Help just received diagnosis yesterday- Confused!!!

Status
Not open for further replies.
J

judy

Member
Hi,
I just received my kitty Annie's diagnosis "Diabetes" after she was in the hospital for two days. I know nothing about this. She received her first shot this morning it was 1 unit of Lantus. I am taking her off hard food she was my hard food junkie, eating wet food occasionally, I did change the hard food in Nov. or so to EVO thinking I was doing something good. She did eat some fancy feast fish and shrimp. How do I know how much to give her?? Can I leave the soft food out until I get home from work?? I never measured her food before. When I left the vet they said just feed her what I was feeding her as long as she is eating.
I have leave this afternoon and I am worried sick. What are really good wet foods to feed her??? Do I leave some softfood out, what do I do. The vet was not helpful at all as a matter of fact we never saw her, just the aide!!! PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE HELP I DO NOT KNOW WHAT TO DO TO HELP MY LITTLE GIRL ANNIE!!!
Thank you
I already lost one kitty in Aug. 2010 :(((
 
Welcome, Judy.

It is very overwhelming and scary at first. Would it help to know we all felt that way? The good news is diabetes is a very treatable disease and can be managed at home quite inexpensively.

You have the right instincts on food. We feed wet lo carb. A resident vet explains why here: http://www.catinfo.org. Here is our food chart: Janet and Binky’s chart We try to stay under 10% carbs. Lots of us feed Fancy Feast, Friskies, Wellness and Merrick. It depends on what your kitty will eat and what you can afford.

The other part of our protocol is testing at home. We figure if our children were diagnosed with diabetes, we would test them before every shot of insulin to make sure it was safe. We do the same for our kitties. We have taught lots of people how to do it over the internet. We would love to help you learn. Video for hometesting

The best thing you can do for Annie is to read, and read again all the info on this site. The FAQs are a good place to start: FAQs Ask lots of questions. We love to help new owners with their cats. Someone helped us get our kitties back to good health and we are paying it forward.
 
Welcome, Judy!!

Like Sue said, we've all been there -- completely overwhelmed emotionally by learning our cat is diabetic. And, we may end up overwhelming you a bit educationally. There is a huge volume of expertise and information here and you're only on the Health board.

Getting started with home testing is essential. It will give you a sense of control and not let you feel like you're playing Russian roulette with a syringe. We also use food to manage numbers so getting a stockpile of low carb canned food along with some high carb, gravy based varieties (e.g., Fancy Feast grilled or marinated or their "Gravy Lovers" selections) will help you be prepared for all contingencies. Given that you are transitioning Annie off of what is no doubt a higher carb food, I'd really encourage you to get started testing. Some cats experience a significant drop in their blood glucose (BG) levels as a result of a diet change. You need to know how changing Annie to low carb food will effect her BG and you may need to lower her insulin dose accordingly.

There are also forums here for the various types of insulin. You might want to venture over to the Lantus board. There are starred, sticky notes at the top of the "topics" section of the Board. There is information on how to care for Lantus (i.e., don't shake, roll, or let your kitty use your insulin as a hockey puck), key topics like the depot or "shed," and importantly, information on the dosing protocol that we use. We are very numbers driven on the Lantus board so getting started with home testing will help a great deal.

It's fine to leave canned food out. I add water to my kitties' food both to make sure they are getting good hydration but also to keep their food from drying out. Many of us have timed feeders which helps to dole out the food if we have cats that would otherwise hoover up anything in their bowls.

With Lantus, it's important to know that you do need to stick as close as possible to at 12-hour shot schedule.
 
Welcome Judy and Annie!

You are in the right place..... lots of wonderful people here that have been right where you are now. This can be so overwhelming at first but soon you will get the hang of it and it will be routine......hard to believe right now, I know. As the others have said this is a very treatable disease.

Read all the material and ask lots of questions! We are going to want some more info on Annie like her age and if there are any other medical issues.
 
Thank you ladies for all the suggestions. It looks like I will be doing alot of reading in the next few days to weeks. It is nice to know that I have a place to come to for answers. I did watch the video on how to read her blood glucose levels. It was making me woozie!! I think my husband will be able to do that. Can her blood glucose levels be taken by her urine also???? Annie was adopted thru a program thru pet smart,as far as her age we think is might be between 8-10 not 100% sure. She is part siamese we think also. When she was in the hospital they said that she was alittle anemic, but nothing was mentioned when we left. We have to go back in 2 weeks for some kind of curve test. I have fancy feast appetizer in the pantry are those any good to give her. I also have other cat too, I am changing their diets as well. Some more questions.

1. I did not check her levels this morning because I did not know about it, we gave her the shot 1 unit of the Lancot. Is that okay??

2. I will be leaving out some soft food because I have to leave the house for a few hours, I want to buy some of the food that the ladies suggested.

3. I will be lots and lots of extra water.

4. I sure wish someone lived close to me that has a diabetic cat that can teach my husband and I how to test her blood sugar.
5. Is one shot okay, that is all the doctor told us to do right now until we do the curve test.
6. How much should a diabetic cat eat in a day???? One can of fancy feast or two cans???
Sorry for all the questions, this just seems so overwhelming to us. Any suggestions or idea are greatly appreciated.
Judy and Annie and the gang
 
I forgot one more question.
Annie keeps meowing looking for her hard food. When we left the vet yesterday they gave me a small sample bag of science diet kitten hard food and told me it was okay to give it to her so she eats because she was not eating much in the hospital. What do I do?????????? I don't want to make her sicker or starve her!! Help Help Help Help Help Help!!
 
judy said:
I forgot one more question.
Annie keeps meowing looking for her hard food. When we left the vet yesterday they gave me a small sample bag of science diet kitten hard food and told me it was okay to give it to her so she eats because she was not eating much in the hospital. What do I do?????????? I don't want to make her sicker or starve her!! Help Help Help Help Help Help!!
Click to expand...

you do want to transition her to canned food. It is also very important that she eat.

If she is not eating well with the canned food, try sprinkling a few of the kitten hard food on
top of the canned food. You might feed her in a separate room for a while to keep the
other cat from consuming all the food before she can eat.

Newly diagnosed diabetic cats are often 'starving'. They really are because without
insulin, the body does not process the food into energy. Give her as much as she wants right
now.

Yes, you can leave canned food out while you are gone. You can mix in a little water to
keep it moist longer. Even dried out it is better than dry food kibble.
 
judy said:
Thank you ladies for all the suggestions. It looks like I will be doing alot of reading in the next few days to weeks. It is nice to know that I have a place to come to for answers. I did watch the video on how to read her blood glucose levels. It was making me woozie!! I think my husband will be able to do that. Can her blood glucose levels be taken by her urine also????
Click to expand...

Not really. With urine testing you only know if any sugar was spilled into the urine since the cat
last peed, which could be a long time ago. It is important to do blood testing, to learn how the
cat reacts to the insulin dose. What is the lowest BG and how long after shot does that occur.
Don't worry right now...we will help you with that.

You can pick up some "Ketostix" at the Pharmacy. These are for testing urine for keytones.
You should have these on hand for your first-aid kit. Ask the pharmacist for them
as they are usually behind the pharmacy counter. No Rx required. Fairly cheap for a bottle
of 50 tests. We will teach you how to use them in due course.

judy said:
We have to go back in 2 weeks for some kind of curve test.
Click to expand...

Vet wants to do a BG curve. If you learn to test her BG at home, you will not only save BIG BUCKS on vet
visits, but it will be more accurate. Most cats suffer from 'vet stress' at vet visits. This raises the BG.

Raised BG at the vets can result in the vet prescribing too much insulin. Too much insulin can give your
cat a hypoglycemic incident...very dangerous.

BG curves done at home in the cats normal, relaxed, environment are better---much better.

judy said:
I have fancy feast appetizer in the pantry are those any good to give her. I also have other cat too, I am changing their diets as well. Some more questions.
Click to expand...

They are better than dry food. But still above the 10% calories from carbs that we recommend.
Best flavors of Fancy Feast are any of the 'Classic' flavors, such as Chicken Feast Classic, Turkey & Giblets
Feast Classic, etc. These are available at WalMart and PetSmart. Look for the word "Classic" in yellow on the
can label.




judy said:
1. I did not check her levels this morning because I did not know about it, we gave her the shot 1 unit of the Lancot. Is that okay??
Click to expand...

That is a low starting dose (good vet !) and should be safe. Just be sure she eats. "Lantus".

judy said:
2. I will be leaving out some soft food because I have to leave the house for a few hours, I want to buy some of the food that the ladies suggested.

3. I will be lots and lots of extra water.
Click to expand...

Can't go wrong there.


judy said:
4. I sure wish someone lived close to me that has a diabetic cat that can teach my husband and I how to test her blood sugar.
Click to expand...

Have put out the request for a person near you.

judy said:
5. Is one shot okay, that is all the doctor told us to do right now until we do the curve test.
Click to expand...

Most cats require 2 shots per day...twelve hours apart. Though Lantus is a very good insulin for cats,
it does not last 24 hours and therefore the cat can have good BG for 1/2 the day, and high BG the
other half.


judy said:
6. How much should a diabetic cat eat in a day???? One can of fancy feast or two cans???
Sorry for all the questions, this just seems so overwhelming to us. Any suggestions or idea are greatly appreciated.
Judy and Annie and the gang
Click to expand...

Right now...as much as she wants. She is starving. My two non-diabetic cats each eat 2 cans of FF per day.
One cat is a 7-year-old 14-pounder not very active. The other is a 2-year-old 8-pounder, very active .
 
i have newbie kits if you need one...check link below. you are in good hands and welcome.
 
my cats each eat about 2 cans of fancy feast a day (wet food), so i'd probably recommend 2 to 3 cans a day for yours. for a diabetic we try to limit the amount of carbs in the diet, so the fancy feast varieties that don't have gravy are the best bet if your cat will eat them. try to limit seafood varieties to twice a week or less.

it's perfectly fine to leave the wet food out all day. when i'm home, i generally don't put the whole can out at once, and my cats eat better with smaller amounts of food.

if you can learn to home test you will save a lot of money in vet bills. most vets charge over $25 for each test, and if they do a curve it gets pretty expensive. not to mention, if you can home test every day before each shot and at some time between shots you will have a better idea of how your cat is doing on the insulin. even longterm diabetics can pull a fast one and give a very low number at times, when it would be unsafe to shoot, so it's a lot safer to check the blood sugar before giving insulin. at least til you can get someone to show you at home, take a look on youtube. you'll see lots of videos on testing your cat's blood sugar. you might feel pretty confident trying after seeing one of the videos.
 
Hi Judy,
Your kit should arrive by Wed. or Thurs. latest.
Good Luck,
Lori
and tomtom too!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top