Help! New time diabetic cat owner

[Buster mom]

Looking for the low down on how to do this cat with diabetes thing on a budget. I love my big boy but this girl has got to save. Any help is appreciated

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

Hi first of all welcome

Let us know a little bit more about you and your cat, how old is he? When was he diagnosed? Is he on insulin? What insulin? Are you home testing? Do you already have a blood glucose monitor? If you do which one?Does he have any other health issues? What is he eating? Where are you located?

There are a few ways of saving money from the food to where you can buy the insulin and the test strips for the blood glucose monitor but in order to help you we need to have an idea about you and your cat

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. First, which country are you in, that may tailor our suggestions. What food is Buster eating now? Low carb wet or raw food is best and increases your chances or regulation, or even possibly remission.

To lower the vet costs, and get more accurate results, we suggest learning to test his blood sugars at home.

 

[Buster mom]

Hi first of all welcome

Let us know a little bit more about you and your cat, how old is he? When was he diagnosed? Is he on insulin? What insulin? Are you home testing? Do you already have a blood glucose monitor? If you do which one?Does he have any other health issues? What is he eating? Where are you located?

There are a few ways of saving money from the food to where you can buy the insulin and the test strips for the blood glucose monitor but in order to help you we need to have an idea about you and your cat

Buster is 11 years old. He was diagnosed on 12/10 and is currently on 3 units of Vetsulin twice daily. Currently limited to 200 calories per day and eating Purina® Pro Plan® Veterinary Diets DM Dietetic Management® Feline Formula dry and wet food. He weighs 20 pounds and needs to lose around 9. We have a glucose curve in 2 weeks.

I plan on switching to friskies wet once the prescription food is gone. I have read about the ReliOn Prime monitor and plan on using that. I would then hope to test him and decide then whether or not he needs the insulin instead of just a standard 2 times per day.

We are in Minnesota USA

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

Hi there and welcome Buster and mom.

Know that 3 U insulin is a high dose and when you switch to Friskies and wet food you need to lower the insulin dose too. Too avoid hypos which is very serious if that happens

And you should start to home test the blood glucose at home with a human blood glucose meter before the switch.
Many here in U.S use the Relion blood gluose meter which you already have read about.
It's a very good start.

 

[Buster mom]

Hi there and welcome Buster and mom.

Know that 3 U insulin is a high dose and when you switch to Friskies and wet food you need to lower the insulin dose too. Too avoid hypos which is very serious if that happens

And you should start to home test the blood glucose at home with a human blood glucose meter before the switch.
Many here in U.S use the Relion blood gluose meter which you already have read about.
It's a very good start.

I was reading that 3 is very high but his readings were 320 and 423 the day he was diagnosed. Should I talk to the vet about his dosage? I dont want to be overdosing already

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

I was reading that 3 is very high but his readings were 320 and 423 the day he was diagnosed. Should I talk to the vet about his dosage? I dont want to be overdosing already

He is eating dry food now, which is high in carbohydrates that affect the blood glucose to be a little higher, which then might need that higher insulin dose.
I'm not sure how well your vet knows that dry food and high carbs raises the bg levels but it is good that you have a discussion with your vet about that.

Once you start home test the bg at home we will get a lot more bg numbers on Buster.

 

[Veronica & Babu-chiri]

I was reading that 3 is very high but his readings were 320 and 423 the day he was diagnosed. Should I talk to the vet about his dosage? I dont want to be overdosing already

He's a big boy and eating high carb (carbohydrates) food so right now that may not be too high but until you start testing there is no way to know, because the dose is going to depend on the test results you get once you start testing, insulin needs are influenced by a lot of things, food is one of the mayor ones, but health and stress have an impact too and that is one of the reasons that is better to test at home than at the vet where they are stressed and we've seen a lot of cats with doses higher than what they need because it was based on the results at the vets office where the cat was super stressed. Once you start testing let us know what results you get and ask for dosing help