Hard Decisions

[ZoeyMaineCoon]

I adopted a maine coone from a pure bred rescue when she was about 5. (3 years ago). About 1.5 years after I adopted her she developed diabetes. We had already been restricting her food prior to her getting the diabetes as she was overweight (18lbs vs. 16 ideal weight). We initially had started her on 3 units BID of lantus and now she has gradually gotten up to 6 units BID of Lantus. We don't test her blood sugar at home but she is no longer peeing outside the box and does not urinate large amounts or drink large amounts. We has made it very difficult is that we have another cat so no matter how much we food restrict the maine coone (Zoey) she still eats the other cats food so we can't get her to lose weight. Both cats get 1/4c of food 2x daily (when we give the diabetic cat the shot). We give hte maine coon Purina DM and the non diabetic gets Wilderness high protein. We went to pick up another 10ml vial of lantus for my cat the other day and it was $150. It was up yet another $25. Her lantus has gone up by almost $40 in the past 1.5 years. And along with the needle costs, the fact that we should atleast bring her in for a fructosamine and that we cannot afford to do so makes me think we should resurrender her back to her pure bred rescue. I wonder if someone else who can afford it could get her diabetes under better control so she could have a more full life. She is starting to develop some cataracts (which is more rare in cats- but I can see some cloudiness in her eyes). I don't want to give up on her but with our second cat, the costs of her it is very difficult to keep her well regulated. Are any of the other insulin types cheaper or is lantus the best? I think she's on pretty high doses. (She has never had hypoglycemia apart from her initial diagnosis and first shot at home). I would by very sad to give her up but truly want what's best for her.

 

[PeterDevonMocha]

Hi and welcome to the feline diabetes board! I was just heading off myself, but I am sure others will see this and respond (depending on where you are, it might be awhile as it's night here) Lantus is one of the best insulins for cats right now but the cost can be cheaper if you buy the pens instead of the vial. Initially it might run you a little more, but there is generally less waste and they tend to last longer. Hometesting is KEY!! I'm not sure if zoey is on to high or to low of a dose amount. It most likely is to high, as six units is quite a large amount. But the only way you would know would be to start hometesting .. Once you start hometesting, you should think about switching cat food as well. Most cats here do extremely well on wet cat, in fact, we recommend wet cat food over dry because dry cat food, even for diabetics, is way to high in carb content ..

I know this is a lot to take in and like I said, it might be a few before anyone else responds but please stick around and read up on everything .. You will find feline diabetes is very manageable and hopefully you will find a way to keep zoey right where she belongs

 

[MikeysMom]

Welcome to the board! We've all been through similar questions, and there are lots of things you can do to help lower expense and make your kitty healthier!

Are you testing her blood glucose at home? Almost all of us do, and by doing that you won't need a fructosamine test because you will have the same data from your at-home testing. You can use a human meter. The Relion Micro from Walmart is very popular as it has the cheapest strips at $36 for 100 strips. Or, if you order online, you can find them for less. American Diabetes Wholesale has the Arkray Glucocard01 which is the exact same meter, and the strips on there are about $70 for 250 ith the buy 4, get one free offer. I use the Arkray Vital from the same site and the strips for that meter are cheaper yet at about $45 for 250, and you can even have them shipped automatically every month or six weeks.

Home testing takes a while to learn the technique, but is really quite simple, and it's the best way to understand your cat's numbers and adjust insulin doses. If you look at Mikey's spreadsheet in my signature line, you can see that I test often, and every BG reading on there was taken at home, using a human meter. Because I test, I know how the Lantus works for Mikey.

I agree on the food change; changing to a low carb canned food at under 10% carbs (I stay under 5% with Mikey) will make a differnce almost overnight. The DM dry is still too high in carbs for a diabetic. I feed Fancy Feast Classics, Chicken, Beef, and Turkey & Giblets flavors as well as Great Choice, which is PetSmart's house brand and only costs 40 cents for a 5.5 oz. can. I get the Poultry Platter in that brand as it has meat as the first ingredient. In general, dry food is terrible for cats, diabetic or not, as it contains grains, which cats have no use for, and doesn't provide enough water, which is a huge contributor to urinary issues. Here's a great Website with lots of info: http://www.catinfo.org/

Lots of us use Janet and Binky's charts to look up the carb content of differnt foods. http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html. There are others out there as well that people can link you to!

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the board!

Please follow this link. You may be able to get some help on the Lantus. I know that last week, DCIN posted on the "Supply Closet" forum that they had some lantus pens available for the price of a small donation. They may still have some, and if you follow the links in the thread, you can contact them.

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=29535

Carl

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

Also, at the top of every page, there's a link to "Home testing kits" which are available to new members for the cost of shipping one to you. That will save you some of the initial cost on a meter and strips for testing at home.

Carl

 

[Ry & Scooter]

Hi and welcome! Coming to this forum was honestly the best thing you could do for your cat. If you can follow our advice and commit to treating her to our guidelines here, you can significantly cut the costs and stress associated with this disease. And along with that, you can significantly improve her condition and maybe even get her off insulin eventually! Now isn't that a happy thought

Purina DM dry is just too high in carbs for a diabetic cat. Period. And there is no magical ingredient in Purina DM canned that makes it any better than a grocery store brand food. The ingredients are crap, nothing but byproducts and liver. You are paying a premium for the label. Why don't you find a nice, low carb, canned, grocery/department store food both cats will eat, and switch both cats to it? That will save you a LOT of money, as the food is cheaper and insulin need will go down. And it will be healthier for your other kitty to be on a low carb canned food too - dry food causes chronic dehydration that very frequently leads to crystals and CRF. Carb loaded dry food is also linked to the cause of diabetes. It might even help your diabetic get off insulin. And you won't have to worry about your diabetic sneaking into inappropriate food either!

Fancy Feast classic pates, Friskies pates, Special Kitty pates, Wellness, Merricks, etc. are all some great brands that are cheap. Generally any pate-style foods that don't contain stuff like rice, wheat flour, potatoes, etc. are low carbs. No gravy!

I feed my boy a mix of Special Kitty Select (.50 a can), and Whiskas in resealable plastic trays (also .50). I feed him about 2.5 of either a day, so it costs me about $1.25 a day to feed him! That is about as much as you would pay for a bag of chips from a vending machine. When you put it into perspective like that, it is very cheap. And as you can see by my spreadsheet, low carb canned combined with insulin therapy has SIGNIFICANTLY improved his blood glucose and he is well regulated on a measly 0.5u of insulin, and maybe even flirting with remission.

 

[Julia & Bandit (GA)]

It is very important that if you switch your cats to a low carb canned diet, that you lower the dose of insulin or this could cause a deadly hypoglycemic incident. Most cats on a low carb, canned diet do not need much more than 1u of insulin. Also, 3u was way too high a starting dose, and 6u is a very high dose. The maximum starting dose for cats is 2u, and that's for a cat that is supposed to weigh 18lbs.

Here is some information about how to correctly dose Lantus that I strongly urge you print and give to you vet. Lantus has an 84% remission rate in newly diagnosed cats, but that number is only valid if you follow the protocol provided (which requires dose adjustments based off daily home testing), and you feed a low carb, canned diet.

American Animal Hospital Association diabetes guidelines: http://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/AAHADiabetesGuidelines.pdf (See p. 217-219)

Lantus dosing protocol: http://www.uq.edu.au/ccah/docs/diabetesinfo/link4.pdf

Article explaining the safety and efficacy of the Lantus dosing protocol--newly diagnosed cats have an 84% remission rate if followed, with a 64% remission rate in cats overall. The sooner you start treatment as outlined in this article, the greater your chances of remission.