Brand Spanking New to FD

[Kadie (Juba's Mom)]

Hello everyone! My name is Kadie, and our kitty Jubalee Jujubee (Juba) was diagnosed last Sunday (April 5, Easter) with FD. Unfortunately her diabetes had progressed to Diabetes Ketoacidosis, so she was in the hospital for a few days hoping to recover. Thankfully being the stubborn little calico/tortishell she is, she made a full recovery!
Juba will be 7 years old in June (adopted her as a rescue when she was 9 months old)and we have always fed her dry indoor specific cat food. Both my husband and I had NO IDEA just how unhealthy cheaper, big brand cat food can be to kitties.
We don't have kids, so both Juba and our other fur baby, Leopold Butters (Butters) are our kids.
The diagnosis of Juba's diabetes was a complete 180 on our family. I cried off and on this past week, and was not only emotionally drained, but also physically and mentally. I've grown up with a ton of kitties, and have never experienced anything like this before.
Juba's BG numbers are ranging from 300-400 and she is on 1 unit of Lantus insulin 2x/day. She has seen our vet a couple times this past week, and will be seeing her again early next week for bloodwork and just to see where we are.
We are slowly changing both Juba's and Butter's diets to a low carb wet cat food feeding program. It honestly hasn't been all that hard because they both LOVE wet cat food (never fed it to them unless for worming, etc.) Juba was seeming to be hungry throughout the day so I asked if she could have some snacks to tide her over. Our vet said 1 tsp over the course of the day would be fine, so she's been getting 1/2 a tsp of canned tuna twice between her big meals.
The insulin administering hasn't been extremely difficult, it's just making sure we are actually getting it in her skin (she's a medium haired girl.)
Juba is also on Clavamox and Ondasetron temporary since this is all new to her body and she had a nasal feeding tube during her hospital stay. Juba has elevated liver enzymes which the vet believes was caused from her diabetes, so she is also on Denamarin once/day until her liver counts are in normal range.
She isn't the exact same kitty she was before all this went down, but she is alive and I don't believe suffering. We have been giving her lots of love and attention (she always got those) and is looking out one of our living room windows as I type this.
I would love if Juba could go into remission eventually. That would be amazingly wonderful! Tomorrow we are going to Wally World to purchase a glucometer so we will know how she's responding to the insulin at home and so I can have peace of mind.
This hasn't been a piece of cake, but slowly and surely I'm accepting this new lifestyle change. I wish we would have gotten pet insurance before all this happened, but we just didn't think it would.
But it's not the end of the world. We love our little Jujubee and we saved her!

 

[Alix]

Welcome to you and Juba - you have found the right place to be!! The people on this forum have been there ( the tears, the fears, etc) and are incredibly supportive. I am sorry you had to find out about DKA the hard way - that is just scary - sadly I know that from experience also! I am sooo glad that you are going to start home testing as that is (in my opinion) vital to your baby's health!! The sooner you start the better as changing her diet can have a significant effect on her blood glucose levels and you could give her too much insulin without realizing it.

My Scamp was diagnosed 3 years ago at the ripe old age of 6 and she is doing very well (she confuses me a lot but she was just running around the house playing with a ball - like she thinks she is a kitten!!). DM is, by NO means, a death sentence. There have been many fur babies that have lived to their late teens or early twenties and have had quality of life!!

Some cats do go into remission but even if Juba doesn't you will find a routine that works for your family and life will go on as it did before the diabetes diagnosis (a couple of minor changes).

Everyone here knows what it means to have a cat with diabetes and will support you and give advise if requested. Working with your vet and having us as support - Juba will become the baby she was before the diagnosis

Big Hugs

 

[Marciegee]

Hi Kadie! I totally understand the roller coaster of emotions you are going through. We've all been there! It sounds like you are doing everything right and paying attention to your kitty's needs.

When Moby first started on insulin earlier this year, it took him a little while to adjust. But now that he's on a good regimen with medication and diet, I noticed that he has really begun to flourish again. The grooming returned, he's frisky and social. It takes some time for their bodies to adjust. And it took a little time for me to adjust, too. But now that we're on a routine, it's not nearly so overwhelming. And life for our family is wonderful again!

Welcome to the community!

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB.
Diabetic ketoacidosis can be fatal; fortunately, your girl is recovering! Stop by your local pharmacy to pick up some KetoDiaStix (often behind the counter) so you can check her urine for ketones and glucose. More than a trace of ketones and she may need to get back to the vet quickly; glucose in the urine may mean she isn't quite regulated yet, which you already know. There are tips on urine collection in my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools, as well as other assessments you may find helpful.

 

[Vyktors Mum]

Hello there

Vyktor is another DKA survivor, he's been in remission for three years now we used lantus and followed the tight regulation protocol. With lantus the TR protocol will give you the best chance of remission. You can check out that protocol in the stickies (posts stuck to the top) in the lantus/levimer insulin support group forum. There are also other handy stickies about proper storage and handling of lantus and dealing with low numbers and such like.

There's no problem with splitting the meals up more either. A diabetic kitty's pancreas will do better on mini meals rather than just a couple of big meals. Vyktor had always been free fed so I kept him free fed (apart from removing his food two hours before shot time to make sure his preshot blood test wasn't food influenced), most lantus people give several mini meals in the early part of the cycle (timed feeders are good for this if you work).

Anyway I don't want to overload you with info. Welcome aboard and well done for finding your way here so quickly, you will find the board to be an invaluable resource.