Hairy Diabetic Diagnosis

[Jen P.]

Hi all,

My name is Jen. My husband and I found out this morning that our cat Broham (pronounced like 'Bro-ham and cheese') is a diabetic. We're planning to take him into our vet soon for Medical Boarding. Also, I take off on a plane in a day and a half for WA for a week.

I'm worried about my husband, who will be at work, and without Bro and myself. I wish this could have come at a better time, but I also worry about the financial costs to us. (I am currently unemployed, but will be starting work in Sept. at a Scary Farm.)

Thanks for all the support and assistance you'll be able to give us in advance, and I hope in time, I can be as helpful as you guys!

 

[Critter Mom]

Greetings Jen, hubby and Broham.

I just lurve your avatar picture. It really gave me a giggle!

You've found a great place to learn about feline diabetes. You will also find lots of money-saving tips, plenty of practical advice about day-to-day management of feline diabetics, and discussions on many other feline health-related topics.

First up, we recommend home testing. It will help keep your cat safe on insulin and also provide you with reliable blood glucose level data free of the possibility of being temporarily elevated due to stress from travel or the vet visit itself, and therefore better to judge his insulin dosing requirements. Home testing will also enable you to do your own spot checks and run your own glucose curves* at home instead of having to regularly take your cat to the vet to have them performed. We can help you learn how to test if needed.

You can monitor your cat's glucose levels using a veterinary glucometer (such as the AlphaTRAK 2) or a human glucometer. Pet glucometers give readings closer to veterinary lab values. Some people like the peace of mind this gives them, but veterinary meter test strips are quite expensive. Most FDMB members use human glucometers. Scientific research has shown that you can safely and effectively monitor a kitty's blood glucose at home using a human glucometer and a cat-specific blood glucose reference range. Many of our US members use Relion Confirm or Relion Micro glucometers. They're available from Walmart and the strips are affordable.

It can take a little time to get the hang of home testing, but it is the best way to help you keep your cat safe while on insulin. Key tips are to make sure the ear is warmed long enough to improve blood flow to the test area, and also to smear a thin film of Vaseline or Neosporin ointment onto the test area so that the blood droplet will bead up instead of wicking into the fur. Here are a couple of forum stickies to help you with testing technique, and also a link to tell you how to set up a Google spreadsheet in which to store your test results. The spreadsheet is an invaluable tool to help you monitor your cat's BG patterns and it will help you with both regulation and safe dosing. Sharing the spreadsheet will enable experienced members here give you better suggestions when you need help. Some members also find it helpful to share the spreadsheet with their vets when reviewing their cats' progress.

Home Testing Hints and Tips (includes how-to videos)

Testing and Shooting Tips (includes a very useful diagram of the ear to show the 'sweet spot' for getting samples more easily)

How to Set Up a Spreadsheet and Link it to Your FDMB Forum Signature

In addition to the spreadsheet link, it is helpful to include your names, your insulin and glucometer type, plus brief details of any other health issues/medications. Have a look at other members' signatures to get some ideas of what to add.

In addition to home blood glucose monitoring, it's also recommended to regularly monitor urine for ketones. You can pick up urine test strips (e.g. Keto-Diastix) anywhere that sells supplies for human diabetics, including reputable online retailers. (Note: monitoring of urine glucose levels is very crude, and is useless when it comes to determining whether or not a given insulin dose is safe.)

High protein, low carb, wet cat food is the preferred diet for diabetic cats. You can find out more about appropriate feline nutrition in general at vet-authored site catinfo.org. Here's a link to Dr Pierson's page about nutrition and feline diabetes. Most of our members feed commercial brands (e.g. Fancy Feast Classic or Friskies patés are popular in the US; they're both suitable and reasonably priced). Note that cat foods with gravy are high in carbs so are not for everyday feeding, but it's useful to have a few cans stashed in your cat's hypo kit alongside the honey or karo. The gravy is very useful for raising low blood glucose levels. If your cat is on a high carb diet and already receiving insulin, you must be home testing before you start a transition to lower carb food because blood glucose levels may drop very quickly and very dramatically from the start and the insulin dose will very likely need to be reduced (more about this at the catinfo.org page linked above).

Now that I've totally bamboozled you, welcome to the Sugar Dance.



Mogs


* A glucose curve is a series of blood glucose tests run at regular intervals over a 12- or 18-hour cycle to determine how low the insulin dose takes the cat's blood glucose (the nadir) and also how long it is effective in the cat's body (the duration). Curves are used to monitor the efficacy and safety of a given insulin dose.
.

 

[Cat Ma]

I hope in time, I can be as helpful as you guys!

You will be soon!

Welcome to FDMB, Jen and Broham! What a neat name for your cat!

Mogs gave you a lot of excellent suggestions. For home testing, as Mogs pointed out, many of us use Walmart's Relion Micro or Confirm meter and strips. Any brand of lancet is fine. Starting out, we suggest using a 26 or 28 gauge. The Relion kits come with size 30 gauges and that may be hard to draw blood with in the beginning (unless you poke in the same place several times). We have additional handy tips for poking after you read the links and see the videos Mogs gave you in her links.

This all feels so overwhelming in the beginning but you've come to the right place. It will get easier!

 

[Jen P.]

Bro is going in for his Medical Boarding Saturday Morning. The vet said it can last as long as 3-5 days to do the tests and figure out the medication and diet stuff that he may need. We gave him some wet food for his 'last meal' and he's loving the crap out of it.

So tomorrow morning, hubby takes me to the airport, comes home, gets the cat in the carrier, and gets him to the vet. Then I think he's going to play D&D. (We're all a bunch of geeks.) My hubby will keep me posted with updates till I get back.

We haven't started shots or testing yet, but may have to after we find out what the vet recommends.

(My pic is a fan from a Steve Aoki concert, a DJ who is known for throwing cakes at members of the audience. I saw him San Diego earlier this year, but I was too far back for cake.)

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.