My new experience with feline diabetes with my cat Tigger

[Linda Barrett-Cormier]

Hi my name is Linda, I live in Oshawa, Ontario , Canada. I just wanted to apologize for how long this message is first of all. Lol,
I too have a Male, neutered cat age 6-1/2 yrs old named Tigger.
He was just diagnosed on Jan 30, 2019 with a reading of 28.6 which was really high.
I too have had a lot to learn about this disease and the intense care giving I now have to deal with on s daily bases. It is indeed expensive at the beginning for all the testing and diagnosis, but it will get less expensive once he is under control and on the right diet and insulin dose is found for him. I am doing 2 units of insulin a day.
I get Lantus Insulin recommended by vet from Shoppers DrugMart @
$78.99 it lasts for 3 month's.
I also got the cat/dog AlphaTrak blood glucose monitoring system from the vets, as I was told the human one doesn't read the animals the same.
It cost $82.22 and it come with
the meter,
25 test strips,
(lancing device 30 Lancet's) which I don't use this as I get free needles to take blood samples on his ears from the vets,
AlphaTrak solution,
a daily diabetes diary to keep track of curve readings,
user guide and a carrying case.
They spent quite a long time showing me how to do insulin shots and the blood taking so I don't have to go back and forth with him and spend a fortune every time they would have to do it. I use a cream on his ear which numbs it so they don't feel it as bad. I need to have help to hold him while taking blood sample so he doesn't move, that's where my hubby and daughter come in handy. The cream is from Shoppers DrugMart called
Emla cream @ $67.99, but I went on Thursday Senior day and paid $54.39 a discount of almost $14.00 and if you have optimum points you could use to pay with them to bring it down farther. The insulin needles are from the vets they cost $25.27 for 100 pkg which will last 50 days using two a day. I asked at Shoppers they cost $45.00 there, so cheaper at vets.
He was also put on a strict diet of only wet food High in protein, low in carbs called
Purina Proplan Veterinary Diets -
DM Dietetic Management of two full tins twice a day before insulin shots. It took Tigger a couple of days to get up to a full tin each sitting, but he is able to finish 2 full tins a day now. It is chicken his favorite. It comes in two different forms one a pate style and the othe one is chunky chicken in gravy called "savory".
I started with a case of the pate chopped up, but he wasn't eating it well. So I told them and I got one tin of the Savory kind to try and he liked that better. So now I switch it one feeding pate` next feeding savory. He is eating well now.
The cost of that food is
24 cans @ $ 54.48 which lasts only 12 days, it is costly. They are going to try other foods like certain kinds of Fancy Feast to try and bring the costs down, but want to keep him on this till he is a little more stable.
I decided to feed him @ 7a.m. and again 12 hours later @ 7:00 p.m. as I have to get up with my daughter for her meds at 7:00 a.m. every morning too. We also have two other female cats so had to put them on the same feeding schedule with their own food.
Which it took a good week to turn them all around from being fed free range of dry Hills Science Diet "light" kibble and at 5:00 p.m. being fed an 1/8 th of a tin of wet food. The females still get dry food through the day in a spare bedroom where we can close the door and not let Tigger in.

Tigger has had his first curve on Feb 10 which was done three times that day by myself, hubby and daughter helping me here at home so it doesn't cost me to take him to vets everytime.
The readings were
7:10 a.m. it was 11.7
Before breakfast and his insulin
Again 4 hours after at
11:20 a.m. it was 9.2
Again 4 hours later it was 6.4
Vet said, the readings were really good.
The goal she said; was she wanted to see his
1st reading between 10-12 it was 11.7
3rd reading between 5-9 it was 6.4
So perfect readings she said.
Today we are doing his 2nd curve his readings were
7:15 a.m. @ 9.1
11:20 @ 5.2
3:20 @ 4.1
I have to send email with results to vets office to see if it is good or not.
Here's hoping that it is good too.
Hope this is encouraging and helpful to someone.
Talk soon Linda & Tigger

 

[Idjit's mom]

Welcome Linda and Tigger. You have had quite an adventure so far and I'm sure it feels like you have run a few hundred miles.
It does become easier and more routine.
It would be very helpful if you would create a signature that will display Tigger's pertinent information with each of your posts.
Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and your geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters)
2. Another thing that will help us help you now that you've started BG testing at home is to set up a spreadsheet like the one we use here. We can all see it and look at it before offering advice:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/
You can just plug in the testing numbers you already have and then continue to record.

I was advised to provide Idjit small, more frequent meals instead of only two large ones per day, as unregulated cats are unable to process food as efficiently and are usually hungry. You may want to pose that question, as well as ask our Canadian members for some diet input, what brands they have found and used in our Main Health forum HERE. You may be able to find alternates to the canned food you purchase at the vet for a lower cost.
Best wishes going forward.

 

[Tracey&Jones (GA)]

Welcome.

For the insulin - as you are in Canada...go to Costco and you can get 5 pens for $95.88 (at least that is what I paid here in Alberta). That should last a year or more depending on dosage.

There is cheaper options for food if you want to go that route - Fancy Feast Pates work. Some of the Sheba's work and are available from Wal-mart.

Some of the other ones are more at the boutique store and run the same rate as the ones at the vet clinic...it can be more convenient to go to the local pet stores or Petsmart.

Have you check out Dr. Lisa's food list? catinfo.org - a lot of options for low carb (10% or less for every day use) and higher ones if needed - anything with a gravy seems to work. You can do some comparison on line shopping.

That 41 is kinda of low and your cat is telling you the dose is too high. After such a low, he will bounce and then you see high numbers. You can see the patterns once you start with the spreadsheet. With a diet change he may go into remission quickly. I would drop his dose immediately I am assuming you mean 1 unit twice a day when you say 2 units a day. I could be wrong there.

Just a note, most of us use a human meter and our methods are written with that in mind.

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Hello and welcome to FDMB from your neighbours in Etobicoke.

That 41 is kinda of low and your cat is telling you the dose is too high.

That is a reading of 4.1mmol or 73 US which is an excellent reading using the AT2 meter but certainly getting close to the action number of 68 on the AT2 meter.

Most of us here use human meters because the strips for the AT2 meter cost a minimum of $2.00 per test and we advocate testing a minimum of 4 times daily if at all possible and if kitty is running low, we test more frequently.

I encourage you to set up one of our spreadsheets and consider testing daily to get a good overall picture of how your kitty is doing especially when it seems the current dose is bringing BG down to normal levels. A little more caution is warranted when dealing with low numbers while giving insulin. The spreadsheet automatically colour codes the readings you take making it very simple to see how kitty is doing. I'm sure your vet would be impressed.

Keep the questions coming. We look forward to getting to know you and Tigger better.

 

[Tracey&Jones (GA)]

4.1mmol

I am so used to converting the number and then got that wrong! Need more coffee!