New Member—Annie and Dracula

A

AnnieDracsMom

Member
Hello everyone. My almost 7yo Dracula was just diagnosed early diabetic. I got him a comprehensive panel and everything was normal except his glucose was 307 with no ketones. The vet offered Bexacat or insulin. I initially thought Bexacat made sense, some people had good experiences, it’s less expensive and more convenient and less intimidating than insulin; but I’m worried about all the potential side effects and that it seems a lot of cats have died from it. But, if I start with insulin I can’t go to Bexacat later. I’ve heard that insulin is the gold standard and theres a better chance of going into remission. My Amazon cart currently has an automatic wet food feeder, new smart drinking fountain to monitor, a one touch ultra plus flex diabetes testing kit, and fancy feast pate oceanwhitefish and tuna cat food. I feel overwhelmed and lost about all the fast decisions I need to make. I also wish I had a vet who specializes in this specifically for guidance. Thank you in advance for any thoughts, advice, and help.
 
Hi Annie and Dracula! Welcome to the FDMB!

A FD dx is completely overwhelming. We've all been there. On this forum we have people who have dealt with FD in their own cats, and now they've remained on the board to offer guidance. They don't replace vets, but they offer such incredible guidance because they have so many years of experience. Additionally, there is a warehouse of information on the forum to help you educate yourself.

If you're in the US, you might consider the Relion Premiere meter from Wal-Mart. It's only around $9 and the test strips are affordable (50 for $10). That way, if Wal-Mart is relatively close by, you always have access to test strips in the middle of the night, if needed.

Some here have found the Pet Libro to be a good feeder. You can search the forum for more information.

I don't know about Bexacat, and hopefully someone with more experience will weigh in on its pros/cons. If you go with insulin, Lantus and Prozinc are the preferred choices.
 
If you haven't seen it already, take a look at this list of the pros and cons of Bexacat: New Treatments for Feline Diabetes. Some cats do quite well on it, as long as they pass all the prerequisites. Since it and Senvelgo (liquid form) are so new, not all vets are familiar with when you should or shouldn't use it. Unfortunately we have seen a couple cat deaths here from cats that were started on it, in spite of having ketones at diagnosis. So we are cautious in making sure it would be a safe option. My vet recently prescribed it for a feral kitty of another client - and that would be the only options for that cat, so it's great that it is available now.

You can go from Bexacat to insulin, should you need to do so. We've seen a few cats do that too, including one that subsequently went into diabetic remission.
 
Mary & Jude said:
Hi Annie and Dracula! Welcome to the FDMB!

A FD dx is completely overwhelming. We've all been there. On this forum we have people who have dealt with FD in their own cats, and now they've remained on the board to offer guidance. They don't replace vets, but they offer such incredible guidance because they have so many years of experience. Additionally, there is a warehouse of information on the forum to help you educate yourself.

If you're in the US, you might consider the Relion Premiere meter from Wal-Mart. It's only around $9 and the test strips are affordable (50 for $10). That way, if Wal-Mart is relatively close by, you always have access to test strips in the middle of the night, if needed.

Some here have found the Pet Libro to be a good feeder. You can search the forum for more information.

I don't know about Bexacat, and hopefully someone with more experience will weigh in on its pros/cons. If you go with insulin, Lantus and Prozinc are the preferred choices.
Click to expand...
Thank you so much for your response, Mary, and I’m grateful to be here. I didn’t think about cost of strips and the convenience factor of knowing where they are available. I have a Walgreens next door so maybe I’ll see that they carry in stock. I’m thinking of the pet libro polar feeder. I just hope my kitty won’t mind the cold food (he’s used to room temp). I also have to figure out what do do for food and treats. I was giving him famcy feast pate with gravy, so fancy feast regular pate make sense. I also have been feeding him churu broths and treats as well as some dry treats (party mix—I’m so mad at myself for not doing better food wise in the past.) so I’m looking for alternatives. I’m also thinking I should forego Bexacat—I just keep seeing so many cats dying from this. I cannot take that risk. I’m supposed to start on Monday, but I may just start with insulin instead. Anyway thanks again and I appreciate you.
 
Wendy&Neko said:
If you haven't seen it already, take a look at this list of the pros and cons of Bexacat: New Treatments for Feline Diabetes. Some cats do quite well on it, as long as they pass all the prerequisites. Since it and Senvelgo (liquid form) are so new, not all vets are familiar with when you should or shouldn't use it. Unfortunately we have seen a couple cat deaths here from cats that were started on it, in spite of having ketones at diagnosis. So we are cautious in making sure it would be a safe option. My vet recently prescribed it for a feral kitty of another client - and that would be the only options for that cat, so it's great that it is available now.

You can go from Bexacat to insulin, should you need to do so. We've seen a few cats do that too, including one that subsequently went into diabetic remission.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your response, Wendy. I appreciate it. I’m thinking of going the safer route And just starting on insulin. It’s too new and I couldn’t forgive myself if I took that risk for convenience and my baby died.
 
AnnieDracsMom said:
Thank you so much for your response, Mary, and I’m grateful to be here. I didn’t think about cost of strips and the convenience factor of knowing where they are available. I have a Walgreens next door so maybe I’ll see that they carry in stock. I’m thinking of the pet libro polar feeder. I just hope my kitty won’t mind the cold food (he’s used to room temp). I also have to figure out what do do for food and treats. I was giving him famcy feast pate with gravy, so fancy feast regular pate make sense. I also have been feeding him churu broths and treats as well as some dry treats (party mix—I’m so mad at myself for not doing better food wise in the past.) so I’m looking for alternatives. I’m also thinking I should forego Bexacat—I just keep seeing so many cats dying from this. I cannot take that risk. I’m supposed to start on Monday, but I may just start with insulin instead. Anyway thanks again and I appreciate you.
Click to expand...
I feed Jude the Fancy Feast Classics pates--they are typically all low carb. We are in the process of switching to a lower phosphorous food, though, because he has urinary tract issues. In terms of treats, I use these https://www.chewy.com/vital-essentials-chicken-hearts/dp/793646 (be sure to get the item packaged for dogs--same thing as the item packaged for cats, but cheaper) and these https://www.chewy.com/orijen-regional-red-grain-free-freeze/dp/142617. There are links to food lists here and here.

When Jude and I first got started with treatment, I purchased the Alpha Trak monitor, but I soon saw with the frequency of testing I needed to do, I was going to go broke trying to afford the test strips ($1 a piece!), plus I had to order from Amazon, so I followed the advice here and switched to the Relion. It works fine!

As you're discovering there is a learning curve with FD, in general, and testing/shooting is but one element in that mix, but it's truly not that difficult once you get the hang of it. We have oodles of information on the forum to help you get things going. The health links is a great place to start.
 
Mary & Jude said:
I feed Jude the Fancy Feast Classics pates--they are typically all low carb. We are in the process of switching to a lower phosphorous food, though, because he has urinary tract issues. In terms of treats, I use these https://www.chewy.com/vital-essentials-chicken-hearts/dp/793646 (be sure to get the item packaged for dogs--same thing as the item packaged for cats, but cheaper) and these https://www.chewy.com/orijen-regional-red-grain-free-freeze/dp/142617. There are links to food lists here and here.

When Jude and I first got started with treatment, I purchased the Alpha Trak monitor, but I soon saw with the frequency of testing I needed to do, I was going to go broke trying to afford the test strips ($1 a piece!), plus I had to order from Amazon, so I followed the advice here and switched to the Relion. It works fine!

As you're discovering there is a learning curve with FD, in general, and testing/shooting is but one element in that mix, but it's truly not that difficult once you get the hang of it. We have oodles of information on the forum to help you get things going. The health links is a great place to start.
Click to expand...
Hey thanks for the info—I was thinking of ordering the treats you recommended, but then I remembered the issue last year with bird flu and to avoid raw and freeze dried treats. Any thoughts on this? Thanks again.
 
AnnieDracsMom said:
Hey thanks for the info—I was thinking of ordering the treats you recommended, but then I remembered the issue last year with bird flu and to avoid raw and freeze dried treats. Any thoughts on this? Thanks again.
Click to expand...
I hadn't heard about that, but it's an excellent point. I'm going to start another post and ask what folks are doing to avoid freeze dried and raw in terms of treats.
 
There are treats out there that are not chicken or turkey. Rabbit, lamb and other red meats for example. Cooking kills the bird flu. Some people cook up a chicken breast and cut it into tiny pieces and freeze what they don't need right away for later.

Feeding fish all the time is not ideal, due to the toxins often present in the larger fish (like tuna). You might want to make sure he has some variety of proteins.
 
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