Nepthaphis
Member Since 2014
Greetings!
My name is Heidi and I'm owned by two beautiful furry children, one whom unfortunately has just been diagnosed with diabetes.
Our neutered tom Largo is 13 years old and came to us when he was 6 as a rescue cat from Dyrebeskyttelsen (the Norwegian Humane Society) He's a gentle giant and a charming fellow
Here he is, lounging on the sofa watching birds on the telly
We've just started insulin treatment and special diet (RC Diabetic - dry and wet food). Our kitties are indoor/outdoor cats (open cat flap during the day, kept indoors during the night) and luckily - since Largo never misses a meal, he's able to continue beeing indoor/outdoor even with his diabetes. Thankfully we caught the disease early so it looks like our (not so-) little guy is doing quite well as we're working on getting him stabilized.
He's getting insulin injections every morning and night with his main meals. But even before the diabetes, he was always a food-lover, and we're much at fault since we've spoilt both cats a bit by letting them having the odd little piece of meat from our dinner plates, or a bit of cheese when we're fixing lunch.. Now our vet has told us we need to restrict his food and keep him on his diet and we understand the importance of this - after all, we want to keep him happy and healthy for as long as we can!
Now I'm busy reading everthing I can get my hands on to learn how to best manage his diabetes - this forum among other things And some things confuse me a little, so I hope I can get some insights from someone more experienced with this kind of situation
Initially, there are three things I would like to ask:
1) We understand the importance of giving insulin at the same time every day - morning and afternoon - with a 12 hour intervall. Our vet says there's a 30 minute window - so since we're usually giving him his shots at 6:30 am and pm, from what I understand that means even if we strive hard to stay 'on the mark', any time between 6:15 and 6:45 is okay in a pinch - is this correct?
2) Our vet also says to feed our kitty consistently - the same amount and type of food at the same times every day. He's already used to half a satchel of wet food and 1/3 of his dry food in the mornings and the same at night + the rest of the dry food for 'supper'. (And divided by 'lunch' and 'supper' on the weekends when we're home from work) Problem is, both kitties are used to having their dinner earlier than the time Largo needs his evening shot of insulin - usually around 4-5 pm - not 6:30 pm... (And we can't feed our other kitty My before Largo eats, or he'll just steal her food...) I know it's very important that he eats when he's getting insulin - no eating or in case of vomiting = no insulin. But do we really have to feed him his dinner/main evening meal at the same time as the insulin, or is it okay to feed the wet food an hour or two earlier, and then the dry food with the insulin at the correct time? Also I see online that many people who have 'grazing' cats leave the dry food out even for diabetic cats so they can eat at will. This will not work with Largo as he immediately scarfs down anything in site (always have), but could we still give him some lunch on the weekends and such? We are very conscious about the amount of food - always weighing both kitties dry food and giving the same amount of wet food every day.
3) Our kitties used to get fresh fish (usually pollock) for dinner on Saturdays (because kitties should have the occational fine dining too ) but we've been afraid to give this since the diagnosis. Can we still give our diabetic cat one meal of fresh fish per week if we calculate the amount of calories and give the same amount as would have been his customary dinner of half a bag of diabetic wet food?
Sorry for so many and long (and possibly ignorant) questions, but it's all pretty overwhelming at the moment!
I must add that we plan to start measuring his glucose levels at home too, but we are waiting a little so as to let him get used to the new routines with insulin and all first - it's a lot of newness for him as well, poor baby.
Love & Blessings from Heidi & Largo
My name is Heidi and I'm owned by two beautiful furry children, one whom unfortunately has just been diagnosed with diabetes.
Our neutered tom Largo is 13 years old and came to us when he was 6 as a rescue cat from Dyrebeskyttelsen (the Norwegian Humane Society) He's a gentle giant and a charming fellow
Here he is, lounging on the sofa watching birds on the telly
We've just started insulin treatment and special diet (RC Diabetic - dry and wet food). Our kitties are indoor/outdoor cats (open cat flap during the day, kept indoors during the night) and luckily - since Largo never misses a meal, he's able to continue beeing indoor/outdoor even with his diabetes. Thankfully we caught the disease early so it looks like our (not so-) little guy is doing quite well as we're working on getting him stabilized.
He's getting insulin injections every morning and night with his main meals. But even before the diabetes, he was always a food-lover, and we're much at fault since we've spoilt both cats a bit by letting them having the odd little piece of meat from our dinner plates, or a bit of cheese when we're fixing lunch.. Now our vet has told us we need to restrict his food and keep him on his diet and we understand the importance of this - after all, we want to keep him happy and healthy for as long as we can!
Now I'm busy reading everthing I can get my hands on to learn how to best manage his diabetes - this forum among other things
And some things confuse me a little, so I hope I can get some insights from someone more experienced with this kind of situation Initially, there are three things I would like to ask:
1) We understand the importance of giving insulin at the same time every day - morning and afternoon - with a 12 hour intervall. Our vet says there's a 30 minute window - so since we're usually giving him his shots at 6:30 am and pm, from what I understand that means even if we strive hard to stay 'on the mark', any time between 6:15 and 6:45 is okay in a pinch - is this correct?
2) Our vet also says to feed our kitty consistently - the same amount and type of food at the same times every day. He's already used to half a satchel of wet food and 1/3 of his dry food in the mornings and the same at night + the rest of the dry food for 'supper'. (And divided by 'lunch' and 'supper' on the weekends when we're home from work) Problem is, both kitties are used to having their dinner earlier than the time Largo needs his evening shot of insulin - usually around 4-5 pm - not 6:30 pm... (And we can't feed our other kitty My before Largo eats, or he'll just steal her food...) I know it's very important that he eats when he's getting insulin - no eating or in case of vomiting = no insulin. But do we really have to feed him his dinner/main evening meal at the same time as the insulin, or is it okay to feed the wet food an hour or two earlier, and then the dry food with the insulin at the correct time? Also I see online that many people who have 'grazing' cats leave the dry food out even for diabetic cats so they can eat at will. This will not work with Largo as he immediately scarfs down anything in site (always have), but could we still give him some lunch on the weekends and such? We are very conscious about the amount of food - always weighing both kitties dry food and giving the same amount of wet food every day.
3) Our kitties used to get fresh fish (usually pollock) for dinner on Saturdays (because kitties should have the occational fine dining too
) but we've been afraid to give this since the diagnosis. Can we still give our diabetic cat one meal of fresh fish per week if we calculate the amount of calories and give the same amount as would have been his customary dinner of half a bag of diabetic wet food?Sorry for so many and long (and possibly ignorant) questions, but it's all pretty overwhelming at the moment!
I must add that we plan to start measuring his glucose levels at home too, but we are waiting a little so as to let him get used to the new routines with insulin and all first - it's a lot of newness for him as well, poor baby.
Love & Blessings from Heidi & Largo
But Largos diabetes has certainly opened my eyes! It makes perfect sense when you think about it - there is no diabetes among lions or tigers or other wild cats, is there? So it must be a human-induced condition - something we've brought upon our kitties by malnurishing them over years and years! And even in zoo's nobody would dream about feeding the big cats 'lion-kibble'... 
