Hello...another newbie!

[tigger2000]

I am so happy to have found this board - thanks to a suggestion from a fellow feline diabetes board member on facebook. No "if onlys" but I have been so uninformed!!! Our kitty Tigger was diagnosed about 4 years ago. She has been on PZI insulin twice daily. We started at 5 units and are down to 3 units. The thing that I find puzzling is that no one ever suggested home testing and they had us feeding Purina DM dry from day one. I noticed that she was eating less and looking thin so I bought the wet DM food from the vet and she LOVES it! I did not know that she could eat regular food from the store and really wonder if we shouldn't have been testing all along. We have accumulated a great deal of expense with everything over the years between vet visits and medication and food. Being a mom of 4 that takes its toll! We adore our kitty and want what is best for her so if there is a better way I need to know. She is not miserable but I know that she is far less energetic than she could be. thanks in advance!!

 

[PeterDevonMocha]

YAY! So glad you were able to find your way over here!

Don't feel bad you weren't home testing and feeding only prescription food .. I mean, after all, that's why we take our kitties to the vets, right? Cause they know what is best? Unfortunately, vet's may spend about a month glancing over diabetes while in school and then never really pursue becoming more advanced with information on it. But knowledge is power and you'll find lots of it here!

Like I said before, mocha eats special kitty from wal mart (turkey and giblets) It runs .59 a can, for a 5.5oz size .. lots of people on here feed fancy feast and friskies .. You just want to make sure it is LOW CARB .. Mocha's runs 4% .. anything less then I do believe 8% is considered low carb .. There's a food list on this site somewhere that breaks down food varieties by their carb percent .. But, you should not switch cat food until you are ready to home test .. sometimes a simple switch in carbs in cat food can have a BIG impact on blood sugar readings!

We also home test mocha by using our human meter, I think it was around 10.00 for the meter and lancet (the pokey thing) We test mocha on her ear, right along the edge (there's also a video on here for that as well) Some cats on here are real sticklers about being poked on the ear so some do testing on the paw pads if it comes down to that .. When you home test, you're going to be able to save a LOT of money by not running to the vet to get their "fructosamine" test done .. cause you'll be doing that at home instead

Once you become comfortable on here, you can move on over to your insulins own little group and get more specific info on it .. We used something else (lantus) So I can't really help you out there, but there will be people on here who can, don't worry about that!

So read read read and ask ask ask .. oh, and make yourself at home!

 

[Wendy&Tiggy(GA)]

Welcome to the board!

You can certainly save yourself some money by feeding OTC foods like Friskies pates, Wellness grain free canned or fancy feast pates. How long has she been on the canned DM?

I also second the idea of home testing - you will get a much better picture of whats going on and be better able to control things.

Wendy

 

[Deb & Wink]

Hello to Tigger and his mommabean and welcome to the FDMB! Lots of experience here to help you.

Would you please share your first name with us?