree to let me try to do that after I've done more research & once he's more used to his new environment.

Any tips appreciated. I'm sure he'd be quite happy with another wet food meal if it's not going to interfere with anything else :)

Thanks!
Luanne
 
He is not being fed enough food. Diabetic cats need to eat more than others because they can't properly utilize the nutrients. They are literally starving even though they are eating. Skip the dry.... It's like giving him donuts.... Instead I'd give another half can mid day and another half can before bed. Seriously if he's hungry, feed him. For treats, real meat (fresh chicken, turkey, ect) or freeze dried meat snacks. Catnip works too.

The order is test, feed, shoot. Yes it's OK to wait until 8 tomorrow.... But do 8 pm as well.

If you are willing to learn how to home test we can help you with that. I have a video in my signature showing how I test my cat CC. It's easy and will keep him safe.

Dm wet food is fine but expensive. Most of us feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods.
 
Is this the Merry that was being posted on DCIN?

Anyway, bless you for being willing to foster a sugarcat!!!

LuanneP said:
I'd love to feed him a better quality high protein, low carb canned food at some point but for now I won't change the brand so I don't cause any GI upset or extra stress.
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Just transition slowly....no more than 25% new food with 75% old to begin with and then gradually add more new until he's fully transitioned. If he starts to get diarrhea or tummy upset, slow it down.....the sooner you can get him off the kibble, the better it'll be for him

LuanneP said:
I'm not up that early to give him the insulin at 6am so would be safe for him to wait until 8am tomorrow morning to have his insulin? And then have the 2nd dose at 8pm?
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We usually suggest making changes in 15 minute per cycle increments or one 30 minute change per day, but a one time change from 6 to 8 considering the circumstances isn't the end of the world.

LuanneP said:
Does it have to be right after a canned food meal?
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No....with Lantus, it doesn't start to "kick in" for usually 2-3 hours, so it's not so important that he eat right before shooting....just that he's WILLING to eat. We generally Test/Feed/Shoot, all within about 5-10 minutes.....You Test (to make sure he's high enough for insulin at all), Feed (to make sure he's at least willing to eat and not sick) and Shoot.....Older, harsher insulins it was important that they have a full meal on board before shooting, but Lantus is more gentle so you have a couple of hours to get food into him

The only time we don't want them eating is the 2 hours immediately before Pre-shot tests....so you get a test that isn't influenced by food

LuanneP said:
Or is it safe to increase his canned food by 1/2 a can right off the bat to start with & feed him 3 canned meals per day?
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Until he's better regulated, feed him what he wants (within reason)....You might want to weigh him and start with the formula {13.5 x weight in lbs} +70 for the number of calories per day to start with....so a 12lb cat would start with 232 calories per day.....a 3oz can of Fancy Feast Classics is about 85-90 calories

This is a good scale you can get or you can just use your bathroom scale and weigh yourself, pick up Merry and do the math!

After a week or two, if he needs to gain, add more food!
 
Thanks for the great tips so quickly! He only gets the kibble as treats, about 20 pieces per day, his previous person seemed to think it helped to keep him regular. She said he got constipated without it but I'm sure with more canned food that would help any constipation issues. I'll add another canned food meal for sure. I gave him a couple treats of cooked meat & he devoured it, LOL!

Merry is definitely willing to eat, he's a hungry boy! He'll be quite happy with extra canned food meals :)

I have a baby scale that I use to weigh my own cats on so I will monitor his weight & get a weight on him tonight.

I can test his BG at home, I have the glucometer & strips & I've done that before with cats. So if I want to give him his insulin at 8am, he shouldn't eat after 6am so there's 2 hrs without food, is that right? I'll have to change his timed feeder & schedule but I won't do that tonight. He has enough stress to deal with being in a new home. But I will add extra canned food to his feeder in place of the few kibbles she was putting in there so he'll have a nice surprise when it opens :)

The rescue group I'm fostering for is Fixed Fur Life in Ontario, Canada.
 
LuanneP said:
Thanks for the great tips so quickly! He only gets the kibble as treats, about 20 pieces per day, his previous person seemed to think it helped to keep him regular. She said he got constipated without it but I'm sure with more canned food that would help any constipation issues. I'll add another canned food meal for sure. I gave him a couple treats of cooked meat & he devoured it, LOL!

Merry is definitely willing to eat, he's a hungry boy! He'll be quite happy with extra canned food meals :)

I have a baby scale that I use to weigh my own cats on so I will monitor his weight & get a weight on him tonight.

I can test his BG at home, I have the glucometer & strips & I've done that before with cats. So if I want to give him his insulin at 8am, he shouldn't eat after 6am so there's 2 hrs without food, is that right? I'll have to change his timed feeder & schedule but I won't do that tonight. He has enough stress to deal with being in a new home. But I will add extra canned food to his feeder in place of the few kibbles she was putting in there so he'll have a nice surprise when it opens :)

The rescue group I'm fostering for is Fixed Fur Life in Ontario, Canada.
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You're doing super awesome. So glad he's going to be getting more food. If he gets constipation a better idea is to put a teaspoon of plain pumpkin into his canned food. That won't raise his bg.
 
LuanneP said:
Thanks for the great tips so quickly! He only gets the kibble as treats, about 20 pieces per day, his previous person seemed to think it helped to keep him regular. She said he got constipated without it but I'm sure with more canned food that would help any constipation issues. I'll add another canned food meal for sure. I gave him a couple treats of cooked meat & he devoured it, LOL!

Merry is definitely willing to eat, he's a hungry boy! He'll be quite happy with extra canned food meals :)

I have a baby scale that I use to weigh my own cats on so I will monitor his weight & get a weight on him tonight.

I can test his BG at home, I have the glucometer & strips & I've done that before with cats. So if I want to give him his insulin at 8am, he shouldn't eat after 6am so there's 2 hrs without food, is that right? I'll have to change his timed feeder & schedule but I won't do that tonight. He has enough stress to deal with being in a new home. But I will add extra canned food to his feeder in place of the few kibbles she was putting in there so he'll have a nice surprise when it opens :)

The rescue group I'm fostering for is Fixed Fur Life in Ontario, Canada.
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Correct about no food after 6am... So the test is not food influenced. You will test, then feed, then shoot.
 
Merry weights 11.2 lbs. I just uploaded his photo as my profile pic. He's a gorgeous boy :) And so hungry! He couldn't wait to eat when I just went in there to give him another meal.
 
JanetNJ said:
Was the person that had him previously home testing? Do you have any numbers for him?
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Yes, she was but not consistently. If I'm reading her notes right she was testing around 9:30 am so he would have had his canned meal at 6am & then 4 kibbles at 8am.
July 8 20.1
July 17 18.9
July 24 6.6
July 26 20.7
 
Yeah he was posted quite a bit on DCIN's page too

No matter where he got your attention....we're just happy he's safe and in a loving home!!
 
I just searched through DCIN's FB page & saw him. He was also posted on Fixed Fur Life's FB page & one of my friends who volunteers for FFL contacted me to see if I would foster him. I have 6 of my own & 2 dogs but FFL didn't have a foster home who knew how to care for a diabetic cat so I agreed to foster him.
 
She said he only pees once per day. I thought a diabetic would be peeing more than that. Maybe with increased wet food he'll pee on a more regular basis.
 
He is a gorgeous fellow! So glad you are helping him. I would definitely dump the dry treats from his diet and go with something like Pure Bites or Orijen, no carbs in either and cats love 'em. :cat:

HERE is a list of readily-available cat foods, listing their carb percentages. Most of us go with the budget-friendly ones like Fancy Feast pates, or Friskies, and the like, but there are plenty to pick from! Just stay under 10% carbs.

If you are concerned about constipation, peeing, dehydration and the like, you can add a bit of water to his food at each meal. I add a minimum of 1 tablespoon to all my cats' meals. It will also help keep the food in the timed feeder from getting as dried out as it sits through the day. :):)
 
Squalliesmom said:
He is a gorgeous fellow! So glad you are helping him. I would definitely dump the dry treats from his diet and go with something like Pure Bites or Orijen, no carbs in either and cats love 'em. :cat:

HERE is a list of readily-available cat foods, listing their carb percentages. Most of us go with the budget-friendly ones like Fancy Feast pates, or Friskies, and the like, but there are plenty to pick from! Just stay under 10% carbs.

If you are concerned about constipation, peeing, dehydration and the like, you can add a bit of water to his food at each meal. I add a minimum of 1 tablespoon to all my cats' meals. It will also help keep the food in the timed feeder from getting as dried out as it sits through the day. :):)
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Thanks! I add water to my own kitties food so I'll start doing that for Merry as well. I'm actually going to ditch the timed feeder. I don't think his previous person was home all day but after today I'm on holidays for 5 weeks so I'll be home & can get him off the feeder. He's obsessed with it but I think that's because he wasn't getting enough food so he just sits there & waits for it to open. I won't take it away cold turkey since he is so used to it but I'll wean him off it.

What he eats will be up to the rescue group but he came with two cases of the DM food. I'll make recommendations & do as much as I can to help him but my hands are tied a bit since he is just a foster. I'm not sure if they'll want to keep him on the DM or not. I'd rather switch him to better quality high protein, low carb food and it will likely be less expensive than DM so will be easier for a potential adopter to accept. We'll see.
 
Hi guys,

I checked Merry's BG tonight before giving his insulin & it was 17.4. He had eaten 3 hrs prior to that. I'm going to check it every time now before giving his insulin because I'm not comfortable giving it without knowing for sure (some cat & dog clients I pet sat for never checked the BG & that always bothered me). What is considered a normal range where I wouldn't give the insulin? I found different ranges on line, but wrote down 2.6-8.4 as normal. If his BG did come back in normal range, do I just feed him & then wait a couple hours & check it again? If he needed insulin a few hours later would he eat again with the insulin?
 
It'll really help if you'll get your signature filled out....You'll see most of us have basic information below all our comments so people don't have to try to remember everyone's cat and all the information!

Just go to the top right and find your sign on name....click on the drop down menu and choose "Signature".....a new box will pop up for you to enter stuff like:

Your name/Cats name, age, sex, date of diagnosis (if known), type of insulin, type of meter, type of food, any other health problems? and a general location. Once you get your spreadsheet going, you'd add the link to it into your signature too.

Now for your questions! When you first start out, until you get a little bit of testing under your belt, if you get a Pre-shot under 200 (11.1) you should stall, DON'T feed, and post for help. We like to have someone with experience watching out for you the first few times you shoot a lower number. Test again in about 20-30 minutes to see if the number is coming up on it's own without the influence of food...that's a pretty good indication that the last shot is wearing off and it'll probably be OK to shoot.

You'll want to get a +1 and +2 when you shoot a low Pre-shot too so you can intervene early if you need to.

It's helpful if you'll convert your Canadian numbers into US numbers too....most of us are in the US and we're used to seeing those numbers. Just multiply your numbers by 18 and you'll have ours.

When you set up your spreadsheet, you'll use the WORLD one....that one will convert the numbers for us silly Americans ;)
 
Chris & China said:
It'll really help if you'll get your signature filled out....You'll see most of us have basic information below all our comments so people don't have to try to remember everyone's cat and all the information!

Now for your questions! When you first start out, until you get a little bit of testing under your belt, if you get a Pre-shot under 200 (11.1) you should stall, DON'T feed, and post for help. We like to have someone with experience watching out for you the first few times you shoot a lower number. Test again in about 20-30 minutes to see if the number is coming up on it's own without the influence of food...that's a pretty good indication that the last shot is wearing off and it'll probably be OK to shoot.

You'll want to get a +1 and +2 when you shoot a low Pre-shot too so you can intervene early if you need to.

It's helpful if you'll convert your Canadian numbers into US numbers too....most of us are in the US and we're used to seeing those numbers. Just multiply your numbers by 18 and you'll have ours.

When you set up your spreadsheet, you'll use the WORLD one....that one will convert the numbers for us silly Americans ;)
Click to expand...

Thank you! That's helpful :)

I'm going to buy an Alpha Trak 2 glucometer for Merry. I find the one he came with isn't as sensitive as the Alpha Trak & requires more blood. It's for people so maybe that's why it needs more blood. I'm used to the Alpha Trak & I find it so much easier & faster.

Right now Merry is staying in a room off of the foyer so I put up a couple gates & opened the door so he can see the others & they can see him. I won't be introducing them without a gate for a while & in the meantime I have to get food figured out & find a few foods that are safe for Merry & also that my kitties like as well. I have three in stage 1 CKD so I feed them low phosphorus foods to try to keep them at stage 1 so I'll try to find high protein, low phos, low carb so I can keep everyone happy & healthy. I have 6 of my own so hopefully whatever I find that suits them all isn't too costly as they're so expensive to care for as it is (food, vet bills etc etc, it's never ending when you have multiple kitties).
 
LuanneP said:
Thank you! That's helpful :)

I'm going to buy an Alpha Trak 2 glucometer for Merry. I find the one he came with isn't as sensitive as the Alpha Trak & requires more blood. It's for people so maybe that's why it needs more blood. I'm used to the Alpha Trak & I find it so much easier & faster.

Right now Merry is staying in a room off of the foyer so I put up a couple gates & opened the door so he can see the others & they can see him. I won't be introducing them without a gate for a while & in the meantime I have to get food figured out & find a few foods that are safe for Merry & also that my kitties like as well. I have three in stage 1 CKD so I feed them low phosphorus foods to try to keep them at stage 1 so I'll try to find high protein, low phos, low carb so I can keep everyone happy & healthy. I have 6 of my own so hopefully whatever I find that suits them all isn't too costly as they're so expensive to care for as it is (food, vet bills etc etc, it's never ending when you have multiple kitties).
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Weuruva bff cans are fairly low in phosphorus and low in carb.

Amazon has a good alphatrak testing starter kit.
 
Hi guys, I know I saw it in this forum somewhere but where are the links to buy supplies (in Canada)? I can't seem to find it now. I need more needles so just want to check prices on line to compare. Thanks!
 
since you're in Canada, I think you're pretty limited on where you can buy syringes

I don't think ADW (American Diabetes Wholesale) ships to Canada but I could be wrong....that's where a lot of us in the US buy our syringes or at WalMart (which I know you also don't have)
 
Syringes in Canada are more expensive than the US. I ordered from the US. Even with the sucky exchange rate, I got a better deal - except for the last order I made. I ordered 6 boxes of syringes and ended up having to pay customs. It then worked out to be about the same. Don't know if it was because the order was larger or not.
I ordered from here: http://www.medi-vet.com/UltiCare-VetRx-Insulin-Syringe-p/17382.htm (other brands available)

The same syringe in Canada. https://www.petsdrugmart.ca/Product/Ulticare-Ulti-fine-U-100-Insulin-Syringe-4120419/3857

It all depends on what you are used to and like.
Chris & China said:
WalMart (which I know you also don't have)
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We have Walmart. They are everywhere, but I don't shop there.

Some people are seniors (or get a senior) to buy strips at Shoppers Drug Mart on seniors' day. And you can use Shoppers points as well. I don't know if insulin needles fall under the senior discount.
 
Thanks @Red & Rover (GA) and @Chris & China :)
I went to Walmart before I saw your replies & they're a good price there plus I don't have to worry about shipping costs etc.
Good idea about the Senior's discount, never thought of that. I can get my Mom to do that :)

I just did a glucose curve on Merry today & the vet wants to increase his insuin by 1/2 a unit so starting tomorrow morning he'll be getting 1.5 units BID. He's doing great though, gaining weight, his bloodwork came back good except for mild signs of dehydration due to his diabetes not being controlled (as expected) and his urinalysis was fine. His teeth are bad so he will need a dental at some point. But over all he's doing really well, he's happy & loving <3
 
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