Hi... I am new.

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claylady

Member Since 2014
Good Afternoon.
 One of our cats Jesse James was just diagnosed with feline diabetes. He is currently getting 2 units of Lantus inject-able insulin 2x day. Jesse James is 8 years old. He is also getting Purina DM dry food.
A dear friend suggested your forum.

We also have other physically challenged cats but Jesse James is our first diabetic. If you have any advice I would be happy to read!

THank you.
Claylady.
 
Hi and Welcome!

I don't use Lantus so other people will be along to give you ideas on it.

We have a very successful protocol that includes insulin like Lantus, feeding wet low carb food and testing at home. A vet explains why wet low carb food is best here: http://www.catinfo.org. Purina DM is not only full of poor ingredients; it is high carb - sort of like a human diabetic eating donuts and adding more insulin to combat it.

BUT don't change food until you are testing at home. Our Oliver went down 100 points overnight when we switched. If we had given the usual amount, he would have hypoed. We test before each shot to be sure it is safe to give the amount we are planning on, and midcycle to see how low the insulin is taking them.

We have taught hundreds of people how to test over the internet and would love to teach you.

Starting reading, especially the Health and Nutrition topics on the Main forum page. They are full of lots of good info. And ask lots of questions. Everyone who replies to you is paying it forward for help they received when they were new and overwhelmed.
 
Welcome Claylady and Jesse James!

What led to Jesse's diagnosis? Was it a routine check-up or did you notice other issues? Lantus is a great insulin for helping our extra sweet Sugar Babies! It is one of the best and many cats (upwards of 86%) achieve remission while on it (i.e. they no longer need insulin). This is based on the Tight Regulation Protocol Sue linked to above, which includes a good insulin, home-testing, and a species-appropriate diet.

You've already got a great insulin. :thumbup

Next step would be to look into home-testing. Depending on where you live, there are some great, inexpensive glucometers that will help you know how your kitty is doing at any given moment and let you know whether or not it's safe to give a shot or if the dose is too high/too little. In the US, most people prefer the ReliOn brand from Walmart because they're the cheapest around. These are also the same as the Arkray Glucocards available from ADW if you don't like shopping at Walmart. If you're in Canada, many people there use the Bayer Contour meters.

Finally, once you have the home-testing down, a change to a low carb, high protein diet is recommended. As Sue mentioned, you don't want to make this diet change without home-testing first (or stopping insulin all together) because it can significantly reduce the need of insulin. Some cats have even got OTJ (Off The Juice - not needing insulin) through just a diet change alone. Catinfo.org is a website on feline nutrition written
by a vet and also contains a food chart of the nutritional information for most commercial cat foods (you want anything less than 8-10% calories from Carbs, Column C).

And don't hesitate to ask any questions or ask for clarification. We've all been where you were at one point or another. :-D
 
A warm FDMB welcome to Claylady and her sugardude Jesse James.

Lot's of experience here with the day to day management of diabetes.

As member Kpassa said, learning to home test is one of the best things you can do to help your kitty.

Remember this is a marathon, not a sprint. It took time for your cat Jesse James to become diabetic. It will take time to see progress and regulation and hopefully remission.

I recommend deep breathing exercises to help with the stress. If you are calm, your kitty will be calm. Take a deep breath, hold, release, take a deep breath, hold, release, take a deep breath, hold, release.

We are here for you every step of the way.
 
Welcome to you both!

I to was new here not to long ago in fact it is because of this wonderful community that my Scooter is still alive! Lots and Lots of experience and knowledge and education so you are in the right place!

Linda
 
Welcome to the FDMB Claylady and extra sweet Jesse James!! (we'd love to know your name Claylady!)

You're in the best possible place to be with a sugarcat, and we're all here to help you! As you've already seen, home testing is very important! It makes sure to keep Jesse safe as well as treating his diabetes.

If you're in the US, you can go to WalMart and get a Relion meter (they're all about $15). The Prime has replacement strips for $9 for 50, and the Confirm or Micro replacement strips are about $18 for 50 (the Confirm and Micro use the smallest possible blood sample...the Prime needs a little bigger sample). What I did was start with the Confirm, and when China's ears "learned to bleed", I switched to the Prime to save the money on strips.

Get some "alternate site testing" lancets..usually 26 or 28 gauge...they have other sizes too like 30-31, but for new testers, the bigger lancet size works best (and the smaller the number, the bigger they are)

The people here are all very good with sharing their time and experiences, so you'll get all the help you could want here in learning how to deal with Jesse's diabetes. We deal with it every day, so have lots of ideas and tips to help you along the way.

Here's the full "shopping list" for when you're ready
1. Meter ie Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro.
2. Matching strips
3. Lancets - little sticks to poke the ear to get blood . new members usually start with a larger gauge lancet such as 28g or 29g until the ear learns to bleed. Optional - lancing tool.
4. Cotton balls to stem the blood
5. Neosporin or Polysporin ointment with pain relief to heal the wound
6. Mini flashlight (optional) - useful to help see the ear veins in dark cats, and to press against
7. Ketone urine test strips ie ketodiastix - Important to check ketones when blood is high
8. Sharps container - to dispose of waste syringes and lancets.
9. Treats for the cat - like freeze dried chicken
10. Karo syrup/corn syrup or honey if you dont have it at home - for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast
11. A couple of cans of fancy feast gravy lovers or other high carb gravy food- for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast

Good luck to both of you!
 
Morning all,
I have been reading all of your posts.
My husband has a glucose test kit. Can I use his? he doesn't test any more. He also his lancets.
As with someone else (cannot remember her name) Jesse James hates the Purina DM. He also throws it up.
I find this all very confusing.
We have several special needs fur children... including Kelby who has no eyes and has idiopathic epilepsy and gets Phenobarbital 2x day. For some reason I find Diabetes more confusing.

Jesse is going back in this afternoon for another check.
HELP.

Deb.... Clay Lady.
 
If your husband has a meter that takes a tiny sample, it may work. Note that it is not the meter that is expensive, it's the strips. The least expensive meter and strips is the ReliOn from Walmart. You probably do want 25-27 gauge lancets as the 30-31 gauge most humans use are too small at first for most cats.

How fast did you introduce the DM? Sometimes cats with more delicate tummies need to have a slow transistion - 25% new wet to 75% old food, gradually increasing the % of wet. Does he scarf and barf? Some cats are so excited about the wet, they eat too fast. To help with that, spread it out on a plate and/or add warm water so it is a soupy texture.

Many cats do not like DM. It is liver based. And we think expensive and has no better ingredients than non prescription food. Lots of us feed pate Fancy Feast or Pate Friskies flavors.
 
Hi again Deb and extra sweet Jesse James!! (Thanks for letting us know your name!)

Yes, you can use your husbands meter, but if it's one with "Free" or "True" in the name, we've heard they aren't very good for using on our sugarcats. As I'm sure you know, meters are cheap, it's the strips that run into big money. One of our favorites is the Relion brand from Wal Mart. The meters are about $15 and the strips are quite affordable too.
I gave you the "getting started shopping list" in my comment earlier so you have that to take with you when you go shopping.

There's no reason to feed the expensive DM. Here's a List of foods that shows the carb percentage as well. We aim for under 10% carbs. As you can see, plain old Friskies pate's are fine to feed, and very affordable, as are the Fancy Feast Classics.

There's also no real reason you need to keep taking Jesse to the vet for testing. If you learn to home test, you'll get more accurate readings, and will save the money of always running to the vet. Readings you get at the vet are unreliable anyway because the stress of being at the vet can raise the blood glucose over 100 points!

Once you're home testing, we can help advise you on dosage too. We generally start at 1 unit twice/day and make changes in .25 increments so we find that "best dose" for your cat. Lantus is an excellent chose for Jesse!

Once again, welcome, and ask any questions you can think of. We're all here to help you!
 
Good Evening all!
I posted a reply on another post... Jesse James went to the vet for a glucose check.... I am so very proud of him... His glucose reading was 163. My vet was over joyed.. We hugged and I smothered my boy with kisses!

We talked about meters and she said that using one for dogs and cats like the ALPHA TRAK 2 uses less blood than a human one. We'll see. She said that I can wait and think about it. She also said that I can bring back the Purina DM and get a credit for it and was thrilled that I had found all of you and also agreed that using canned wet food like Fancy Feast PATES was fine. She knows that I am very active in the epi-felines forum and have been for several years.. and was so happy that I had found all of you and encouraged it.

This is a great practice. They also will refer clients to a local incredible holistic vet who does acupuncture and chiropractic treatments. One of my fur children Morgan was a long term patient of hers as well as my traditional vet. Morgan LOVED his treatments.. he would melt into the table like melted butter then he'd fall asleep. :-) This practice is not afraid to refer clients to specialists when need be... I have been ther for almost 20 years... and love them all... but I have 2 vets that are my kids kittyatricians.

Time for Jesse James snack then meds.
Bless all of you and yours!
Deb.
 
Replied on your other post, about the blood drop sizes for the different meters. Alphatrak and Relion Confirm require the same size blood drop.
 
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