Welcome Winni and Simba to the FDMB family,
Okay first off, dry those tears and take a deep breath! There feel a little better? I sure hope so because you are now in the very place you never wanted to be, but are blessed to have found. Diabetes is a very manageable disease, so manageable in fact that many of us have adopted our sugarcats from this very board. I happen to be one of them that after my first sugarcat Muse passed away (cancer not diabetes took her from me) that I adopted my Maxwell as a diabetic from right here. Now when Muse left for the Rainbow Bridge I still had 9 cats so I realy didn't need another cat, but since diabetes is so easy to treat I just had to open my house and heart to another FD cat so that his life could be spared.
Now some general things to know about caring for Simba, first off to answer the question you forgot to ask the vet...injections are given 12 hours apart.
Second yu don't need to feed him prescription food, there is plenty out there on the commercial market that is just as good if not better in quality for a cat with diabetes. Personally I feed all 11 of mine what my diabetic eats which is just good old fashioned Friskies pate flavors. Specifically Turkey & Giblets, Mixed Grill, Poultry platter, County-style dinner and for those days when they get fish, Ocean Whitefish & Tuna, Mariner's Catch and Sea Captain's Choice. I try not to feed fish more than about once a week. This is a link to the food charts most of us use when shopping for our kitties
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html You want to look for things that are under 10% carbs. Most of your pate varieties fall under that heading like Friskies, 9-Lives even Classic Fancy Feast. Now of course with 11 cats Fancy Feast in those little 3 oz cans is right out here, but if you only have one or two cats it is a good way to go as well. Now you might have noticed that I didn't list any dry cat food. The reason for that is that any dry cat food even the high end stuff is too carb heavy for a diabetic cat, and not really all that great for any cat. I know my own civies (non-diabetics) have improved in health since switching everyone over to a low carb/high protein canned diet.
The next thing we will nag you about is learning to home test. It can be a little daunting at first, but once you get the hang of it, it s really very easy and only takes a few seconds to due. Home testing has a lot of benefits: (1) it makes sure that Simba is high enough to safely give insulin to, thus keeping him from getting too much and going hypo (2) Saves him and you the stress of going to the Vet's all the time (stress raises BGs) and (3) keeps more dollars in your wallet, because you can do all his curves at home and then take those numbers into to the vet's to decide dosage. In fact I have had my diabetic cat since last October and my vet has yet to see him in the fur except for once when he and I went in to show them how I test at home. There has just been no need to take him, he was already neutered and utd on his shots when I go him and other than diabetic nothing else was wrong with him.
Now for testing at home. Any human meter that takes a small sample of blood will work just fine, again you don't need an expensive special meter for pets. I personally use the Relion Micro from Walmart. The meter, a package of 50 test strips and a lancing pen and lancets altogether ran me like $35. We simply prick the edge of our cats ear to get a tiny drop of blood and test that just like a human diabetic would. We test before every shot. And we can teach you how to test Simba too.
Now as far as having to change your lifestyle.....How well does Simba travel? Many of us just take our Sugarcats with us when we travel, we have folks on here that take their cats on vacations, camping, sailing etc. So if Simba likes to travel and you can make arrangements to stay at cat friendly places there is no reason to have to give up your weekends away. I'm blessed that Maxwell loves to ride in the truck and should I ever need to he can just go with me, and I can have a pet sitter come in for the rest of the furry family.
Just keep asking questions as they pop into your head, and someone around here will be able to answer them. There ae no stupid questions, except those that go unasked. And if it helps we all have been right where you are now, scared to death, in tears, worried and overwhelmed but it does get easier....Alot easier and we will be here to hold your hand and paw through it all. You and Simba have many more good years ahead of you. Feline Diabetes is as treatable as diabetes is in humans.
Mel, Max and The Fur Gang
