Just adopted diabetic rescue today!

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Kristelena

Member Since 2013
Hi everyone!

My name is Kristel and I am the proud new cat-keeper of an 8 yr. old Calico, Patches. We adopted her today and, as we were going over her paperwork, the girl at Fancy Cats remembered that Patches is diabetic (not sure how that escaped her mind, but oh well). She hasn't ever needed to be on insulin as her foster mom controlled the diabetes with only wet food with <10% carbs. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to talk to the original foster mom, but I did briefly talk to the current foster mom who didn't seem to know a whole lot. She was giving her wet food with some kibble here and there.

Obviously we will be taking Patches in for a check up to get established with a vet, etc. In the meantime, she is eating a Purina brand that is designed for older cats and doesn't have gravy and has less than 10% total carbs. Looking at her history, she is terrible at drinking water. Any tips or suggestions for that would be great!!! Please be easy on me, because all of this has kind of been thrown at me and I'm trying to research as much as possible. Thank you :razz:

P.S. I have Type 2 diabetes so I feel like if anyone will be able to take care of this cat, I will!
 
How wonderful that you continued with the adoption even with that thrown in..... what a lucky lucky kitty!

I'm new here as well, so I can't give you a good list like someone else will, but I can give you a quick little tip that I use (and many others here too, it's where I learned it!)

Add water in with the canned food... I have been able to add as much as 2-3 ounces of water per can of fancy feast and if I mix it just right, he just thinks its gravy and laps that all up first before he gets to the business of eating the rest. That of course will be dependent on your cat, so you may have to experiment with how much to add, maybe even just add a small amount at first and work your way up?

(p.s. Curious why water intake is a concern, is the kitty dehydrated? .... if not, she may just not need a lot of water? Wet food has a lot of water in it.
 
I add between 1/4 and 1/2 a can of water to the canned food that I feed. Consistency is like applesauce except when I get too much water in and then it's like soup!

Since I have been doing this, none of my 3 cats has used the water dish in 3 months. They ae getting all the water they require from the canned food and the extra water I add.

I pull up on their scruffs to check for dehydration and none of them are dehydrated.

I'm thinking, that as the weather gets hot here in New England this summer, they may use the water dishes for drinking. I keep refilling them daily but no takers so far.

If your new foster kitty Patches does not seem to be dehydrated, she is probably fine. Just my take on the situation.
 
TYSM for you replies and for the tip on adding water to wet food! :-D

I am still going over her history and lab work, but from reading her notes, it seems that she doesn't urinate as much as she should (according to the last vet who saw her) and so I became worried. You're right that the wet food has water in there and she's been eating it off and on tonight.

Another little quirk she has - she seems stressed in her breathing at times and her belly flexes in and out quickly. Makes me think she has breathing issues, but again, looking at the vet's notes, he noted that she "appeared stressed, but lungs are clear and she purrs nonstop." She had her mouth open at times on the car ride home, like a dog! I thought it was odd, but she did have a thorough check-up in April.

I hope to have her in with our vet soon. We're lucky to have her as well. Incredibly mellow cat, which is great since I have a 3 year-old. It's not easy to find rescues who are good with all ages of children and so far, so good! :RAHCAT
 
To help you with your food shopping for her, a vet who supports this board put together a food chart that will help when deciding what is low carb food to use.

www.catinfo.org - look on the right of the page for the food comparison list -- also when you have time, read her site - she has a lot of good info on general cat health care.

it's great that she is in remission, something you may want to do is test her bg's on occasion. You mentioned that you are diabetic, so you probably already have the equipment, meter, strips, etc. It is easy to test a cat (we test their ears) and by testing her at home, you will be able to track her and make sure that she is still in remission.

adding water to wet/canned food is always a good idea. remember to never give her kibbles as that could be what caused the diabetes to begin with (or at least contributed to it).

as you start reading, researching, if you have questions - which you will - be sure to come here and ask - we probably have the answers.
 
Hello there!

It was great that you adopted Patches.. it sounds like she is in good hands. Since you are diabetic I would recommend you test her too, you can even use your own meter (depending which one it is) as they are fairly accurate on cats too. You use the lancet on the ear. The bowhuntress tips show how. And normal cat ranges are 40-130.

Wendy
 
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