? New diagnosis - feeling in the dark as to what happens next

[GeorgeTheCat]

We’re a little overwhelmed trying to understand what treatment looks like. When we asked the vet about what life with a diabetic cat is going to involve they just sent us a price list for some initial supplies

Trying to read online about it online I understand there is a period of stabilizing that may involve many vet visits? As we’re a bit daunted by the potential expense, is it possible to reduce vet visits with our own testing?

They are suggesting we apply a sensor? Assuming George accepts the sensor does that reduce vet visits? As the sensor only lasts 14 days should we expect repeated applications till we stabilize?

It’s quit clear that 12hr feeding and injection cycles are the standard. We are home a fair it, but as we have kids with their own routines and other responsibilities, would it be impossible to attempt a 13 and 11 routine?

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Hi and welcome!

We are big believers in home testing here and that’s the best way to minimize vet visits. I actually never had to take my cat to a vet visit for her diabetes again after I started home testing. The sensor is a good option if you’re not comfortable with home testing but it only lasts for about 2 weeks and the vet needs to put them on. They can also be glitchy and some cats have been able to remove them, but some folks here really like them. You can get all the supplies you need from Walmart for under $40 so it’s also a lot less expensive to home test but not everyone’s schedule allows for it.

Not sure what you mean for stabilizing. It can take weeks or even months for a diabetic cat to get regulated. You will always have to monitor the blood glucose levels because they fluctuate and there isn’t one ideal dose that will be ideal forever. It’s a balancing act. Some cats do go into remission and that’s the best case scenario. I made a lot of mistakes with Minnie and I didn’t find this forum until almost a year after her diagnosis so she never went into remission and with the meds she was on for her IBD, she probably wouldn’t have, but Bobo did. I followed all the guidance and advice here and he’s been on remission since May. Low carb food, a good insulin and home monitoring give you the best shot at remission.

what food are you feeding? Please don’t feed him only twice a day. That’s something that works for dogs who have a much slower metabolism than cats and it’s very old fashioned advice. Cats are natural grazers and diabetic cats do much better eating multiple times a day, it’s easier on their already compromised pancreas and it helps avoid big sugar spikes. You should feed him the 2 largest meals at shot times and an additional 3-4 snacks or smaller meals throughout the day.

With a diabetic cat you need:

• A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs. No need for expensive “prescription” foods. Most of us feed fancy feast or Friskies
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
• We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
• HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet we use to record the bg, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

Can you tell us what insulin George has been prescribed and the dose please?

A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions.

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Giving insulin 12 hours apart is optimal but it’s not impossible to do 13/11 instead. From what understand, prozinc is a more forgiving insulin than Lantus when it comes to that. The issue with the timing is that a late shot (13) can function as a dose decrease while an early shot (11) can function as a dose increase so it may slow down the progress or the journey towards regulation, but I’ll let others more experienced give their feedback on that @Sienne and Gabby (GA)

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

The initial learning curve is more than a bit overwhelming. Even human diabetics will note that they are overwhelmed when it comes to managing their cat's diabetes. You're in good company!!

There are a number of factors that make it hard to give you exact answers. First and foremost, when your kitty was diagnosed with diabetes, were there any other health issues present? In particular, did your cat also have diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA) and need to be hospitalized? A cat that has other medical issues may need additional monitoring and additional vet visits.

The other issue is your comfort level. We are a pretty independent group. We strongly encourage home testing because it's a means of ensuring your cat's safety. The continuous glucose monitor (CGM) is one method that is fairly new. It has its pros and cons (pros -- you don't have to poke your cat with a sharp object. Cons - some cats are great at getting the sensor off. The sensors can be more expensive than test strips. We do have members who are able to apply the sensors themselves thereby reducing the cost.)

Many people use a glucometer rather than a CGM for home testing. You can use a human monitor -- the Walmart Relion monitor is the least expensive due to the strips being very modestly priced -- or there are pet-specific monitors. The cost for strips is pricey -- the strips for a pet monitor run about $1.00 a strip vs for the Relion strips which are about $0.17 per strip.

Over the course of my cat's diabetes, I relied less and less on my vet. Once I started reading about dosing methods and had the help and support of the members here, I didn't really need to depend on my vet. Frankly, my vet wasn't going to be around 24/7 and the people here are around much of the time. I would routinely have questions when the vet wasn't in the office. Once you have an understanding of when and how much to increase or decrease doses, your cat's diabetes is very manageable without your vet. Remember, humans don't see their doctor for diabetes management other than maybe a few times a year unless something is "off." Vets will frequently ask that you bring your cat in for a curve (that means monitoring for 12 hours). You can do that at home and the results will be far more reliable because your cat isn't stressed over being at the vet's office and stress raises blood glucose levels. When I moved from Illinois to Ohio and found a new vet, she looked at my records (we all keep a spreadsheet with our test data), she told me that I didn't need her help with managing my cat's diabetes. I just needed to let her know if I needed my cat's insulin prescription renewed.

Stabilizing the dose isn't that big of an issue. You start out at a modest dose and systematically increase the dose until you get better results. (I know, I'm making it sound easy. It can be frustrating, to be sure, but it doesn't mean you're camping out at the vet's office.)

The administration of most types of insulin for cats is based on a 12-hour dosing cycle. A cat's metabolism is faster than a human's and they need twice a day dosing. The two insulins that are recommended by the American Animal Hospital Assn for feline diabetes are Prozinc and glargine. Prozinc is a bit more forgiving than glargine but you really do need to be within a 30 minute window the majority of the time. Obviously, life happens. However, you want to avoid skipping doses if at all possible.

Please let us know if you have questions. We'll do our best to help.

 

[GeorgeTheCat]

Hi and welcome!

We are big believers in home testing here and that’s the best way to minimize vet visits. I actually never had to take my cat to a vet visit for her diabetes again after I started home testing. The sensor is a good option if you’re not comfortable with home testing but it only lasts for about 2 weeks and the vet needs to put them on. They can also be glitchy and some cats have been able to remove them, but some folks here really like them. You can get all the supplies you need from Walmart for under $40 so it’s also a lot less expensive to home test but not everyone’s schedule allows for it.

Not sure what you mean for stabilizing. It can take weeks or even months for a diabetic cat to get regulated. You will always have to monitor the blood glucose levels because they fluctuate and there isn’t one ideal dose that will be ideal forever. It’s a balancing act. Some cats do go into remission and that’s the best case scenario. I made a lot of mistakes with Minnie and I didn’t find this forum until almost a year after her diagnosis so she never went into remission and with the meds she was on for her IBD, she probably wouldn’t have, but Bobo did. I followed all the guidance and advice here and he’s been on remission since May. Low carb food, a good insulin and home monitoring give you the best shot at remission.

what food are you feeding? Please don’t feed him only twice a day. That’s something that works for dogs who have a much slower metabolism than cats and it’s very old fashioned advice. Cats are natural grazers and diabetic cats do much better eating multiple times a day, it’s easier on their already compromised pancreas and it helps avoid big sugar spikes. You should feed him the 2 largest meals at shot times and an additional 3-4 snacks or smaller meals throughout the day.

With a diabetic cat you need:

• A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs. No need for expensive “prescription” foods. Most of us feed fancy feast or Friskies
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
• We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
• HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet we use to record the bg, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

Can you tell us what insulin George has been prescribed and the dose please?

A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions.

Hi and welcome!

We are big believers in home testing here and that’s the best way to minimize vet visits. I actually never had to take my cat to a vet visit for her diabetes again after I started home testing. The sensor is a good option if you’re not comfortable with home testing but it only lasts for about 2 weeks and the vet needs to put them on. They can also be glitchy and some cats have been able to remove them, but some folks here really like them. You can get all the supplies you need from Walmart for under $40 so it’s also a lot less expensive to home test but not everyone’s schedule allows for it.

Not sure what you mean for stabilizing. It can take weeks or even months for a diabetic cat to get regulated. You will always have to monitor the blood glucose levels because they fluctuate and there isn’t one ideal dose that will be ideal forever. It’s a balancing act. Some cats do go into remission and that’s the best case scenario. I made a lot of mistakes with Minnie and I didn’t find this forum until almost a year after her diagnosis so she never went into remission and with the meds she was on for her IBD, she probably wouldn’t have, but Bobo did. I followed all the guidance and advice here and he’s been on remission since May. Low carb food, a good insulin and home monitoring give you the best shot at remission.

what food are you feeding? Please don’t feed him only twice a day. That’s something that works for dogs who have a much slower metabolism than cats and it’s very old fashioned advice. Cats are natural grazers and diabetic cats do much better eating multiple times a day, it’s easier on their already compromised pancreas and it helps avoid big sugar spikes. You should feed him the 2 largest meals at shot times and an additional 3-4 snacks or smaller meals throughout the day.

With a diabetic cat you need:

• A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs. No need for expensive “prescription” foods. Most of us feed fancy feast or Friskies
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
• We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
• HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet we use to record the bg, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

Can you tell us what insulin George has been prescribed and the dose please?

A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions.

Thanks for this detailed reply! Right now we are feeding Boreal for Older Cats, and we do keep it out all the time to let them graze. It does say it is Low-Carb, no grains and won't cause blood-sugar spikes. We'd loove to not put them (we actually have 2 cats, one not diabetic) through the stress of changing their food if possible. Does anyone else feed this brand? It is dry however, which we understand may not be as good for George now as a wet brand.

We seem to have caught it fairly early - they said he luckily has no other health problems/side effects as yet.

We are still right at the beginning of the diagnosis process. We haven't gotten an exact prescription/dose yet.

Spreadsheet?

 

[Hendrick Cuddleclaw]

Thanks for this detailed reply! Right now we are feeding Boreal for Older Cats, and we do keep it out all the time to let them graze. It does say it is Low-Carb, no grains and won't cause blood-sugar spikes. We'd loove to not put them (we actually have 2 cats, one not diabetic) through the stress of changing their food if possible. Does anyone else feed this brand? It is dry however, which we understand may not be as good for George now as a wet brand.

We seem to have caught it fairly early - they said he luckily has no other health problems/side effects as yet.

We are still right at the beginning of the diagnosis process. We haven't gotten an exact prescription/dose yet.

Spreadsheet?

Hi, Welcome to the best place on the internet to get your cat help! This place is amazing, these gurus saved me and saved my boy.


Low-carb canned or raw is the best choice for a diabetic feline. Dry food, even low-carb, is not recommended for cats whether they are diabetic or not. This direction is from feline nutrition experts like Dr. Pierson, read more here: https://catinfo.org/


Regarding the spreadsheet. This place is very numbers driven which I love! And it starts by making a google spreadsheet where you track everything.

Check this link out for more: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Since you haven’t gotten an insulin yet, I would ask for either Lantus or prozinc as the two are the best insulins for cats.

the only 2 dry foods that I know are low carb are Dr Elseys and Young Again Zero Carb. I’d go on their website and see if they list the nutritional info there. If not, you may have to email or call them.