10 year old male cat, Canada

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ladysown

ladysown

Member Since 2019
So our 10 year old male cat has lived a marvellous life so far.

He was recently diagnosed with Diabetes and we've been doing tons of research.

We plan to feed a homemade diet...thinking cooked at this point with an eventual move to raw. We used to do raw with our dogs (currently dog-less) so we've not unfamiliar with that routine, but it got us four more years with our old guy. Just cooked is quicker to move him onto. Our vet is NOT supportive of doing this but I have to think what's best for our budget and our cats right?

We have a second cat Lizzy, female. long-haired. Perfectly healthy at this point though full of attitude. Keeping HER from getting diabetes would be excellent as messing around with blood and needles would SO not be my idea of fun. Both cats will be transitioned to the new way to feed.

Currently we are trying to figure out the whole monitoring from home thing and finding a meter to use.

Question: best options in Canada? What monitor to get
Question: how to monitor a cat's glucose levels with a human monitor. how do you translate the differences? or what numbers should be aiming for with a human monitor?

Thanks for the welcome and the advise.
 
Would you tell us more about your cat please. Is he currently on insulin at this point? It would be very helpful if you would create a signature so that kitty's pertinent information is available with each of your posts. Here is a link on how to do that: SIGNATURE
This information can be updated as you go forward.
I can recommend some reading for you about feline nutrition and diets: www.catinfo.org. I am currently working on transitioning Idjit to a raw diet using a supplement, FoodFurLife EZ Complete, which does ship internationally. I have read other posts of a member that uses this product but partially cooks the meat.
In my research I encountered other raw food supplement products: Alnutrin, and TCfeline raw cat food premix (from Canada). I'm sure there are others, and hopefully more members will chime in on the subject.
Regarding the meter for home testing, I am in the US and unfortunately no real help. I will tag a member that may be able to offer some suggestions @Kris & Teasel
I think changing your title to asking for specific help for a homemade diet and home testing meter information is going to get you more responses sooner.
 
he is currently on insulin.... vet had him at a fairly high dose and wants him in hospital until they figure out the right dose... but that's beyond our budget.
We've started him on a single dose here at home and have noticed he's more perky. :) We'll have to play around with it a bit to find the right dose.
He's on Caninsulin. The vet did a good job on scaring us about using insulin so that prompted lots of reading.
I don't know how to change the title.
 
Hi and welcome from another Ontario resident. Where in Ontario are you? If you happen to be close to the US border, there may be a more economical option available if you are up for making periodic cross border trips to stock up on strips.

As far as glucometers are concerned, any meter will do but the main things you want to shop for are a meter that takes the smallest sample of blood (0.3 microliter) and least expensive strips. Often it's a trade off because the meter with the lowest cost strips may take a larger blood sample which can make testing a bit more challenging in the early days. Many of us here are using the Freestyle Lite which requires the smallest sample of blood and right now they are offering a free meter with purchase of the strips. Go here for free meter coupon. https://myfreestyle.ca/en/products/lite . While the strips for the Freestyle meters are not cheap they are amongst the cheapest available in local pharmacies, Walmart etc.

There is a meter available with cheaper strips called Bravo however the meter and strips can only be ordered online at https://diabetesexpress.ca/collections/blood-glucose-meters-ketone-meters/products/bravo-meter so you'd have to make sure you stay stocked up on strips not only for peace of mind but also to save on delivery costs. I believe this meter takes a slightly larger blood sample than the Freestyle meter and I have seen a report by a user that it read high compared to another meter however we don't have a lot of user experience here to share to make any concrete statement about it.

If Milo has any history of ketones or DKA, then you might want to consider either the Freestyle Neo Precision or Nova Max meters to make testing for ketones easier. Both take slightly larger blood samples but provide dual functionality for glucose and ketones.

There is no way to "translate" or convert human meter readings to pet meter or lab values your vet gets in clinic. The normal BG range for a cat on a human meter is 2.8 mmol to 6.7 mmol. You will see different numbers here as the majority of folks are from the US which uses a different scale of measurement. The normal BG range in US scale on the human meter is 50mg to 120mg. It's a simple conversion between Cdn. and US values. Mutliply the Cdn reading by 18 to get the US value or divide the US value by 18 to get the Cdn. value.
 
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
If you happen to be close to the US border, there may be a more economical option available if you are up for making periodic cross border trips to stock up on strips.
Click to expand...

Wait...really? I'm near the U.S. border. Where do you get strips in the U.S.? How much cheaper are they?
 
We're practically neighbours! :D

Walmart in the US has their own brand called Relion. That said, the Relion meter that was very popular amongst our US neighbours here has recently been discontinued by Walmart and there is a new meter being sold now but one member seemed to think it was reading high when compared with the original meter and it requires a slightly larger blood sample than the original meter. That report may have been a meter issue but without further info, I personally would be a bit wary of having a meter reading on the high side which could be dangerous if the cat is running at close to normal BG levels or going too low on a particular dose of insulin. The original Relion meter was the same meter (with different branding) as one sold at ADWdiabetes in the US. ADW only delivers to the US but if you got a US postal box, you could order from them and then pick the package up from the post box.
I believe this is the meter at ADW that is the same as the old Relion meter from Walmart.
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/4039/arkray-glucocard-01-blood-glucose-monitoring-kit
Here is a thread about the discontinued meter with more details about alternatives.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...firm-and-micro-meters-strips-new-info.205164/
Hope this helps.
 
Thank you! I'll check this out.
MrWorfMen's Mom said:
We're practically neighbours! :D

Walmart in the US has their own brand called Relion. That said, the Relion meter that was very popular amongst our US neighbours here has recently been discontinued by Walmart and there is a new meter being sold now but one member seemed to think it was reading high when compared with the original meter and it requires a slightly larger blood sample than the original meter. That report may have been a meter issue but without further info, I personally would be a bit wary of having a meter reading on the high side which could be dangerous if the cat is running at close to normal BG levels or going too low on a particular dose of insulin. The original Relion meter was the same meter (with different branding) as one sold at ADWdiabetes in the US. ADW only delivers to the US but if you got a US postal box, you could order from them and then pick the package up from the post box.
I believe this is the meter at ADW that is the same as the old Relion meter from Walmart.
https://www.adwdiabetes.com/product/4039/arkray-glucocard-01-blood-glucose-monitoring-kit
Here is a thread about the discontinued meter with more details about alternatives.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...firm-and-micro-meters-strips-new-info.205164/
Hope this helps.
Click to expand...

Thank you! I'll check this out.
 
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