Caring for Claire

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Caring4Claire

Caring4Claire

Member Since 2017
Last month we adopted a 12 year old female cat named Claire from our local shelter. She is FIV+ and has diabetes. She was diagnosed as diabetic about two years ago after they saw her drinking a lot of water and losing weight. In a stressful environment and a shelter with too many cats and not enough humans, it was very difficult for them to properly care for her. Since diagnosis, she had been free fed a low carb dry food (nutrisca chicken). She has not had her BG checked at all, she has just been given twice daily insulin injections. 1/2 unit of novolin with each meal. She is a little over 9 lbs.

Since bringing her home I have changed her diet a bit. She is now eating one 3 ounce can of fancy feast (seafood feast or flaked tuna/shrimp) in the morning and then blue buffalo chicken dry food at night. I don't allow her to free feed.

I need to get a glucometer and start testing her. I want to get a lot of info together before speaking with our vet. Adjusting to a new home, I don't want to stress her out with a vet visit. And with two FIV cats (our other cat was adopted 5 years ago with fIV) I am really guarded about taking either of them to a vets office and risking stress/exposure.

Any advice would be appreciated! We're willing to do whatever we need to to keep her healthy; however, cost is a factor. I'm a stay at home mom with a toddler and we have two dogs as well. So Im feeling a bit overwhelmed about taking all of this on!

Thanks in advance!

Here is a picture of our two kitties. Baloo is the 9 year old gray male in the front, Claire is the black cat behind him :) they're getting on great and are just so beautiful!
 

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Adding: my sister had gestational diabetes and is giving me her ReliOn tester and unexpired strips (score!) She said it's one you can do on your forearm and takes very little blood, so hopefully it's what I need. I'll get it within the next few weeks, by Easter at the latest.

I'm looking for info on when/how to test BG. I want to see what her levels are with her current care and also interested to see what happens when she misses her insulin. I've also read about an herbal remedy called blood sugar gold that I'm interested in trying. We can also modify her diet to see what that does.

From what I've read it's entirely possible that Claire went into remission a long time ago. She's no longer overweight and seems pretty happy on just the tiny bit of insulin she's getting. Thanks for any tips/resources and I'll continue to look at everything I can!
 
How wonderful that you have chosen to adopt a diabetic/FIV+ cat!

You are very wise to want to home test BG, and the Relion meters are great, very popular around here (they win on cost per strip and availability, and are quite accurate), so you are well on your way. It's especially important to test now that you are changing Claire's food to strictly low-carb-- the dry food she was getting wasn't all that low-carb, and cat's insulin needs can respond dramatically to the change.

Here is a page (with lots of links) on hometesting: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Some basics to help when you're first starting out:

1) the larger size lancets (26 or 28 gauge) work best at first. The smaller ones (30 or 31 gauge) are good after a few weeks when the ears have "learned" to bleed by growing new capillaries.
2) warming the ear helps a lot-- some people use a little sock filled with rice and microwaved for a few seconds (test to make sure it isn't too hot) held against the ear.
3) to reduce bruising/soreness, apply a little pressure with a tissue after the test. Dab a little neosporin/polysporin gel (not cream) on the ear afterwards, wiping off excess later.
4) Don't aim for the large vein no matter how frustrating it is at first to get blood out of the ear-- it'll bleed (a lot), but it's also a bit more painful and prone to bruising.
5) after every test attempt, successful or not, the cat gets a yummy treat (or hugs or whatever she likes best!). You're trying to set up positive associations with the testing process-- it also helps if you always do the testing in the same spot. Believe it or not, most cats eventually come running whenever there's the possibility of a test!

The other really important information to have right now is the info on hypoglycemic events ("hypos"):

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/jojo-and-bunnys-hypo-tool-box.2354/

Especially if you are giving insulin after changing the diet, be on the lookout for signs of hypoglycemia. It's good that she's on a relatively small dose right now, but even a small dose can be very dangerous, and things can go downhill very fast so it's best to be well prepared. And, of course, the sooner you are testing her to see what her insulin needs actually are, the better!!!!

And finally: welcome!!!!
 
Thank you for all of this!

I hate that I changed her diet without understanding how it could mess with her insulin needs. She seems to be doing ok at the moment, so I will keep an eye out for hypoglycemic events and keep her on her current diet until we are testing her regularly. Will get the glucometer/strips ASAP. The nutrisca says it is a 10 on the glycemic index. Neither cat was willing to eat it though, and the ingredients don't look great. So I tried to switch based on recommendations I saw on other boards. I just needed them both to eat something.... I wasn't thinking about what it could affect her insulin therapy. :(

One issue I am having is my other cat, who we have had for 5 years, is not doing well with the diet switch. He had bad stomatitis and had lost several teeth before he came home with us. That was his only health problem. His gums are wonderful now and he has not lost any more teeth, but he has a hard time eating certain foods. It seems no matter how good the quality is, he can't keep down dry food that is shaped like little balls. He throws it straight up. He is also having an upset stomach, but otherwise is his active happy self. He was doing so well for many years on Simply Nourish (PetSmart house brand) chicken and oatmeal formula. We tried so many other brands before that. It seems the oatmeal settles his belly and the shape (triangle) helps him chew it. That food is far too high in carbs for Claire to eat. Both cats are very social and I can't feed them separately. Both of them won't eat and meow very loudly if put in a separate room...

It seems like it would be pretty expensive to keep two cats on a wet food only diet. And feeding dry is so much less time consuming for me. We are such a busy family, it's hard to keep up with all of this. Looking for the most cost effective option that everyone can do well on, but of course we also want to keep them all healthy too. Sorry for so much info! I think I got in over my head! But we love Claire and she is here to stay! :)
 
I just read the information about hypos. She has been on the diet switch for over two weeks and seems ok. Hard to say since she is also adjusting to a new home. But she is very social and not showing symptoms of stress of the issues listed. I am still giving her 1/2 unit of novolin twice a day. Would you go back to her nutrisca food until I can home test? Thanks!
 
Kudos for taking in a kitty who has a health issue! :) Re food: many of us feed Friskies or Fancy Feast pates (no sauce or gravy types - too high in carbs). There are very few dry foods that are low enough in carbs for a diabetic kitty.
 
I just re-read your initial post and realized, you are still feeding some dry food, correct? That means Claire isn't yet on a completely low-carb diet-- so that will buy you some breathing room in terms of getting going on the home testing. It sounds like she's doing well with the addition of the Fancy Feast and the Blue Buffalo should help keep her safe for the time being-- and only being on half a unit is really helpful, too. But the sooner you are testing, the better!

The "food dance" can get really complicated with multiple cats. I wonder if there's a way to keep them together, but separated-- like, feed Baloo on top of a table and Claire down below, so that they are in the same room and having their usual social mealtime :), but they aren't getting into each other's food? Ideally, of course, you'd like to get them on the same food, but it may take a lot of trial-and-error to get to that point....
 
They also make timed feeders that you can put wet food in, a popular one mentioned here is the PetSafe C50 (I think) and it has 2 ice packs if you decide to try the all wet food diet.
 
@Nan & Amber Phew... that makes me feel better. Makes sense. I will keep things constant for now. I'm going to try feeding him his old food for dinner upstairs in the cat tree. She doesn't typically go up there. I have no problems getting either of them to eat wet food. I'm thinking long term we will transition them both of a wet food only diet. That means more tooth brushing for Baloo but we can work with that.

We have a Costco membership and they sell both Fancy Feast and Friskies. How much do people typically feed? I'm sure there is a thread on this someplace. Claire is 9 lbs, Baloo is 12.5. Based on FF recommendations, that would be feeding 7 cans a day between the two of them. That seems really high! It would also come to around $100 a month and popping open 7 cans every day. I can barely stand the smell of wet cat food (yuck!!!). At the same time, if it helps her need less or no insulin, it's definitely worth it. And will hopefully lead to less vet bills for Baloo as well as he ages.

For now I will focus on getting that glucometer and testing this sweet heart to see what we're working with. Thanks everyone! I am learning so much here!
 
Evo cat and kitten in the purple bag and my favorite Young Again Zero carb food are two low carb dry foods. I feed my 7 wet food morning and evening and leave these two dry foods out to free feed on. Even grain free is not low carb because they use potato or peas.
 
Where can I find the carb % for dry foods? Specifically Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken, Simply Nourish Chicken and Oatmeal, and Nutrisca Chicken? This would be really helpful!

I was duped into buying Blue Buffalo. It is 100% grain free, but absolutely not carb free. Bleh, this is much harder than I originally thought. But I'm up for the challenge to learn.
 
@JanetNJ - Thank you for that information. I just looked them both up and Evo looks like a good one to try as it's comparable cost to Blue Buffalo. Young Again Zero is about twice as expensive, yikes! I'd like to at least keep a dry option around even if we end up only feeding wet. I won't be switching anything again until we are testing her BG, but nice to know there are a few dry options.
 
Caring4Claire said:
@JanetNJ - Thank you for that information. I just looked them both up and Evo looks like a good one to try as it's comparable cost to Blue Buffalo. Young Again Zero is about twice as expensive, yikes! I'd like to at least keep a dry option around even if we end up only feeding wet. I won't be switching anything again until we are testing her BG, but nice to know there are a few dry options.
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Young again is expensive, but because it's nutrient dense and high in calories they eat less of it. An 8 lb bag lasts 3 1/2 weeks with 5 of my cats eating it. With just two cats eating it it could last a couple months. They will send you a free sample of the Young Again Zero if you call or email them. The evo is good too.... My cats like it. The evo is about 7-8% carb and Young Again Zero is about 1%.
 
Caring4Claire said:
Where can I find the carb % for dry foods? Specifically Blue Buffalo Wilderness Chicken, Simply Nourish Chicken and Oatmeal, and Nutrisca Chicken? This would be really helpful!

I was duped into buying Blue Buffalo. It is 100% grain free, but absolutely not carb free. Bleh, this is much harder than I originally thought. But I'm up for the challenge to learn.
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Blue Buffalo Wilderness is 22% carbs according to this chart.... Not sure about the other brands. Ideally you want to feed foods that are under 10% carb.

https://www.youngagainpetfood.com/assets/cat-food-comparison-chart.pdf
 
Awesome info! Thank you!

For years she has been regulated on 1/2 unit novolin N (generic Humulin N) twice a day and only nutrisca 30.5% carb food. I've read novolin is one of the less expensive and lesser quality insulins. I need to read more about it and alternative therapies. I'm really interested to get started home testing and see what her levels do as we improve her diet. Hoping we can get her off the insulin at some point if possible. I'll post again after I have more info. Thanks again!
 
Caring4Claire said:
@Nan & Amber I can barely stand the smell of wet cat food (yuck!!!).
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Same. It was a wonderful day when I realized that none of my cats minded if the food was cold or not-- I keep the cans in the fridge, and now the smell is barely noticeable!

As for amount, I do think that the cat food companies habitually over-estimate the amount of food per day. There are various ways to calculate feline daily caloric needs, but they generally come to around 200-250 kcal/day depending on ideal weight, so that's about 2-3 cans of Fancy Feast (generally 90-95 kcal/3oz can). It does add up so you have to keep an eye peeled for sales, etc. Are you by chance in the northeast US? If you are in the Wegman's Zone, I've recently found that their store brand, Buju+Ziggy's, appears to be re-branded Fancy Feast, at least in terms of available flavors and general appearance (I'm not about to do a taste-test!). I'm a little hesitant to suggest it because I don't have the actual carb values, but the point is, they sell large cans (130z) of a couple of the "pate" flavors for 85 cents, which is good enough to be worth an experiment!
 
@Nan & Amber thank you! Nope, we're in the southeast. I am definitely going to try the fridge trick and see if that helps the smell. Glad I'm not the only one who can't stand it!

Once I start testing her I will try a few diet changes. If I could do a wet food in the morning and leave Evo or Young again dry out all day that would probably be a good compromise. Especially if either of those foods sit well with my other cat. Considering Claire was regulated on so little insulin and a 30% carb food, that could make quite a difference in her BG levels.

@JanetNJ that makes sense! If it's more nutritionally dense and lasts a bit longer, then we can certainly try it. Especially if it means less expense for insulin.

I'm counting myself lucky for taking the chance adopting Claire. Doing research about this has opened my eyes so much about pet nutrition. I don't think I ever would have read into this otherwise. Hopefully we can find ways to improve the diets of all of our pets (2 dogs, 2 cats).
 
Caring4Claire said:
@Nan & Amber thank you! Nope, we're in the southeast. I am definitely going to try the fridge trick and see if that helps the smell. Glad I'm not the only one who can't stand it!

Once I start testing her I will try a few diet changes. If I could do a wet food in the morning and leave Evo or Young again dry out all day that would probably be a good compromise. Especially if either of those foods sit well with my other cat. Considering Claire was regulated on so little insulin and a 30% carb food, that could make quite a difference in her BG levels.

@JanetNJ that makes sense! If it's more nutritionally dense and lasts a bit longer, then we can certainly try it. Especially if it means less expense for insulin.

I'm counting myself lucky for taking the chance adopting Claire. Doing research about this has opened my eyes so much about pet nutrition. I don't think I ever would have read into this otherwise. Hopefully we can find ways to improve the diets of all of our pets (2 dogs, 2 cats).
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So true. I never realized how bad most dry food is... If any of my other cats become diabetic, at least I will know it's not because of what I was feeding them.
 
Thank you, Beni is a beauty, I got him in Okinawa Japan. How's your kitty doing today?
 

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