Hello, and welcome! You are in the right place to get good information about how to best handle your pet's diabetes in the most cost-effective way possible. Please do us a favor, though, and go into your first post and remove the 911 icon. We save that for kitties that are in a present medical crisis and need immediate assistance. Thanks!!
First, tell us more about your kitty and any information the vet provided. What symptoms did you notice, did the vet give you a number for Fiend's BG, etc. The more info we have from you, the more that we can help!! Also, if the vet has provided a recommendation as to insulin, that will help as well. It will also be very helpful for us to know what you are feeding your cat!
Let me help you break down some of the costs.
1. Insulin. Like Sue said, once we know what the vet is recommending, we can give you advice on how to obtain that insulin in the most cost-effective way possible.
2. Syringes. Again, we can help you keep these costs down to as low as $15 for a box of 100. You'll most likely use two per day.
3. Testing equipment. Hometesting is the best thing you can do for Fiend. It will save you on expensive tests at the vet, it will help you always make sure Fiend is safe, and it will allow you to make the best dosing decisions, conserving insulin and ultimately getting Fiend on the road to remission... where the costs get much less!!! Plus, it allows you to be in control of Fiend's care. In the stickies at the top of the page, you can ask for a newbie kit, which will include a meter, strips, and other supplies. If you have a Walmart nearby, you can pick up their Relion Confirm or Micro meter for $9. Strips are $12 for 25 or $20 for 50. The meter will come with a lancet device and a few lancets that you use to poke Fiend's ear to get the blood droplet for a reading. We'll help you learn how. The bigger the number, the thinner the lancet, so when starting out, the smaller the number the better. Try to find ones under 30.
One other testing supply you'll want to get are ketostix. They are $15 and you use them to test Fiend's urine for the presence of ketones. Ketones are an indication that your cat could develop diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA, which is a potentially deadly illness that is very expensive to treat. If ketones are caught early enough, DKA can be prevented, so these strips are very valuable.
4. Food. As Sue said, low-carb wet food is the best thing you can do in the short term to help reduce numbers, especially before starting insulin. The good news? As Sue said, you don't need the expensive vet stuff!! Popular choices here include classic varieties of Fancy Feast, Friskies pates, or generic brands like Sophisticat (Petsmart) and Special Kitty (Walmart). Using
these charts created by Janet & Binky, you can select varieties with a carb % of 10% or less (though, many of us stick to under 5%). Sue is absolutely right... decreasing Fiend's carb intake will dramatically improve your results. Feeding dry food will make it very difficult to regulate Fiend.
You'll also want to pick up some low-carb treats. I use PureBites freeze dried chicken treats from Petco, but I buy them in the dog treat aisle where the cost per ounce is much less. You'll give Fiend a treat each time he gets his ear poked, and in no time he'll have no objections at all!!
If you can, I'd suggest going out this weekend, getting a meter/strips, the ketostik and some new food. Because you aren't on insulin yet, you have a golden opportunity to see how food affects Fiend's numbers. If you can change over his food before starting insulin, things will be a bit easier.
Once you're gotten started, there are tons of online sources of materials that can help drop costs even further.
Please look over the information in the stickies... when I first came here in December, I found it very helpful to print out key ones so I could refer back to them... and I still do! This message board is an amazing resource and the folks here were guardian angels for my Willie and I. Please continue to ask questions!
