Intro: Insulin on order-a new chapter begins

Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lori & Tessa

New Member
Hello everyone. I haven't been a member of a message board for a long time, but thought I would find a place I could turn to for advice if our Tessa girl doesn't do well with her latest health obstacle. She's our eldest (16.5 years old) and on top of being diagosed in December 2010 with lymphoma and having CRF starting about a year ago, our vet diagnosed diabetes after we took her in on Saturday because her back legs collapsed 3 times. She has been getting 'stiffer' and has walked with a strange gait for a few weeks now. Poor thing - she takes 5mg Prednisone every other day and we do sub-q IV fluids every day. The blood chem panel came in with a high glucose reading and the urine test was at 364. I'm not sure what type of insulin our vet ordered (it's the pork insulin) and we hope that it arrives tomorrow or Thursday. Needless to say, we're anxious to see if this next intervention helps with her quality of life (she's been so lethargic and lost 7 lbs. over the last 6 months; she's now 9 lbs.). She eats okay (a nibbler) and we've switched to mostly 'fresh selects' refridgerated food and FF appetizers. My vet said that she would do all the glucose monitoring when we asked about home testing, but from what I've read on this site, I am thinking we need to be proactive and monitor her levels at home as well. I'll check in as we get started to let you all know how it goes. Thanks for being here! Lori & Tessa
 
It sounds like you are doing a great job with some challenging issues.

Yes, you want to test at home. It is the only way to keep your kitty safe. You need to test before every shot to be sure it is safe to give the amount of insulin you are planning, and mid cycle to see how the insulin is working.

We all have tricks that helped us get that first drop of blood. Just ask!
 
Lori & Tessa said:
we've switched to mostly 'fresh selects' refridgerated food and FF appetizers Lori & Tessa
Click to expand...

FYI, the FF Appetizers are not 100% complete. They are only for supplemental feeding. There's a teeny tiny disclaimer on the packages as well as on the FF web site.

Someone asked about the Fresh Pet food a week or so ago. It looks like the food is mostly ok for diabetics.
 
FreshPet Selects is quite high-carb and therefore not a great choice for your cat - see my correspondence with a rep there - and for reference, she is referring to all refrigerated varieties:


-----Original Message-----
From: Genevieve Ferrara <xxx@freshpet.com (redacted)>
To: (redacted)
Sent: Wed, Jan 12, 2011 12:02 pm
Subject: RE: cat food question

Sara,
I provided that information when I gave you the moisture free value. You might call it dry matter basis. That is the complete nutritional value on the product. So if you have a food now that is 52% protein - our food would be 46.7% protein., 20% fat and 18% carb.
Genevieve
 
Here is another part of the Fresh Pet rep correspondence, the calorie count is terribly low as well

<<<Dear Sara,

Thank you for contacting Freshpet. Here is the information you requested on our cat food.

Freshpet Select Turkey Liver Dinner in Sauce: Protein-7% as fed, 46.7% moisture free, Fat-3% as fed, 20% moisture free, Carb-2.6% as fed, 18.94% moisture free
Freshpet Select Ocean Whitefish & Salmon Dinner in Sauce: Protein-7% as fed, 46.7% moisture free, Fat-3% as fed, 20% moisture free, Carb-1.91% as fed, 12.03% moisture free
Freshpet Select Chicken & Shrimp Dinner in Sauce: Protein-7% as fed, 46.7% moisture free, Fat-3% as fed, 20% moisture free, Carb-2.3% as fed, 16.14% moisture free

Each 5.5 ounce container has 80.6 calories. All the flavors are the same calories.

The Veterinary product is designed for animals that are recovering from surgery. It would not be appropriate for a daily diet. If you would like a coupon to give our Freshpet Select cat food a try please send your mailing address. Your interest in our products is appreciated.
 
Do you know what the % are for? Are they by weight or by % calories from? If % by weight, the %carb value would go down when you convert it to % by calories. J&Bs table is % by calories,
 
Well, she lists twice that their meals are 18% carbs...
Larry and Kitties said:
Do you know what the % are for? Are they by weight or by % calories from? If % by weight, the %carb value would go down when you convert it to % by calories. J&Bs table is % by calories,
Click to expand...
 
Hi Lori,

Glad you came here for advice. Great board!

Try Binky's List for food suggestions. Look for foods under 10% carbs. There are lots on the list in all kinds of flavor and price points. The pet food labels are not much help. The Binky's List people get the values for the list calculations from the pet food manufacturers.

Since I'm feeding 7 diabetic cats, I use Friskies as a base and use Wellness, Merrick and Evo to add some higher quality muscle meat to their diet. Works for my other 3 as well - 2 with mild cardiac issues and on 1 who is picky and a senior.

Good luck and keep asking questions. We'll all help!

Claudia
 
Thank you for all of the words of support and the great advice! I will definitely look at Blinky's list for some food suggestions. Tessa only started getting moist food in December when she started losing weight so quickly and was losing interest in food all together (so unlike her, her entire life she's been a big girl). It was in December we learned that she has lymphoma. We had to food syringe feed her watered down Hill's A/D for a week and once she regained some strength, she started eating more on her own. We've stuck with the wet food to help her with her fluids too (she has moderate CRF). I know carbohydrates raise glucose, and you're right, it's impossible to know the makeup from the labels. Yet I don't think I want to go no-carb or too low-carb because I want to balance this with the stress a high protein diet places on the kidneys.

We know we will be blessed if Tessa is with us at this time next year, yet we want her final months to be as comfortable as possible. Which is why, when the vet said her urine test showed a glucose level of 364, we didn't even hesitate to administer insulin (she's become used to the sub-q fluid administration, so our first 36 hours/3 insulin injections went REALLY well, for her AND mom ... although dad had to look away - too squeemish).

If you have other ideas about the food ... as well as a recommendation for a glucose monitor, I'd love to get more ideas. I'll keep on researching the board posts and site links - this site is a tremendous resource and its obvious that a lot of care, attention, and love has been committed to this community and Tessa and I (as well as the rest of the family, Kayla (14 year old tabby) and husband Jeff appreciate it too!).
 
Lori,

Here's a shopping list for hometesting:


A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 25-26 gauge is good. Any brand will work.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top