Just diagnosed Diabetic, lots of help already

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hookahhead

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My kitty started drinking water way more than was normal. A quick search on the internet pointed to diabetes or kidney failure. Made him an appointment and he was diagnosed thursday as diabetic. His name is Reefer, he is orange, 7 years old, and 14lbs. I got him at the humane society when he was about 8mo. Freaking out about the cost of insulin and such we ended up getting him Glipizide free from Giant Eagle. I gave him his first 1/2 dose then began reading more. Luckily I found you guys and quickly realized how horrible that "medicine" is for my little buddy. I also went out and got him special kitty turkey and giblets wet food right away. I mixed maybe 1/4 the amount of dry I would normally give him along with 1/2 a can in the morning (7am) and the same again around 3pm. Today I gave him just straight wet food. He had no problem transitioning to it and seems to enjoy it. We have another younger cat (2 years) and he gets the same food. I already ordered my starter kit and am anxiously waiting for it to arrive to see if his BG has dropped due to his change in food. The vet said it was 400 when she checked it. So I'm guessing he will definately need insulin. We have a vet appointment to get his BG checked scheduled for 2 weeks, but that was before I found all the information contained here. How do I go about getting my guy prescribed the insulins you guys reccommend? Where should I look to buy it from? I think the lantus pens are what I was looking at. I know all this information is contained here, but as many have said already... its so over whelming right now. Thank you all for being here, another adorable feline helped due to you.

Also I would like to know how much I should actually be feeding the boys? Reef is around 7 years old and 14 lbs. I would like to get his weight down some because I know that should help, but I don't want him to starve either. As I said I have been splitting a can between the 2 of them in the morning and afternoon. The big one eats all of his, the little one eats about 1/2... it is all eaten by the time I get back home. The little one seems content, but reef seems like he would like more. I can't believe I didn't know all this information earlier as I know it could most likely have been prevented.
 
Welcome to FDMB!

Good job on reading up so much already.

If you go to www.catinfo.org -- it has excellent information about Feline Nutrition written by a vet Dr. Lisa Pierson. There are pictures and discussion of how to tell if your cat is obese and how much to feed -- also, to lose weight gradually.

Firstly -- during the early days of diabetes diagnosis - your cat is literally starving -- insulin is needed to get the blood sugar into the muscles where it is used. Having not enough insulin means that your cat can eat-eat-eat and the energy just gets lost in pee.

It is OK to give extra food now. As insulin is given and the muscles are getting energy -- the cat's appetite will go back to normal.

Where are you located? In U.S., a prescription is required for Lantus. In Canada, no prescription is needed. if you post city/state, maybe a member is near you and can sell you one pen. They come in 5-packs.

Most cats lose some weight naturally when their diet is changed from dry to low carb canned food. They also poop less --- the food has less useless junk filler in it.
 
Thanks for the quick reply. We are in central PA, near State College. Do you think my vet will be comfortable prescribing lantus? When I originally talked to her about the Glipizide she just told me that cats don't really respond to the oral medication. Which lead me to believe it was worth a shot, but don't expect much. What she didn't tell me was how it actually works and how bad it is for the situation. Without this site, I would have continued giving it to him for a while. We are on a fairly tight budget, but that doesn't mean I can't work his care in somehow, I have already told him I'm committed to helping him as much as I am able to. The vet also said everything else was good with his tests.
 
Welcome from this PSU grad (class of 1989). When I went to Penn State, State College was in the middle of nowhere. Hopefully things have changed. Did you mean you ordered a newbi kit from Lori & Tom?

Cedric was on Lantus for a month. Hopefully your vet is open to learning about diabetes so she can treat her patient/client. My vet has experience with FD, so he wanted Cedric on the Lantus, and was happy that I was willing to hometest. My cat was eating 3oz of cans per day plu 1/2 cup of dry. I immediately switched him to grain free, high protien, low carb food. See his spreadsheet below. When the gang here finally got me off the dry (well, Cedric off the dry...), his numbers dropped 100 points and 2 days later they were normal. Note i started giving him 4 small meals a day by using an autofeeder with an ice pack (Cate Mate C20 from petmountain.com).

My cat is younger than yours and went into remission with a little work and change. You can do it too!
 
Im a current student at Penn State Altoona :lol: Back to class tomorrow. Yeah I ordered the newb kit from Lori & Tom. My vet seems ok, I think once I talk to her tomorrow about what all I have found she will hopefully get him the prescription. Then I need to figure out how to get him some insulin, 1 or 2 sticks I can swing, but 5 at once is a little harder to make happen as fast as I would like.
 
Ahh, Altoona. I was acepted there in 1985, but would have had to find my own housing. I went to Millersville univ (It had just changed it's name from Millersville State College) for 2 yrs b4 transferring to Main Campus at PSU in the fall of 1987. Lived in south halls for 2 1/2 years - my architect dad (also a PSU alum) said they were demolishing South for a highrise. :sad:

Can't help with idead about pens, we had a vial that cost $120. I was careful with it and after about 2 months I ended up giving it to a co-worker who nows has 2 cats w/diabetes on Lantus. Changing the food to high protein, low carb, grain free will help, especially when you stop with the dry. I have heard some here suggest you try a hospital pharmacy to see if you can buy a single pen. I want to say some have even said that CostCo might sell you a single pen.

good luck tomorrow!!! Remember our fight song!
 
At the top of the page where you see the logo of the cat with the words "The FDMB," look a couple of lines down where you will see, "User Control Panel." Click on "User Control Panel." When that page comes us, click on "Profile." When your profile comes up, in LOCATION, put your city and state (or wherever you live if you do not live in the US. It will save you from having to give that information because it will appear in the area on the right hand side of every post you make.

I think it is to your benefit to give the change in food a good 4 or 5 days before you ask the vet for insulin. Otherwise, the vet will look at your cat's BG's which are being driven up by the high-carb food and prescribe a dose that will be too high when his low-carb diet settles in.

My only experience is with Lantus and Levemir. Those are excellent human insulins that are long-acting and gentle. Levemir only comes in pens and you will have to use a syringe to extract the insulin for anything except full unit doses. In addition, the needles on the pens are very short and may prove difficult for newbies so that is another reason to draw insulin out of the pen into a syringe and inject from the syringe. Lantus comes in pens or vials. Although people on this board constantly say the the vials go bad before they are used up, I finished a vial of Lantus that was a full year old and it was perfectly good. If you take very good care of them they will last and they are a little cheaper than pens. I paid $120 for a vial at CVS. I think Walmart sells the vial for $105. Some people have been able to buy single pens but they may not be commonly available that way. At any rate, keep them refrigerated, in the box they came in or in a container. Do not touch the rubber tip with anything except the needle of the syringe. Some people use the same syringe for the AM & PM dose. If you do that, keep the syringe in the frig also.

Lana
 
If you edit your first post, you can add State Col, PA to the title --- and/or add it to your profile so it shows up over ====>
by your userid.

Print out some of the info about Lantus and take it to your vet. Also - you can check out the "Supply Closet" forum -- post that you need one pen of Lantus or ask if someone is willing/able to split a 5-pack.

Many of us order or buy our insulin from Canada because it is cheaper. Be careful though that the mail order company is reputable -- there are instructions in The Supply CLoset.
 
Hi and welcome. You're off to a great start. I don't think your vet would have any problem with prescribing Lantus. That's a pretty commonly rx'd insulin for cats, as is Prozinc. Either one is considered good for cats. Just make sure the vet doesn't want to rx caninsulin or Humulin N. Those aren't very good for kitties. My Charlie is on Levemir which is very similar to Lantus, but a lot of vets don't use that yet. Once you get the hang of hometesting, it really isn't a terribly expensive disease to treat. The food is cheap, and depending on what meter you get, the strips can range from very cheap to very expensive :lol: . I use the Relion Micro from Walmart. I think the meter was about $10, then the strips are $36 for 100. The 100-pack of strips lasts between 1 to 1 1/2 months. The insulin is the pricey part. Lantus(vials) lasts 28 days (whether you used it up or not). Levemir (vials) lasts at least 45 days. Prozinc lasts till it's gone usually. Many people get the L insulins in the pens instead of the vials so that they don't go to waste. It costs a little more up front, but since you can actually use it all up without it going bad you will save quite a bit of money. It looks like you must have already realized that since you mentioned the pens. I buy my Levemir from wal-mart cuz it's the cheapest I've found. I think it's also cheaper at costco if you have one of those near you. Definitely call around to find the best price.
 
Every cat is different with respect to calories. The only true answer is to feed enough that he/she maintains their weight. Do you have access to an accurate scale so you know? I would feed the diabetic as much as it needs until it is regulated. You can always cut back later. You don't want a cat to lose weight - cats can get fatty liver which is something you want to avoid. Safe weight loss is 1%-2%/week. So when in doubt feed a bit more.

Maverick was 15 lbs and he ate 6oz. But I have a 16lb all muscle cat right now eating 9-12oz.

The conversion to wet food alone will have a big impact on BG.

Welcome to FDMB.
 
If you are looking to purchase Lantus or Levemir, I would suggest calling around to your local hospitals that have an outpatient pharmacy. Often, a hospital pharmacy will be willing to break up a box of pens and sell you the pens individually. Otherwise, you have to purchase 5 pens. This will run around $200. Sometimes, Sam's Club or Costco will sell a single pen. If they say they will sell you an individual pen, get the name of the person you spoke to. Otherwise, you could get a run around when you get there.

Also, it's the manufacturer's recommendation that you only use Lantus for 28 days and Lev for a bit longer. The reality is that many people on those forums are able to use their insulin for far longer. There was a discussion on this topic in the Think Tank forum if you want to take a look.
 
Received my newb kit from lori lightning fast! My first attempt to test him did not go so well. I couldn't get a drop of blood and after a few minutes I let him go. This morning I tried testing him again and went MUCH better. I easily obtained a drop. I tested him at 12:45pm and his BG was 346. He got 1/2 a can of special kitty turkey and giblets at 5:45am. Obviously it is still very high. I am going to get ahold of the vet tomorrow about getting him a perscription.
 
oh good, try getting either levemir or lantus.
and remember, whether you get blood or not...your cat always gets treated like a rock star and gets the lovings and the treats....not his fault if it failed right? he has to associate it with a good experience.
oh, and also...welcome to the VAMPIRE CLUB. expect your thirst to see blood increase dramatically :lol:
Lori
 
So an update on my little guys situation. The vet that originally diagnosed him and I got into a bit of a disagreement about his treatment. She seemed focused on my wallet, not my cats health problem. So after wasting a few days trying to figure things out with her, I found another vet. This one seemed promising but 2 weeks was the earliest I could get him an appointment. So I have just been checking his BG levels some nights to see where he's at before I feed him for the last time. All of these numbers were taken right around 9:00, he usually eats at 6am, 3pm, 9pm and gets about 2.5 cans of fancy feast a day. his numbers were 8/30 178, 8/31 146, 9/1 82, 9/2 79, 9/5 64. Now I am concerned his sugar may be to low? I have not given him any insulin nor any other medications. He seems his normal self, though he is trying to show dominance over the other cat by mounting him which he has never done before. Thanks again for all the help of everyone here.
 
You should change your subject line to show you are looking for help.

Can you remind us - what was he eating at diagnosis. Maybe he can be diet managed :) :) :) If he isn't on insulin and he's eating, this is a very good BG reading. Non diabetic cats (our civvies) test in this range.
 
First of all, don't worry about the numbers being too low. They are'nt and they can't be with no insulin.
You had a nice diet change right? I do believe your kitty will be off the juice if you start at all. He may be already diet controlled.
Either way, congragulations :mrgreen:
I would keep testing for awhile
Lori
 
Yeah we changed his diet from dry to fancy feast classics or special kitty turkey & giblets. I think it has been about 2 weeks now since the switch. He has no problem eating up the wet cat food and seems happy with the switch. His BG dropped slowly but steadily over these past 2 weeks. His initial test was 450. I switched him to wet food almost immediately and received a newb kit from lori and tom a few days later. His first few days he were at 350 and 300. A week later he was down to 150ish and now down to 80-65. Hopefully a diet change was all he needed as I wasn't able to get him insulin yet. The information I found here helped me way more then the first vet would have. Thanks to everyone who comes here!
 
Can't wait to see what the diet does for him. Maverick was diet managed for 9 months until I decided to give him kibble to help with constipation. This was before I found the FDMB and bam his diabetes came back and he needed insulin the next time. So don't do what I did :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: ohmygod_smile Wonderful numbers!!!!!! I'm so excited for you.
 
Hi all,
Really not my intention to hijack so please forgive me, but as I got no response in my other post and this one seems lively... :)

I just switched my cat from dry to wet this past Saturday. I was asking if I should change my dosage (we're on Caninsulin) but now I'm reading that after 2 weeks Reef's BGL's dropped down to where he nearly doesn't need insulin anymore? (That's awesome, btw. Go Reefer!!)

Is that typical? I have until Wednesday next week (when I drop him off) to test and measure. I am now very concerned because I will be gone for 2 months starting next week and while I've found someone to give Neo his injections, they're not willing to do the glucose testing. This may be a stupid question, but should I put Neo back on his dry food? At least he's been stable on that for 2 months. :( I just really don't want him to experience a hypo while I'm not around.

Thank you! And sorry again - hopefully this is relevant enough to the discussion that no one will mind the question.
 
Maya,

Putting your cat back on dry food is not a good solution. I don't think anyone will be able to offer you advice without some BG test numbers to work from.

I think that first you should see if there are any FDMB members that live near you. Create a new post titled "Need Help in MyCity, The Netherlands."

Can you start testing Neo's blood sugar right away? Cats can get some very serious hypos on Caninsulin. If there is a member that lives close to you, that person might be willing to do some BG testing for you, if not everyday, at least from time to time.

Lana
 
I would start home testing right away. I just recently fostered a "diabetic cat" from the shelter. He was there for 4 months on 2 units of humilin twice a day and eating kibble. He was hypoing but the shelter didn't know it and really could have died! And he was on kibble. I got him home and tested his BG before his shot - he was a 53. Could you imagine shooting a 53? He hasn't had a drop of insulin since the day I brought him home (over a month) and is testing always in the low 50s. You can buy a Walmart Confirm meter for $9 and 50 test strips for $20. SOOOOO Worth it for peace of mind and testing is so easy to do.
 
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