Hello

[Larissa and Motley]

Hello, I'm a mom to six cats, one of which, Motley, was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday when I took him in to get a tooth pulled.

I feel like an awful cat mom because he was loosing weight last month, but I thought it was due to his tooth bothering him (He was having trouble eating the hard food). He had a sideways tooth. So my husband and I took him to the vet. To our horror he weighed 6.6lbs. We fed him wet food until we were able to take him to get his tooth pulled. The vet ran a general blood panel and well here we are.

The vet put him on 1mkg(I think that's how it's measured) of novilin and Hill's D/M. The problem is, Motley hates pate wet food. Not to mention he's not used to grains in his diet any more. He eats a few bites of it and then walks away. I'm worried he's not eating enough to keep his sugar from dropping to low.

I'm also a full time student on a tight budget.

Suggestions on affordable wet cat food that isn't pate would be much appreciated.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Wow, mom to six cats! How much fun you must have I am sorry to hear about the diagnosis for Motley(love his name). Don't waste time beating yourself up over the past, we have today and can work on tomorrow. It's important for you to understand how the insulin you are using works, and about effective diabetes treatment. There are three basic components: proper low carb diet, insulin therapy and blood sugar testing. Many of us are on a tight budget and we can certainly help with cost saving tips and suggestions.
We can help you with choosing an affordable blood glucose meter and strips, help you learn to test so that Motley doesn't drop into a hypo (very low blood sugar) and suggest some varieties of affordable food he might like better. The Hill's D/M is not the best food for our sugar cats, and it is expensive. Idjit wouldn't eat the canned at all and he's a garbage gut! Any dry food is not a good option, it's way too high in carbs. It's like giving a human diabetic a sugar doughnut.
So, first please read the information about Novolin: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/beginners-guide-to-novolin-humulin-nph.186097/
Novolin works differently than the longer lasting depot insulins and you should understand how important testing is with using this more immediate action insulin. Pay close attention to the information on Hypoglycemia, (more Hypo info HERE , Hypo tool box HERE) Be educated and prepared just in case.
You can post questions and concerns in the Novolin forum and if you don't receive a timely response, post in the Main Health forum. More members monitor the Health forum to be of assistance. This Intro forum is basically a welcome mat just to say Hello, what's next?

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Larissa and Motley,
Welcome. @Idjit's mom has given you some great advice.
With the food I would definitely ditch the dry but you need to do it gradually and be testing the blood sugars to keep Motley safe from dropping low as dry is high carb and not suitable for diabetic cats. There are other suitable low carb canned foods apart from the Hills m/d. Most cats don’t like the m/d.
I would recommend you go out and buy a human glucose meter and learn to test the blood sugars. It is not hard and it won’t hurt Motley and you will know exactly how well the insulin is working. You need to test before EVERY shot to see it is safe to give and Motley is not too low. Then you need to test about +4 to see how low the insulin is taking him.
With the Novolin insulin... that is not really a very suitable insulin for cats. There are several other much more suitable ones such as Lantus and Prozinc. Which county do you live in? It sounds like Motley has been prescribed 1 unit of Novolin.. is that twice a day? You need to make sure that Motley eats well before giving the insulin because it acts fairly quickly and he needs to have food aboard when the insulin starts working.
I will send you a couple of useful links when I get to my iPad. I’m on my phone at the moment.
Also tagging @Elizabeth and Bertie as she is very familiar with Novolin.
Ask lots of questions. We are happy to help and post over on the main forum for ongoing help
Bron

 

[Larissa and Motley]

We've had him on soft food for about a month with his sore tooth. The vet gave us the Novolin because a lady lost her cat and donated it to the office. Which while it may not be the best for him, was a blessing because as I said I'm on a very tight budget. We go to the vet to check his glucose again and hopefully get the rest of his supplies like the meter Tuesday. Of course as soon as he was diagnosed I got on the computer to research. Motley is slowly perking up a little but is still way under weight (6.6lbs) now he was never a heavy cat to begin with.
We're also concerned about my oldest cat Paradox (She's 12 or 13, where Motley is 6) who used to be over weight but has lost a lot of it although hers was gradual. She's not been drinking water like Motley, but she is ignoring the dry food and rushes into where we feed Motley. It could also be she's jealous more so than the others.

That's another problem I've noticed, because the other cats see him getting the extra attention they've started picking on Motley. I try to make sure they don't feel left out(Lap time, treats and such) but they've turned against him. Granted he does smell like the vet. I'm rambling I apologize.

 

[Idjit's mom]

I know it's a worry and pretty darned confusing at first. I was very bewildered and not at all sure we could take care of a diabetic kitty, as much as we love him. But, we did keep plugging and Idjit is a very healthy guy now.
I do know about a couple of Fancy Feast classics that are textured, the Chicken Chunky and the Chicken Roasted. However, the price on FF has gone up some lately. Perhaps you could boil or bake a chicken breast, chop it up in a food processor or chunk it up with a knife and mix it into the pate, give it a little more oomph? You can buy the Friskies pates in 13 oz cans, and that might help feed your brood and give Paradox some of that yummy wet food. It's good for all your cats, lower carbs, much more moisture that's good for feline health. And that might reduce a little of jealousy and rivalry, cause they are getting good stuff too.
I know you are on a tight budget, but dry food is not a good diet for any of our fur kids. There are very few varieties that are low carb, but they are expensive and there is still that moisture issue that is important for urinary health. www.catinfo.org is a great source about feline nutrition.

Would you create your signature so that Motley's information is available with your posts:
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 a geographic location (sometimes the time zone matters)

Another thing that will help us help you when 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/
Many of our members buy their Lantus insulin from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada for a lower cost than here in the States. Prozinc can be purchased on Chewy.com also. You can visit those insulin specific forums to explore how those insulins work. They are better alternatives than the Novolin if you can manage.
Keep in touch with us Larissa, we can help you with all the aspects of this new phase in your life, managing the diabetes treatment and keeping your sanity.

 

[Larissa and Motley]

I added the signature. He has to go back tomorrow to see how he's doing on the dose he's on. He's always been a momma's boy but I feel like he's more so now. He follows me everywhere.

Idjit looks just like our Main Coon mix(Also Motley's best friend) Felicity <3.

Thank you, I was worried I'd have to flounder through this with my husband by ourselves.

 

[Idjit's mom]

I added the signature. He has to go back tomorrow to see how he's doing on the dose he's on. He's always been a momma's boy but I feel like he's more so now. He follows me everywhere.

Idjit looks just like our Main Coon mix(Also Motley's best friend) Felicity <3.

Thank you, I was worried I'd have to flounder through this with my husband by ourselves.

You are definitely not by yourselves! Our Maine Coons are super, aren't they? I really hope that you are going to start testing Motley's blood sugar, it's critically important. You can get a ReliOn Prime meter and 100 strips at Walmart for about $40, it's the least expensive one I know of. Your vet might advise or want to sell you an AlphaTrak2, a very good pet meter, but it's more expensive and the strips are about a $1 apiece, plus you have to order the strips online. We began with that meter and couldn't keep up with the costs. You do not have to buy that meter! Most of our members use a human meter because of the availability of strips and the cost factor. You are still going to see how the insulin is affecting your cat, just slightly different numbers. The spreadsheet is color coded so that you can see the blood sugar level ranges.
There are ways to manage the diabetes and not break the bank. We can help.

 

[Larissa and Motley]

I planned on picking up a meter this week on Tuesday. He goes for another check this morning. I'm so amazed at how well he's adjusting. He woke me up for breakfast and then again an hour later(I like to think for his shot).I'm glad he's finally getting talkative again; he was back talking me when I was trying to coax him over for pets.

Oh gosh Felicity is somethin'! We call her our aggressive cuddler because if she wants cuddles she'll take them. She likes giving kisses too. Yesterday we were napping and she decided my face looked like a nice place to lay.

We're getting there, now I just need to put some meat back on Motley's bones, I'm considering starting a blog for him. Any info I use I'd cite back to here.