cinny and her scared mom

[kdbrinkman]

cinny has been diagnosed with diabetes and I have been reading and reading all the sites and am totally lost. I have a freestyle freedom lite meter and abbott has told me that I can't use it on my cat. I need to buy a alphatrakII... is this true? we are retired and on a limited income... as it is, we have 7 other cats and a dog to feed.
(6 cats were feral and were evacuated with us from hurricane ike and of course, after 7 months and a week away from home, they are all our family now) I see the vet tomorrow am and hope to find out more about all of this. cinny also has been diagnosed with low/no thyroid, which she is taking pills since Friday. she has lost
weight, eats all the time and drinks water like there is no tomorrow. I am overwhelmed with information. anyone can help me? cinny is one of the lucky ones from the aspca in Galveston, texas. a red tabby. thank you for any guidance you can give me. kathy

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Welcome! We were all scared and overwhelmed at first, but we learned about feline diabetes and treated our cats and both of us survived!

No, you don't need to buy the AlphaTrak. The majority of people here use the ReliOn from Walmart. It is the cheapest human meter and has the cheapest strips. And it works fine for cats, as we are looking for patterns and trends, not for exact numbers. With the AlphaTrak, not only is it expensive at first, but the strips are expensive and are not available at your local drug store in an emergency. We have ways to get insulin cheaper. Do you know what kind your vet will prescribe? If so, let us know before you get it and we can help. And the food doesn't have to be expensive. Many people here feed Friskies pates which are inexpensive.

Here is the protocol we use, which has been very successful for many diabetic kitties:

1. A slow, long lasting insulin. Lantus, Levemir and ProZinc are popular as they have a slow onset; they are not harsh and they are easiest to use for regulation. Humulin and Canninsulin are less popular because, in most cats, they have a rapid onset and don’t last as long. We like new diabetics to start low and go slow. That is, start at a low dose of .5 or one unit twice daily every 12 hours. And increase slowly, by .25 or .5 units as the numbers indicate.

2. A low carb, wet diet. We like to feed under 8-10% carbs. There are several food charts you can use: Dr. Lisa’s food chart
Hobo’s Food Chart Rhiannon’s 8% and under list

Whatever food you can afford that your cat will eat in that lower range. BUT do not change over to wet until you are hometesting. With our Oliver, the switch meant an overnight change of 100 points downward. If we hadn’t been testing and had given our usual amount., he could have hypoed.

2. And most importantly, hometesting. We think cats tend to be stressed at the vet
and we know stress raises blood glucose levels. So we test our cats at home. You want to know what the number is before you give the shot to be sure the amount you are planning to give is safe. And testing midcycle will show you how the insulin is working. We use human glucometers and test on their ears or paws. Here is a video that shows you how it is done: Video for hometesting

Let us know how we can help. Ask lots of questions.

 

[BJM]

Wal?art's ReliOn brand includes
Confirm (branded version of Arkray Glucocard 01 - see ADW in our shopping link above)
Confirm Micro (branded version of Arkray Glucocard 01 Mini, also at ADW)
Prime (larger blood drop; least expensive strips)

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Abbott also makes the Walmart Relion Ultima meter. I used that meter for years on 3 different diabetic cats. They only tell you that because their meters sold for human use. I switched over to the the Relion Confirm meter because it takes less blood. Both are good meters.

It is cheaper to use the human meter than the AlphaTrak. Plus the only place you can get strips is at the vet's office or online. That is not very helpful with an emergency. Most pharmacies will carry the strips for the Freestyle meter.