Summit (new member, 10/24/21)

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Caris

Caris

Member Since 2021
Hi everyone! A friend recommended that I post here.

My cat's name is Summit, and he's had diabetes for about a year. He is doing well with his special food (Royal Canin Glycobalance) and insulin (Prozinc, 3 units, bid). We currently purchase this through the vet, who also asks us to complete glucose curves every other month. He also seems to have some neuropathy in his back legs, and he has a history of ureter crystals.

This ends up being about $300/month, and we can't afford this long term. But...we love him, and he seems to have a pretty good quality of life.

I am open to any and all suggestions.
 
Hi sorry no one has gotten back to you.
Are you talking about the cost of both the insulin and food?
Most of us feed Fancy Feast Classic Pates wet or Friskies.
I don't know if that would be OK with a history of ureter crystals, but I will tag a few members about it.
If they say it's OK I'm going to give you the food chart, we like to stay under 5 % carbs.
Most of the FF are 2 or 3 % carbs

If the cost for the prozinc is becoming too expensive most of us use Lantus
Lantus is expensive in the US so most of us buy it from Canada
You can use this
Semglee, it is a generic Lantus, and was approved by the FDA last June. The cost is compatible with Lantus from Canada.

https://www.goodrx.com/semglee
Here is a coupon above
Just call any pharmacy to see if they have the 5 pens, they will last you a year or more

If you decide to switch insulin's down the road we can help you with that and more information about lantus and different syringes you would need to use

You would buy different syringes and insert the syringe into the rubber stopper and draw out the insulin.


Here is the food chart
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/
 
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The insulin is $140. That's supposed to expire after 45 days, but we push it and use the whole bottle. That takes about 8 weeks.

The food is $40 for a 4lb bag. It lasts for about a month.

The vet wants to do glucose curves every 8 weeks. These are over a $100-150 each time.

We've started getting the syringes on Amazon, and they are markedly less than the vet charged, although I don't remember either number right now.

We are having a variety of financial difficulties, and I'm curious to know if there are ways to bring down these costs. Like, Id' be open to doing glucose testing at home. My wife has diabetes, so it's not a new thing to us. We just don't know how to do it on a cat.

Can we feed less expensive food? The vet will say no, and I'm not really sure. Are there less expensive places to buy insulin? How awful is it to push it past the expiration instructions on the box?
 
Thank you so much Diane. I think we posted at the same time. I will definitely check out the resources your posted.

Summit will eat wet food, but prefers kibble.
 
Caris said:
Thank you so much Diane. I think we posted at the same time. I will definitely check out the resources your posted.

Summit will eat wet food, but prefers kibble.
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Wet is much better, I'm going to give you a link to fill out to tell us about Summit and also about home testing, you can do your own curve at home and send it to your vet.
Most of us use a human meter that's what our numbers are based on
Do you have any BG numbers for Summit that the vet did
Do you know any of his BG numbers?
Your vet probably used the Alpha Trak Pet Meter, The strips are way too expensive, like 54.00 for 50 strips . I'll post what we use in a little bit, have to run out for awhile
You can tell your vet you can't afford the price for the pet meter
 
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Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.
 
Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up
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6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand
I find it better to see where I'm aiming

Here is a video one of our members did
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar
don't want to aim for the vein

Earprick.jpg
Diabetic Cat Care Home Testing Your Cat’s BG
 
If you can go back into your title, to the right it will say thread tools
Tap on that it will say Edit title In front of his name put New Member and the date
 
Caris said:
Hi everyone! A friend recommended that I post here.

My cat's name is Summit, and he's had diabetes for about a year. He is doing well with his special food (Royal Canin Glycobalance) and insulin (Prozinc, 3 units, bid). We currently purchase this through the vet, who also asks us to complete glucose curves every other month. He also seems to have some neuropathy in his back legs, and he has a history of ureter crystals. Can we feed less expensive food?
Click to expand...


Does anyone know if @Caris can feed her kitty Fancy Feast if he has a history of ureter crystals , what she's feeding now is becoming too expensive for her
@Sienne and Gabby (GA)

@Wendy&Neko

@JanetNJ

@Chris & China (GA)

@tiffmaxee

Thanks ladies
 
Caris said:
The insulin is $140. That's supposed to expire after 45 days, but we push it and use the whole bottle. That takes about 8 weeks.
Click to expand...

Most of the people here use their insulin 4-6 months unless their cat's numbers start to go up and there's no other reason other than to suspect the insulin is going bad.

Caris said:
The food is $40 for a 4lb bag. It lasts for about a month.
Click to expand...

The Glycobalance is too high in carbs for a diabetic and ANY kibble is bad for a cat with a history of crystals. I'd really work hard on getting him off all kibble and onto low carb canned or raw that's less than 10% carbs. A lot of people who've had cats with a history of crystals also added as much extra water to the food as the cat would tolerate. Water is the important thing when it comes to crystals! The more water flowing through the urinary tract, the less the chance that crystals have time to develop. The solution to pollution is dilution!

Caris said:
The vet wants to do glucose curves every 8 weeks. These are over a $100-150 each time.
Click to expand...

Not only expensive, but inaccurate too. Cat's react to stress by having their blood glucose go higher so testing done at the vet's office is unreliable. You can test at home using a human meter and not only get more accurate results, but keeping track of the daily BG's can help you control his diabetes better and maybe even get him off it completely!
Many of us use the Relion Premier Classic from WalMart. It's only $9 and the strips are $17.88/100. A box of lancets can run under $2 and that's all you really need to home test. There are tons of video's on YouTube on "how to test a cat's blood glucose".

Diabetic Neuropathy is quite common...getting the BG under control is the most important part of improving it, but adding Methyl B-12 can be very helpful too. If you use Amazon a lot, you can get this Methyl B-12 which will last you 4 months. You just crush it and mix into food.

Caris said:
How awful is it to push it past the expiration instructions on the box?
Click to expand...

Do you mean the actual expiration date or the date they tell you to replace it? Like with Lantus, the instructions all say to throw away after 28 days but the actual expiration date is like 2 years away. (and none of us throw it away after 28 days either)
 
If your kitty has crystals, Fancy Feast/Friskies may not be the best food for him. Ideally you should be feeding him wet food with lower phosophorus. Dry food is definitely not good. Cats aren't great water drinkers and it's water than helps things move and get rid of crystals. There is a great website by a Feline nutritionist vet who has lots of information on best foods to feed cats, including ones with urinary condition. Post is here: https://catinfo.org/feline-urinary-tract-diseases/
 
Hi everyone, thank you so much for all your replies. Several have links to documents that will take me some time to get through.

My friend (and the vet) recommended an actual cat glucomenter, but we have a human one and LOTS of supplies already. The needles we have are 33 gauge, which is (obviously) not 26 or 28. Can we use them or is it too different?

I recently bought two new 4 lbs bags of food and that is what his current dose was determined by. The glucose curves he has had since then have been excellent. It's time for a new one though, but it sounds like I can do that at home once I get all the things organized/ordered from Amazon.

Would it be helpful to soften his food with water or broth to increase his fluids?
 
If cost is an issue, do NOT use a pet specific glucometer. The strips are about $1 each. All of our dosing methods are based on the use of human meters. In addition, the problem with the pet meters is that if you are low on strips, you have no place other than the internet to purchase them.

The reason we suggest a 26 - 28 gauge lancet to start is because it takes a while to get the capillary bed in your cat's ear to develop. If you use a thicker lancet, it's easier to get blood. A 33 gauge is fine -- you just may need to poke a couple of times in the same spot in order to draw blood. Once the capillary bed develops, you can easily use a thinner lancet. Both human and cat get frustrated if you don't get a good sample. Also, every time you test, successful or not, give your kitty a treat! It's the best way to associate testing with something positive. Most of the members here use some kind of freeze dried protein.

I just reread your comment. Did you mean you have 33 gauge lancets or 33 gauge syringes? If you meant syringes, that's perfectly fine.

If you purchased "prescription" food, it's refundable. There are only a few brands of food (Dr. Elsey's Clean Protein, Young Again Zero Carb) that are low in carbohydrates. They are, however, expensive. Feeding your cat a low carb, low phosphorus canned food diet and adding water to the food will be far better than the Glycobalance. The Glycobalance has nothing in it that is appropriate for a cat the has a history of crystals.
 
Caris said:
The needles we have are 33 gauge, which is (obviously) not 26 or 28. Can we use them or is it too different?
Click to expand...

If you mean you're using 33 gauge lancets, they are too tiny for new ears. The 26-28 gauge lancets poke a larger hole and make it easier to get a blood drop until the ears "learn to bleed". (as you poke more and more, new capillaries grow into the area to "heal the injury" and it will get easier....then you can go to the higher gauge lancets)

You can get a box of Relion "Thin" lancets for less than $2 from WalMart that are fine.

Caris said:
Would it be helpful to soften his food with water or broth to increase his fluids?
Click to expand...

No...and it can actually be dangerous. Dry foods have been found to have a lot of mold spores included (among other nasty things) and by adding moisture, you can make it even worse and end up with a very sick cat. If you do add water, don't leave it down for more than 20 minutes and then throw any that's left away.
 
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I see Sienne suggested to feed a wet diet that's low phosphorus and that Fancy Feast/Friskies might not be the best food for a cat with a history of crystals
Here are some Christina and always add water to his wet food, mix it around
First number is carb percentage, second is mgs of phosphorus/100 cals, all less than 10% carb and less than 250 mg phos:

Weruva Truluxe Steak Frites can 6% 118
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen La Isla Bonita can 3% 166
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Pates Meowiss Bueller pouch 7% 174
Weruva Truluxe Glam 'N Punk can 0.6% 180
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Fowl Ball can 4% 180
Weruva Classic Pates Jeopurrdy Licious pouch 4% 187
Weruva Classic Pates Family Food pouch 0% 191
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Pates Cattyshack pouch 9% 211
BFF PLAY Tuna & Salmon Shhh... pouch 3% 223
BFF PLAY Tuna & Turkey Totes! pouch 2% 226
BFF PLAY Tuna & Chicken Chill Out pouch 2% 226
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Pates Cat to the Future pouch 8% 235
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Pates The Breakfast Cat pouch 9.7% 235
Weruva Classic Pates Meal of Fortune pouch 8% 236
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Lamburgini can 8% 236
Weruva Cats in the Kitchen Double Dip can 8% 248

You want carbs under 10% and phosphorus ideally low 200's or less.
 
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Christina in your signature can you add the word dry after the
Royal Canin Glycobalance. Go up to you name tap it, a drop down will appear, then tap on signature and just add it , then hit save :cat:
 
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