Introducing My Diabetic Cat Bee

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Lobosit

Member Since 2013
Hi,
It's nice to be here and meet a lot of cat lovers who are going through the same thing. My 9-year-old cat Bee just got diagnosed with diabetes last week. I've been trying to educate myself about cat diabetes after the diagnosis. Our vet is amazing, but I want to feel I am in control of Bee's health more.

First I learned to change her diet completely. Based on Dr. Pierson's chart about commercial cat foods, I chose Tiki Cat Chicken for its high-protein low-carb and no seafood or gravy content. Bee has been loving and eating it for a week now. I want to know if it's normal for cats to have less bowel movements after switching to all wet food. She finally pooped after 2 full days! I have another cat who used to just eat dry food, and I also slowly switched his food to the wet kind, and he hasn't pooped for 2 days either. I don't think they are constipated since I haven't seen them straining in the litter box. Any advice on this issue?

The vet prescribed Lantus 1 unit every 12 hours during meals. I haven't started injecting her yet because I learned I need to first do some home testing to understand what's going on inside her before introducing her to insulin. I use Freestyle Lite. I read that it's important to use species specific glucometer like Alphatrak for the right calibration for cats. Is this true? Also, I saw some people don't think Freestyle gives accurate results. Now I am a little overwhelmed with choosing the right meter and strips for home testing because it's not just the money we spend, it's also putting Bee through pricking and bleeding everyday. Thoughts?

This is Bee's test results from yesterday.
7:01AM.....before breakfast.....303/16.83
7:10AM.....breakfast (3oz wet)
9:25AM.....2hr after breakfast.....282/15.66
4:03PM.....9hr after breakfast.....319/17.72
7:00PM.....before dinner.....327/18.16
7:10PM.....dinner (3oz wet)
11:07PM.....4hr after dinner.....262/14.55
11:10PM.....snack (1.5oz wet)

I think the numbers are high and Bee is definitely ready for insulin. If I start tonight at dinner time. Is there anything else I should start doing? When and how often should I give her bg tests?

Thanks everyone. It's comforting to know that a lot of people here have experienced the same thing and know the right things to do to get our cats healthy again.

Lobo
 
Hi and welcome Lobo and extra-sweet Bee! :YMHUG:

Great job on getting the food switch down. My kitties also love the Tiki Cat (my wallet, not so much :lol: ). The potential constipation issues, if I were you, I'd probably just keep an eye on it and see if they continue having problems. Most likely it's the food switch that has caused some disruption in their regular BMs.

No, you don't need to use a pet-specific meter. Most of us here use human meters and they work just fine. There is a difference in numbers between what you might get at the vet vs. what you get with the human meters, but everything here is already written toward human meters so no real translation necessary (unless you do decide to go with a pet-specific meter). Depending where you live, the cheapest meters in terms of costs are the Arkray/ReliOn brands (Arkray available online or the re-branded ReliOns available at Walmart in the US). The Freestyle and meters with "Tru" in the name have been reported as giving lower numbers than they really are so most people tend to stay away from those meters.

For some help with home testing, here are a couple of links to get you started: Tips and Tricks and Ear Testing Psychology. The pricking and bleeding does get easier and pretty soon, Bee won't even notice and will start seeking you out for tests. I didn't believe it myself till Michelangelo started doing it to me. :lol:

As for testing, I always try to get at least 4 tests minimum each day:
  • AM Pre-shot test to know if it's safe to give a shot
  • AM mid-cycle test, if possible (this one I sometimes skip because of work). It lets me know how the dose is working and how low Mikey might go
  • PM Pre-shot test to know if it's safe to give a shot
  • Before-bed test to see how low he might go overnight while I'm sleeping
All other tests, I consider them as more data points on how Michelangelo reacts to the insulin in that particular cycle, how food and/or activity affects his numbers, if he needs an increase or decrease in dose, how he might be handling a new dose, etc.... I basically play fill-in-the blank across the week and try to grab tests at different times across different days with a few repeats thrown in.

To help you keep track of his numbers and share them with us, we've created this spreadsheet that we all use.

We also have a Lantus Forum with "Stickies" at the top to help guide you through the process of understanding how Lantus works that is worth a read-through to get you prepared.

If you have any questions or need any clarification, feel free to ask away. :thumbup It sounds like you've already got a good handle on things.
 
Weldome to FDMB.

You've got the food down and are working on the home glucose testing. While you do that, take a look at my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for additional assessments you may wish to make. In particular, you may want to do urine ketone testing. Ketones are a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis, a potentially fatal, expensive to treat complication of diabetes.
 
Hello and welcome to the board!

Have you started the insulin now?

Make sure you give a treat after every test and bee will start to look forward to test time! It becomes routine after a while and helps to keep her safe so its worth it. Are you in the US? As Kay said, You might want to pick up a Relion confirm or Micro from Walmart. they are more accurate and cheaper.

Wendy

Ps let us know if you need help with the spreadsheet
 
Hello Lobo and sugarkitty Bee and welcome to the board.

Lot's of folks here that were in the same situation you are now. A newly diagnosed diabetic kitty and not knowing what to do.

Please, ask all the questions you need to. We'll make recommendations to help you all along the way in this new 'sugardance' you and Bee are doing.

My best advice? Deep breathing exercises. Deep breath in, hold, release, deep breath in, hold, release, deep breath in, hold, release. It helps to relax you, relieve some of the stress and make the situation easier to deal with. As long as you are calm and in control, you kitty will be calm and more accepting of the shots and testing.

It's a lot to deal with at first, but you will be an old pro in no time.
 
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