? Alternative to Injections? Bad Hands, Can't Use Syringe.

[Ron in Phoenix]

Hello;
My senior cat was just diagnosed with diabetes. I am not able to use syringes or even put medication in my cat's mouth. My hands are bad and there is just no way to do it. I live alone with no family or friends in the area, so it's up to me. My vet understood the circumstances but had no idea. I've been good at finding solutions to keep my cat healthy up until now, but with this I am stymied. Is there any other way for me to medicate her? My vet is too far away to have anybody visit my house. I'm not optimistic, but thank you in advance for any suggestions.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

If you can fill a syringe you can use one of these to inject:
https://www.owenmumford.com/us/medical-devices/autoject-2
Some other can use an insulin pen w/ pen needles. Disadvantage is that you can only dose in 1 unit increments w/human insulin. The manufactures of Vetsulin offer a pen that does in ½ unit increments . However, Vetsulin is not a good insulin for cats.
There is now a oral drug that can be used and might be your best choice.
https://www.aaha.org/publications/n...ion-for-cats-requires-careful-case-selection/
But I do not know if it can be added to food.

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

I don't know if this is affordable but can you have someone give your cat injections? Perhaps there's a way you can barter for services.

 

[JL and Chip]

What does your cat currently eat?

Food, especially high-carb food, can have a significant impact on blood glucose (BG) values. I was fortunate enough with my first diabetic cat to have him become diet-controlled (thus not need insulin shots) with a change to low-carb canned food alone. Many cats still need at least a short course of insulin on the path to diet control/remission, but know that it is indeed a possibility.

Also, how was your cat diagnosed? Was a fructosamine test run?

What symptoms were you seeing?

 

[Catacular]

Agree on the barter solution. Perhaps you can trade services with someone that would be willing/able to help?

That being said, we've been very happy with the Young Again Zero Mature Health no-carb dry food. It's expensive, but it might help a bit:
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/products/zero-mature-health

In the end, we all do the best we can and need to give ourselves grace. If you're unable to treat your senior cat's diabetes with injections, your best option might be to control diet and make sure you have a plan for end of life when it gets too difficult for your pet. Most of us have had to make the end-of-life decision for one or more pets. It really helps to have a plan ahead of time, especially if you're not close to a vet. Some special vets will come to your home to help with end-of-life care. It really, really helped for one of our cats that did not want to go back to the vet. That vet was awesome, and I'm so glad we found her so that our kitty would be comfortable and not afraid.

You might also want to check out the following article on a new daily pill but . . . it's not clear to me if your cat would qualify. It might be worth asking your vet about if you think you could administer 1 pill daily (typically just holding the cat's mouth open and tossing the pill in firmly, in my experience) and insulin shots are a no-go:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/new-pill-treats-diabetic-cats-daily-insulin-shots-96605063

Sorry to hear about the diagnosis, Ron. You're in the right place though. These folks on the forum really care.

 

[Ron in Phoenix]

If you can fill a syringe you can use one of these to inject:
https://www.owenmumford.com/us/medical-devices/autoject-2
Some other can use an insulin pen w/ pen needles. Disadvantage is that you can only dose in 1 unit increments w/human insulin. The manufactures of Vetsulin offer a pen that does in ½ unit increments . However, Vetsulin is not a good insulin for cats.
There is now a oral drug that can be used and might be your best choice.
https://www.aaha.org/publications/n...ion-for-cats-requires-careful-case-selection/
But I do not know if it can be added to food.

---------------------
Thank you for the suggestions. Unfortunately I don't even have enough manual dexterity for that injection pen, but it's an interesting concept. Not sure about the oral drug either given that sometimes my cat doesn't want to eat so much so I would worry about getting the dose in her. I've not given up yet!

 

[Ron in Phoenix]

I don't know if this is affordable but can you have someone give your cat injections? Perhaps there's a way you can barter for services.

--------------------
Thanks for the input. I've got a neighbor that can help some, but to dependably get as many doses in her and she needs, I'd like to find a way to do it myself. Even if my budget would allow for it, I don't know anyone that would be willing to stop by and do it. And my budget doesn't allow for it. LOL…

 

[Ron in Phoenix]

What does your cat currently eat?

Food, especially high-carb food, can have a significant impact on blood glucose (BG) values. I was fortunate enough with my first diabetic cat to have him become diet-controlled (thus not need insulin shots) with a change to low-carb canned food alone. Many cats still need at least a short course of insulin on the path to diet control/remission, but know that it is indeed a possibility.

Also, how was your cat diagnosed? Was a fructosamine test run?

What symptoms were you seeing?

----------------------
My old friend/companion has been a battler. About a year ago she had a flareup of pancreatitis and we tackled that pretty well with diet and had that under control. I was giving her the Hill's science diet digestive formula. She enjoyed that. Then earlier this year she started to have just a little bit of kidney problems, but nothing too bad so we switched to the Hills kidney food. She wasn't stabilizing the way he wanted her to, so the vet gave her a dose of steroid which apparently induced the diabetes. She was diagnosed via a urinalysis that showed very high glucose levels. As I said, she's a battler. As long she's getting good fluids in her then she does pretty well and eats the food. I can give the low-carb food a try. Eventually, or very soon, there will be one ailment too many, but she keeps battling back. The diabetic symptoms were not exactly the standard ones from what I understand. She just slowed down or stopped her eating.

 

[Ron in Phoenix]

Agree on the barter solution. Perhaps you can trade services with someone that would be willing/able to help?

That being said, we've been very happy with the Young Again Zero Mature Health no-carb dry food. It's expensive, but it might help a bit:
https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/products/zero-mature-health

In the end, we all do the best we can and need to give ourselves grace. If you're unable to treat your senior cat's diabetes with injections, your best option might be to control diet and make sure you have a plan for end of life when it gets too difficult for your pet. Most of us have had to make the end-of-life decision for one or more pets. It really helps to have a plan ahead of time, especially if you're not close to a vet. Some special vets will come to your home to help with end-of-life care. It really, really helped for one of our cats that did not want to go back to the vet. That vet was awesome, and I'm so glad we found her so that our kitty would be comfortable and not afraid.

You might also want to check out the following article on a new daily pill but . . . it's not clear to me if your cat would qualify. It might be worth asking your vet about if you think you could administer 1 pill daily (typically just holding the cat's mouth open and tossing the pill in firmly, in my experience) and insulin shots are a no-go:

https://abcnews.go.com/Health/wireStory/new-pill-treats-diabetic-cats-daily-insulin-shots-96605063

Sorry to hear about the diagnosis, Ron. You're in the right place though. These folks on the forum really care.

--------------
Thanks for the feedback. Yes, over the past twenty-five years I've had to make that call for six other cats of mine. You usually know when it's time. This cat is not telling me its time yet, but we might be close. Also, I have less of a chance of getting a pill in her mouth than I do of giving her an insulin shot.

 

[Sandi and Toby&Maxine]

This study from a few years ago was using an implantable insulin pump. I've seen a pump advertised on TV recently for humans called the "Omnipod" that you can google to see what I mean. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6909408/

I've not heard of anyone here using one of those on a cat, but I only recently rejoined the FDMB after adopting Maxine. Does anyone know if we have we had any members try that? If it came down to not being able to find a way for you to manage this vs. untreated diabetes, it might be worth exploring if your vet would take the journey with you to try an implantable. With your physical limitations, something like that seems like your only option. if pilling and injecting aren't going to work for you.

Best of luck to you both!
Sandi.