New Member - Mister, dx November 2021

[Jules and Mister]

Hello,
My 11 yo male(neutered) Mister was diagnosed with diabetes in November 2021. We had boarded him for 10 days (first time ever doing so) and upon picking him up he never really seemed to be himself again which quickly spiraled into loss of appetite, insane thirst, and crazy urine output leading us to take him in to the vet and ultimately the diagnosis of diabetes. He was around 15 lbs at the time (I know, way too chonky) and solely on a dry food diet.
He was started on 1 unit Prozinc every twelve hours and gradually switched to Purina DM Dry food (which he hated), then we did a Freestyle Libre in lieu of an in office curve which led to a decrease in his insulin dosage to 0.5 unit every 12 hours.
He began losing a significant amount of weight and I gradually transitioned him to a diet of Fancy Feast Classic Pate and Hills M/D Dry which he is happy with most days.
By April 2022 he was down to 11.1 lbs and his fructosamine results were 338 umol/L at that time. The vet kept him at the dosage of 0.5 unit ever 12 hours.

After spending much time here and elsewhere lurking, learning, and taking in as much info as I can I'm feeling like I have a small handle on managing his illness. I'd like to take steps to further manage his BG and diet for better control and long-term health and am hoping to find some advice here. We've recently moved and our new vet is stronger advocate for home testing.
Our vet recommended the Test Buddy Monitor but I did not find what I consider enough positive reviews to support using it and am looking for info/recommendations on monitors.

Also, once we have a handle on home testing I'd like to transition him off the Hills; if anyone else has a dry-food diva and can recommend an alternative outside of the "prescription" I am all ears!
Thank you all in advance for any advice though I'm sorry to have joined this group I'm also so very glad to have found it!

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Hello Jules and Mister and welcome to the best club you never wanted to join (I stole that line from @Wendy&Neko iirc)

seriously the folks here are amazing, dedicating their personal time and energy to helping strangers and their fur buddies.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hi Jules most of us use human meters ,that's what our numbers are based on.
Your vet probably uses a pet meter such as the Alpha Trak , the test strips are crazy expensive, around 54.00 for 50 strips and believe me they go fast and you have to order them on line.
You can go to Walmart and purchase the Relion Prime Classic meter for 9 dollars
17.88 for 100 test strips
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets any brand
Cotton rounds

The Hills M/D dry is too high in carbs, I found this on the Chewy site that was answered
What is the carbohydrate content, please?
Answer by • May 25, 2021
This recipe has a Carbohydrate content of 15% on a dry matter basis.

Good that he's eating the Fancy Feast Pates, most of us feed that or the Friskies Pate. It's good that you want to transition him off the dry, I wouldn't do it yet until you start home testing, it can drop his BG by 100 points, so you have to do it gradually.
Great that you set up your signature already, we do use a spreadsheet to track our cats BG to see how the insulin is working and how low they are dropping.
I will give you the link to set up our spreadsheet so when you start testing you can enter his numbers. The link will also explain how it works, it's very easy , in case you need help setting it up just ask, we have a member who will be happy to set it up for you.


I'll also give you the link for the food list that will tell you how many carbs there are.

Spreadsheet link
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

Food chart
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

We like to stay with 6% carbs and under but it's best if you only feed low carb wet

If you do want to look at some dry food that is about 6% carbs tap on the this link , a member had asked about low carb dry food and I answered there post #11 , the numbers are on the right hand side of each post
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/food-recommendation-for-new-diabetic.263405/#post-2954351

A lot of members feed low carb treats also, tap on this link and look for post #41 all the numbers are on the right hand side of each post. I listed many treats there
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/5-31-henrys-dka-recovery.263870/#post-2956860

Feel free to ask any other questions you have.
You couldn't have found a better forum to join. There are many experienced members here and in my opinion they know more about diabetes then most vets do. They have helped me get Tyler into remission
Mister is a handsome boy


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.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Just in case you want to see this
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

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
You can also put a thin layer of vaseline on the ear ,to help the blood bead up
A video one of our members posted
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar


She is using the Alpha Trak , with the Relion Human there is no coding needed

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Welcome Jules and Mister to the forum. If you can get the spreadsheet up and running and start testing the blood glucose we will be able to help you. Feeding a low carb diet and testing the blood glucose are both key to treating a diabetic cat successfully.

 

[Jules and Mister]

Hi Jules most of us use human meters ,that's what our numbers are based on.
Your vet probably uses a pet meter such as the Alpha Trak , the test strips are crazy expensive, around 54.00 for 50 strips and believe me they go fast and you have to order them on line.
You can go to Walmart and purchase the Relion Prime Classic meter for 9 dollars
17.88 for 100 test strips
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets any brand
Cotton rounds

The Hills M/D dry is too high in carbs, I found this on the Chewy site that was answered
What is the carbohydrate content, please?
Answer by • May 25, 2021
This recipe has a Carbohydrate content of 15% on a dry matter basis.

Good that he's eating the Fancy Feast Pates, most of us feed that or the Friskies Pate. It's good that you want to transition him off the dry, I wouldn't do it yet until you start home testing, it can drop his BG by 100 points, so you have to do it gradually.
Great that you set up your signature already, we do use a spreadsheet to track our cats BG to see how the insulin is working and how low they are dropping.
I will give you the link to set up our spreadsheet so when you start testing you can enter his numbers. The link will also explain how it works, it's very easy , in case you need help setting it up just ask, we have a member who will be happy to set it up for you.


I'll also give you the link for the food list that will tell you how many carbs there are.

Spreadsheet link
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-create-a-spreadsheet.241706/

Food chart
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

We like to stay with 6% carbs and under but it's best if you only feed low carb wet

If you do want to look at some dry food that is about 6% carbs tap on the this link , a member had asked about low carb dry food and I answered there post #11 , the numbers are on the right hand side of each post
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/food-recommendation-for-new-diabetic.263405/#post-2954351

A lot of members feed low carb treats also, tap on this link and look for post #41 all the numbers are on the right hand side of each post. I listed many treats there
https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/5-31-henrys-dka-recovery.263870/#post-2956860

Feel free to ask any other questions you have.
You couldn't have found a better forum to join. There are many experienced members here and in my opinion they know more about diabetes then most vets do. They have helped me get Tyler into remission
Mister is a handsome boy


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.

Thank you for all of the info! I will likely be purchasing the Relion meter as it seems many folks have success with it and anything we can get through a human pharmacy tends to be less expensive. I was extremely disappointed in the ingredients and nutritional breakdown of the Hills food when I did further research into it but Mister's tummy and attitude are very sensitive to any dietary changes so it's definitely going to be a gradual transition once we establish confidence with home testing. Our previous vet wasn't very supportive of it at all and wouldn't even recommend a monitor to use. We have been using the freeze dried meat low carb treats to try and supplement his appetite issues, we tried some of the higher end Tiki Cat after dark wet food to see if he would be more enthusiastic about it and allow us to reduce his dry intake but he was pretty "meh" about most of it.
I know our vet is following what they consider to be an appropriate management plan clinically but they are also the only vet in town and responsible for seeing not just small animals but everyone's horses, cows, pigs etc and just don't have the time to do any specialized work.
Thank you for the links, it will work on familiarizing myself with the spreadsheet for when we begin home testing.

 

[Jules and Mister]

Hello Jules and Mister and welcome to the best club you never wanted to join (I stole that line from @Wendy&Neko iirc)

seriously the folks here are amazing, dedicating their personal time and energy to helping strangers and their fur buddies.

Thank you and Hendrick both! I hope that my Mister will eventually develop the same level of cooperation during "The Pokey" knowing others in the same boat have been able to complete what I consider a fairly daunting task is helping to bolster my confidence with this whole situation.

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Thank you and Hendrick both! I hope that my Mister will eventually develop the same level of cooperation during "The Pokey" knowing others in the same boat have been able to complete what I consider a fairly daunting task is helping to bolster my confidence with this whole situation.

I remember that feeling very well. Getting a blood droplet and doing the home blood glucose testing seemed flat out impossible to me. People here were adamant that my wife and I could learn how, we tried and failed a bunch of times but with all the tips and tricks from Diane and others, we finally started to get the hang of it. And now, six months later, it is routine. You got this!