Cashy back on Vetsulin, and better than ever.

[cashy]

I have not posted for quite a while. Cashy had been off Vetsulin, for over almost 3 years. We have had him on diet control, using Young Again Zero Mature. We were doing okay apparently. No weight change or behavior problems.

Near the beginning of last year we rescued some Australian Cattle Dog puppies. As it turned out they absolutely hate cats. Sure enough Cash gets in a scrape with one and loses. We got him stitched back up. The next month or so later, the cat goes a visiting the dogs again and another gash on the side this time. We are feeling quite negligent.

In his long recovery we notice that he is losing weight and decided to test his blood sugar again. Mind you he has been symptom free two and one half years. Random blood glucose had confirmed it. Well in the midst of this second injury last July we drew a blood glucose, it was over 350. Cash you are in trouble.

We get a new bottle of Vetsulin and start treatment and start monitoring blood glucose. It took about a month but his needed dosage dropped rapidly. We ended up switching to U-100 syringes to more reliably measure the less than 1unit of Vetsulin. He is getting .8u BID. (2u as measured with the U100 syringes).

Before we started on YAZM food we had watched him develop diabetic neuropathy in his hind quarters. He recovered from that but we could see that didn't go vertical like he once He could come up on furniture but pulled himself up. In the last couple of months he has seemingly regained full use of his hind legs. His gait has quickened. He runs and jumps. On nice days he will spend much of his daytime outside. Sure is great seeing him run and prance on his toes. Cash is now 20 years old and has been diagnosed diabetic now for about 3 and one half years.

I know that many of the posts on here are of an urgent nature on managing their cat, I came here tonight to just give a good report.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Im surprised the Australian cattle dogs do not like cats. I live in Australia and we have had cattle dogs and they were fine with the cats. Maybe it was because there was a group of them and they had a gang mentality about the cats.
They are intelligent dogs that need to be kept busy otherwise they get up to mischief.

 

[cashy]

We were also surprised as it was not our first go around with heelers, Our last one loved cats. I went by a local amish store and they had a sign ACD's for sale. I went back in their barn lot and and they were in a pen covered in dirt were 5 of them with a dead goat to eat, about 13 weeks old. We wanted one but the Amish wanted them gone and we got them for $5 each. You are right one would fairly easy and there is some pack dynamics.

Have found out how stupid cats are. One climbed a gate to go their room twice.
Honestly we thought that the second injury was going to be cashys demise after his second injury. He couldn't eat for a week. Had a nasty 3" long gash on his side. From the previous injury we realized that sutures were not a good option for him as he ripped two sets of them out on his previous injury. None the less he healed beautify with the help of some antibiotics. The vet said that cats are great that way!

Our biggest problem right now with the cats is that now that Cashy climbs well again he can get to the others food which is on a shelf 5' up. We have been free feeding the other cats. Even though he has food available he wants their food. In the mean time they all want his food. I always knew that if he were to start climbing again his treatment was going to be more difficult.

I know that there is a discussion on this forum has warning against using high protein food as it is hard on their system. Well I figure it is a trade off as diabetes is also very hard on the animal. Our vet is in agreement and has used this food on other cats in his practice.

Wonder what the average mortality of cats after diagnosis of diabetes. I imagine that a lot of owners will have the animal put down as treatment is expensive and not always effective.

 

[Deb & Wink]

Some statistics I have read say 60-70% of owners euthanize their cats as opposed to treating them.
Many vets still "recommend" euthanizing a diabetic cat as the first option, before they even talk about treatment.

Maybe it's time to think about getting your other cats on a feeding schedule.
So Cash doesn't have access to their food.

The high protein food comments are for cats in late stage kidney disease. Like stage 3 or 4. Then is when too much protein can be detrimental to the kidneys. IRIS stage 1 and 2 CKD, the more recent literature does NOT recommend cutting back on the protein.

ECID. Every Cat is Different.

 

[cashy]

Hi Deb
I believe your comments about diabetic cats and owners. Anyone who comes to this site learn and make effort to prolong the life and improve the quality of life of the cat is to be commended whether we are successful or fail. Honestly I felt that the cat was at the end of his rope several times during the summer.

I would agree with the high protein diet has its down side but so does having high blood sugar, hyperglycemia kills kidneys, we must pick our poison so to speak. The Insulins available are not a panacea and diet control is a big part of it.

We have 5 cats, the 3 females eat regular dry food our other male eats a Urinary type of food and cashy the high protien. You are right a feeding schedule is probably the way to go. They only eat when we are in our Den area of the house where we can keep an eye on the food bowls Making sure the right cat eats out of the right bowl.