Just diagnosed and totally stressed out cat mommy!

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Nabby

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I'm so glad I found this forum, I need some reassurance and advice other than "you should have let her die." I know why people are telling me that, but I couldn't. Can anyone reassure me? Here's the story:

Our cat Abigail (nicknamed Nabby) is a rescue, someone dumped her on my in-laws front lawn in the country. She is estimated to be about 6 years old. We have given her excellent care in the four years we have had her, but we were out of town for the holiday when our cat-sitter noticed she wasn't acting normally. It was a Saturday night, so she took her to the Emergency Vet, where Nabby was diagnosed with diabetes.

We came back into town the next day, relocated her to a regular vet as soon as possible, and she is now on Lantus insulin and Purina DM food. None of this would be overly stressful, but we absolutely can not afford it. When we took in our cat we made sure we were financially able to give her whatever care she needed. We never imagined we would be living on the type of budget we are now. Unexpected medical bills, repeated burglaries of our home and a subsequent emergency move to a safer (costlier, further from work) area, extreme hikes in our health insurance costs, a car that quit much earlier than it should have... our finances just seem out of our control. I have cut back in every possible area. You name it, we've cut it. I never would have taken in a cat if I had dreamed we might not be able to afford her, but here we are, emergency fund gone.

When Nabby was diagnosed and treated, we went to our last resort and pulled the money out of the down payment we have been saving to buy a house. For the forseeable future, that is where the money for insulin will come from; there is no other way. The initial cost was almost $2000 because of the emergency vet stay over the holidays. The pharmacist laughed at me for needing to buy Lantus without insurance. I don't know if I will be able to buy a house this summer as planned. But I couldn't "let her die."

Someone please tell me that my cat is worth it. I don't know how the finances will work out, but somehow they will. I just need to hear it, that I'm not crazy. I come from a family of non-pet-people who don't get it, but my husband and I love this cat, we committed to this cat. My 9-month-old daughter ADORES this cat, and the cat adores her. Nabby is worth it, right?
 
Hello,

Welcome to the board. First of all your cat is only six years old and can live many more years even as a diabetic cat. Some cats have even been known to go off insulin at some point.
So, no I would not put her to sleep. You have already purchased the insulin which is probably the biggest expense, now you just need to go to Walmart and get a cheap meter and strips to test her. Yes you can use a people meter, most everybody here does. The Relion from Walmart is pretty cheap I have one myself.
Also the Purina DM, take it back to the vet and tell them she won`t eat it and get your money back. Also if is she is on dry cat food it is best to switch her to wet food, like Friskies pate style foods or Fancy Feast Classics. You have come to the best place for help. So have you already been giving her shots? Did the vet show you how to test her blood glucose?
Yes your cat is worth it. So welcome.

Terri
 
Since you're already giving insulin, home blood glucose testing will prevent giving insulin when it is unsafe, allow monitoring of the dose effectiveness, and save you money by doing any curves at home. You need an inexpensive meter such as the WalMart ReliOn Prime (least expensive test strips, next smallest blood drop) or Confirm (2nd least expensive; smallest blood drop). Avoid meters with the name "Tru" or "Free" as these seem to be less accurate for cats (they may be fine for humans).

Once you are home testing, a change to low carb, canned food such as Friskies pates ($0.78/13 oz in Columbus, OH). This should be less expensive prescription food. More info on feline nutrition is available at Cat Info.

By diligent monitoring, low carb diet, and a good insulin protocol, you may find her pancreas recovers and she goes off the insulin.
 
I completely agree with Terri's comment on Purina and a cheaper low carb food. Purina will take back food - say that you cat won't eat it and they will give you your money back for the unused portion.

I started my cat on Purina, which is sold by my vet for $1.99/5.5 oz can. My cat eats about 2 cans/day, so food cost about $4 per day X 30 days per month = $120/month, which was WAY out of my budget. Fancy Feast classics and Friskies Pate are much more affordable. A 5.5 oz can of Friskies near me is $0.49, so I can feed my can for less than $1 a day.

Also, shop around for syringes. I bought my first box of syringes from the pharmacy in the local grocery store and paid $33.99 for 100 syringes. My second box, I bought from Walmart's pharmacy for $12.50 for 100 syringes.

Remember that people without pets don't understand the emotional attachment! My family was the same way, 'Why are you keeping Gus [my cat]? You can get another one.' I understand where they are coming from, but I wasn't willing to give up on Gus.

I hope this helps!

Liz
 
Welcome extra sweet Nabby and stressed MamaBean!

First....BREATHE! Now...again!

Diabetes is very treatable - it's just a different dance. We call it the 'sugar dance'... :-D

Of course she's worth it! They just don't 'get it'...we do...

HUGS!
 
Welcome to FDMB! Diabetes is always stressful at first but you'll find it easy to manage soon I'm sure. It becomes routine!

Do you have pet stores like petsmart or petco nearby? Many have free rewards programs. You don't pay but you get a reduced price on some things like food. I joined one and my friskies cans went down around 10 cents.

Nabby is definitely worth it! I promise!
 
Your cat is worth it, and you will become closer to her.
There are lots of ways to save money on insulin and syringes and vet bills. We can help you. We understand. We have been here a long time. My cat J.D. was diagnosed in 2005. Whenever you have any questions, even if you've already asked them before, if need reassurance, or just need to rant or let it out about how others don't get it, we are here for you.
You've come to the right place.

Hugs.
 
She is worth it. If they keep telling you that then do like I did with my mother who constantly harped on it. Every time they eat or drink something that isn't healthy tell them that bit of pleasure isn't worth the money. Every time they enjoy a comfort be it music a game or anything tell them it isn't worth it. When they get tired of that and snap then you tell them that's how you feel when they say that to you about your baby. That you don't need them to feel like you do about her but that you need them to respect your feelings. Worked with my mother. Of course she is worth it she is a living breathing being with thoughts and feelings who loves you as much as you love her. She is someone you took into your life and cared for with all your heart. That is what parents do your baby just happens to have fur and chase mice.
 
Wow, so much encouragement so quickly! Thank you! We never even considered putting her down, and would never consider it if the reason was purely financial. It is just really calming to hear what we already knew: that Nabby is worth it.

As for putting her on a less expensive food, our vet is pretty adamant that the DM food is the best thing for her and our best chance at remission (which we are hoping is a real possibility since she is so young.) I'm nervous to go against anything the vet recommends right now. Thoughts?
 
The vets are pushing a prescription cat food that they sell at the vets office that costs 3 times of anything you would buy in any petfood store, I know because I am going through this my self.
I have a 4 year old non diabetic cat they put on prescription cat food at the vet when she was kitten, it costs 43.00 a bag now, goes up every time I go there.
I want to get her off of it, so I asked the vet the other day what can I put her on? I can`t afford this any more, you know what she says? She says she feed her cats Iams Digestive.
So vets are pushing this stuff but they are not actually feeding it to their own cats.

Terri
 
I know it's hard to go against what your vet says.

When J.D. was first diagnosed in 2005, I was desperate to find a vet that knew something about diabetes in cats, and never found one that I felt knew very much about it. I eventually found solace here.

I started to write this before, but I guess I erased it, as it sounded harsh. After going from vet to vet to vet to vet searching for a vet that seemed to know a lot about feline diabetes, I finally settled on the local vet around the corner from my house as he was nice and could do the basics for us. I use my local vet for vaccines and check ups and xrays and to get prescriptions. I use this board for diabetes.

J.D. started out on the Purina DM (as prescribed my the local vet) and actually liked the canned (which most cats tire of very quickly). But, after joining here, I found out that that the Purina DM doesn't have the best of ingredients and has higher carbs than I can find in commercial foods (like Fancy Feast and Friskies) that I can buy at the grocery store. And that food change saved me money. I learned to home test, so I didn't need to go to the vet for Fructosamine tests or all day blood glucose curves at the vet, and that saved me money. I learned to use EBay to purchase test strips and lancets, and where to find the best price on syringes and insulin, via this board.

You'll find, if you stick around, that it's like a family and we all care, and we all want to help you to help your cat. We have seen lots of cats go into remission, on this board, and hope that your's will be one of them ;-)

ETA: I just saw Terri's post. Vet's are told by salesmen from Purina that this is the food you need to sell and this is the food that is best and LaTiDaTiDa. Most vets don't know any better. When they go to school to become a vet, they have to learn about a bunch diseases and ailments and physical structures of a bunch of species. They don't get to linger and specialize in one disease in one species. We know a lot out diabetes in cats. There is a wealth of information here, and a lot of people willing to help you through the "dance" as we call it. When you have time, go over into the Lantus TR forum and read the Stickies. It's a lot of information, so take your time. And when you have time, read them again. Ask all the questions you have. And if you don't understand the answers, ask them again. We are here to help you. We are here to support you.

Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be :YMHUG:
 
Nabby said:
As for putting her on a less expensive food, our vet is pretty adamant that the DM food is the best thing for her and our best chance at remission (which we are hoping is a real possibility since she is so young.) I'm nervous to go against anything the vet recommends right now. Thoughts?
Click to expand...

The thing you're looking for with diabetic cats is low carb food, and the DM food is not in any way superior to any of the low carb foods recommended here - in fact, it's higher carb than many of them. Prescription diets aren't awesome in general - due to his diabetes diagnosis, I actually stopped giving my cat, Toby, a prescription food he was on due to bladder issues as a younger cat, and he's doing extremely well without it.

Best of luck with Nabby :-D It sounds like she's got the carer she needs, so the rest will be fine!
 
My vet was/is also adamant about the prescription food. He's fantastic with everything else (including telling me I know more about feline diabetes than he does). In my case, Mikey is allergic to red meat and the d/m is mostly pork liver based so he threw up every time I tried to feed it to him. My vet no longer pushes the prescription foods on me. :lol: You can take it back for a full refund and just tell him your cat won't eat it/can't eat it. ;-)
 
Is it a vial of lantus? If you keep it in the fridge and don't shake or roll it it will last up to six months despite what it says on the label.

Home testing will save on vet curves, and keep your cat safe.



Wendy
 
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