Hello from Jane

[JaneK]

Hello everyone. I'm new to this forum and want to introduce myself and my cats. My cat Bob (11 year old part Persian) was just diagnosed with Feline Diabetes a couple of weeks ago. I've quickly moved through the phases of Cat High Blood Sugar from shock and fear to just plain shock (over the cost of Lantus) and now in the "get 'er done" mode for managing Bob's Diabetes. I have another cat (CNN) who does not appear to have any major health issues, although she is 14 so I'm bracing myself. Both cats are now eating Hills MD canned only with occasional teaspoons of canned Frisky chicken which I understand is also low carb. CNN is overweight so the low carb diet should be helpful for her too. Bob is on 2 units of Lantus insulin per shot twice a day. Please keep your fingers crossed that when we go get his blood tested this Saturday at the vet he will have improved. I caught the diabetes relatively early so maybe we can manage this thing and even get him into remission. If there are any other newbies out there who are terrified of giving the shot I am here to say, it's really, really quick and easy. Also, I have business travel from time to time and I've already lined up a Vet tech from my veterinary clinic who does insulin shots and pet sitting on the side!

I am so glad this forum exists. It's not as scary knowing there are other cat parents out there who are going through the same thing.

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Hi Jane and welcome to FDMB.

So far you are off to a good start. Lantus is a good insulin. If your prescription is for the vial, I recommend that when you need a refill, ask your vet for a prescription for the pens instead of the vial. Lantus is usually effective for about 3 months. The problem with the vial is that it becomes ineffective long before you can use it all. So you end up throwing a lot of insulin away. The pens are packaged in smaller containers and you get 5 pens to a package. Because of this, you are able to use almost every drop in a pen. So one package of pens could last 8 months or more, depending on your dose.

Fancy Feast is a better food choice than the MD. It is lower in carbs, plus less expensive. There is a food chart under the Health Links that will give you a breakdown of the carbs in food. http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-lisas-food-charts.88162/ You also want to feed both cats the same food. It will make it easier to manage Bob's diabetes and lessen the chance CNN will develop it.

One other suggestion is to learn to hometest. This means testing a small drop of blood before every shot. There are several reasons to hometest. First, by testing before every shot, you will know it is safe to give the insulin. If the BG level is too low, you want to skip the shot otherwise you risk hypoglycemia. If your vet will not show you how to test, we can help you learn. There are pet glucose meters available, but most of us use human meters. The Walmart Relion Confirm and Micro are good meters to use. The human meters are less expensive to buy and use and the strips are more available, especially in an emergency.

The second reason you hometest is to determine how well your insulin dose is working. If the BG levels are too high or too low, you may need to adjust your dose. Increases are done in 1/2 units and wait at least one week between dose increases before raising it again. It takes the cat's body that long to adjust to a new dose. Plus, hometesting will eliminate the need to go to the vet just for testing.

You have a lot of experience on the board. If you have any questions, please ask them. We are here to help you.

I am curious, what does CNN's name stand for? My cat's name was Witn. It stood for We're In Trouble Now. She passed away several years ago at the young age of 19, but she live up to her name all of her life.

 

[JaneK]

Hi Lisa! Thank you for your very helpful welcome reply. I do plan to ask the vet about home testing when I go back this Saturday. I wish there was a way to do it without the blood prick but I don't see one. Also -- Fancy Feast might be a problem, even though both cats absolutely adore it. While it is very low in carbs, it is also very high in fat. My cat Bob is an extremely rare 5+ years Ideopathic Chylothorax survivor. They recommend Chylothorax cats stay on a low fat diet. So I'm pretty much caught between a rock and a hard place! Any recommendations for wet cat food that is both low fat AND low carb (and isn't the extremely expensive Hills MD) would be greatly appreciated.

CNN got her name many years ago when she adopted me. It was right after 9-11 and I...like so many Americans, was glued to the TV set watching the towers fall over and over again on CNN. One night I looked up and there was a little cat watching me through the sliding window doors from my patio. I opened the door and in she walked like she owned the place. Within a week (after making sure nobody in the neighborhood was missing a little tabby cat) she was mine. Of course her name had to be CNN. It stands for Cat News Network!

P.S. I love the name Witn, especially since it rhymes with kitten!

 

[BJM]

H... Bob is on 2 units of Lantus insulin per shot twice a day...

That is high for a starting dose. I strongly encourage you to pick up an inexpensive glucometer, matching test strips, and lancets for alternate site testing (26-28 gauge). The Target Up and Up, or WalMart ReliOn Confirm or Confirm Micro have worked well for many of us here. The glucose tends to go lowest (nadir) around +5 to +7 hours after the shot.

Just in case, here are instructions for How to Handle a Hypo.

 

[JaneK]

He was actually started at a low 1 unit per shot dose. After one week his blood sugar was still 500 so the Dr. increased it to 2 units. This week we've had a pretty good breakthrough. He is drinking considerably less water, less urine in the litter box and he is eating every drop and loving his wet food. He is also active, happy, purring and seemingly a cat with a high quality of life. I sure hope I get some good news on Saturday when they test his blood sugar. At that time I will ask about home test kits and proceed from there. So far, so good!

 

[BJM]

You can use a human glucometer with feline-specific reference ranges. Pet meters are quite pricey in comparison and pet meter test strips run at least $1 per strip, so testing before each shot, will run you about $60 per month. Then there are mid-cycle tests to get , preferably each week, either on the weekend if you're away during the day through the week, or some folks even set an alarm to get an overnight test.

If you have the budget to do it, the Alpha Trak II or the i-Pet may be purchased online for considerably less than what a vet is going to charge you. Check for ADW on our shopping page here.