HELP! My cat was diagnosed with diabetes

[Sarah27]

Hello,

My male cat who is 14 years old who is in remission from cancer, was drinking water excessively and subequently peeing a lot as a result, today, blood glucose was 21 and urine was 3+'s. His diagnosis is diabetes mellitus. They want him to stay overnight to do the testing which I don't want because he will freak out to be there and they want to start him on lantus insulin

I really don't know what questions to ask but I would really appreciate some help and advice. Is there any way to treat this naturally. I am terrified of needles so I don't know how I can do this, and I am afraid to start and then have to give it the rest of his life, but obviously he needs it. As for food, he's home fed.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. I want to try to treat natural (if that is possible) and recheck in 2 weeks but the vet said maximum 2 weeks and that to treat soon, can result in remission and if there are symptoms to bring him in sooner.

Thanks for your time,

Sarah

 

[Sharon14]

Hi Sarah, welcome. Sorry about the diagnosis, but it is a very treatable disease. Since you haven't started insulin, now is the time to get your cat on a low carb wet food. Let us know what country you're in and we can give you some brands to try. Unfortunately there's not really a natural way to treat FD, but we will help you with testing and giving shots. Remember you'll be doing it to save your kitty! Lantus is a great insulin and your vet is right, remission can happen, so it's best to start treating as soon as possible, but I think trying the food switch for a few days first is fine. Please keep posting and asking questions and we'll do our best to help you.

 

[JanetNJ]

Diabetes is a lack of a hormone being produced.... There's no home remedy.... Although as Sharon said, low carb is the way to go. Home testing will be your best tool for keeping her safe (check out the video in my signature).

We are here to help if you need us.

 

[Sarah27]

He's already eating the best, he's home fed chicken (cooked). His FPLI is 20.5 (chronic pancreatitis without clinical signs). It's always ever been 2-3. I am really worried and scared. I have to go to the vets this week to get the supplies and they will show me how to give the injections etc. His pancreas is really inflamed, I gather that could have caused the diabetes?

 

[Larry and Kitties]

His pancreas is really inflamed, I gather that could have caused the diabetes?

That sounds like pancreatitis. Diabetic cats seem to be prone to get pancreatitis, not that pancreatitis causes diabetes.

He's already eating the best, he's home fed chicken (cooked).

Are you supplementing the cooked chicken with the necessary nutrients? Cooked chicken lacks many nutrients like taurine and calcium.

 

[Sarah27]

Diabetes is a lack of a hormone being produced.... There's no home remedy.... Although as Sharon said, low carb is the way to go. Home testing will be your best tool for keeping her safe (check out the video in my signature).

We are here to help if you need us.

Thank you, the video was helpful and not so intimidating. I hate needles and blood!

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

Unless you are adding supplements like Larry stated above, cooked chicken alone is not a complete diet. There is a lot of information about Home Made Cat food diets on Catinfo.org

ETA:
For when you start home testing, this is the Spreadsheet template we use to share and track BG numbers. You only need a Gmail account and if you need help, just ask:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Setting up your Signature, especially if you start insulin, is super helpful to give some quick info about your kitty. Also helps those of us with bad memories: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

Lastly, if kitty does end up on insulin I like to give this to new members, better to be prepared but hope you never need it:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

Congrats on his cancer remission though! Hopefully you can get his diabetes in remission too!

 

[Sarah27]

That sounds like pancreatitis. Diabetic cats seem to be prone to get pancreatitis, not that pancreatitis causes diabetes.

Are you supplementing the cooked chicken with the necessary nutrients? Cooked chicken lacks many nutrients like taurine and calcium.

Sorry for the delay in responding but yes I am supplementing it with the above

 

[Sarah27]

Unless you are adding supplements like Larry stated above, cooked chicken alone is not a complete diet. There is a lot of information about Home Made Cat food diets on Catinfo.org

ETA:
For when you start home testing, this is the Spreadsheet template we use to share and track BG numbers. You only need a Gmail account and if you need help, just ask:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/

Setting up your Signature, especially if you start insulin, is super helpful to give some quick info about your kitty. Also helps those of us with bad memories: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/editing-your-signature-profile-and-preferences.130340/

Lastly, if kitty does end up on insulin I like to give this to new members, better to be prepared but hope you never need it:
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/how-to-treat-hypos-they-can-kill-print-this-out.15887/

Congrats on his cancer remission though! Hopefully you can get his diabetes in remission too!

Thank you for taking the time to post these links, I will read them now and print out the how to treat hypos right now

 

[Sarah27]

Hi Sarah, welcome. Sorry about the diagnosis, but it is a very treatable disease. Since you haven't started insulin, now is the time to get your cat on a low carb wet food. Let us know what country you're in and we can give you some brands to try. Unfortunately there's not really a natural way to treat FD, but we will help you with testing and giving shots. Remember you'll be doing it to save your kitty! Lantus is a great insulin and your vet is right, remission can happen, so it's best to start treating as soon as possible, but I think trying the food switch for a few days first is fine. Please keep posting and asking questions and we'll do our best to help you.

HI, Yes we started insulin lantus since my last post. It's not easy to get used to giving the injections. Although not pleasant to home test, and I cringe each time I have to get the sample, that is not as bad as giving the injections. I know in time it will get easier.

 

[Sarah27]

How long does it take before you start seeing the numbers go down after giving lantus? I just read the lantus faq page and I can't believe what I learned - to not roll the vial, to not shoot liquid back up in it etc - it was written on my instructions not to shake it but roll it to mix it and the tech demonstrated to me to take more than I need and then push it up to where the measurement is, shooting the rest back in and if there is a bubble in it to flick it back up. I won't be doing that anymore! So do we not do anything to mix it?

 

[Sarah27]

Diabetes is a lack of a hormone being produced.... There's no home remedy.... Although as Sharon said, low carb is the way to go. Home testing will be your best tool for keeping her safe (check out the video in my signature).

We are here to help if you need us.

Thank you for the video, I watched it so many times and it really helped me to learn to do it myself and to not be so intimated by it since your cat didn't hardly flinch. It gave me the courage to do it myself so thank you. I have a question though, I was asked to do a curve every 4 hours for 24 hours at the onset and then after week of being on the lantus to do the 4 hour for 24 hours again, but I read on the lantus go slow faq page to do it every 2 hours for a 12 hour curve or 3 hours for 18 hour curve. Is there a difference. I don't want to be difficult and not do what I was instructed but just wondering the reasoning behind it if anyone knows?

 

[MrWorfMen's Mom]

Every cat is different so no one can tell you how long it will take to get your kitty's BG levels down. Some kitties get regulated very quickly and others take a bit of time. First you have to find the right dose of insulin for your cat and that can take some dose adjustments and patience.

Curves are done to see how low the current dose of insulin is taking them. That lowest BG time during each 12 hour cycle is called the nadir. There are various methods for doing curves but in my humble opinion, doing tests every 4 hours is not as efficient as doing the tests every 2 hours for 12 hours because you may not be doing a test even close to your cat's nadir. It's also considerably more difficult to test for 24 hours straight. Even with a 12 hour curve, you may not test at the absolute lowest time in the cycle but you'll get much closer. Testing before each shot and getting random tests mid cycle around the expected time of the nadir whenever you can will add to the curve data and help you determine more precisely when the nadir is occurring. Nadirs can change somewhat from day to day so having the extra data give you a better picture of how your kitty reacts.

It may be that the vet suggested the every 4 hr for 24 hrs. curve so that you are getting readings for both the day and night cycle. A compromise would be to do 2 curves, one on a day cycle and one on a night cycle.

 

[JanetNJ]

Thank you for the video, I watched it so many times and it really helped me to learn to do it myself and to not be so intimated by it since your cat didn't hardly flinch. It gave me the courage to do it myself so thank you. I have a question though, I was asked to do a curve every 4 hours for 24 hours at the onset and then after week of being on the lantus to do the 4 hour for 24 hours again, but I read on the lantus go slow faq page to do it every 2 hours for a 12 hour curve or 3 hours for 18 hour curve. Is there a difference. I don't want to be difficult and not do what I was instructed but just wondering the reasoning behind it if anyone knows?

She usually doesn't flinch at all but I wanted to make sure I got a nice sized drop for the video so I punctured all the way through. You can see though even going all the way through it wasn't a big deal to her. I'm so glad the video helped.

Typically you do a curve every two hours.... You get more readings that way. It is a good idea to get a few night readings sometimes just to see what's happening. Many cats run higher or lower at night compared to the day.

 

[Sarah27]

Every cat is different so no one can tell you how long it will take to get your kitty's BG levels down. Some kitties get regulated very quickly and others take a bit of time. First you have to find the right dose of insulin for your cat and that can take some dose adjustments and patience.

Curves are done to see how low the current dose of insulin is taking them. That lowest BG time during each 12 hour cycle is called the nadir. There are various methods for doing curves but in my humble opinion, doing tests every 4 hours is not as efficient as doing the tests every 2 hours for 12 hours because you may not be doing a test even close to your cat's nadir. It's also considerably more difficult to test for 24 hours straight. Even with a 12 hour curve, you may not test at the absolute lowest time in the cycle but you'll get much closer. Testing before each shot and getting random tests mid cycle around the expected time of the nadir whenever you can will add to the curve data and help you determine more precisely when the nadir is occurring. Nadirs can change somewhat from day to day so having the extra data give you a better picture of how your kitty reacts.

It may be that the vet suggested the every 4 hr for 24 hrs. curve so that you are getting readings for both the day and night cycle. A compromise would be to do 2 curves, one on a day cycle and one on a night cycle.

Thank you for your post. May I ask you is there a specific time to start the 2 hour tests for 12 hours ie would I start 2 hours before giving the first shot, or start checking before giving the first shot of the day and every 2 hours after for 12 hours? is there a particular time when to start it?

 

[Yong & Maury GA]

Curve testing:
Take your PS (preshot number) and if it's safe to give dose on schedule, proceed. Take first BG test +2 hours after shot has been administered. Then every 2 hours until next PS, which ends the curve .
Keep feeding schedule as usual too, some people though they had to fast kitty or restrict food. You are trying to see what the dose is doing with every day schedule. Have you been able to look at the links I posted in message #7 yet? Each post is numbered on bottom right corner .

You may want to start a new thread on Main or your insulin specific forum now too
Good luck