Buddy diagnosed

Hi Kathy- Sorry I've been gone the past few days, but yes, I think you can reduce the testing now. I might do every few days for another week or so, but I tend to be a little paranoid about remissions. ;) Buddy was diabetic for all of about five minutes, so I think he's probably going to be fine :bighug:

Did I already give you all of my directions and warnings about the future? :nailbiting:

Just in case: (this is a cut-and-paste, so just ignore the feminine pronouns :D)
1. Be vigilant about her food and treats for the rest of her life. She will always be considered a diabetic, but now she's diet-controlled. That means if her diet relaxes, the blood sugar will likely rise, so be careful. If you switch foods at any point, check and double check that it's an okay food.

2. Be vigilant about her health. Dental issues, UTIs, arthritis,...all kinds of things can knock them out of remission. So if you are suspicious of a brewing health issue, head to the vet. You may also find that the BG is a hint that something is going on even before you can see it - rising BG likely means there is something going on.

3. Speaking of BG, conventional wisdom around here has been to test once every two weeks, or once a month for the rest of his life. I would really encourage you to test once/week though. That's just based on my experience with Sam. It was only two weeks from his numbers being just fine to his numbers being way too high. When he fell out of remission, he fell quickly. I wish I had caught it sooner.

4. If you do see a rising number, take it seriously. Start testing a few times a day again, and if they don't disappear in a day or two, get back on insulin. Don't wait three or four days. Don't wait a week. The sooner you re-start treatment, the better the chances of a second remission. The second round is harder than the first round, so you want every advantage to overcome it.
 
Honestly, it makes me so happy to see kitties turn it around and go OTJ! And you did such a great job of getting on it quickly and making the hard choices right out of the gate. You may find yourself giving strangers the side-eye in the grocery store when they pick up high carb food for their cats. I have to confess I've given more than one little lesson on species appropriate diets in the middle of the pet section :rolleyes::stop:
 
Things are still going well with Buddy but maybe not so great with us. With 3 cats, It seems I'm opening canned food a lot.. washing out bowls all the time, which I'm getting used to but it's the mornings that is hard on us. Buddy is in there at 5am or earlier demanding we get out of bed and feed him. He jumps on our heads, pounces on my husband's stomach (with over 16 lbs of weight) and bites on his CPAP mask and hose and pulls my hair LOL.. It happens over and over until we get up. The worst part is he's also chewing on the power cord to my husband's machine trying to get him up. We decided to start spraying him with a water bottle when he does that in hopes to deter him from it. Now one of the other cats decided to torment me during the night.. Last night she kept waking me up.. and even at one point licked my underarm LOL!! Lord help me LOL (she is a weirdo anyways, I've caught her chewing on plastic bags).. I even put down more wet food before bed. I do have a sample of young again Zero Mature. I haven't fed it to them but I'm thinking of trying it for the night time hours so the cats won't feel like they are starving. Now I see why people sometimes go back to the old dry food. I never plan to ever go back to high carb dry food.. but I am tempted to try low carb dry just for the pm hours.. what do you think? I also remember reading something about timed feeders I guess I could look into them. Who would think switching to wet food would cause all this craziness..
 
Hi Kathy, glad to hear an update. I think you should do what you need to to keep you ALL happy and healthy, humans included. That said, here are my 2 cents:

I was also getting mildly annoyed by all the cans, but I have just discovered the 13 oz cans of Friskies Pate, woohoo! In addition to saving a little money at just 99 cents for a big can, I don't have to open as many. Mixing the food with the water at each feeding was taking a bit of time when I was rushing around, so to streamline the routine I now dump a couple a days worth of canned food in a tupperware, add a good bit of water, stir it up to make a big batch of kitty soup, and then I keep the tupperware in the frig. I scoop out portions from the tupperware as needed. The extra water is great for them, and hopefully helps them feel a little fuller.

To reduce dish cleanup, for now I serve in little paper bowls from the restaurant supply store https://www.webstaurantstore.com/25-1-4-lb-red-check-paper-food-tray-case/79525RC 1M.html By the time I run out I will probably pick up some inexpensive stainless steel bowls that I can run though the dishwasher. I am SO not a by-hand dishwasher!

I bought a timed feeder but haven't used it yet. I have read that some people put down frozen cubes of food for the cats to get them through the night. Maybe your kitties would go for that? I know it sounds like more work though, huh?

I suppose you could try some dry, and see how they do, but I found that just a spoonful of prescription dry DM was enough to increase my cat's BG a ridiculous amount. I think her BG is very sensitive to her diet.
 
@Peacock Thank you! I'll check out those little paper bowls and I may try the frozen cubes of food. I was up at 5 am feeding cats and then went back to bed. Hubby (not knowing I had gotten up thought Buddy was being a good boy) said later on in the day that Buddy didn't bother him this morning. I said I know because I got up and fed him. LOL. I'm sure it's a learning process and eventually I'll find what works for us.
 
Last edited:
I agree with @Peacock about finding ways to make this all manageable for you as well as your kitties. I'm a fan of the frozen ice cubes of cat food since it keeps the food fresh at least a little longer since both of my boys graze. I find them super easy since I can make up a week's worth on Sunday afternoon and then all week I just have to toss out a few ice cubes on my way out the door in the morning.I'm also use a timed feeder. I just put a few freeze-dried chicken pieces in it - not even really a snack since they already have food out. And I have it set for the time that they start trying to wake me up in the morning. That way they get a distraction and a treat, and usually settle back down so I can get that last hour of sleep in peace. (It helps that my boys are good about sharing with each other). Once in awhile they still do those little kitty behaviors: licking armpits (mine do it too!), biting toes, jumping on bellies, "brushing" my hair with their kitty claws (also a good reminder to me when it's time for a nail trim!), purring in my ear, etc., but in general the timed feeder helps to reduce the early morning attention-getting.

This is the one I like https://www.chewy.com/petsafe-eatwe...jZJIltqYMROwHOUV4wr2heqfmfGg9NRIaAh_0EALw_wcB

I've tried a couple of other ones, but one was unreliable, and the other one the compartments were so deep that the kitties had trouble getting the food out of them. I'll admit I'm a little horrified at how much the price has gone up since i bought mine! Yikes. Considering I've had mine for a couple of years and it's still working well, it's probably worth it to keep that extra hour of sleep.
 
@Djamila thank you for your help. If I can talk my hubby into it I may get the automatic feeder but I will try the frozen Ice cubes of cat food first and see how that goes. I just put down some fresh canned food cold from the fridge. I hope it will stay fresh through the night and tide them over long enough to let me sleep a little longer in the morning. I'm so very happy that my Bud Man has so much more energy but he needs to come cuddle in the mornings and stop with all the pouncing. He's even got so much more energy he stopped sleeping all the time, but I do miss him sleeping most of the night by my head. I think he and his sisters are up prowling the house during the night now. He's back to his old ways of aggravating the dogs and the other two cats. He also loves it when I get the broom out to sweep. He waits until I get ready to fill the dust pan with whatever I swept up.. he will dive right in the pile and lay down before I can get it in the dust pan.. He's a crazy cat! Good night all..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top