Cat just diagnosed with diabetes

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Glenda

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I've spent a few days reading this site and the message board, have learned a lot, but still have much left to read and learn. Cleocatra (Cleo, for short) was diagnosed in February with an enlarged heart, heart murmur, and enlarged spleen. She was prescribed steroids, Ranitidine, and an appetite stimulant. The first of August she was diagnosed with pancreatitis, and her meds were increased and some had to be given twice a day. The first of August she was diagnosed with diabetes which has been very stressful for me. I started giving her insulin shots after bringing her home from her 13-day stay in the hospital. About four hours after the second shot (which was given in the AM), she started having symptoms of hypoglycemia. Fortunately, I had printed out the signs of such found through this website which are posted on my refrigerator. She spent another night in the hospital, and her insulin dosage was reduced dramatically. Now, I've been calling the vet twice a day to report on how she's doing, and the vet tells me whether or not to give her a shot. I took her to the vet yesterday for a glucose check. It was 261, so she gave Cleo one unit of Landus and told me to give her 1/2 unit last night. I called this morning and was told to give her a 1/2 unit this morning and tonight. I had the shot and Cleo all ready, but my intuition told me not to do it. (I am paranoid now about giving her too much.) She had urinated about 50% more in the past 24 hours, a couple of times this morning she had meowed urgently, and she did not want to be brushed which is unheard of. She is doing fine right now (6 hours after she should have had a shot), has asked to be brushed, and has consumed 1 can of Fancy Feast.

After reading many of the messages here, I realize that many of you have gone through the same stress levels that I'm experiencing. I have moments that I think I can't do this. I also believe that I need to talk to my vet about teaching me to test her glucose myself because Cleo's level seems to change so often. I'm happy to have found this board.
 
Hello and welcome!

Don't worry, these first few weeks with a new diagnosis is scary and stressfull but you can handle it, and your kitty will love you for it.

First thing you need to do is get your own blood glucose monitor, that way you can take her sugar level and be able to know if you can shoot insulin or not. There is a great one a lot of users here have and it's I think the cheapest.

http://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Ultima-Blood-Glucose-Monitor/3555238?findingMethod=rr

Then, take a look at this really helpful video on how to take a blood sample from kitty:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

Taking kittys blood glucose at home helps you get better control of insulin dose and if it's safe to shoot :)

I hope this info helps out.

Breayle and Jake
 
Hi and welcome! You're in the right place.

Sounds like you've got your hands full, but you certainly won't be the only one around here. Some people should be along shortly with better knowledge and info but let me start by saying the first thing you should do is buy a meter and test the cat yourself. There are a lot of links to videos and the like on the site. It seems daunting, but it's really not. Even with some of the struggles I had, without home testing I wouldn't have been able to do this.

My kitty's currently a couple weeks in remission. She was also on Lantus. Which none of my vets understood. Not that you're in the same situation, but please read all the information in the "stickies" in the Lantus forumhere. I was tearing my hair out trying to figure this out with multiple vets until I read the information in there.

Even when I was testing at home, the vets told me I was testing too much. So I stopped testing as much and she had a hypo because her pancreas started working.

.5 is actually a good starting point. But Lantus builds and depends on consistancy, so if you're skipping shots the BG numbers are going to be all over the place.

What food are you feeding?

You're on the right path and doing great so far!

Edit: see they came along with great links already!
 
Welcome, Glenda! It sounds like your vet has Cleo on Lantus, which is an insulin many of us use and are familiar with. It also sounds like your vet has directed you shoot 1/2 unit twice a day, which is a good starting dose.

You can avoid costly vet appointments and calls by learning to hometest Cleo. We can teach you how to do that, and it can be done with a human glucose monitor. Also, please see this http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=19541 thread regarding our "newbie kits."

What food is Cleo eating? Cleo will need to be on a low-carb wet food. If you look at Janet & Binky's food chart here http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm you can see various brands of canned food that are low carb and economical (i.e., Friskies, Fancy Feast, etc.).

You are going to have many, many, questions...please feel free to ask! We're here to help you help Cleo!
 
glenda, diabetes is overwhelming..at first. it can become just part of your daily routine once your in total control and that means testing. it's easy, it's cheaper than seeing your vet, it gives you total control and best it helps you keep your cat much healthier, avoid clamities and deal with them if they do happen anyway. also it can help you get off insulin and perhaps become diet controlled.
if you want i can send you a newbie kit which has everything you need to start testing immediatly. it's free other that shipping and a donation if you can (no pressure)
we are very into diet here so can you fill us in on what you feed?
we we're all in your shoe's to start, we know what it's like. please don't feel alone with this.
lori and tom
 
Thanks to all of you for your encouraging words.

I'm feeding Cleo canned Fancy Feast -- she eats about two cans per day. The vet gave me DM dry food -- Cleo won't touch it -- then the vet recommended Evo. Cleo ate a couple of bites and then threw up. So, now I'm back to IAMS Healthy Naturals. She isn't eating very much of that -- only if her wet food isn't available.

I would like to have a newbie kit. Just let me know what I need to do to get one.

Thanks for all the links to videos, etc. It will take me little while to look at all of them.
Glenda and Cleo
 
glenda the fancy feast is a great choice. we do have a list here of the carb count of each flavor and we like to stay under 7-10 carbs. i will find the link and send it here...just copy it or write down the flavors with those #'s.
it's good to NEVER feed your cat the dry kibble. i don't even want to go into all that now, but best to NEVER use it ok.
as for newbie kits...look at the bottom of my post here and you'll see a link to newbie kits. you just go to the 'web store' and order one. you need a pay-pal account to pay the shipping. it will include all the goodies you need and something extra to make your kitty happy :mrgreen:
i'll also find the link that shows really well how to test your kitty.
lori
 
Re: Cat just diagnosed with diabetes, drooling query - in Paris

I too feel for Glenda and Cleo as my cat has just been diagnosed with diabetes and it's been so overwhelming. I too am grateful to this site which has been so informative. Dante, my cat, just turned 14 Saturday and an early bday present this year was learning he had early onset diabetes! We're only on week one but I feel like my vet here in France where I live has given me very little information and resources. So that's why I am glad to have found this site. I am giving Dante 3 units a day of Insulin...Caninsulin seems to be a common brand in Europe. My question to this wonderfully knowledgeable and supportive group is whether it's normal that he be so hungry? I keep reading about cats that aren't hungry when they are diabetic but Dante wants to eat all the time. And I know it's important that he eats right after the morning shot and I used to have dry food out for him during the day until I got home from work. But now he doesn't want the dry food, which I understand is fine and normal, but isn't there too much thing as too much moist food? Alas I don't have fancy feast here in France or most of the other good US brands you all recommend. I feed him the only natural, low carb, high protein moist food available here and yet he's still hungry. And keeps begging! So I am a bit confused about the feeding schedule and when am I giving him too much? I guess I can't help wanting to get him to put more weight on after he lost so much so dramatically with this disease! And lastly, is it normal for them to drool all the time now with this disease? I was so concerned on day one when this started that I took him to the vet on a sunday thinking he was showing signs of hypoglycemia...but they tested his blood and they said he was fine and this was not the case. But it's making us both miserable seeing him drool to such an extent. And even after a week he's still quite lethargic....I thought he'd show signs of improving and being his old self by now. We have another check up coming up this weekend but in the meantime, I hate seeing him suffer. Thanks for your guidance and good luck to Cleo and Glenda too!
Kristen
 
Kristen,

To address your question about the starving kitty. When a FD Kitty is unregulated he will be ravenous, since while he is eating tons his body can't completely process his food thus he will be literally starving to death while eating for an elephant. Once their BG gets more under control then they will not only start acting more like a normal cat they will also start eating and drinking like a normal cat again. For now at least since you are still really new at this I personally if it was my kitty feed him as much as he wants as long as he doesn't start putting on a ton of weight.

Just keep asking questions and we will keep finding someone that can answer them. This is after all learning a whole set of new steps to a very complicated new dance. Not a single one of us could have run a marathon before we first learned to walk. =)

Mel
 
Just wanted you to know that I had an hour and a half session at the Veterinary clinic today learning to home test and getting questions answered. I was pleasantly surprised to learn how easy it is. I also feel a little more at ease and feeling more in control. Thanks to all of you for the encouragement to learn how to home test. They gave me an AlphaTRAC kit, and the only thing I don't like is the lancing device. It's for animals, and I would like to use the Human unit - Freestyle (which evidently has not been approved for animal use?? which seems backwards to me). If anyone knows where I could buy or look for one, please let me know. Good luck to you, also, Kristen and Dante. You will receive lots of help and more peace of mind here.
Glenda and Cleo.
 
Very few of us use the AlphaTraC. It is more expensive and the strips are not found at the drug store. The vast majority of us use a regular human glucometer. The ReliOn from Walmart is very popular; it is the less expensive as are its strips. You can use any meter that sips and takes only a tiny sample. We got the PrecisionXtra free and bought our strips on ebay for less than half the price in stores. We compared it with our vet's glucometer and it was very close to the same number on the same sample. If you continue with the AlphaTraC (which is fine, just more expensive) be sure you have a good supply of strips for an emergency.

You can buy any lancet device and lancets that you want. All you are doing is getting a blood sample; it doesn't have to match the meter. Only the device and lancets have to match.
 
I can answer to the food question ...

My Oliver was eating more than 30oz of food a day before he was regulated OMG he was inhaling the foods... now, he is close to maybe 10oz a day and he is a BIG boy 23lb.

My Shadoe was the same - she was up around 24oz or so a day and now, if I can get her to eat even 6oz, I am pleased.

The kitty's body is incapable of processing the food to take/make what it needs so it's forever eating/ seeming hungry. Once the kitty is processing the food, the needs will drop.
Just feed the kitty what is wanted.

For meters, I also just use the regular human ones. I got the Precision meter but it seems to need more blood than the OneTouch and right now I am using the Bayer Contour.
I have compared them all and found that the Bayer gives me lower numbers, so for me, it's safer with two acros and my not wanting to get under 100.

I also compared the meters to what the vet got at their office and there's very little difference with my cats.
 
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