Hi!

Status
Not open for further replies.
A

AvsFan

Member Since 2013
Hello to everyone out there. My name is Jim and I'm in Utah. One of my cats, Ziggy, was just diagnosed with diabetes. He goes back to the vet today (3/22/13) to start his treatment. I've been reading up on the subject and have a good idea what to expect, but if anyone wants to share info or personal experiences, it would be really appreciated.
Ziggy is one of 8 cats of mine. He hasn't shown any signs of being sick. My concern was that he was losing a lot of weight and getting so skinny. He still had quite an appetite. His nickname is "Ziggy the Piggy." He was still active and acting normal, but he was getting so thin so I had him checked out. The vet did blood draws and came back saying it was diabetes.
Anyhow, hello and thanks for any help anyone might have. :cool:
-Jim
 
Its very common for an unregulated diabetic cat to lose weight - mine lost about 3lbs but she has since put it back on.

Its also fairly common for vets to discourage you from home testing - maybe they think its too scarey for us or we'll do something wrong - but it really is the best way to manage this disease and get Ziggy regulated and maybe in remission.
Its also much more convenient than going back to the vet and much less stressful on Ziggy and your wallet ;-)

Another thing to consider is diet. We really advocate a change to a wet/canned diet as the carb count is lower (think of human diabetics, they are advised to lower carbs) and its generally better in the long term with other illnesses such as UTIs, kidney problems etc.. Most of us started on dry but then switched to wet.
This site lists low carb wet foods and has lots of info on diet: catinfo.org. Friskies pates and Fancy Feast classic pates are fine - you don't need prescription food.
Its good to transition to low carb wet food before starting insulin as it could bring bg numbers down considerably and may lead to diet-controlled diabeties.

Glad you joined the board!
 
Did the vet tell you right then and there or send his blood away for testing? Did he say what the "fructosamine" level was?

ASk your vet about Lantus or Levemir or Prozinc for insulin

What are you currently feeding? wet? dry? brand?

thanks
Wendy
 
Thanks for the replies. Zig had his blood drawn Monday & had it sent out to be tested. The vet called me Wednesday & told me the results. I have an appointment in about 2 hours to take Zig back in. I'll see what the vet recommends as far as insulin. My mom is diabetic & she has an extra glucometer she's giving to me, so I will be able to test Ziggy at home. As far as food, with 8 cats, the feeding frenzy starts in the morning with Friskies canned food. I give them the shredded/bits/chunky type as all are not too fond of the pate' . They have a bowl of dry Purina Indoor Formula that they all snack on, but I stopped leaving that out all day & only put it out at certain times when I can regulate who eats how much. :smile:
 
We strongly recommend feeding a low carb, canned or raw diet. To understand why, go to Cat Info, There's a printable food list there, too.

Given 8 cats, I'm going to guess that budget may be a concern - Friskies canned pates are on the low carb list. I feed all of my 14 the Turkey and Giblet in the 13 oz cans. You do not need to feed on specific schedules; free feeding is fine, just pick it up 2 hours before you test the glucose and put it back down when you give insulin again. Note that switching to a low carb canned food may drop the glucose level 100 points, so home testing the glucose is very important if you start giving insulin and change the diet concurrently.

See my signature link for secondary monitoring tools. These include tactics for urine ketone testing, which you already know may be a sign of impending diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). There are a few other supplemental monitoring options too.

Don't let the vet convince you to buy a pet-specific meter; there are reference numbers for using a human glucometer. Tell the vet you will be hometesting for safety; don't ask for permission (its your cat!!!).
 
The Friskies pate is the only one in the range with low enough carbs for Zig.
You could try to transition him slowly to the pate - mixing it with the shreds. Check out the carb content on some of the gravy ones - 20% for the Tasty Treasures - I kept that for Honey's hypo kit.
I have 3 cats and moved them all to the pates - 1 was very finicky but he's come around. I also got rid of all dry - I work from home so easier to feed them wet when they're hungry but other people have creative ideas on this and it can be done.
A diet change could drop his bg by 100 points and if the bg was a one off reading, you need to take 'vet-stress' into account.

Post Zig's results here before you start giving him insulin - its possible that he may not need it or that the starting dose will be too high - that's pretty common as I think a lot of vets are more used to dosing dogs.

Generally we start on .5 to 1u twice per day of lantus, levemir or prozinc - they are the prefered ones and would give Zig the best chance of remission so try to get a prescription for one of them. I found that Costco was the cheapest, followed by Walmart.
Also, you can get other supplies at Walmart eg. syringes - my vet prescribed BD syringes and they were double the price of the Walmart Relion ones which had .5 unit marking which are much better for dose adjustments.
 
Well, the vet prescribed prozinc for Ziggy's insulin. As expected, the vet tried to push the w/d presciption food. I've read from a lot of people's personal experiences that certain regular store-bought canned foods are just as good. I'm going to go with the pate's and the cats will just have to get used to it. Ziggy has a follow-up appointment in a week and the vet said I shouldn't worry about glucose testing during that time. He wants to see how Zig reacts with the injections & diet then go from there. He's having me start Zig off with one unit of the prozinc per day. He had me give a practice shot to make sure I could give the injections on my own. I did one and the vet said that was great. He rubbed his neck then said now try it on the cat! :shock: Just kidding! I gave Zig a practice shot at the vets and he got his first shot of insulin today. So far so good.
Thanks all for the feedback & info, especially the diet info.
 
There will be better glucose control if you give 0.5 units every 12 hours, rather than 1 shot of 1 unit per day.

And for safety, we recommend you always test before you shoot.

Also, transition food slowly or 1 or more of the cats may experience diarrhea.
 
There's a prozinc board on this site- check out the postings there to see what other people are dosing.

Please learn to hometest - its the best way to make sure he's safe and the only way to get him into regulation>remission.
 
Thats a good insulin and good choice on the food.

However you really really need to test to keep him safe. My vet said 0.25 units of my insulin for my cat would be fine and he had a hypo the next day!! I managed to catch it and test him and he was 30.

Test him before every shot, midday if you can ( 5-7hours after shot) and before bed. It doesnt hurt, doesnt do any harm and keeps him safe.

Wendy
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top