Emily - 1 1/2 weeks with new family

[Aceysta]

Good evening all. My name is Stacey and I am the proud new owner of Emily (we rescued her). We rescued Emily on 9/7/19, and on 9/10/19, we found out that she was diabetic.

Right now she is on Lantus, and we are trying to change her diet also. Being as we are new to her, her diabetes is new to her, and she also has a new furry brother and sister (our original cats Peanut Butter & Jelly), I think she is very overwhelmed.

She is not eating all that much (but we do not know how much she ate previously as her original owner went into a nursing home with Alzheimers. I am trying various different foods to see if I can entice her to eat (and reading all the ingredients to make sure it is low carb). She will lick all of the juices that come with the food and have some of the food, but not a lot. I feel since she is getting the nutrition from the liquids, she is at least getting sometimg. We are taking her back to the vet on Saturday for a re-check. Unfortunately, she has cost us a lot of money so far that we really do not have, so the soonest I can honestly take her in saturday after I get paid.

We are all a bit overwhelmed here, humans and felines.

Emily right now is not going into her litter pan, but since she kept going in the pan and missing anyhow, we bought dog wee-wee pads to absorb it.

Has anyone else dealt with these issues? I would definitely love any assistance I can get as we have fallen in love with her, she is a real sweetie.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Hi and welcome Stacey and Emily. Emily is a beautiful kitty and I am sure she is very overwhelmed with the situation right now. New home, new parents, new siblings, plus diabetes which would certainly make her feel unwell. Deep breath Stacey, you have come to the right place to find information and support while you learn the sugar dance and help Emily integrate into your household and begin to feel comfortable.

First, how was Emily diagnosed? Was it a one time blood glucose test at the vet or a fructosamine test (which provides an average of blood glucose over a period of the last few weeks)?
Just FYI, we have found that most kitties experience what we call "vet stress" and that elevates blood sugar, add travel into the picture, plus her new living arrangements with new people and animals..well, you get the picture.

I want to offer a word of caution about a few things. First, the vet may have prescribed an insulin dose that may be too high from results of a one time BG (blood glucose) test there at the office affected by all the stressors Emily has been experiencing. Please tell us what dose of Lantus the vet prescribed. There are some very experienced long time caretakers of diabetic cats here and it would be very worth your time to touch base with them before you start injections. No, we are not vets, but there are people here that have 24/7/365 and years of experience doing this, probably more knowledge than many vets who treat so many different pets with so many different conditions and diseases. It's very difficult for vets to be able to take advantage of continuing education for every illness each pet may have.

Are you home testing Emily's blood sugar? It's the best way to keep her safe from a hypoglycemic event and to see how the insulin and diet are affecting her blood sugar. We can help you learn and tell you what supplies you will need.

Next, the diet. It's very important that Emily eat, to prevent another condition that is extremely serious called Diabetic Ketoacidosis or DKA.

She is not eating all that much (but we do not know how much she ate previously as her original owner went into a nursing home with Alzheimers. I am trying various different foods to see if I can entice her to eat (and reading all the ingredients to make sure it is low carb). She will lick all of the juices that come with the food and have some of the food, but not a lot. I feel since she is getting the nutrition from the liquids, she is at least getting something. We are taking her back to the vet on Saturday for a re-check.

I don't know what you feed your other cats, but Emily must have more calories than licked off juices from canned foods, especially if you are injecting insulin. Even dry food is better than nothing. We do recommend feeding diabetic cats, all cats really, a low carbohydrate wet diet, but that can be worked on gradually as Emily gets used to you and the new environment. She may not be eating well because of the stress as most unregulated cats are ravenous. You can try offering a "soup" of baby food meat mixed with warmed water. Beechnut is a good brand as you want the meat to be free of seasonings, and choose chicken, turkey or beef, not ham. It's not nutritionally complete or good for long term, but might get her eating. Then perhaps a "soup" of whatever canned food she will eat, even if it's a high carbohydrate gravy type. Too many changes too quickly are not going to help this little gal cope.

Emily right now is not going into her litter pan, but since she kept going in the pan and missing anyhow, we bought dog wee-wee pads to absorb it.

Yup, lots of us have experienced this, and getting her blood sugar regulated and Emily feeling better is going to help alleviate that issue. Unregulated kitties drink and pee a lot! Keep the litter pan clean and keep using the pee-pads as needed. Most cats are very fastidious and want to use the proper "facilities", she just doesn't feel well right now.

I hope that you will respond and let us help you as you and Emily go forward.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi Stacey and Emily.......she is gorgeous! And a lucky girl. She must be feeling overwhelmed as I'm sure you are, having lost her former owner and home. It is wonderful you rescued her.

If you do the home testing of the blood glucose yourself you will save a lot of money with vet bills.
It will not hurt Emily, she will not hate you, and it will keep her safe.
It might sound a bit scary but it really isn't and both you and Emily will get very used to the routine of testing very quickly.
If you would like us to help you with that we will be very happy to do so.
If you decide to test, and I hope you do, buy a human meter as they are much cheaper to run than pet meters and our dosing methods are based on human meters.

The biggest cost is always in the beginning when cats are diagnosed.
The food cost should not cost any more than usuual as you don't need prescription foods, just low carb wet foods.
Testing the blood glucose your self will reduce the vet costs.
Im not sure where you live but Lantus (which is a very good cat insulin) can be bought more cheaply from Canada, if you live in the US.......we can tell you about that when you next need to buy some which won't be for a while.

A lot of newly diagnosed cats can lose their appetite in the beginning. Some are starving all the time but others are not. My Sheba lost her appetite when she was diagnosed which was surprising as she was very food motivated. But it came back. So just persevere and offer small serving often.

I will give you a link to some food charts. Not sure what country you live in so you can go down the list and choose. Look for foods that are 10% or less carbs.
We suggest feeding Emily before you give the insulin and then offer food during the cycle as well.
Once you start testing the blood glucose, you will test first, then feed, then give the insulin.
Here is the food link
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/links-to-food-charts.174182/

Is Emily drinking and weeing a lot?
It is not unusual for newly diagnosed diabetic kitties to have a few litter box issues. But hopefully it will settle down soon.
Keep asking lots of questions as we are very happy to help you.
Both you and Emily have a lot on your plates at the moment as you both get used to everything but I can promise you it does get much easier and the fact you love Emily already is a big plus.
She looks a real sweetheart.

 

[Aceysta]

Emily right now is on 3 units of Lantus 2x a day.

I first suspected it when I saw how much she was drinking and urinating, as I know that is one of the first signs in humans also (my husband is also diabetic). So we immediately took her to the vet. Her BG was at 660 when we were at the vet, which is how she was officially diagnosed.

My husband normally feeds her in the morning before he leaves for work, as he leaves at least 2 hours before I do, this way by the time I wake up, she has had something in her stomach and I can give her an insulin shot. I then normally feed her when I get home and give her some time and then we give her another shot after her "dinner"

I did get a meter, but I am not sure how to test. I did follow the diagrams on how to prick her ears to get blood, but I got nothing out of her. Right now since she is so overwhelmed about things, I have opted to let her settle in a bit more before I keep trying to poke her.

I do normally give her a can of some sort of pate (or a can of a food that looks like it has low carbs), as at this point, I feel it is more important to get food into her, than really worry about the carbs. She does really love anything with a lot of liquid, and will lap up the liquid immediately with some of the solids, and then go back later on for more of the solids.

I did buy some baby food, but have not resorted to that yet. I also bought a baby medicine syringe so if I need to force feed her, I will. But so far she is alert and oriented. She could be sneaking downstairs during the day and eating some of her sister and brothers dry food. I have seen her on our Nest cameras going into the kitchen, so think this is definitely what is going on.

 

[Idjit's mom]

Good morning Stacey, I'm so glad you checked back and replied.

If you would take a little time and create a signature, we could then see Emily's information each time you post. It saves us asking and you answering the same questions, or trying to comb back through previous posts for the info.

Setting up your signature (light grey text under a post). Here's how:
click on your name in the upper right corner of this page
click on "signature" in the menu that drops down
type the following in the box that opens: kitty's name/age/date of diabetes diagnosis/insulin you're using and dosage amount /glucose meter you're using/what (s)he eats/any other meds or health issues (s)he has. You can add your name, and a geographic location (sometimes the country/time zone matters) Be sure to SAVE when you are finished.

We do use a spreadsheet here to record insulin injection and testing data. This spreadsheet is linked to the signature and we can look at that information to see patterns and how the insulin is working for her.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

I suggest you start a new thread in the Main Health forum HERE so that more members can read about Emily, and we can go forward with more information about how to test, what kind of supplies you have on hand for testing, a good diet for all the kitties, the insulin you are using and how it works, etc. You can copy the messages above, or pertinent sections as you wish, and paste into the new thread there. This Introduction forum is more of a welcome mat and more members monitor the Main Health forum in order to be of assistance.

It's a steep learning curve at first, Stacey, I won't fib to you, but feline diabetes is very treatable and we will help as you learn. One step at a time as you walk this new path.

 

[Sandi and Toby]

Lou and Bron did all the heavy lifting already, so I just wanted to say Hello and Welcome! We adopted our now 18 year old (Sugar) a little over a year and a half ago under similar circumstances (her "Dad" died and her "Mom" had Alzheimer's) so I understand the difficulty in trying to figure out what she likes and doesn't, her habits, etc...we had to do the same. The only difference for us is that we discovered that she had kidney disease instead of diabetes right after we adopted her. But like you, we fell in love with her almost immediately

Glad you are here, everyone will chip in to help get you sorted!

Best,
Sandi.