Family cannot deal with cat's insulin schedule.

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Kittea

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My cat is about nine years old, he has always had a bowl of food waiting for him to nibble at whenever he felt like it. He was quite alright for most of his life, until my grandmother retired and began to constantly feed him. It tipped him over the edge and now he is diabetic, which honestly should not be as big of a deal as my family makes it out to be. I give him his shots the majority of the time since everyone in the household is squeamish beyond belief, yet for some reason the people here find it incredibly difficult NOT to feed him before it is time for his shot. I usually give him his first insulin shot in the morning around 7:30am, yet they insist on feeding him at 5pm or so. I knew it would be a slippery slope, it started with 7 instead of 7:30, then 6:30 instead of 7:30, but now it is getting beyond ridiculous. They also insist on giving him snacks here and there, and of course it began the same way. Just a nibble before his true mealtime, so he won't be as annoying, but it just turned into feeding him most of his meal two hours before he is supposed to.

Anyway, I honestly do not see the justification in feeding him THAT soon before his designated feeding time. They claim it is "sooo difficult, I reallyyyy try not to" but he is just too annoying, apparently. They are sick of me nagging, but you know what? I am sick of them not listening to me and disobeying the vet's orders. Whenever we go to get his blood checked on, they try and cling to every little thing the vet might say as justification for feeding him too early or giving him multiple snacks through out the day. It is not recommended that you feed them too early, but they push and push until the vet says "well, maybe just a little something if it bothers you THAT much..." I can make them wait until 6pm if I am really stern, but is it even possible for me to give him his shot at 7:30pm anyway, or does it have to be extremely close to mealtime? Ugh.

cat(2)_steam
 
Okay a couple of quick questions...What are you feeding him and what insulin is he on and how much.

I have 11 cats only 1 is a diabetic but I free feed all of them friskies or 9-lives pate flavors that are below 8% carbs. Not only is my diabetic in remission on this diet but the other 10 look beautiful and have benefited with the change in diet. If you have more than one cat in the house they can all eat the same diet.

It is possible and perferrable to give a diabetic kitty several small meals through out the day, Plus is he isn't regulated yet he is literally starving because his body can't process the food he is eating correctly.

two of the best things you can do for your guy is to feed him a low carb/high protein diet, and you don't need the expensive prescriptions stuff either. In fact there is better quality stuff on the regular commercial market. The other thing is to learn to home test, you can use just a regular human glucometer that you can pick up from any pharmacy. But at the very least you will want to test him before each shot. The other thing that it will do for you is save a bunch of money because you won't have to keep taking him to the vet to have curves run. You can do it from home and just either take your numbers into the vet or like I do just email them to the vet. Not only does this allow you to know at a moment's notice how the insulin is working in his body it will also give you truer numbers as almost all cats are stressed at the vet's even if they love their vettybean. Strange sounds, barking dogs, strange people and smells etc. With the truer numbers from home testing you will be able to make a much better and informed choices on how to treat.

Glad you found us, now we can help you better help your kitty.

Mel & Max
 
I completely agree with what Mel said.

Some links to help you with understanding why we take the position we take.

FDMB's FAQ.

Janet and Binky's wet food charts, where you can find many inexpensive wet foods with under 10% carbs. (I feed the Fancy Feast Classic line, which are all 5% or lower).

Dr. Lisa Pierson's website, catinfo.org, where she explains why cats (even non-diabetic cats) need a high protien, low-carb wet or raw food diet.

FDMB's hometesting page, with tips and further links.

I think if you follow our suggestions, there will be little disagreement with your family on what, when, and how much to feed your cat.
 
I also agree with what Mel said. It will be easier if you can get your cat on low carb/high protein canned food and remove dry completely. You should also consider learning to hometest so you can begin testing before every shot. It will help immensely to get the diabetes under control and reduce the vet expenses. You do not need to feed prescription foods. Many of us feed our cats either Friskies or Fancy Feast canned foods.

What insulin are you using? With some insulins you can be a little more flexible with the shooting schedule providing you are hometesting. My schedule can be sometimes eratic so there are times where my cat may get his shot every 12 hours and other times where the shot can be 10 or 14 hours after the previous shot. If you test before every shot you will learn when it is safe to give insulin.
 
Just one small qualifier to switching the diet...please do not eliminate the dry food (if you are feeding dry) until you start home testing! When you remove the dry food, his insulin requirement will decrease...in some cats it can drop very dramatically.....and you run the risk of a hypoglycemic episode if you are not testing his BG. Please consider learning to home test first, then changing his diet to LC canned food.
 
Who are 'they' ? Parents, kids, spouse?

If you have taken on the majority of responsibility for shots etc it is highly irresponsible for them to show such disregard for the rules you have set up...and yet you speak of them going to the vet's and trying to influence the treatment plan?

Sounds to me like you need to have a family meeting and get everyone onboard...

And I agree with the others that you should strongly consider a diet change and hometesting...

Jen
 
I found the following statement worked brilliantly to get all of my family, friends and assorted people who might have been able to feed Yittle in gear.

This is my cat. If you feed my cat things he can no longer eat, or feed him at times when I need him to fast so he can get his blood tested properly and be dosed appropriately with insulin he will die. If he dies I will blame you personally for all of eternity for murdering MY cat.

Harsh, but effective.

Having said that, Yittle ate small meals of moist food up to 12 times a day before we got his sugar under control, he still managed to lose 7lbs during that time. We recorded every single time he was fed, what he was fed and how much he ate. If anybody other then hubby or I fed him they had to feed him from the appropriate list and record the time, item and quantity. Once he got into diet-controlled remission and didn't need insulin anymore he was eating 1/4 of a can of Friskies/9 lives or 1/2 a can of Fancy Feast/Whiskas 6 times a day on average.
 
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