Introducing Focker (Mr.F)

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Denise Rogers

Denise Rogers

Member Since 2019
Hello Everyone. Thank you for adding us to this group.

My name is Focker, but my mom and dad call me Kiki and my nieces and nephews call me Mr. F. I'm 15yo and was just diagnosed with diabetes 10/25/19... My mom is kinda freaking out on how she should take care of me. It's been a rough year for us. My grandma (My moms mom) unexpectedly passed back in February and its been hard for her.

The vet gave us SCIENCE DIET (Glucose) dry food and some wet food to try first before going to insulin. Any help or advice you have to help us, would be greatly appreciated..

10/26/19 Update:
I went and and bought fancy feast wet food today... does it really matter if you get PATÉ or the ones with gravy? I know when I fed wet food before (about 2 yrs ago) Mr. F. didn't like the Paté, but loved the shredded kind.

Also. I've bought a meter and started home testing this afternoon. How often do you test? We're not doing insulin just yet, trying to do this by diet. His #'s today were 417( @ 1306) and 477 (@ 1830) yesterday when he got diagnosed it was 550, so it gone down. Just would like to know what i need to do...
 

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Hi Denise, good for you getting the meter and starting home testing! Please edit your signature and enter what brand of meter you are using. Set up the spreadsheet so you can document the results you will be getting. It's good to review the trends as you go through the days and nights, plus advising members will need to see that data before offering suggestions.

FDMB Spreadsheet Instructions
Understanding the Spreadsheet/Grid

Here's what we recommend for testing for someone already using insulin, but you can just pick times, 12 hours apart that you would use for your injection times and go from there:
Here's the basic testing routine we recommend: (do what you can on work days - before bed is useful along with the essential pre shots)
test every day AM and PM before feeding and injecting (no food at least 2 hours before) to see if the planned dose is safe
test at least once near mid cycle or at bedtime daily to see how low the BG goes
do extra tests on days off to fill in the response picture
If you do not work, try to get tests at different hours in the 12 hour cycle on different days. This fills in the "puzzle pieces" of the blood sugar levels. For example on one day try to get a test at 3 hours and 7 hours after the first test in the morning. On the spreadsheet that would be +3 and +7. Then the next day a test at +2 and +6, and so on. Or, if you are only able to get one test during the daytime cycle, test at +5, next day +6, next day +7..to see what changes.
*********
We used 6 AM and 6 PM for our "shot" times so we tested just before shot and food. Idjit demands his first meal so early, so that's what we had to go with, bleary eyes and all. ;)

Regarding the Fancy Feast, you want a canned food below 10% carbs, and the gravy varieties are all above that recommended percentage. The gravy is where the carbs live. Some of the FF are not smooth pates, but have texture that might be more appealing to Kiki.
There are different flavors and varieties of the FF below the 10%, plus Friskies & 9 Lives that you can get at the grocery store have below 10% varieties also.

You might try poaching a piece of chicken and using the broth to simulate gravy with the low carb diet. I routinely pressure cook breast and/or thigh meat for Idjit's treats (or a whole chicken for us hoomans), and after cooling and skimming the fat off the broth, freeze it in ice cube trays. I thaw a cube to add to his meals and sometimes for a treat when he is bugging me for "more food please" before his scheduled meals.

Check out this Food Chart and try to find protein minimum of 40, fat maximum of 50, carb max of 10, and for cats with kidney issues....phos less than 300 (per Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM of www.catinfo.org). Weruva and Tiki Cat, Tiki Cat after Dark are also brands that have qualifying low carbs and some are more textured too.

We also recommend feeding small more frequent meals to our sugar cats, unregulated cats can't utilize and process the food they eat properly, and feel very hungry. Focker does not look like he feels very well in the current picture and may have been feeling the effects of diabetes long before he was diagnosed. You can use a timed feeder to provide those meals at set intervals if you are working away from home or for night feedings.

You will want to have higher and medium carb canned food on hand in your Hypo Tool kit, for just in case if you progress to insulin therapy. Please read this document: New? How you can help us help you

You can keep an eye on the BG levels as you go, but please don't wait too long before deciding that insulin therapy might be necessary. The sooner feline diabetes is treated with the proper diet and appropriate insulin dosage with diligent consistent testing, the better chance of regulation and possibly remission.

Let us know if you don't understand any of the above or have additional questions. It's a steep learning curve, but you can do this. :cat:
 
Hi Denise's and Mr F
I sorry about your Mom Denise.
Here is a food chart for you to look at.the top few at for the US. Look for canned food 10% or under. It doesn't have to be pate. But a lot of the gravy foods are too high in carbs so look on the list..

You will also need some higher carb foods to have in case the blood sugar fpdrops low when Mr F is on insulin so get a few of those too BUT make sure you mark the top of the cans with the number od carbs and it's a good idea to keep the higher carb ones separately. Also get some honey of Karo.
The medium carb ones are 11%-17% and the high carb is 18% and higher.

If you are not giving insulin yet I would advise you to buy a bottle of Ketostix to test the urine for Ketones which can form in diabetic cats who are unregulated and especially since he is not on insulin yet.
To test you just collect a urine sample, dip in the test strip and read it exactly 15 seconds later against the colours on the side of the bottle. Anything above a trace needs vet attention.

Do not leave it too long with those high numbers before starting insulin.
 
Hey Denise and Mr. F!

Glad to see you made it over here from the Feline Diabetes group on Facebook!!

My China liked her pate better if I mixed a little warm water into it and made my own "gravy" but you can also use something like bone broth to add some extra water and flavor. There are several other foods other than the Fancy Feasts that aren't pates at all. The food chart linked above should give you some options to try.

If the change to low carb food is going to be "enough", you'll see it within a week. With numbers that high though, I think you're probably looking at least a short stint on insulin. As I said on the FB group, the best ones for cats are Lantus, Basaglar, Levemir and ProZinc but they are kind of pricey. Did your vet mention what insulin they might want to use?

If you have any input, I'd really suggest Lantus or Basaglar (they are both Glargine insulin) or Levemir because you can get them more affordably from Canada. They are all human insulins that work well in cats. A 5 pack of pens would give you 1500 units which is enough to last most cats at least a year (and some as long as 2 years). ProZinc is about the same price, but a vial only contains 400 units. ProZinc is a cat only insulin so only available at your vet or at a veterinary pharmacy.

Here's the info on buying insulin from Canada if that's what you end up doing. It does take about a week to get to you but another nice thing is once they have a script, they'll refill it forever without having to get another script.

I also agree that you should get some urine ketone strips and test him...especially with him running so high. DKA is very expensive to treat and isn't always successful so it's best to catch any development of ketones early. Here are some Urine Testing Tips

I didn't see that you were from KC when I approved you for the Facebook group! I grew up in KC...went to Raytown schools and moved down to the Lake of the Ozarks area almost 30 years ago. I still consider KC my home though!

Go Chiefs!!
 
Chris & China (GA) said:
Hey Denise and Mr. F!

Glad to see you made it over here from the Feline Diabetes group on Facebook!!

My China liked her pate better if I mixed a little warm water into it and made my own "gravy" but you can also use something like bone broth to add some extra water and flavor. There are several other foods other than the Fancy Feasts that aren't pates at all. The food chart linked above should give you some options to try.

If the change to low carb food is going to be "enough", you'll see it within a week. With numbers that high though, I think you're probably looking at least a short stint on insulin. As I said on the FB group, the best ones for cats are Lantus, Basaglar, Levemir and ProZinc but they are kind of pricey. Did your vet mention what insulin they might want to use?

If you have any input, I'd really suggest Lantus or Basaglar (they are both Glargine insulin) or Levemir because you can get them more affordably from Canada. They are all human insulins that work well in cats. A 5 pack of pens would give you 1500 units which is enough to last most cats at least a year (and some as long as 2 years). ProZinc is about the same price, but a vial only contains 400 units. ProZinc is a cat only insulin so only available at your vet or at a veterinary pharmacy.

Here's the info on buying insulin from Canada if that's what you end up doing. It does take about a week to get to you but another nice thing is once they have a script, they'll refill it forever without having to get another script.

I also agree that you should get some urine ketone strips and test him...especially with him running so high. DKA is very expensive to treat and isn't always successful so it's best to catch any development of ketones early. Here are some Urine Testing Tips

I didn't see that you were from KC when I approved you for the Facebook group! I grew up in KC...went to Raytown schools and moved down to the Lake of the Ozarks area almost 30 years ago. I still consider KC my home though!

Go Chiefs!!
Click to expand...


I'm thinking I'm going to call the vet monday and have him call the insulin in. I don't want to take any chances. I'll probably have him call it into Sam's Club bc they have it cheaper for members than anywhere else locally and I'll also have him call one in to the Canada so i can start getting it from there.

One thing I've also noticed is Mr F. walks funny after he eats... like not on his pads... its hard to explain. Its just hard seeing him like this...

I was born and raised KCKs and still live here.. lol

Go Chiefs!
 
It sounds like Mr. F is walking on his hocks. This happened with diabetic neuropathy. A form of vitamin B12, methylcobalamin (methyl-B12) can help! Many people here buy Zobaline which is formulated specifically for diabetic cats and is available on Amazon.
 
I believe so. I'm not sure because when I was using it, it was a long time ago and I'm pretty sure I bought methylcobalamine and it was in capsule form. I just dumped some out.

If you put a note in your subject line (e.g, Zobaline info) someone with more recent experience will be able to give you more current info. Since it's formulated for cats, take a look at the link and see what the info is on Amazon. I'm pretty sure you crush the tablet unless you want to pill your cat. I've been lucky -- all of my cats have been easy to pill.
 
Denise, regarding the possible neuropathy, check out this link:
Neuropathy: Feline Diabetic Neuropathy (weak back legs)

There's a heap of really good information in the FAQs forum. Click on the Index and go down the list.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/health-links-faqs-about-feline-diabetes.14/

Diane Tyler's Mom also kindly offered this information about Methylcobalamin - aka - methyl B-12 for less cost:
If anyone wants to save money I used Zobaline until someone on here told me about this brand, it's the same thing


Hi this can save you some money on the Zobaline
Vitacost-Vitamin-B-12-Methylcobalamin-844197016143.jpg

For 60 pills it's 17.57 and for 100 pills its 23.92
Same thing
The only difference with the Zobaline is it has 200 mcg of folic acid
So I just buy folic acid in the store 400 mcg and cut them in half and crush it
The Vit B from Vitacost comes in capsule form it's red , so just empty it into the wet food and the folic acid , mix it up. The Zobaline is a pill so you have to crush it up
The Vitacost brand is 5000 mcg and the Zobaline is 3000 mcg that is ok
The cats will pee out what's not needed .

A lot of times the Vitacost brand has buy one get one half off and free shipping in the qty of 100 .

Hope this helps
I see the Zobaline is now 44.00 with shipping, unbelievable
 
Poor little guy, getting his BG regulated is going to help resolve the neuropathy, but the methyl B-12 supports and assists the recovery.
 
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