Just Diagnosed...

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K

KTwitch

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...About an hour and a half ago.

My 16 year old tabby, Twitch, was just diagnosed with diabetes this afternoon. I took her in to the vet because her claw was growing in a circle and coming back through her arm. They were going to sedate her to remove it, but the blood work revealed she is actually diabetic, and therefore the vet didn't want to put her under full anesthesia. Which means my poor baby is going to feel the pain of the claw removal and I am now responsible for what seems a very complicated disease.

Not that I won't do everything I can to help my baby kitty (we've had her since I was 11, I'm quite attached), but what happens if you don't take care of the diabetes?

Has anyone else here had a cat diagnosed at such a mature age?

Thanks,
K
 
Hi K and Twitch,

Well if you do nothing to treat Twitch she will slowly starve to death while eating everything in sight, because insulin is the hormone that allows them and us to extract nutrients out of the food we eat. But treating a diabetic cat is very easy, so easy in fact not only did I adopt my Maxwell as a diabetic, but I'm adopting a second diabetic kitty. Now if you look at the bottom of my post here you will see the list of all the critters living with my husband and I...Yep that is ELEVEN cats, and a dog...lol.

So if it wasn't easy to care for a diabetic kitty I wouldn't have 2.

Has the vet told you what insulin Twitch will be on? Also what is she eating right now, diet plays a huge part of taking care of her.

Others will be chiming in shortly, I was just headed out to dinnerbut wanted to pop in and at least welcome you to the best place on the web to help you help Twitch.

Mel, Maxwell and The Fur Gang
 
The cost of insulin caries depending on what type the vet puts her on but once we know that we can help you find the cheapest way to go.

We offer a newbie kit for the testing supplies, Lori an Tom run that, she normally asked that you pay the shipping which I think is like $7 but if you are really tapped out she will send it to you for free. That will have a meter, test strips, ketostixs (testing urine for ketones), rice sock ( for warming the ears) and even a catnip present or two for Twitch.

The biggest expense will be the insulin, after that its not bad, If you are near a Walmart syringes are $13 for 100 needles, $3-$4 for a box of lancets, and if you don't want to wait on a newbie kit, A Relion meter is $12 and a box of 50 test strips is $20. At least that is what they run me in Nebraska. And that is the meter that I use for my Maxwell.

All eleven of my cats eat what my diabetic eats, just plain old fashioned Friskies pate style. Now Maxwell was one of the luck ones ( and we see a lot of them), he was only on insulin for about 2 weeks, while we changed his diet to eliminate the dry food. After the diet switch he went into remission and has stayed there ever since and that was last Nov 1. Now Maxwell is no more expensive to keep than any other cat, just he will always be a diabetic and can never return to eating dry food.

Mel, Maxwell and The Fur Gang
 
If your vet is going to prescribe either Lantus or Levemir, ask for the prescription for the pens instead of vials. The initial cost is about double that for a vial, but you get 5 pens in the prescription. The problem with a vial is that the majority of the time you end up throwing most of it away because it becomes ineffective before you can use it all. So you end up throwing away a lot of money. With the pens you will be able to use almost every drop and 5 pens will be enough insulin to last almost a year.

There is also coupons for the pens in the Supply Closet that will save some money on your first prescription.
 
Hi All,

We just got Twitch home from the vet a few hours ago, she's been prescribed Lantus. I will be sure to ask about pens when I take her in for her first glucose curve, that vial being far too large to last long enough was irritating. I'm just so nervous about all this; I don't want to do anything wrong.

Thanks again for your warm welcome :-)
K
 
I never had any vet bills with Bandit beyond a urinalysis (he had a blood panel done prior to a dental, which is how we discovered it). My vet told me he was diabetic, and that they could do a curve in their office, but it would be expensive and inaccurate because of vet stress. She then handed me a glucose meter, and showed me how to do a blood test on their resident office kitty (who isn't diabetic, but volunteered to be the test subject as long as she got treats). After that, he had a few rechecks, but because I tested myself i never had to pay for curves or a fructosamine test.

So the big costs for me was the inital cost of insulin (about $200 for the pens, but they lasted nearly a year), and test strips for whatever glucose meter you get. The ReliOn at Walmart is the cheapest if you want to buy your supplies in a store, but there are others that can be cheaper if you buy your testing supplies online. The meter itself and the lancets are pretty cheap.

And that's pretty much it in terms of cost. Your cat can eat any low carb canned food. Dry food will all have to go, though.

A study was done that showed over 80% of newly diagnosed cats went into remission with the combination of low carb canned food, tight regulation with home testing, and a slow acting insulin like Lantus, so you have a good chance of not having to spend $ on it forever. Bandit has been in remission now for nearly a year and he's healthier than he's ever been.
 
You can do this Hon, we will help you and Twitch every inch of the way. Yes, it is a steep learing curve but it doesn't have to be all at once. We might even have someone nearby that can help you learning to test, shoot etc. If you want some hands on help give us a general location. Just city and state. :-D

Just remember to relax and breathe, keep reading and keep asking questions. You and Twitch will be fine....Welcome to the SugarDance!

Mel, Maxwell and The Fur Gang
 
I would recommend hometesting and changing the diet, but want to ask, do you think the claw is causing pain? Pain, infection, bad teeth, even stress, there are many things than cause a cat to have increased blood sugar. Once that is taken care of the kitty might not need insulin any longer.

If the claw issue were causing pain, I'd see about getting that taken care and see where Twitch goes from there.
 
Hello again,

Yes, the claw was taken care of, she has one more day of anti-inflammatories and several days of an antibiotic soaking solution for her arm.

The doctor said based on Twitch's levels, she's been diabetic for probably six months or so now. She's prescribed food, though she said kitten food would be okay if Twitch wouldn't eat the Rx kind (but she seems to like the Rx stuff, she's never been a picky eater). The doctor and nurse seem fairly certain that Twitch will need insulin from now on, simply changing the diet won't get her better. For now, I'm okay with the expense of having the doctor do a couple glucose curves, I just don't think I could take on much more, I could use the doctor's help.

As for the shots, y'all are right! Very easy to do, and I did it when Twitch was ravenously eating her breakfast, I don't think she noticed!

I live north of Denver, Colorado.

Thanks for all your help, I'm starting to come down from my initial shock already :-)

K
 
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