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josilynn

josilynn

Member Since 2012
Well, my partner told me I should register here after I told her my cat, Jazz-Purr, was diagnosed with diabetes. She'd already dealt with the stress of a friend of my mothers telling me his symptoms seemed like kidney failure, and me bawling for days thinking I was going to lose my cat. He had started waddling, and when that started he had (and still has) a habit of getting up on our counters at night and jumping off, we just assumed he'd hurt himself doing that, until he peed on my moms blanket downstairs. Thus, explaining the cat pee smell in my room, no matter how often I empty the litter box; he'd been peeing outside it. Once that happened, we knew there was something else wrong with him, and scheduled a vet visit. After telling us it DIDN'T sound like kidney failure, or a UTI, they said he might have diabetes. Did blood and stuff, and yup, my kitty has diabetes. The vet said he'll waddle for the rest of his life, but that it shouldn't get any worse as long as we get his diabetes under control, which I'm hoping we can do.

Thank Bast, my mom had diabetes, and kept her testing kit and strips and such, so that's a lot less money that we have to spend.

We just went out and got the expensive cat food and stuff to take care of him, JOYS no more extras for me, but my furry children come first.
 
Hey, and Welcome :-D
We will help you with your kitty and getting started with diabetes. Ask all the questions you want, and ask them again if you don't understand. We are here to help you and you kitty. And, she may not waddle for the rest of her life, as your vet says.
I'm glad you have access to the testing equipment. That's an excellent start. Thank you Mom!
 
Hi and welcome to FDMB.

We will be glad to help you learn how to manage your cat's diabetes. While the initial diagnosis can be overwhelming and scary, I can assure you that it does get easier and soon you will find the routine that works best for you and your cat.

The best way to manage your cat's diabetes is to learn to hometest, feed a high protein/low carb diet and using a long acting insulin such as Lantus, Levemir or PZI. We can help with advice for all of these. Hometesting means checking your cat's glucose levels before every shot. The diet is either canned or raw food - get rid of the dry food. And with the insulin, start at a low dose and gradually over a period of weeks possibly increase it until you determine the dose that works best. This you will know by hometesting.

The good news is your vet may be wrong about the permanent waddle. Your cat may have neuropathy. The good thing is with getting your cat's glucose levels under control, you should see significant improvement. Vitamin Methyl B-12 also helps when used with diabetes management.
 
Lisa and Witn (GA) said:
Hi and welcome to FDMB.

We will be glad to help you learn how to manage your cat's diabetes. While the initial diagnosis can be overwhelming and scary, I can assure you that it does get easier and soon you will find the routine that works best for you and your cat.

The best way to manage your cat's diabetes is to learn to hometest, feed a high protein/low carb diet and using a long acting insulin such as Lantus, Levemir or PZI. We can help with advice for all of these. Hometesting means checking your cat's glucose levels before every shot. The diet is either canned or raw food - get rid of the dry food. And with the insulin, start at a low dose and gradually over a period of weeks possibly increase it until you determine the dose that works best. This you will know by hometesting.

The good news is your vet may be wrong about the permanent waddle. Your cat may have neuropathy. The good thing is with getting your cat's glucose levels under control, you should see significant improvement. Vitamin Methyl B-12 also helps when used with diabetes management.
Click to expand...


I'm hoping she is wrong about the waddle, it's harder for the poor boy to get upstairs to the litter box with his waddle. And my vet said we'll go in in a few days again, and she'll show us how to test him and what to do from there.

We unfortunately, can't get rid of the dry food, because my other youngest kitty is a freak of nature that doesn't like wet food, so we have to have dry out for her. And I was told it's fine from him to snack on dry food, as long as he's not eating too much of it.
 
Hello and Welcome,

You will learn so much being here.
We will help you succeed in making your kitty's life better.

We will often give you links so you can read up on ways to do just that.

Here is the first one. Reading this article will help you understand why the food makes such a difference.
http://www.catinfo.org/

You might have a challenge getting cat #2 to change but there are lots of ways to try.
It would be the best thing for all your cats to be able to eat the same food and will save you from having your younger cat also developing diabetes years from now.


As for the leg problems, Neuropathy. Many of us are using B-12.
If you hunt for it elsewhere, make sure it is methylcobalmin. Not all b12's
are the same.

Vitacost Vitamin B-12 Methylcobalamin -- 5000 mcg - 60 Capsules
http://www.vitacost.com/vitacost-vitami ... 0-capsules

A commonly given dose here is 3 mg -5 mg.
B vitamins are water soluble and any excess is excreted in the urine.


the bottle above is 5000mcg which is the same as 5 mg. You can empty the whole capsule and mix in with the canned food or use part of it if you prefer the 3 mg dose



Keep asking questions.
We all want to help.
 
Yeah, can't do crap for that, my mom started screaming at me over "believing the internet over our vet", because she's fricking insane. "IF THE VET SAYS HE SHOULD HAVE IT WELL GET IT STOP BELIEVING THOSE IDIOTS ONLINE". Yeah, because people who also have diabetic cats are "idiots" who don't know what they're talking about. :roll:
 
LOL, we've probably been called worse!

That's just "old internet thinking", and it's hard to change anyone's mind if that's the way they feel about the web. Mom probably doesn't realize how much of "our" information consists of stuff from vet's website, like that catinfo.org link someone gave you. If your vet is in any way "current" on diabetes, chances are he gets lots of info from the internet too.
This is one of those times you just say "Ok Mom, thanks!"
Carl
 
Hi Josilynn; I have similar issues with my vet. He doesn't believe in this board or home testing beyond his instructions to do so and if it was up to him, I'd be shooting blind with a much higher dose of insulin than my kitty is on right now. And that dose might have killed her as she's had several hypo incidents.

I understand it can seem counter intuitive to disregard some of what your vet is saying - after all - they have the degree and we've trusted them in other areas. But, diabetes is a horse of a different color. Some vets are more knowledgeable about it than others. This board and it's members are all about FD. They've been in the trenches and come out to tell about it. Some are still in those trenches right along with us.

It's a very personal, and very important, decision to decide whom to trust, but for me - if I hadn't whole-heartedly decided to trust this board, well....

It's apparent how much you love your kitty. You're here. You're asking questions. You're learning. You won't be left alone. You'll have hand holding when you need it and good advice for you to consider and (hopefully) follow.

Shai
 
I'm sorry to hear that.
Perhaps you can print the information and share it with your vet.
You might be teaching something new to your vet.
There are plenty of vets out there who don't know much about diabetes. You will find lots of examples here of the folk here
having to share information with their vets and help them learn.
We all learn new things everyday, even doctors.
The field of medicine is huge and there isn't enough time to know everything and keep up with the latest developments.

And the b12 is water soluble. So if your body can't use it, then it just gets peed out.
It can't hurt.
Giving the information to your vet will help him decide if it's worth trying.

I agree that you should be careful with information from the internet. There is so much misinformation out there.
But .... you can also read what all of us are doing and see that our cats are getting better. There are many cats here
that get to go OTJ ( off the juice)
Ask your vet how many cats he has saved from diabetes?
 
rhiannon and shadow said:
I'm sorry to hear that.
Perhaps you can print the information and share it with your vet.
You might be teaching something new to your vet.
There are plenty of vets out there who don't know much about diabetes. You will find lots of examples here of the folk here
having to share information with their vets and help them learn.
We all learn new things everyday, even doctors.
The field of medicine is huge and there isn't enough time to know everything and keep up with the latest developments.

And the b12 is water soluble. So if your body can't use it, then it just gets peed out.
It can't hurt.
Giving the information to your vet will help him decide if it's worth trying.

I agree that you should be careful with information from the internet. There is so much misinformation out there.
But .... you can also read what all of us are doing and see that our cats are getting better. There are many cats here
that get to go OTJ ( off the juice)
Ask your vet how many cats he has saved from diabetes?
Click to expand...


Yeah I'll ask her. It was only Jazzy-boy's first appointment for this that day. But he's going in a little less than a week I think, and that's when we're going to get more info, and she's going to show us how to test him and everything and give how much insulin to give him officially.

Do any of you know why she's having us give him one unit twice a day right now though? Is it to stabilize him or something? Because that's what I figured it was.
 
Hi again,
Without knowing any numbers for blood glucose levels, its hard to say exactly.

Starting dose is often calculated by weight.
If you kitty has a high diagnosis blood sugar number, than 1 unit might be appropriate.
IF the number was just a little above normal, than that same dose might be too much.

And it also sounds like you have changed foods. Did you switch to low carbs , hi protein canned food?
http://www.catinfo.org
is the best place to learn about what will help your cat.
If you are feeding a prescription food from the vet, it is usually too high in carbohydrates.

Your cats glucose numbers will drop by as much as 100 less if you switch to a low carb, hi protein diet
so you have to watch.

You need to have a glucometer and test your cats bg numbers before every shot and at least in the middle of the 12 hr cycle.
more tests are better.
Have you been reading up on everything?
http://www.felinediabetes.com
if you look on the right side at the subject headings, you should click on each of those to learn more.

There are many vets out there, some good and some bad.
I would have preferred your vet had taught you to test and how to give the shots at the same time as starting the insulin.
At least, he didn't start you at a higher dose. Some vets do.

What insulin are you using?
 
Until you get rid of the dry food, it is going to be very difficult to get your cat's diabetes under control. Switching to low carb canned food even causes automatic remission in a number of cats, which is why the food change is so important. Newly diagnosed cats have an 84% remission rate, but ONLY with a low carb, canned diet, the right insulin (Lantus or Levemir), and dose adjustments via daily home testing. Diabetes is not the only nutrition related disease caused by dry food--the lack of moisture in the food causes cats to be chronically dehydrated which leads to kidney and urinary tract disease. Both of your cats will be much healthier on the same canned diet.

Diabetic neuropathy is reversable. In severe cases, there may be some permanent damage but you'll still see radical improvement with the Methyl B12 and getting his blood sugar under control. Even if he does have a slight limp after he recovers he should still regain nearly full mobility. The peeing will get under control along with the diabetes.


Here are some articles for you to print out and give to your vet, if his/her advice varies from what we are telling you here. Here are the American Animal Hospital Association Guidelines: https://www.aahanet.org/PublicDocuments/AAHADiabetesGuidelines.pdf. These discuss diet, home testing, and insulin selection.

Here is the article that outlines treatment with Lantus or Levemir which has an 84% remission rate in cats.

Unfortunately, many vets are not aware of all or some of the current feline diabetes recommendations. Vets are general practioners, and they must know many things about many diseases for many animals, which means they aren't always aware of changes in treatment of feline diseases (cats often get treated as dogs, when treatment differs quite a bit for the two animals). It's a very good thing you're doing your own research, and I'm sorry your mom is giving you such a hard time. If you were to physically go to a library and ask a librarian to help you research feline diabetes, they would point you in the exact same direction we are (using the internet, of course). :smile:
 

Attachments

Julia & Bandit said:
Until you get rid of the dry food, it is going to be very difficult to get your cat's diabetes under control. Switching to low carb canned food even causes automatic remission in a number of cats, which is why the food change is so important. Newly diagnosed cats have an 84% remission rate, but ONLY with a low carb, canned diet, the right insulin (Lantus or Levemir), and dose adjustments via daily home testing. Diabetes is not the only nutrition related disease caused by dry food--the lack of moisture in the food causes cats to be chronically dehydrated which leads to kidney and urinary tract disease. Both of your cats will be much healthier on the same canned diet.
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I'll try to get her eating it. Right now I only give her a bit of dry when she's hungry and crying to me, otherwise I put it up to keep Jazzy out of it for the most part. All Zoe really does is lick up the gravy, she won't eat the actual food. And Jazzy goes down and eats the fricking dog food which mom says her dog needs 24/7, which she DOESN'T. And even now, she won't put the fricking dogs food away. If I tell her he keeps eating it, it'll force her to put it up, which I'm thinking of doing, even if he's not actually eating at it all the time.
 
josilynn said:
rhiannon and shadow said:
What insulin are you using?
Click to expand...

It's called "humalin", because that's all we could afford, but our vet said it would work fine for jazzy.
Click to expand...


Ok, you're definitely going to have to print out those articles and give them to your vet, because if he's prescribing humulin (NPH) then he is not current in his research with feline diabetes. While Humulin works well with people and dogs, Humulin is NOT a good insulin for cats, who have metabolisms that are twice as fast as people or dogs. Because humulin wears off too quickly with cats, it's ineffective and dangerous because many vets will raise the dose way too high because they don't see good results. This leads to deadly hypoglycemic incidents with many cats. Show this document to your vet: http://www.uq.edu.au/ccah/docs/diabetesinfo/link2.pdf. Note where it states, "Lente is the 3rd insulin of choice and NPH the 4th of choice insulin for control of diabetes mellitus in cats,
behind glargine [Lantus] or detemir [Levemir ](1st choice) and PZI (2nd choice), Lente and NPH result in lower remission rates compared to longer acting insulins." I would take all of the information I provided to your vet and ask for a script for Lantus or Levemir ASAP. If your vet won't give you one, get a new vet who will.

Lantus and Levemir are more expensive than Humulin, but only initially. Getting your cat on one of these will pay off for your big time, because they will actually work to get your cat better and most likely off insulin. If you continue with Humulin, you will most likely see your cat get worse and worse, which will cost you way more in vet bills and insulin. Most cats on Lantus and Levemir go into remission and no longer need insulin. You can also write Diabetic Cats in Need http://fdmb-cin.blogspot.com/ and see if they can help get your started on Lantus until you can afford to get some yourself. If you order it from Canada, it's way cheaper than getting it in the US, but you need to plan for the shipping time. The pens are more economical than the vial, and you can draw insulin from them with a syringe just like you do with a vial.

It is very important you change insulins right away. My friend's vet had her cat on Humulin for nearly 4 months, and when she finally called me and asked why her cat couldn't move because his neuropathy was so bad and he was peeing on a pad on her floor, she took my advice and switched him to Lantus. 6 months later, his diabetes is in remission, and he's running around her house like a kitten. Insulin choice matters A LOT.
 
I can't ask for lantus, it's WAY to expensive we already tried, and we had to go for something else. I'm starting to think maybe I can't keep my baby boy after all. We're almost broke. :cry:

And my mother will ***** at me if I even try to ask for handouts. Because that's just the kind of person she is.
 
josilynn said:
I can't ask for lantus, it's WAY to expensive we already tried, and we had to go for something else. I'm starting to think maybe I can't keep my baby boy after all. We're almost broke.

And my mother will ***** at me if I even try to ask for handouts. Because that's just the kind of person she is.
Click to expand...

If it came down between asking for help with the insulin, and letting my cat die, I would ask for help in a heartbeat. You don't need your mom's permission to write DCIN and get the insulin. Much of the Lantus they give out there is donated from members whose cats are in remission so they no longer need it--if they didn't donate it then it would just be thrown away and go to complete waste. So PLEASE write and ask them to get you started while you save up for a vial ($130) or box of pens ($230, but much less than that if you order from canada). The other thing you need to factor is the MONTHLY cost of insulin, rather than the intial expense. A box of pens will last you at least 6 months but more likely a year. You'll spend way more than that on insulin refills if you stick with the Humulin. And it will be a complete waste of money because Humulin isn't effective with cats.

There is a window on remission, so you really need to begin the right treatment ASAP. I speak from experience, remission is FAR cheaper and easier than having a cat on insulin, and will pay off for you financially big time in the long run. AND you will have a healthy, living cat.

You mentioned that you're feeding canned food with gravy? Most canned foods with gravy are high in carbs and not good for diabetics. The pate style canned foods from Walmart (Special Kitty) or Petsmart (Grreat Choice) are low carb, grain free, super cheap, and very good for diabetics.
 
I can't afford the insulin that's supposed to help. My mother controls my money, and probably won't allow me to order it online. So, I'll probably end up losing my cat. Thanks to her and her stupid "needs". because she just HAS to go to Canada next month, and just HAS to have scrapbook supplies, while using my money on the side for all that bullcrap.
If the humalin doesn't work, I'm screwed and lose my cat.
 
You can also try writing the Lantus Land Emergency Fund here and see if they have some extra Lantus they can get to you: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=36152.

PLEASE ask for help. I'm sure we can figure out a way to get you some insulin. Can you show her the papers I attached and help convince her that the insulin needs to be changed? Or show the information to the vet, and have the vet help convince her the insulin needs to be changed? If you write DCIN or LLEF, then I'm sure they can get you started with some donated Lantus while you save up.
 
josilynn said:
I can't afford the insulin that's supposed to help. My mother controls my money, and probably won't allow me to order it online. So, I'll probably end up losing my cat. Thanks to her and her stupid "needs". because she just HAS to go to Canada next month, and just HAS to have scrapbook supplies, while using my money on the side for all that bullcrap.
If the humalin doesn't work, I'm screwed and lose my cat.
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If she's going to Canada next month, you could have her bring the Lantus script and get the insulin for nearly half the price! So work on your vet and convince him first! Once you get the vet on your side, you should be able to convince your Mom, do you think?

If you don't mind me asking, how old are you? Is saving up and getting the insulin yourself a possibility?
 
I'm 21, and moving out next year thankfully. I'll talk with my girlfriend about seeing if she can help me afford lantus for my kitty when we live together, if he lives that long.

Edit: She says she'll help me buy it when we live together, thankfully. With her helping, I should defiantly be able to afford it.
 
josilynn said:
I'm 21, and moving out next year thankfully. I'll talk with my girlfriend about seeing if she can help me afford lantus for my kitty when we live together, if he lives that long.
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Then you do NOT need your mom's permission to get your cat on Lantus! You can get the insulin yourself. Get a donated pen or vial through DCIN while you save up to buy the insulin. Some cats go into remission pretty quickly if you're doing tight regulation, so you may not even need to fill the script yourself by the time you get there.

I'm really sorry that your Mom is difficult. This is just my opinion because I don't know your whole situation, but if it were me, my cat's life is something worth standing up to her about, or even getting out on your own with your gf like you said.

What meter are you using? Test strips are the other significant expense, so you want to make sure you have a meter with cheap strips. The Relion (Arkray) meters at Walmart are good and have cheap strips; and you can buy refils online at American Diabetes Wholesale which make them even cheaper.
 
josilynn said:
Edit: She says she'll help me buy it when we live together, thankfully. With her helping, I should defiantly be able to afford it.
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AWESOME! :-D

Let us know how we can help you out in the meantime. You really don't want to wait until next year to start the right treatment.
 
I haven't found the link that I read here somewhere just the other night.
Someone had a whole page of organizations that had help. If I find it, I'll copy it.

Meanwhile, there is a picture at the top right of this page that says Home testing kits. You can get one just for the price of shipping. You should check that out.
 
Julia & Bandit said:
josilynn said:
I'm 21, and moving out next year thankfully. I'll talk with my girlfriend about seeing if she can help me afford lantus for my kitty when we live together, if he lives that long.
Click to expand...

Then you do NOT need your mom's permission to get your cat on Lantus! You can get the insulin yourself. Get a donated pen or vial through DCIN while you save up to buy the insulin. Some cats go into remission pretty quickly if you're doing tight regulation, so you may not even need to fill the script yourself by the time you get there.

I'm really sorry that your Mom is difficult. This is just my opinion because I don't know your whole situation, but if it were me, my cat's life is something worth standing up to her about, or even getting out on your own with your gf like you said.

What meter are you using? Test strips are the other significant expense, so you want to make sure you have a meter with cheap strips. The Relion (Arkray) meters at Walmart are good and have cheap strips; and you can buy refils online at American Diabetes Wholesale which make them even cheaper.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately, my girlfriend currently lives in a college dorm and her parents house, her mother of which is severely allergic to cats. I'll be moving probably next may.
And someone's offered to donate me a lantus pen, and once that comes, we'll get him on that, and then I'll save all my money for another one. And I don't know the type, but the strips aren't too expensive mom says.
 
I'm not sure where you're located, but some hospital pharmacies will sell single pens, especially bigger ones. You might want to call around and see...
 
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