Hello! I'm new to the FDMB

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Maya & Neo

Maya & Neo

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Hi everybody,
I'm been coming and reading for a little while now and thought it might be time to say hello formally and introduce myself and my diabetic cat Neo. I adopted him from a shelter here in the Netherlands in April and have been working hard to get him healthy pretty much ever since. The shelter assured us he was fine, but when he came home with us he seemed to immediately catch a cold and when I checked him closely there was also some ickiness in his ears. I took him to the vet straight away and they told us he had an upper respiratory infection and ear mites to boot. :( Needless to say I wasn't very happy that the shelter hadn't noticed anything, although my husband did call and tell them so that they could at least check the other animals.

Within a couple of weeks I was sure something else was wrong because even though Neo was eating ravenously, he wasn't gaining any weight and was still scary skinny. On top of that, he was drinking immense amounts of water and of course peeing it all out. I had to kick up a pretty big fuss at the vet's office, but they finally tested his blood for me and much to my surprise came back and told me that Neo had diabetes. Neo just turned 2 in June, by the way. And on top of that, it turns out he also had giardia.

The giardia is gone (fingers crossed) but we're still working with the vet to try to figure out the right amount of dosage. I am giving him injections twice a day (at 0630 and then 1830) and his dosage is up to 4 units. I was very surprised and a little dismayed to have read on FDMB that I shouldn't be giving injections in the neck area as that's exactly where my vet suggested that I begin. Neo's due back at the vet's for another round of testing of his blood levels so I'm going to try injecting in the flank or belly area. He has always tried to grab me when I pinch the skin on his flanks so I'll probably end up with quite a few scratches but I'd rather that than keep increasing his dosage!

Luckily for me, Neo is an absolute sweetheart of a cat and oh so lovable. He's not had it easy, and the fact that our resident cat still hasn't taken to him isn't helping his stress levels but I'm doing my best to try to make life a little bit better for him. At least he's put on 0.5kg since he's been with us. That makes me feel a bit better!

Thank you for the wonderful information resource. I obviously have a lot of reading to do and will probably lean on quite a few of you for advise. I hope that one day I'll be knowledgeable enough that I can return the favor to someone else who is new and joining the board. :-) Thank you in advance!
 
Welcome. Neo sounds like he's found the perfect home.

What type of food is he eating?

What insulin are you using?

How do you feel about hometesting? That would be the safest way to manage his diabetes and you wouldn't have to wait to go to the vet to see how his numbers are.

Putting on weight is a good sign. Sometimes underlying infections and stress from the shelter can cause diabetes, so hometesting is important because as he gets better from the giardia and everything else his blood sugar may naturally come down.
 
Welcome. There is nothing wrong with shooting in the scruff. I've given insulin to all three of my diabetic cats in the scruff.

Home testing was definitely the best decision I made while treating Maggie. Shooting blind had led to a couple of really bad hypos that required hospitalization with my first diabetic. Home testing Maggie allowed me to keep track of her blood glucose levels, so I knew it was safe to give insulin. And it was a life saver a few times, too, when her bg suddenly dropped to dangerous levels. It's really not too hard and Maggie would purr through the whole process.
 
Welcome to this board!
First thing I have to say is please don't worry as you will receive great help from the people here.

OK, the injection site is just fine, so please don't worry about shots in the scruff. I give shots in the scruff to both of my cats and they are fine. I did once try shots in the hind area for one of my cats and she hated it and I never tried THAT location again!

As the others have already mentioned, home testing can be a life saver, but don't worry about learning as it's easy and will help you know how Neo is doing on the insulin. I think the best thing about home testing is this.
Often, cats just need a little help for their pancreas, so if you give insulin, you are helping to give Neo's pancreas time to heal, and hopefully become healthy enough to take over again and you may not need to give insulin. By home testing, you will be able to see the insulin needs lower to the point of his blood sugar numbers showing as normal with very little and then no insulin.

Please post all questions you have as well as answers to the questions you have been asked. What insulin you are using and the dose is quite important as different insulins are handled in different ways.

Pats for Neo and I hope his other health issues clear up soon.
 
Welcome to FDMB!

I usually inject Tiggy on the sides of his shoulders - about 3-4 cm down from his spine. Basically, where-ever the fur/skin is loose enough to lift away from the muscle underneath is ok.
 
Welcome! Maybe someday you will teach use to say that in the language of your country!

My vet told me to shoot in the scruff, and that's probably what they did when Cedric had to stay there 2 weeks after being diagnosed (I had a trip planned for my sister's college graduation). I started shooting in the side ab area. I don't know if that helped him go into remission, but...
I also give him 4 small meals a day. No dry food, only canned that is grain free, low carb and high protein.
I never had problems giving him insulin; my problem is with the testing. It takes patience, a heating pad or baby sock filled with rice, and some treats. I plop the treat cans in front of Cedric and he stays patient. Even if I have to prick him 10 times.

You are doing great!
 
Hi all,
Thanks so much for the warm welcome and advise. I tried pricking Neo in the flank yesterday evening and this morning and it went surprisingly well. I guess all the practice in the scruff area helped. :) But it's good to know it's okay to continue in the scruff as well - thank you.

Let me see if I can answer all the questions. His diet, insuline and dosage are all coming from the vet - I haven't changed anything yet as I'm not sure enough about what I'm doing.

1 - Food type/brand? - Royal Canin Diabetes for the most part - 2x/day (except in the weekend when I also give him some at lunch) plus approx 70g of Applaws wet food in the evening (which I chose because it's high in protein, no grains and all organic)

2 - What insulin? - Caninsulin, which as far as I'm aware is the only one I can get and is only available via my vet

3 - Hometesting? - It sounded like a good idea so I went to a local apothecary and bought the strips, prickers and the machine itself. I haven't used it yet because I honestly haven't figured out when I'd need it (as thankfully Neo has stayed quite bright eyed and frisky) and the strips are for humans so I'm not sure what the right levels are for a cat yet. I still have to ask my vet that.

4 - How to say welcome? It's actually quite similar to English - Welkom! But I'm an American living in Holland so I was very happy to find an English-language site to guide me. Reading in Dutch is still tiring for me even after living here for 11 years...

Thanks again, all! This seems to be a wonderful resource and I'm very pleased to make everyone's acquaintance.
 
Well don't know about the food or the insulin your using but I'm sure others do and will be along at some point.

But I can answer the home testing question as we all just use human meters and strips for our cats...the levels for a non-diabetic cat are pretty close to those for a human, although a human meter does read slightly lower than a pet only one..On a human meter a normal range for a cat, not on insulin is between 50-120 although I do have one non-diabetic here that likes to give me a number in the 40s every now and then..with a diabetic on insulin you want numbers preferrably in the 60-200 range, when regulated, and when tightly regulated I believe it is around 60-150 I think, not real sure on that one as my one on insulin is being a bit stubborn about getting to the tightly regulated status... :lol: But then again her and I are still early in our dancing, since I just adopted her in late June.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
Hi and welcome!
you will get some great advice here!
let me add that home testing and canned only food is the way to go!

Once you get over the fear of home testing and do it successfully a few times it will contiue to get easier>
 
Hello Mr. Neo & bean
Once you promise your furry one not to shoot before testing, it becomes easier! Promise to feed low carb so just in case you can get Neo in remission! Lets all hope and cross paw fingers that you get it down fast and he helps you by feeling better, adjusting to the home test, and maybe go into remission!
And I promise you that you will get to return the favor. That is how it works here I believe.
 
Thanks again all. Neo's due in to the vet's this Friday for another check-up so hopefully it'll all be good news. I'm sure I'll get into the home testing eventually, but will wait to see how the tests go this Friday just to be sure as the numbers I recall hearing are quite a bit lower than what was posted - I don't think anything was over 20, though I could just be remembering it wrong.

I did have a question if that's okay. I was reading that it's good to have some corn syrup on hand just in case Neo becomes hypoglycemic. I was just wondering if something like Agave syrup would work just as well?
 
It should be fine. From the Agave nectar Wiki:
Agave nectar (also called agave syrup) is a sweetener commercially produced in Mexico from several species of agave,...
Agave nectar consists primarily of fructose and glucose. One source gives 92% fructose and 8% glucose; another gives 56% fructose and 20% glucose. These differences, it is presumed, reflect variation from one vendor of agave nectar to another.[
 
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