Just diagnosed in San Diego, CA

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postiecat

Member Since 2012
Hi,

Was just told my cat is diabetic and I am suppose to start Monday giving him insulin. Vet has ordered insulin thru rite aid and wants me to bring it in on Monday to learn how to give the shots. I live in San Diego and am not positive this is the vet for me. Does anyone have a diabetic cat in San diego and is happy with their vet. I would love some reccomendations.

Thanks so much.
 
Re: Just diagnosed

Welcome to the Board!

Do you know what insulin he has ordered? Also, you can probably google vets around your area and call them and see if they have any FD patients, what insulin they use, are they for (or against) home testing, what is the best diet for a FD cat, ect...

Or you could see if your vet would convert- here is a link-
viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2508

And here is a reply I just wrote to someone else about the things you need to do for kitty well-being.

A few things are needed to combat FD:
The correct and better insulins are Levemir (get the pens), Lantus (get the pens), and ProZinc- they cost more but they are worth it and have excellent track records. Not so good (and vet favs) are Humulin and Canisilun (made for DOGS) so if the vet prescribes ask for the first three instead and refuse to pay for the other two.

The correct FOOD-
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc ... hYXc#gid=0 (called Hobo's List)
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html (called binky's list)

You want to look for canned food that is low carb. The two lists above are ones that we use- look for the %kcal/carbs- under 10 (5 is better) in both lists. Feed the best you can afford. Most do Fancy Feast, Friskies, 9-lives. This will also help with the UTI- dry food is, well, dry. Canned food has more moisture and when you add water to it the water content is increased- all the better to pee a lot. You do NOT need vet prescription food- it is overpriced, high carbs, and contains high quantities of liver- which most cats won't eat day in and day out. If you bought some just take it back and say your kitty stopped eating it. They should refund even if it is opened.

Home testing-
You need to get a glucometer to test your cat- a human one is fine and reliable to use. It reads different than the pet ones but all you really need is the consistency of the levels day in and day out. You might be able to get a free one- there is a spot just at the top of every page that says home testing kits. Here is a link to what's inside:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=60261

If you purchase one here is a list from Consumer Reports:
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=70140

You need to look at the ones that have the cheapest strips- not the cheapest meter. The meter you will buy once, the strips you will continue to purchase over and over again. A lot of people on the board use the Relion micro/confirm meters from Wal-mart because the strips are the cheapest around- $.36 each and usually easy to get (and you can get the strips even cheaper online through the ADW site). Bayer is another popular one. Stay away from the generic kinds that have the word TRUE in the name- those are inaccurate at higher #'s or don't go above 299- and another bad one is the Freestyle Light with the butterfly on the strips- both of these have led many pet owners to believe their cats were okay when they were really in trouble.

To keep up with the BG #'s there is a spread sheet (SS) that we link to our signature line. Here is the link to set up:
viewtopic.php?f=6&t=18207

Incidentals-
- Because your little kitty's BG is so high, I would suggest getting ketosticks (found in the diabetic supply aisle) to test your kitty for ketones that lead to DKA- this is a very serious and deadly (and EXPENSIVE) illness. For $7 you get 50 strips- the best insurance against ketones possible. If you catch it early the easier it is to treat.
- Lancets- for your first box go for the lowest gauge you can find- 26 or 28. His ears won't bleed that much at the start. There are so many u-tube videos out there that can show you how to test the ear. You can either use the lancet pen or free-hand. I free-hand as I feel like I have more control over the pointy end. After the first box is used up you can switch to 31 gauge.
- TREATS! In the videos you see the cats eager to be tested. That is because they are shamelessly bribed into sitting still because of a yummy treat that is given after testing. Freeze-dried chicken, beef, shrimp are no carb treats and there are others out there that get used as well. Give this treat ONLY a poke time- tests or shots. Your cat might not care for treats, mine never did. She just knows it comes before her food
 
Re: Just diagnosed

I forgot to add that you can do your own curves at home- saves time and money because a vet visit is stressful to most cats and their #'s go up because of it. It is cheaper to do at home using your own meter and strips.

You can link your vet to your ss and if you have questions then they can look at what is going on. Or you can fax it to them or print it off and take it to them.
 
Re: Just diagnosed

postiecat said:
Hi,

Was just told my cat is diabetic and I am suppose to start Monday giving him insulin. Vet has ordered insulin thru rite aid and wants me to bring it in on Monday to learn how to give the shots. I live in San Diego and am not positive this is the vet for me. Does anyone have a diabetic cat in San diego and is happy with their vet. I would love some reccomendations.

Thanks so much.
Click to expand...

First, welcome to the site. I don't think you will find a better site to help you take care of your cat.

Now, you have not started insulin yet; that's a good thing because many cats are DIET CONTROLLED diabetics. If you can post what food you are feeding now, it may be possible to make diet changes and you may not need to give insulin. If you are feeding any sort of dry food, it could be the source of the problem or be contributing to it, so first look to diet changes. Feeding low carb wet food or even a raw diet would be best.

Next, how was your cat diagnosed? If it was by just the glucose number in some blood work, it's not the best test. All that one number says is that the cat's number was high at that time and much or all of it could be contributed to vet stress.... one of my cats always tested higher at the vet office and another was always very low. You would want to have a fructosamine test done as it will say how well or poorly your cat's blood sugar have been over the last few weeks. If this test was done, do you know what the resulting number was, and if just based on the glucose of blood work, what was that number as well.

Do you know what insulin and dose the vet has ordered to be given for your cat? Some insulins are better than others, and some vets often say to start at a dose and frequency which is too high.

The most important thing you can do right now, to start, is to begin home testing, blood and urine.
You can pick up a meter at the pharmacy, the Relion meters are most economical, the test strips for the meter, and also a container of KETOSTIX so that you can test your cat's urine for ketones.

Whatever the outcome, you will be fine with the help from the people here.
 
Re: Just diagnosed

Welcome. Since you vet called it in to RiteAde, it has to be a human insulin either Lantus, Levemir or N insulin although it could be R or Humalog. You want either Lantus or Levemir. I would not accept anything else for RiteAde.
 
Re: Just diagnosed

Welcome :smile: There are some San Diego members. If you edit the subject of your post to include the city, members who live there will respond.

What insulin did the vet prescribe? Since it was called to Rite Aid, it has to be a Human insulin like Lantus or Levemir, hopefully not Humulin N (too short acting) and definitely not Humulin R (dangerous to use on it's own. R is typically used in conjunction with another insulin to lower very high blood glucose levels and only under the very strict supervision of a vet).

Don't start at more than 1 unit of insulin twice a day. You can do 0.5 units twice a day if you get the insulin syringes with half unit markings. It's better to give not enough insulin than to give too much and risk hypoglycemia which can be fatal, especially for a newbie who is not testing blood glucose levels at home.

The right diet is important, just like it is for Human diabetics. You don't need the prescriptin food at all. For diabetic cats you want to feed low carb canned food and/or raw food. There are many commerical canned and raw foods you can feed. Here are the food charts and lists:

Binky's canned food charts
Pet Food Nutritional Values list
Hobo's Guide To Nutritional Values
Dr. Lynne's Wet Food list
List of low carb gluten free Fancy Feast

On Binky's charts, stick with foods that have a number 10 or less in the carbs colum. On the Pet Food Nutritional Values Chart and Hobo's Guide, look at the %kcal from carbs column and choose foods that have a number 10 or less.

Some people here make their own raw food.

Treats: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172

Testing the blood glucose levels before giving each insulin shot is really important. Blindly giving insulin can result in hypoglycemia a few hours later which can be fatal. By knowing what your cat's level is before the insulin, you can determine if insulin is needed or not. It is advised to give insulin only if the level is above 200 mg/dl. Normal non-diabetic levels are roughly 40 to 150 mg/dl. Obviously if your diabetic cat is in this low range you should skip giving the insulin shot.

You can buy a Human blood glucose meter, not one of the expensive pet meters the vet may try to sell you. Avoid the FreeStyle meters and any meter with "True" or "Tru" in the name. These give inaccurate readings.

You can get a free meter kit from here if you want: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=60261
 
Wow!!!

Lots of stuff. My cat was originally on dry food free feeding. He got up to 18lbs. I started him on a diet of 2 small cans of wet kitten food a day. He got down to 13lbs went up to 14lbs. We did a blood test on him and the vet found out he was hyperthyroid. So he has been on felimazole for a year now. Adjusting doses but he kept losing weight so on his last blood test his glucose was a little high and the vet said we need to do a urine and a PLI cobalamin/Folate (that hasn't come back yet) pancreas test.
So because of blood and urine the vet said he is a diabetic. I would have to agree since he definatley is showing the systems. Hungry all the time and losing weight. I have just been feeding him about 3oz of wet food twice a day and just started giving him dry since he was so hungry.

I would like to thank you all for you support and with you guys hopefully we can get through this. I think I will call Rite aid and find out what kind of insulin the vet ordered and also get out to Walmart for the meter and strips. I already have some ketone strips.

If anyone from San Diego could possibly reccomend a vet that would be great.

Thanks again.
 
Do check Janet and Binky's food charts to see if the food you are feeding is low enough in carbs. It will also list the calories per can. Cats need 20-30 calories per pound per day (some say 15-25 cal/pound), so figure out if you are feeding your cat enough wet food.
 
Adding that you can leave canned food out all day for your cat to snack on. Unregulated diabetics are always hungry so small frequent meals are best. Most people use a timed feeder for this purpose. You can put canned food into the bowls/compartments and set the feeder for the times you want your cat to have a meal. Some people freeze canned food into cubes and put a few frozen cubes into the feeder to slowly thaw out. Since it'll take a bit of time for a frozen cube to thaw, the first meal or two in the feeder should be as-is canned food so the cat can easily eat. The frozen cubes will be ready and cool for the later meals.

There are many timed feeders out there. The PetSafe 5 compartment feeder is popular. Its' nrealy cat-proof, has a programmable digital timer that you can set for any time, you can pause or skip any programmed meal, it makes no noise at all except for a little whirr when the bowl rotates. There's a 2 comparment one but it only has two bowls, can only be set in approximate 2 hour increments wth a manual timer dial, it is very noisy (makes a constant ticking noise which some cats may not like. Only way to stop the noise is to take the battery out), the battery is impossible to remove without pinching your fingers or resorting to a butter knife or other slim object, some cats can flip the entire feeder upside down or pry the flimsy lids off to get to the food.

Catmate has several feeders. Someone recently asked about the Q Pet feeder, http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=73855 There have been other threads on the best feeder to use. You can use the board search function to find those threads.

There are San Diego vet recommendation here:
http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB//viewtopic.php?f=28&t=66413
http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/read.php?8,1241353,1241561
http://www.felinediabetes.com/phorum5/read.php?8,159525
 
Hi. I'm in San Diego, and I'll help you. If you Private Message me we can exchange information. Hope your kitty is doing okay for the time being.
 
Hi,

I'm just a few miles north of you in Oceanside. My Cleo's diagnosis was just confirmed this past Friday (7/13) so I'm new to all of this too, but I just wanted to say we can get through this! The wonderful people here on the FDMB virtually held my hand and got Cleo and I through a pretty scary first night with a too-high starting dose of Lantus. Hopefully we don't have many more scary moments, but the people here are a fantastic resource when you don't know what to do or have questions!

-Kathy and Cleo (in Oceanside)
 
Hi Kathy,

Yes, I have to agree. This message board has been a godsend. Lots of great people. Unfortunately a lot of diabetic cats :( Thanks for the support :)
 
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