FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4month

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Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Can I bump this, please?

If there are newbies from the South East of England/London area, or are willing to travel there, please direct them to the Royal Veterinary College's Feline Diabetes Remission Trial? They are still recruiting new kitties for their study (must be less than 4 months since diagnosis), and
Enrolled cats will qualify for full underlying disease assessment at the referral hospital, several re-examination appointments, 12 months of prescription diabetic food, and 6 months of insulin therapy – all at no cost to owners.
Click to expand...

Find out more:

The latest updates on the clinic can be found on its Facebook-website: http://www.facebook.com/RVC.Diabetic.Remission.Clinic and the clinic can be contacted on fdrc@rvc.ac.uk or by calling CIC on 01707666605.

http://www.rvc.ac.uk/CIC/Current/Internal.cfm

Thankings,

Juliet

cat_pet_icon
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Ah, but which diabetic cat food? Not a high fiber, high carb food, I hope.
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

From the piccies on Facebook, it looks as though it is Purina DM. (7% carbs?)
I have emailed them for more details of the study. It looks as if they are comparing different insulins, too.
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Hi - this is a strange place to put my first post, but I caught sight of this the other day and am so happy to say we have an appointment for the pre-acceptance screening. I've been reading the forum for advice since Bert was diagnosed just under two months ago, but haven't posted due to a certain level of 'overwhelm' (my husband has been ill all during this time as well). My vet has been great, and is really behind the idea of the trial too.

A few extra details about the trial - the food is Purina DM, and they can supply wet or dry, but would prefer wet obviously. We now have a cupboard full of Macs but I guess they'll keep. I presume it helps the science if all the cats are on the same food, and they're sending some out so we can transition him onto it. They are trialling both PZI and Glargine, and I have no idea which one we'd get. Of 8 cats already on the trial, 3 are now OTJ.

I'm so pleased we have this opportunity and I wouldn't have known about it without this place (not to mention a hundred other things), so Thank You Very Much!

Jo & Bert
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Welcome Jo & Bert.

Have you got the following 3 things worked out so far?
1) insulin
2) home testing
3) low carb diet

Or, what questions do you have?

Its OK to post and ask for just area of focus so you can keep it all straight and not become overwhelmed.
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Welcome, Jo and Bert!

Waving 'Hi' from a very blustery Surrey (Brrrrr....)

The trial sounds very interesting.
It would be great if more vets would consider PZI and Lantus as a result of this (as a better alternative to Caninsulin...)

I use Hypurin PZI for my cat and it works really well for us. (My cat was not a candidate for remission).

Would you consider learning to test Bert's blood glucose at home? It's not that hard to learn and shouldn't hurt Bert at all. Most of us here 'hometest' and it gives a wealth of information, as well as helping us to keep our cats safe from hypoglycemia. If you'd like to learn we can help you do that.

Looking forward to getting to know you and Bert,

Eliz
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Thanks for the welcome! Bit blustery in London this morning too :)

I'm actually doing my first curve at home today - I'm a bit of a fainter when it comes to needles and blood, but it turns out you can do pretty much anything if you have to. It helps that Bert is extremely placid, of course...I think I'm lucky in my vet, in that she's been very encouraging, especially when it came to home testing & giving me a demonstration, and she was very keen on being involved with the trial. I figure we're all working together to get Bert as healthy as possible, and if he does better on whichever insulin he ends up on but doesn't go into remission then I've got a pretty good case for continuing with it, and since my vet practice will have early access to the results it could help other cats they come across.

Since I figured out that I could actually do the testing at home, after a few false stabs the other day, I've felt much more relaxed, because I know if he starts to look weird to me I can check him and find out if it's something or nothing.

He switched over easily to a wet diet thankfully (big fan of Macs and Granatapet). My other cat not so much, which is our only remaining stress - we're feeding her at the other end of the house, because Bert has always been a scavenger and will tear open packets and bags to get food, never mind hunting down his chum's food bowl. We're going to invest in a surefeed cat bowl for her once they're on the market, because even if we do get her switched she eats little and often, and Bert just eats everything he can see. Of course, we had her checked and she's completely healthy.

We're in the process of regulating the insulin. We just upped the dose from 1.5 to 2 after he recovered from his dental work (which was how we found out), which my vet said she thought would have to happen. So I guess we'll keep him steady until we hand over care to the remission clinic. I'll keep you all posted on how it goes!
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Just another welcome from another UKer, in Surrey not far from Elizabeth. You are definitely in the right place to seek advice and support from other cat-lovers so I encourage you to post often and become part of a very special group of people. Good luck!

Diana
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

Hi Jo (& Bert + chum!),

Welcome from another FD kitty Mum in Surrey.
Sounds like you & your vet have everything in hand for your lil guy! Great stuff!
I'm really interested in the study. When you & Bert enrol properly, could you give us a bit more info about what the RVC are up to, please?
I am sooo excited that they've started to make in-roads with cat diabetes. UK vets could do with a little more scientific ammunition behind them to tackle this problem properly.
Hooray!

Juliet
 
Re: FD study in the UK for recently diagnosed kitties! < 4m

hi everyone,

I live in west London and my 8 year old ginger tabby boy Angel was diagnosed on Thursday and started on 2 units of caninsulin twice a day. I've had him since he was 8 weeks old and the last few years he put on weight. He's managed to lose on a diet, but didn't develop the diabetes until he'd lost weight!! I contacted the rvc and they are going to call me as it looks as though he might be suitable for the trial. Meanwhile I have a glucose meter on order from Amazon. Angel is coping so well with his shots, he is a very laid back boy and purrs away. I lost his sister due to sudden renal failure last year and when Angel continued losing weight after being on a diet and then started drinking loads I was convinced he had the same thing. So in a way it was almost a relief to find he has something which is not an automatic death sentence!

As well as Angel I have 2 'civies' (is that right?) Lianna was 18 in August (exactly 10 years older than Ang!) She's a pedigree blue point Birman. She is a bit of a miracle as she was diagnosed with HCM 7 years ago and has remained reasonably stable on fortekor. She's now a bit arthritic and partially blind, and her murmur has gone from a grade 3 to low grade 4, but she is amazing. Cera was 17 in April, I got her from cats protection when she was 4 months old. She's amazing for her age apart from the fact that last year she quite suddenly went deaf.

Looking forward to getting to know everyone,

Cassandra and Angel x
UPDATE we have an appointment for screening for the RVC trial on 14th July!!
 
Hi

My Edgar is on the trial, he started in November 2014. I've just signed up for this forum. He is on glargine and is now down to 2 units twice a day. He didn't like the prescription food so he is now on Lily's, Bozita and Feringa, and some Origen or James Wellbeloved dry, which we have to keep available for one of our other cats who really only likes to graze on dry. (I assume a civy is a 'civilian' - a cat without DM?). Edgar is only 8 and has been with us from rescue since Jan 2014. He is a calicivirus carrier, but negative for acromegaly and pancreatitis. He put on weight when he first came to us, then went on a diet, then continued to lose weight leading to the diagnosis in Sept 2014. He was drinking and urinating a lot, but this is now at normal levels. His behaviour has never been affected. He goes to the RVC quite happily for his overnight stays - more happily than we do!

Cassandra - is Angel on the trial now?
 
hi Sarah and Edgar,

How is Edgar doing on the trial? What is he on? Angel started the trial in July and has (fingers crossed) been in remission since Sept 1st which was exactly a year since I lost his sister/littermate so I like to think she is looking out for him. He was put on prozinc but hasn't needed it since then. I feed Angel an ultra low carb diet, he only ever has the purina dm, Smilla, and sometimes Bozita. Smilla is lower carb than Bozita (and cheaper too, not that it matters but it helps!). I keep him well away from any dry food.

I've been away from this board from far too long and intend to start posting regularly again, taking a break now though as I have 4 hungry mouths to feed. I'll pm you later with my e mail address
x
 
Hi Sweet Angel,

Thank you so much for your response and your subsequent conversation message to me. I have replied to that and hope that I have done that correctly. if you don't get a reply to it, let me know in this thread and I will send again! Delighted that your little boy went into remission so quickly. Edgar is on glargine and is now down to 2 units twice a day from 4, but I am impatient!!

kisses to Angel. x

BTW we live in Putney, so not far from you at all.
 
Just saw this, I used to live in Southfields!!! My boyfriends parents used to run the Park Tavern years ago, and I used to love Rogerio's in Putney. Small world.
 
Small world, as ever! Rogerio's has changed hands and it's now called Italian Boys. It seemed to lose custom from the first day it changed and it seemed such a shame as it was lovely as Rogerio's.
 
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