Hi

[ktsibley68]

My name is Spot and my human's name is Kelly. We live in Prescott Valley, Arizona and I am 11 years old. My human is a total geek and yes, my name is an homage to Star Trek: TNG. I have a lot of nicknames that my human uses including "Spotacus," "Hippospotamus" and "Spotted Potamus." Don't ask me... she's weird. We found out 2 days ago that I have diabetes when we went in to see the vet about my teeth. The vet removed my teeth yesterday and I came home last night. I have eaten dry food my whole life but for whatever reason, I never crunched it up- just swallowed it whole. My human doesn't have a clue how to stop me from eating dry food now, even though there's is no possible way for me to chew it up. I have two other adopted brothers, Lu and Jo, who are not going to be happy about giving up their dry food. My human is switching me over to wet food only but my brothers' human is going to stay with dry. (They split a can at dinner.) What is a good choice to put out for them that won't kill me if I have a couple mouthfuls here and there? Thanks for being here... my human was so happy to find this site this morning.

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Welcome Spot and Kelly,

Here is the best resource for adapting to wet. www.catinfo.org. It is written by a vet. She has a food chart (we suggest staying 8-10% carbs or less) and ideas for switching. BUT DON't switch until you are hometesting (our Oliver went down 100 points when we switched. If we hadn't been testing and had given the regular amount of insulin, he would have hypoed)

 

[dirtybirdsoaps]

Welcome Spot & Kelly,

It seems overwhelming at first but it gets easier. Per your question about a safer dry food. People on fdmb recommend EVO's cat & kitten, Young Again Zero carb, and stellas freeze dried. I tried the EVO with my cats and they didnt do too well on it. I then switched them to the Young Again. It is pricey, but worth it in my opinion. My cats did well on it, until I was forced to completely take away the dry.

My diabetic Hidey had to have 2 teeth removed. Last year they had to remove 3 of the back ones, a couple of months ago they had to remove his upper canines. It seemed to take a lot longer for his sutures to heal this time, I'm sure its because of them being the canines. Well of course with the removal he couldn't have dry, so it was strictly wet. It took almost a month for his mouth to heal unlike last time when it was about a week. So him being off dry for a month, his numbers improved drastically because of the combination of better food and the extractions.

Check out this food chart it will help a lot:
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

here is also a list of low carb treats:
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

How high was Spot's numbers when you went in? BG can be raised because of stress, infection's, etc. I know Hidey's was a combo of being overweight, bad teeth, and poor food choices. Now that I have corrected these issues I am glad to say his BG is under control by diet alone and no longer on insulin.

Heres a shopping list of things you might need:
https://docs.google.com/document/d/11Uf ... edit?pli=1

Has your vet discussed with you what type of insulin they want to use?

 

[ktsibley68]

Thank you both for your responses. The info you gave me was very helpful. Spot seems to be doing a little better already- he is eating a can and a half morning and evening and I'm doing ok with his insulin injections. I have to dig out my old BG tester and figure out how to use it on Spot. He's a very mellow boy so he'll let me learn.

 

[Deb & Wink]

Hi Kelly and extra sweet Spot and welcome to the message board.

You talked about digging out your old glucometer to learn to test Spot. Home testing is a fantastic way to see what is going on with the BG (blood glucose) levels and to help keep Spot safe. I hope your old glucometer does not require a large drop of blood. We can recommend several that use a small drop of blood but also have inexpensive test strips. The Relion Confirm/Micro needs only 3 microliters of blood, the size of the head of a pin.

To help you with the testing, here are two links.

First link talks about the how to's of home testing. I think two of the keys to home testing are to warm the ear and to give treats. Treats are highly recommended for the bean as well as the kitty, just different types of treats. ;-)

Second link talks about getting your cat to be more accepting of the process, or ear testing psychology.

Let us know when you get that first successful test.