Likely Diabetic cat, appointment next week

[LAD]

Hi everyone! I am an animal rescuer and have cared for a variety of cats with a variety of health problems.
One of our foster failures (well actually my mother's) has been gaining weight exponentially.

I am currently not fostering any cats but when I am, it has been difficult to feed different diets. This meant we settled on a mid grade dry food for our lot because we couldn't afford to buy the best for everyone.

I picked Lucy up from a shelter that I fostered bunnies for after my cat of 17 years died of cancer. She was going to be euthanized for an upper respiratory infection and she reminded me of my old cat in many ways. I had already gotten a new cat (a rescue sphynx as my contact allergies had worsened and I wanted a kitty I could cuddle with without breaking out into welts) and I strictly limit myself to one personal cat, so I wasn't going to keep her. However, I took her (Lucy) with me when I visited my mother and siblings and they fell in love with her and wouldn't let me take her with me when I left, lol. I was a college student then but have recently graduated and moved back home while I aim for grad school.
I noticed Lucy was twice as big when I moved back and immediately switched what they were feeding her. I've tried Proplan, nutro and now 4health (been on it for 2 months). She is just putting on more weight even with limited portions and no free feeding.
Her fur is greasy, falling out and has lots of dandruff.
So I've scheduled a vet apt. for her and their other cat (peeing outside of the litter box).
With the cats I've seen over the years and consulting a vet friend, she likely has diabetes.
Doing some research today, I stumbled onto an enlightened vets website and was pointed here and told to avoid prescription diets and switch to wet food.

I'm wanting to go ahead and switch her food so when we test her next week, she is already leveled out (ie: so I know how her insulin is on a low carb diet immediately instead of having to wait 2 weeks for retesting). She is going to be tested for other things as well, so I don't want to wait to take her any longer than that to the vet.

I know people here are feeding friskies, and others and that these are better than the dry foods. However, I was wondering if there might be recommendations for higher quality wet foods? I am going to switch the other cat and mine as well just for simplicity sakes and the fact that wet food is better anyway.
My sphynx used to be fed raw but turned into a dry food junkie when I couldn't keep her out of the foster cats food (could not afford raw for fosters unfortunately). She won't touch raw anymore unfortunately (I've tried) but if I get all the cats onto wetfood, that is certainly better than nothing.
So good mid level brands? I would prefer to feed the same for all 3 as my picky eater (sphynx) always prefers what someone else has.

 

[LAD]

This is our Lucy.
Her fur keeps getting matted on the back, I keep trimming and brushing it but it's a loosing battle.

 

[Sharon14]

Welcome. Lucy is a cutie! It's wonderful that you saved her life, I love to hear those stories. It's good you want to change her food, even if it turns out to be something other than diabetes, a low carb canned food is the best diet for a cat. A good mid level brand cat food is Wellness make sure it's the no grain type. You may want to go ahead and get a glucose meter and start testing Lucy's BG at home. You'll get a truer idea of her levels this way without the stress of the vets office. It would be interesting to see what her levels are before the food change then after she's been transitioned to all canned food. Good luck, and please keep us posted and ask if you have any questions.

 

[Merlin]

Welcome Lucy and Mama (sorry, didn't catch your name). I am going to give you a whole bunch of information but just in case. However, I think the most important read is the 18 pages on www.catinfo.org. It is written by a vet and has a list of foods including corresponding carbs, proteins, phosphorous, etc. I really don't know what constitutes a mid-grade food but the Fancy Feasts and Friskies is good food and has helped many, many diabetic cats here. I have to find food that is also low in phosphorous because Merlin has kidney issues too. I used to buy Friskies Special Diet Turkey & Giblets but it was discontinued so now I am feeding Wellness Turkey which is 4% carbs and 1% phos. Anyway, good luck with Lucy...hopefully it is not diabetes. However if it is, diabetes is manageable and sometimes they go into remission.

Oh, I agree and think it is a good idea to get Lucy transitioned to the low carb, wet food before your visit and prior to giving insulin. You are certainly on the right track and kudos to you on your research so far. It sometimes takes 4-5 days to transition from dry to wet food (25% per day) and sometimes they get upset tummies too until you find the food they like and one that agrees with them. Anyway, here is the info below.

Good Reading: This is a must read. It is an excellent 18 page informative document that covers feline health and nutrition. Don't take short cuts and read it all. www.catinfo.org

Home Testing: Here, we all home test. It is mandatory to understand how your kitty is reacting to the insulin and the dose. You will want to test before each shot and some additional test in between the 12 hour cycle. Another reason to home test is to keep your kitty safe. Find a place in your home where you will always perform the test and give lots of hugs before and after testing. There are many videos showing you how to test. Here is a picture of where you test on your kitty. http://s106.photobucket.com/user/chupie_2006/media/testingear/sweetspot.jpg.html

Here is another good link on Home Testing:http://www.felinediabetes.com/bg-home-test.htm

Meters: There are many meters. There is a pet meter called the Alpha Trak2 and human meters. Some use the pet meter because it is what the vets use so the numbers will match up. The meter and strips are expensive though. Most use human meters that can be purchased at any pharmacy. It typically reads a little lower than the pet meter but we have ways of compensating it. Many use Walmart's brand, Relion Micro or Relion Confirm, because it only needs a tiny drop of blood. They cost around $15 and the strips are around 35 cents each.

Lancets: These are used to poke the ear to get blood. There are many different sizes (gauges). It is recommended when you are first starting out to use a 26-28 gauge. Also, it would be a good idea to pick up Neosporin WITH pain reliever to apply on the edge of the ears and don't forget to alternate ears.

Spreadsheets: Our spreadsheet instructions are here. If you look at the signatures of the members here, you will see a link to their kitty’s spreadsheets. We keep track of all our tests. This is basically a place to collect data and help you to determine patterns, doses, etc. It also aids those that may be helping you to better understand your kitty.

Food: There are many reasons why we are here but one is due to feeding dry cat food which is high in carbs. You will want to consider changing your food to wet, low carb food. It is recommended to feed food that is under 10% carbs. Here is a list of cat food to choose from.food chartyou will note that the food with fish are lower in carbs however it is recommended that you only give fish once a week due to its mercury content. Many use Fancy Feast, 9 Lives, Friskies, etc. This list can also be found inwww.catinfo.org If you are already giving insulin and you have not transitioned to wet, low carb cat food, be sure to test while you are transitioning. This is because by changing to low carb food, it could decrease your kitty’s number by 100 points or more.

Hypo Kit: Always good to be prepared for possible hypo events which means that your cat has reached dangerously low numbers. It can be fatal, hence, the importance of home testing and collecting data in a spreadsheet. In each of the Insulin Forums are stickie’s labeled Hypo Links. Please print and post on your refrigerator so everyone in your household is aware of hypo symptoms. You will want to create your hypo kit that would include and not limited to; extra testing strips, honey/karo/maple syrup, high carb food, medium carb food, vet information, etc.

Ketones: Diabetic cats are susceptible to diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA). It is best to buy testing strips that will measure (if any) ketones in the urine. One brand is Ketostix which can be found at Walmart or any pharmacy. You will want to test periodically unless you continue to get high numbers, then it is suggested to test more frequently. Ketostix typically costs around $10.

Treats: It is always nice to have treats available for your kitty. Some use it after they have tested to reward. I like using Pure Bites. I have found it at Petsmart and other pet stores. It is freeze dried and the only ingredient is the meat i.e. chicken, duck, etc. If your cat likes it, then I would go to the dog section where it is cheaper than the cat package. It is bigger chunks but no problem in breaking it up. There is a link here somewhere that has a list of low carb treats but I don't have it right now.

Injections: Most folks here use one of these main insulins; Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc. Two hours prior to your insulin shot, you will not want your kitty to eat. Then you will test and then feed. It is best for your kitty to eat a little before your shoot. I shoot while he is eating. The reason why you do not want your kitty to eat two hours prior to your test is because food elevates BG numbers. So you do not want to dose based on a food influenced number. Here is a link on how to give injections.http://www.felinediabetes.com/injections.htm

Note: Please check your insulins as there are some (the harsher ones like Humulin, Novlin, Vetsulin, etc.) that would be best to allow some time after your kitty has eaten before you shoot.

If you have any questions, please be sure to post in the Health Forum.

 

[BJM]

Here are a number of Secondary Monitoring Tools you may find helpful.

 

[LAD]

Thank you everyone for the wonderful advice

Sharon, yes, she is a great cat and reminds me so much of my old girl. Glad I saved her
Hopefully she will be around for a long while (although we are unsure of her age).
I agree, wet food is the best way to go. I should have known better considering that I already know a raw food diet is great for a cat. I think it just came down to practicality and picky eaters but I've been doing my guys a disservice. I think for future fosters I will feed fancy feast and Whiskas wet over dry food (fosters normally get proplan dry) and encourage adopters to feed a good wet food or raw.
I think the other thing is that I bought into that lie that dry food cleans teeth better. However my cats have always needed dentals. This is supposedly (what they are saying now) because cats don't chew the food enough to clean their teeth and the carbs in the dry food stick to their teeth and lead to decay. We have started giving raw meaty bones to our dogs (getting older and started having plaque build up) and have seen a world of difference! They eat dry food for practicality reason as raw is not feasible at this point but I wonder if we should switch to wet for them as well? In any case, I'm going to see about getting smaller raw meaty bones for the cats from the butcher as a treat and to help with teeth in addition to this diet change.

I will look into wellness. I actually found this place through the website Merlin mentioned and when I went back I found the recommended foods. A brand I use to use is on there (Soulistic- petco brand) and even my picky eater liked it but still favored dry food over it. I may go back and try that brand again. Just a bit of a longer commute now though as when I moved back home, I found there was a lack of petcos in the area (plenty of petsmart though). I'll probably try a few brands now that I have a list, including wellness.

I'll check out glucose meters when I get paid wednesday. Always good to have extra stuff on hand when you do rescue regardless if Lucy ends up needing it or not.

Merlin, thanks so much for all the info! I actually found this place from the website you mentioned but am having trouble navigating it (so still finding out new things), so I greatly appreciate your synopsis of some of the main stuff. I'll keep referencing that website as well.
We do have a lot of medical stuff on hand as I've done rescue for awhile (variety of species and levels of health) as well as my mother works in the medical field. So I get lots of goodies which makes me very happy I just finished vaccinating my rabbits, so hopefully insulin jabs (if Lucy needs them) and blood testing won't be a big deal (the gauge is certainly smaller anyway).

Thank you BJM for the link. I will check it out now

I have another question but am wondering if I should post it elsewhere? I was just curious how you guys handle dealing with vets that push special diets and unnecessary things (I was talking with someone else and her vet won't allow her to go by the home testing at all, makes her bring the cat in for blood tests every time before changing dosing).
I deal with this with my dog's vet. He is always pushing science diet and other things and just treats me like I'm stupid for even doing my own research (aside from the fact that I have years of experience, know how in the medical field, a good research science degree and plan to continue my education in the research field). The only reason I still go is that he is a good vet and will go over and beyond for critters and was the only one that was willing to try other things when my cat was dying of terminal cancer. I however dread vet visits more than my dog because of how the vet treats me. For this reason, the cats are going to a different vet but I'm afraid it will be the same deal. If there was a good holistic vet here I would go there but we don't have one.

 

[Merlin]

Really all they can do is suggest it (the food & the treatment). It is you paying the bill and you, the customer, is the one making the final decisions. They can suggest surgery, but it is up to you on whether you will have that done. Same with the food or medication, again, it is up to you. The prescription food is expensive and many cats don't like the food. Some have bought the food, taken it home and the cat won't eat it. If you take it back to your vet, they are suppose to refund it. Others just tell the vet that your cat will not eat it so you will be going a different food route. Done...no more conversation. I guess I just look at it as I am the customer. I want to hear their suggestions, opinions and recommendations (and the reasons) but I am the one that makes the final decision.

I know many vets don't understand "home testing" or have very few customers who want to perform home testing so when they come across someone that wants to do it, they just say they are against it. I guess for me, I don't understand that, just because a vet says that they don't want you to home test, you don't do it??? Do you do everything they say? Of course not. Of course they want you to bring the cat in because it is easier and they make money.

Good luck but after you show the vet, how well your cat is doing and how you have steered away from hypo situations, etc., you may be able to win them over.

So, all in all, you are the owner and you make the decision that is best for your cat.