Zoni's Human
Member Since 2012
Hello! I am Zoni's human, aka Donna. It is so good to have a resource like the terrific people on this message board. I am very grateful to this community for all the help.
Zoni is a white short haired Manx mix. I told the vet he was 11 but realized today he is really only 9, I couldn't count when I brought him to the vet. I just spent half an hour and had a wonderful post all typed out but then my connection timed out and I lost it, rats!! Oh well, it was too long anyway. It had described in too much detail the history of Zoni's diabetic journey. The pertinent parts are that he was diagnosed last year Nov. 9 and put on 2 units Humulin N a.m. and p.m.
He and his sibling cats had been eating Purina ONE dry food for several years, but I started gradually switching it to a mix of 3 kinds of lower carb dry food and feeding canned pate foods when he got his injections. Our favorites are Fancy Feast and Friskies but we rotate with 9 Lives and Special Kitty to stretch the budget. I stick with protein at least 10% in the canned food, some flavors have 11%. He has been doing better and better over the past 4 months, gained weight back, felt good again and acting like his old self.
Then I had what I thought was a tragedy a couple of weeks ago, I dropped his insulin and it broke! The first thing I did is take away the dry food and then I opened some extra cans of the pate so they wouldn't run out while I was gone all day. I waited until evening when the morning dose had worn off and started testing his BG every couple of hours. I only gave them canned tuna and some boiled ham that night. I was very surprised when his BG never got above 94. I was sure it would rise again the next day, but it stayed mostly in the 70's range over the next week. I was giving him Friskies Special Diet Ocean Whitefish or Turkey flavors as well as plain chicken breast, tuna, and plain meat, just the 2 meals per day a.m. and p.m. (but there is enough to snack on through the day).
So far so good still, his BG was only 51 last time I checked in the morning on an empty stomach, a couple of days ago. I wanted to let his poor ears heal for a while so I haven't checked it again since then. I checked all the other cats a few times and they all stay in the range 50's to 60's, so I am hopeful that he is really in a long term remission. I will keep checking the BG a couple of times per week in case it changes again. I didn't go get another bottle of insulin because his numbers have been so good and if they spike up again I figured I can run get another N without a vet visit, to tide him over until I can afford the whole vet visit and change to a better insulin. KPassa mentioned that many cats can be diet-controlled so I am really hopeful for long-term being OTJ.
That is our story, in a nutshell. I am hoping and praying for all of our extra-sweet cats on this board to have similar good stories eventually. I am also very glad to have such a fantastic resource, in case Zoni doesn't stay diet controlled, and I will need more advice and support in the future.
Sorry this post is so long!! Having others' stories is so helpful to me, so I wanted to share ours in case it helps someone else.
Best wishes,
Donna
Zoni is a white short haired Manx mix. I told the vet he was 11 but realized today he is really only 9, I couldn't count when I brought him to the vet. I just spent half an hour and had a wonderful post all typed out but then my connection timed out and I lost it, rats!! Oh well, it was too long anyway. It had described in too much detail the history of Zoni's diabetic journey. The pertinent parts are that he was diagnosed last year Nov. 9 and put on 2 units Humulin N a.m. and p.m.
He and his sibling cats had been eating Purina ONE dry food for several years, but I started gradually switching it to a mix of 3 kinds of lower carb dry food and feeding canned pate foods when he got his injections. Our favorites are Fancy Feast and Friskies but we rotate with 9 Lives and Special Kitty to stretch the budget. I stick with protein at least 10% in the canned food, some flavors have 11%. He has been doing better and better over the past 4 months, gained weight back, felt good again and acting like his old self.
Then I had what I thought was a tragedy a couple of weeks ago, I dropped his insulin and it broke! The first thing I did is take away the dry food and then I opened some extra cans of the pate so they wouldn't run out while I was gone all day. I waited until evening when the morning dose had worn off and started testing his BG every couple of hours. I only gave them canned tuna and some boiled ham that night. I was very surprised when his BG never got above 94. I was sure it would rise again the next day, but it stayed mostly in the 70's range over the next week. I was giving him Friskies Special Diet Ocean Whitefish or Turkey flavors as well as plain chicken breast, tuna, and plain meat, just the 2 meals per day a.m. and p.m. (but there is enough to snack on through the day).
So far so good still, his BG was only 51 last time I checked in the morning on an empty stomach, a couple of days ago. I wanted to let his poor ears heal for a while so I haven't checked it again since then. I checked all the other cats a few times and they all stay in the range 50's to 60's, so I am hopeful that he is really in a long term remission. I will keep checking the BG a couple of times per week in case it changes again. I didn't go get another bottle of insulin because his numbers have been so good and if they spike up again I figured I can run get another N without a vet visit, to tide him over until I can afford the whole vet visit and change to a better insulin. KPassa mentioned that many cats can be diet-controlled so I am really hopeful for long-term being OTJ.
That is our story, in a nutshell. I am hoping and praying for all of our extra-sweet cats on this board to have similar good stories eventually. I am also very glad to have such a fantastic resource, in case Zoni doesn't stay diet controlled, and I will need more advice and support in the future.
Sorry this post is so long!! Having others' stories is so helpful to me, so I wanted to share ours in case it helps someone else.
Best wishes,
Donna
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