17 year old healthy cat diagnosed with diabetes

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jlflynt

Member Since 2014
Hi all....I found your site while looking for information regarding diabetes in cats. So far its been very helpful with all the articles.

I just found out tonight that my baby, Flint (17 years old) who is overall very healthy has diabetes (I noticed he was drinking a lot more water and had lost weight). He will be dropped off tomorrow morning for his glucose curve testing and then I will learn to give his insulin shots personally there on after with another vet appt in a week or so to follow up and see how he's doing.

I'm so new to this and definitely freaking out a bit. This is my first "born" and oh if he could talk about our life together with all the ups and downs in my life I'd be in trouble! LOL

All joking aside though, what are your experiences with older healthy cats that just got diagnosed with diabetes? I'm scared and nervous and fearful and trying not to cry. I love my cat so much I would do anything for him.

Thanks in advance!
 
Good evening. You and Flint have found the right place here! I know you feel scared but even though he is an older cat, he can still have remaining good years even with FD. If you look at some of the posts, there are many senior sugar kitties that are holding their own!
Great that you are going to learn to test his blood sugar yourself, but you can learn what the vet will teach you by videos that are posted here. Just search for them, I would link them but I am extremely non computer friendly.
Big hug, Flint is going to be ok! :-D
 
Going through pretty much the same thing. My 13 yr old was just diagnosed Tuesday and his only signs were weight loss. Luckily he's always been pretty healthier although he had to have 3 teeth removed last year and now there's another. Back to my point lol. He went in today for his curve and I've been freaking!!!!! I read so much on this site that helped me answer many questions. I was just able to pick him up a few hours I was so scared of what it'd be like when I picked him up. He was fine, happy I was there and acted like nothing happened except me leaving him there. My vet had me shoot him up with saline since it wasn't time for his injection and I felt HORRIBLE!!!!! He just layer there, didn't even flinch but I just felt like I was hurting him. I actually just gave him his first injection at home. I didn't think I could do it. I put his dinner down, he started eating, I set up the needle and held my breath but I did it!!!!!! What's even better is he acted like nothing happened. Almost like I was a fly bugging him at dinner. I am so happy to see it REALLY didn't phase him :o Unfortunately in my opinion you will continue to freak till after the fact no matter what anyone says until it happens and you'll be like wow! I felt like I was literally going to be sick when I was in the vets office holding the needle but honestly it was easier than giving him meds lol. Good luck and keep reading. I just started and can't believe the wonderful information and the helpfulness of everyone on this site.
 
Take a deep breath. I know exactly how you are feeling. There are a lot of senior cats here that are on insulin and doing great.

Once you get into a routine you will get your rhythm and it will be a second nature. I remember well how much I stressed the first month. Now that I can look back upon it, I realize how needless all that stress was :smile: We can't help but feel that way when our babies are diagnosed, but honestly....it will get less overwhelming and soon it will be just another normal part of your day.
 
Hi Flint and welcome to the message board. Would you introduce your bean (human being) to us? And where do you folks live? US, Canada, international? We have members from all over the world, although most of us are in the US or Canada.

It's ok, we understand how stressful and worried and freaked out people get when they find out their cat is diabetic. We're here to help you every step of the way. We have lots of experience in the day to day management of diabetes. Reading this may help. Newbies - a message from your cat

One of the things we like to suggest, is that you learn to home test your kitty. It will help to keep Flint safe.

Many cats can even go into remission with a good low carb diet like Fancy Feast pates, Friskies pates or Wellness Grain-free canned food, a good insulin like Lantus, Levimir or Prozinc and home testing to monitor.
 
Thank you everyone! I'm going to go and pick Flint up in about 10 minutes. They will train me with saline of how to give the shot. I got him some Fancy Feast and taking it to the Vet to make sure he can eat it and it's okay for him. Or I may buy some Purina DM that they sell there (as some friends have said it also is good).

I'll keep you posted and I'm SURE I will have many more questions. The vet said when I called earlier that Flint is responding to the treatment and doing well. I'm hoping to see some really good changes over the next few weeks (not that I would have even guessed he had diabetes if I hadn't trusted my instincts to get him a routine checkup). He's so happy and carefree and so loveable!

Okay I'm off and will keep you posted! I'm anxious to see him! I've missed him all day!
 
Give Flint a big welcome home hug from us. We sure do miss them when they have to spend the day at the vet.

Which insulin are you getting?

The DM food is ok, but it's more expensive than the commercial cat foods. Also, since it's liver based as the main ingredients, some cats get tired of the flavor after a week or two and refuse to eat it any more.

That is one reason why many of us feed the Fancy Feast pate style, Friskies pate style or Wellness grain free canned foods. Low carb, lots of flavors to tempt picky, finicky cats, widely available and lower cost than the prescription cat foods.
 
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