Hello! new to the forum

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heather&giz

heather&giz

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Hi everyone! What a wealth of knowledge here! My cat Gizmo was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We tried just the diet method but are moving to the insulin route this week with the help of our vet. Gizmo is eating the PM dry food for now until I can do some more research. I just wanted to take a moment to say hi ;-)
 
Welcome! It sounds like you have already done some reading. We have had great success with wet lo carb food (www.catinfo.org- this site by a vet explains why dry food is not a good diet for any cat, but especially diabetics.) and testing at home just like human diabetics do and starting with a low dose of a long lasting mild insulin.

Keep reading and ask questions. We would love to help you help your kitty.
 
Thanks for the website, I will keep reading it. But one quick question in the meantime: after he starts the insulin, can we still change his diet from dry to wet food, or does this need to be done before he starts the insulin?
 
heather&giz said:
Thanks for the website, I will keep reading it. But one quick question in the meantime: after he starts the insulin, can we still change his diet from dry to wet food, or does this need to be done before he starts the insulin?
Click to expand...

Do you know if Giz will eat canned food ? Will you have transition issues ?

If you know for sure Giz will eat canned food, I would start right away (gradual transition over a
few days to avoid tummy upsets). Then perhaps start insulin later in the week. A change from
dry to canned can produce a dramatic drop in insulin requirements.

If you start insulin first, you really need to learn to home-test. If on dry food when starting insulin,
the vet will probably prescribe too high a dose of insulin for canned food. Canned food
is lower in carbs, especially the canned foods on our list that we recommend.

By the way....your vet should start Giz on a LOW DOSE of insulin, like 1unit 2x/day.
And preferably a good insulin for cats, like ProZinc, Lantus, or Levemir.

Humulin N is not the best insulin for cats, though some have success with it.

If your vet asks for 2 units 2x/day....please come her for more information before giving
a dose like that.
 
Changing the diet can dramatically lower his blood glucose levels. Oliver went down 100points overnight when we changed from dry to wet. If we hadn't been tested, we would have given the usual amount and overdosed him. So we really want you to be testing at home before you change the food.

If you are not yet on insulin and won't be for a week or more, you could change the food. But waiting to start insulin has its own set of problems.
 
Most of us have ended up changing our cats diets from dry to wet after we started insulin. The only big thing is to make sure you are home testing Before every shot before changing his diet. As sometimes just elimitating the dry food will drop their BGs as much as 50 to 100 pts.

Welcome to the best place to help you help your kitty.

Once you know what insulin you will be using and have a starting dose come on and let these nice folks know and we will help you as much as possible.

Also you can use any human meter. I personally use the Relion Mini from Walmart, good meter, cheap and with reasonably priced strips.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang
 
Welcome! We changed diet before starting lantus. We also used the Relion meter and strips from Walmart. Read everything you can on the board and posts -- and remember to breathe - it can be a little overwhelming, but you can do it. And all the extra bonding between you and your kitty is very special. Glad you found FDMB!
 
Thank you everyone for some great advice! I was planning to wait until the weekend to give him his first insulin shot just so I can be around in case he has a reaction. So this will give me a chance to start him on canned food first. We do have a home test kit. Thanks again!
 
Heather,

Have you seen our food chart: Janet and Binky’s chart We try to feed 8-10% carbs. Some of the popular brands here are Fancy Feast, Wellness, Friskies and Merrick.

Have you seen the video for hometesting: Video for hometesting This makes it look very easy, and it will be, but don't get discouraged if you don't get it the first try. We spent an entire weekend poking poor Oliver before we got a drop. Be sure to post if you have problems; we all have tips that helped us. The rice sack (heating the ear) was vital to our success. I hope you will go ahead and get hometesting down before you start insulin. Not only will it give you valuable information, but it will help your vet decide what dose to start with. We do like to see people start on a safe, low dose.
 
SO, with the canned food, I am assuming I must pick a specific flavor of one brand and stick with that flavor because of the varying percentages within the brand? Will this cause dental/gum problems in the long run? Gizmo loves canned food, so he is going to be the happiest kitty alive!
 
You can pick any foods your cat will eat, that you can afford, that is low carb. Lots of us mix the flavors. Some cats who have an allergy to beef, or gluten have to eat particular flavors.

It isn't true that dry food helps teeth - any more than eating dry cookies would help your teeth. :mrgreen:
 
Re: Hello! new to the forum/gluten free food

Hi Heather & Giz! So happy to have you join us.

Although gluten -free foods are not necessarily low in carbs, it has gotten much easier to avoid the allergen/GI problems of gluten AND have a low carb food. Karen & Angus (GA) have been kind enough to prepare a spreadsheet with gluten free food data. The spreadsheet is found at https://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=0AuOShIHt9dhbdGlGVVdXcWwwT0dkQjgweWZIeE03dnc&hl=en#gid=1.

Best,
Rebecca
Founder, FelineDiabetes.com & the FDMB
 
I am fairly new to the group as well. I think we joined in December, after I almost overdosed my Sampson due to a vet at my vets clinic (not my vet) had me double the dose of insulin, when his bgs were coming down well for 3 weeks. Anyway nearly scared me to death and a lot of money for an emergency vet trip in the middle of the night later, I got on with this group. I would highly recommend home testing if you are giving insulin. I think Sampson was a steroid induced diatbetic from his irriatable bowel syndrome and now we don't have to give insuiln. However, his kidneys levels are now elevated slightly and I need to switch food that may increase his sugar levels. So I am continuing to home test. I have only taken blood from his ears 7 times. 5 times I had success the other two not so much. It really isn't that hard and Samnmy is definetly not a lap cat. Just make sure you do something he loves afterward. I have a little hand held massager that I got at the drug store. It's a little round thing with 3 little balls at the bottom, both of my cats live for their massages and they love them. I would recommend that every cat owner have one, I'm sure it relaxes them and helps with artheritis.
Good luck to you and your baby. I watched a u-tube video for taking blood sugar that someone from the group shared and also used the rice sock to warm up his ears. This group has been a god send for me.


Vicki & Sampson
 
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