diabetic older cat

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grace

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Hello. My 18 year old female has just been diagnosed by my vet as diabetic.
I have chosen not to treat her with insulin due to her age and the stress involved.
I would appreciate any suggestions re specific brands/varieties of canned cat food
that you feel have worked well with an older diabetic cat. I have read the diabetic
nutritional information on Dr. Lisa Pierson's site. Also, is it safe to feed her uncooked
chicken or turkey? She is underweight, not obese. Thank you.
 
Your cat is underweight because of the diabetes. Insulin is the hormone that stores fat. Without insulin, cats ... or people ... will just waste away. He will also get nerve damage called neuropathy that especially effects the back legs and the cat's ability to walk. His kidneys will also be damaged because uncontrolled diabetes causes major dehydration. I know you feel like you are doing your older cat a favor by not putting it through all those shots, but your cat's quality of life will go through a major improvement when you begin insulin injections. With proper food and insulin shots, your 17 year old cat might even go into remission.

You will want to feed your cat off Janet & Binky's list. http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html Look at both the Old and New lists and choose foods that are under 10% carbohydrate.

Lana
 
Your cat is underweight because of the diabetes. Treating with insulin is not difficult and could lengthen your cat's life. My cat Witn was 17 when diagnosed and because I treated her diabetes, I had her with me for almost 3 years longer than if she had not been treated.

Diet change will help and you can feed either a raw food diet or a low carb/high protein food canned food diet. Many of us feed our cats either Fancy Feast, Friskies or Special Kitty canned foods. Janet & Binky's list will help you find the flavors that work best. You want to look for foods that have less than 10 in the carbs column and a high number in the protein column. Usually pate flavors and foods that do not have "gravy" in the name work best.

If possible, please reconsider your decision about not giving insulin. We can help guide you. And with some cats, sometimes all that is needed is to have the insulin to jump start their pancreas and soon can become diet controlled.
 
How high was the glucose level in the blood? Urine glucose? Were there any ketones? This gives some clues about severity of the diabetes.

Did the cat have any dental infection or gingivitis? Or evidence of a a bladder infection? These can raise glucose levels.

I'd encourage you to have the cat rechecked after switching to a low carb diet for a week. Changing to low carb, canned food may drop the glucose 100 points. Testing at home may give a level 100 points lower than the vet office gets.

Also - try the glucose testing on yourself with an inexpensive glucometer such as the Walmart ReliOn Confirm. Then remember that cats have less sensitivity to minor pricking than we do - and it is minor pricking. It isn't as bad as you belive it is. Plus, you can use neosporin ointment with pain relief to reduce any discomfort further.

Death from starvation because the food eaten can't be used is a pretty horrible way to go. Ketoacidosis, when the cat breaks down fat for calories, isn't any better.
 
I just have to add my voice that treating with insulin is not difficult--and even if your cat is 18 insulin therapy can help a great deal. The large majority of the time the cat doesn't even notice you're giving them an injection (I fed Bandit the same time I gave his shots, and he never noticed once). Glucose testing with a glucose meter seems hard a first, but after about a week most cats accept the testing and even look forward to it. Bandit comes running to get tested when he hears me turn on the glucose meter because he knows he'll get a treat after.

Switching to a low carb canned diet can sometimes work on its own, but most of the time the cat also needs a little insulin for a brief period before the diet change will lead to remission. It helps give the pancreas a rest and heal. I agree that if there is a potential infection in the gums or a UTI then this needs to be identified and treated before there's any hope for improvement.

BJM is very right that death from complications due to untreated diabetes is a slow, unpleasant way to go. I would urge you to reconsider insulin therapy for your kitty's sake. I do not like saying this, but if you absolutely cannot bring yourself to pursue treatment, euthanasia would be a more humane route. Please, please reconsider treatment though, before you go that route. It really is not as difficult as it appears to be.
 
Welcome Grace and extra sweet baby. You've got the food lists in the posts above so I won't post those also but I WILL reiterate that your baby needs insulin. Insulin is a HORMONE that is required by the body to break down foods for use by the body. Insulin is NOT a chemical 'medicine'. Without insulin in the body, your baby will literally starve to death while stuffing herself with food because there's nothing in the body to turn it into useable energy.

Believe me, the 'pokies' and insulin shots are NO BIG DEAL! KT purrs thru it all and actually comes running when he hears the beep of the meter activate. If it was a terrible thing, he'd run and hide. I test and shoot on top of a short bookcase where he sleeps - he comes sliding in and spins around, lays down and waits for me to start warming his ear.

I have chosen not to treat her with insulin due to her age and the stress involved.
Click to expand...

There's nothing to stress about with testing and insulin injections, ESPECIALLY for the cat - the part where stress is involved is when she's NOT treated and has to live thru the awful things that uncontrolled diabetes does...

Hugs,
 
I won't reiterate all the reasons why we think you should treat your cat, because you've read them and know our collective point of view. Hopefully we can help you but if not, please know that it is your decision to make and we will help as we can. THe only thing I will say is that if you choose to not treat, euthanasia is a much kinder approach to consider the minute your cat's condition appears to deteriorate.
 
Also, the insulin injections are subcutaneous. This means you gently pull up the skin, slide in the short needle, push in a small volume of insulin, and remove the needle. You aren't injecting into muscle, which sometimes may be painful ... although with the very fine gauge needle used on my intramuscular flu shot today, I can honestly say it was trivial discomfort. BTW - Needle gauge is a number where 31 is very thin, 27 is thicker, and 18 is very thick.
 
I am overwhelmed by your concern and support. I took her in to my vet
today and he showed me how to give her an insulin shot. I gave her the
first one tonight. He also prescribed Hills Prescription w/d with chicken,
which she really likes. Has anyone used this? Thank you so much.
 
GRACE!!! I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!!!!

Now we'll help you learn to test her BG which is no bigger deal than the shot! It will keep her much safer and you'll know exactly what's happening.

It wasn't nearly as bad as the imagined horror beforehand was it?

This just makes me smile one of those HUGE, FACE=HURTING SMILES!

Hugs - oh, btw, what's your sugar baby's name?
 
Hi, Grace,
I don't know anything about the Hill's diet, but if your kitty is liking it, that is good enough for now!
I just wanted to tell you how awesome it is that you took this brave step to treat your cat's diabetes.
Our senior cat Daisy was diagnosed abou 6 months ago, and our first thought - like yours - was to wonder if we should put her through all of the shots and lifestyle changes. She seemed like such an old, thin, frail kitty.

It has made an amazing night and day difference for her! She has gained weight and muscle tone - and even a bit of a belly, she climbs on furniture again, and races through the house like a playful kitten. What we were taking as natural signs of old age were actually symptoms of a very sick kitty, and she is doing so much better now!

As for the shots and such, Daisy - like most cats - adapted amazingly fast and takes everything in stride. At first I think my nervousness made her anxious, but once we both calmed down and realized we could handle it, it has been smooth sailing!

This is a great board -it made a world of difference for us, and it will for you, too, I hope. It can all seem a little overwhelming at first, but everyone here has been there before and they provide great advice and solid support.

Welcome aboard!
 
Whoo hoo!!! You go, girl!!!

We'll be here to help you learn and become comfortable with what you need to know and to do.

By the way - what kind of insulin are you using and how much ?
 
Grace,

THANK YOU so much for learning to give her insulin...I have two sugarcats that I adopted because they were diabetic. The rewards of treating a diabetic truly strengthens your bond with them.

Now as Squeaky has said we can not only teach you to test her at home, we can even offer you a free newbie testing kit that will include everything that you need to get started. Lori and Tom run this program and you can order it from the here http://www.kitsforcats.webs.com/ just click on the webstore. The kit is a penny and shipping is $6.99 and it is worth its weight in gold!

To answer your question about food, most of us don't use the prescription stuff as we have found plenty out there on the commerical market of equal or better ingredients for far less money. There is a chart of foods available on the market here http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html that we use to pick foods for our sugarcats. You will want to stay under 10% carbs (third column). Personally I have 13 cats, only 2 of which are diabetic, everyone here eats what my diabetics eat, just regular Friskies Pate Style canned catfood. On this diet change and a short course of insulin my Maxwell has gone into remission and off insulin all together, and my newly adopted Musette is trying very hard to join him.

Welcome to the FDMB Family

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
grace said:
I am overwhelmed by your concern and support. I took her in to my vet
today and he showed me how to give her an insulin shot. I gave her the
first one tonight. He also prescribed Hills Prescription w/d with chicken,
which she really likes. Has anyone used this? Thank you so much.
Click to expand...


I am so happy you decided on insulin therapy! You'll soon discover that she won't mind her shots or testing at all. :-D

Unfortunately, Hills W/D is not a good food for diabetic cats. It's way too high in carbs and the ingredients are very low quality. Added carbs will make regulation difficult and prevent remission. For a kitty her age, you'll want to feed something low carb, low phosphorus, preferably without byproducts if you can afford it. A premium food that meets all of the conditions will still be less expensive than the prescription food you're feeding.

Here are some food suggestions that qualify. There are store finders on the web sites for each of these foods if the brands aren't familiar--or you can post back and I can supply the links for you. I know you can get Wellness and Blue Wilderness at PetSmart, and Merrick's at PetCo, but if you have a independently owned pet food store or feed store in your town it's usually much cheaper there.

Wellness Turkey
Merrick's Before Grain Turkey
Merrick's Before Grain Beef
EVO 95% Chicken & Turkey
Blue Wilderness Duck

What kind of insulin were you prescribed, and what dose? Lantus and Levemir have the best remission rates for cats, but PZI is also a good insulin. If you were prescribed Humulin N, you'll want to see about switching insulins because while it works well in dogs, it does not work well in cats.


If you can't find any of these foods or they are out of your price range, Friskie's makes these low phosphorus, low carb foods, but they do contain byproducts:

Special Diet Turkey & Giblets
Special Diet Salmon
Special Diet Beef & Liver
 
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