Second diabetic cat

Status
Not open for further replies.
Michele Woodward

Michele Woodward

Member Since 2018
Hi all. This is my second time around having a diabetic cat. Last year I lost my 14 yr old male orange tabby was a diabetic for the last 6 years of his life. Now my 19 yr old female tortiseshell has been diagnosed. I am in process of getting her on a stable insulin dose and I do test at home.
She is 17lbs, arthritic, and with a low activity level due to age and arthritis. I would love to have any suggestions that I could do to help her lose a bit of weight. Her front paws are the worst for arthritis and she walks with a limp so she limits her walking to food and litter box, except when she wants to walk over me for affection(which is always welcome). She used to be a great mouser in her prime. Occasionally I can get her to play with string but not too often. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
 
Michele Woodward said:
Hi all. This is my second time around having a diabetic cat. Last year I lost my 14 yr old male orange tabby was a diabetic for the last 6 years of his life. Now my 19 yr old female tortiseshell has been diagnosed. I am in process of getting her on a stable insulin dose and I do test at home.
She is 17lbs, arthritic, and with a low activity level due to age and arthritis. I would love to have any suggestions that I could do to help her lose a bit of weight. Her front paws are the worst for arthritis and she walks with a limp so she limits her walking to food and litter box, except when she wants to walk over me for affection(which is always welcome). She used to be a great mouser in her prime. Occasionally I can get her to play with string but not too often. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated!
Click to expand...
My cat is very arthritic too. Are you giving adequan for it or something else?
 
My vet prescribed Tramadol but my cat stayed "high" for 36+ hours the first time. Even with reducing the dose from 12.5mg(1/2 pill) to 3.125(1/8 pill) she is still "high" for 18-24 hours. During the times the pill is affecting her she doesn't move much (and has pupils the size of saucers) so I can't tell if she it has any benefits for her. So I have decided not to give it to her. The vet mentioned another drug, not by name, but said because of her age it may have negative effects to her kidneys so I chose not to explore that option. Therefore, currently she is not taking any medicine for the arthritis.
 
Ok ask about adequan shots. They are easy on the kidneys and can make a big difference.

You give the shots at home. The loading dose is twice a week for 4 weeks, then once a week for four weeks, then every 3-4 weeks. My cat actually gets it once a week maintance though because her arthritis is pretty bad. Make a big difference.

I tag another member with lots of experience with arthritis. @jayla-n-Drevon
 
Thank you for the info!! I will absolutely talk to my vet about it. I honestly believe that she would move more if it was easier for her. She has always been generally healthy her whole life, and honestly considering she is 19 yrs old she is still in pretty decent shape! But as I said, I don't like giving her the tramadol because she just sits by the water bowl staring at nothing specific like she is in her own world. Thank you very much for your advice!!!
 
Michele Woodward said:
Thank you for the info!! I will absolutely talk to my vet about it. I honestly believe that she would move more if it was easier for her. She has always been generally healthy her whole life, and honestly considering she is 19 yrs old she is still in pretty decent shape! But as I said, I don't like giving her the tramadol because she just sits by the water bowl staring at nothing specific like she is in her own world. Thank you very much for your advice!!!
Click to expand...
No problem. My cat has been using adequan about two years. Like I said, it made a huge difference. Just in the last week we also started Gabapintin to also help with the arthritis pain. I think it's not vets first choice only because most are hesitant to do shots, but you get over that quick when your cat is diabetic.
 
Have you tried cosequin? May not be for arthritis specifically but it is for joints.

As far as losing weight, maybe try removing like a tsp of food from total amount you give in a day. Use lower calorie food. I've never had to deal with a cat needing to lose weight. I've had to get kitties to gain.
 
Olive & Paula said:
Have you tried cosequin? May not be for arthritis specifically but it is for joints.

As far as losing weight, maybe try removing like a tsp of food from total amount you give in a day. Use lower calorie food. I've never had to deal with a cat needing to lose weight. I've had to get kitties to gain.
Click to expand...
I have one underweight, 4 at a healthy weight, and cc is my chub at almost 17 lbs. Like the op it’s hard to get her to loose weight when she can’t move like she used to.
 
Olive & Paula,
I have tried cosequin but have not seen any results there either. I know it takes time to build up in the system but still no visible changes.
 
It's less stressful for the cats too. When I have to give them a pill they start to get weird as soon as I get the pill bottle and it goes down from there. It's funny how they don't freak out when I take my medicine but they know their pill bottles. Haha
 
Hi and Welcome Michele. What is kitty's name? I'm sorry the poor elder lady has the "Uncle Arthur" I can sympathize. It would be helpful if you could set up a signature with information about your cat that will be attached to each of your posts, so you don't have to repeat information. Here is a link on how to do that: Set up a signature
And we also use a spreadsheet to track blood glucose levels and insulin shot times. It's helpful to see how the insulin is affecting the kitty and data for members if you need advice or have questions on dosage etc.
Here is a link on setting up the spreadsheet and information about understanding the data: Spreadsheet
 
JanetNJ said:
Ok ask about adequan shots. They are easy on the kidneys and can make a big difference.

You give the shots at home. The loading dose is twice a week for 4 weeks, then once a week for four weeks, then every 3-4 weeks. My cat actually gets it once a week maintance though because her arthritis is pretty bad. Make a big difference.

I tag another member with lots of experience with arthritis. @jayla-n-Drevon
Click to expand...
I am on board with Janet.... Funny I was talking to my vet tonight and so aggravated that more vets do not advocate for adequan before the symptoms are bad. It sounds like your baby is in pretty good shape which is great! I also give both my boys weekly shots. Rico is 20 and Dre is 19--I started adequan around 15 yrs 1x a month after the loading doses as they aged that changed. I have 4 flights of stairs and they go up and down with ease. You can get it online with a script if you vet charges too much. I was giving Dre dasaquan also but it spiked his bg so now only Rico gets it (no fd). they also get canna pet and msm. We do the preemptive strike with the seniors at our house:cat::cat:
 
JanetNJ said:
I have one underweight, 4 at a healthy weight, and cc is my chub at almost 17 lbs. Like the op it’s hard to get her to loose weight when she can’t move like she used to.
Click to expand...
Rico is about 10# and Dre is about 20# (give or take a pound on either)
 
For anybody who has to pill (which I do) I have found a few things that make is much less stressful. Chewy makes a treat called "Inaba" they come in many flavors.
Rico gets 3 pills am and 3 pm (sometimes 2). Dre gets 1 am and 2 pm

For us the first thing is to be on thier level -eye to eye. I know it sounds stupid but trust me it makes a difference in the angle of the pill. I even lay flat on the floor sometimes to be level, or put them on the bed and sit on a stool. I used to dip the pill in vaseline and that works great but the inaba treats are really good because after you dip them in it to slide the pill down they can eat the rest so you know they got it all the way down and have food in tummy. Hopefully this will help someone :)

https://www.chewy.com/inaba-churu-grain-free-tuna-salmon/dp/169579
 
jayla-n-Drevon said:
I am on board with Janet.... Funny I was talking to my vet tonight and so aggravated that more vets do not advocate for adequan before the symptoms are bad. It sounds like your baby is in pretty good shape which is great! I also give both my boys weekly shots. Rico is 20 and Dre is 19--I started adequan around 15 yrs 1x a month after the loading doses as they aged that changed. I have 4 flights of stairs and they go up and down with ease. You can get it online with a script if you vet charges too much. I was giving Dre dasaquan also but it spiked his bg so now only Rico gets it (no fd). they also get canna pet and msm. We do the preemptive strike with the seniors at our house:cat::cat:
Click to expand...
Where do you order the canna pet from?
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top