Loosing my sanity

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Tygerz

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Struggling with my cat. Have been told by vets that the best thing is to keep him as an indoor only cat - so i can have total control over his diet and so he dosen't get in any fights with all the other neighbourhood cats. Sometimes he is fine, but sometimes he drives me nuts, won't stop wowling at me and is always scratching at everything. I am struggling as it is with the financial side of trying to do what is best for him, and have been looking at new options for food, hoping that i can find something cheaper that will also drop his blood sugar levels. Not getting any help on that front from my vets who just keep giving me the reasons why he should stay on m/d and that if cost is a problem that I should cut back on the wet food.

Paitence is running out and I am loosing my sanity. Don't know what to do.
 
There are lots of options for food that are low carb. First if you are feeding both dry and canned - take away the dry and that will help with the bg right away. Here is the link for binky's food chart - look for a food that has 7% carbs or less - if finances are tight look at fancy feast, friskies, special kitty (walmart brand) or great choice (formerly sophisticat from petsmart), there are many options. Just remember if you change to food with less carbs your kitty will need less insulin so make sure to test and lower the insulin as needed!!
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

As far a keeping your kitty inside one of the tricks we use at our shelter is to use a squirt bottle of water and any time your cat goes near the door squirt him with the water and make some sort of noise. Every time it happens do this until you can just use the sound and no water - usually doesn't take to long cause the cat doesn't want to get wet. If you want him to go out how about using a harness - just make sure its one for cats so he can't get out of it.

Good Luck!!
 
I just bought something for my mom who has 3 cats that constantly want to go outside. She lives on a boulevard and don't want to let them go out because of the cars. Here's a solution I found.. And you can remove the ground mat and stick it in the grass just like a tent so the cat can eat and sleep in the grass :

http://www.ebay.ca/itm/251038529213

I'm sure you cod find in maybe for even cheaper in a store if you live in the US

Good luck to you!
 
It is true that you will need to keep your kitty indoors. Time is crucial with treating and monitoring diabetes, and it will be hard for you to do that if your cat has wandered off to play with the neighborhood cats. I know when my Scooter gets very bored he meows and tears up the carpet too - but it's just general boredom... he's always been an inside cat and is scared half to death by outside :lol: So you may want to try to spend more 1:1 time with kitty, playing with him, brushing him, or even just sitting on the couch and watching TV with him. Scooter's favorite toy is a 4' long strip of polar fleece glued to the end of a wooden dowel - it is similar to the cat dancer toy, but it cost me about $1 to make. Even 10 minutes here and there is enough to keep Scooter from being a butthead :lol: Another option is to get a harness and leash and go out on a short walk around the yard for 10-20 minutes a day.
 
md is expensive. there ARE better choices. If you cut out the dry be careful to test before every shot. Removing dry food lowered my Troubles bg numbers by 100 or more. Fancy feast classic's are most below 10 carbs. Trouble loved them. See Janet and Binky's food charts for carb counts.
jeanne
 
Just backing up what everyone's said. Indoor only is DEFINITELY best. Not just because of fights or unregulated eating...but excess! Some people love to feed strays but rarely feed them canned food. Now compound that with food from "kills" and what you're giving at home? Nah uh. No good. And then there are the other diseases crawling about out there.

Unless there are complicating factors, I don't think the "prescription" foods are necessary. They're expensive, often just as BAD for kitty as cheap dry food and don't necessarily address the low carb problems. Harry's mom gave you a great resource in BinkysPage. You can always check out some of the many cat food calculators (I believe one is stickied in this forum) to run a check yourself as well.

We don't let our boys go outside ever, except for the occasionally harnass walk and sunbathe every few weeks. If you have any sunny windows, maybe try making that a comfy hang-out spot? Our cats do well on this "substitute" for the outdoors.
 
Simple solution for a cat who wants to go out: leash and harness. It takes more time and dedication from the owner but it keeps the cat safe. It isn't safe for any cat to roam freely outdoors but especially not a diabetic on insulin.

546831_3646960499478_1438405166_33304814_1050819207_n-1.jpg
 
Bandit goes outside on a leash and he's perfectly happy with it! He refuses to wear a harness so I use a collar and a leash--so because of that I do not leave him outside unsupervised (choking is a hazard if you're using a collar instead of a harness). I either walk with him or sit outside with him while he explores on his super long leash.

As others have mentioned, the prescription food is unnecessary and overpriced. The ONLY prescription food that is low enough in carbs for a diabetic is Purina DM canned, but it's pretty much the same thing as the cheaper canned foods like Friskie's, Special Kitty, or Sophistacat/Grreat Choice, so you're basically paying an 80% markup for the label alone! You can get a premium food with human-grade ingredients for less than what you pay for the prescription diet. NONE of the Hills foods, prescription or science diet, are ok to feed a diabetic cat. Diabetic cats cannot eat corn or other grains.

Check out this link: http://felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm Any commercial food under 10% carbs is ok to feed. The grain free flavors of Fancy Feast are better quality than the Purina DM and are pretty popular here. Here's a link to some premium canned foods as well if you want to go that route: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Uu8g1u8Su9YTgxNGE1MDItM2MyMC00Y2Y3LWI4ODMtMzhkYTkxOGM4NThk/edit
 
Argggghhhh - I shall try this again - computer crashed just as i tried to submit my post, so I lost the whole thing.
So, thanks for all the replies. I do have a harness and lead for my cat, Cosmo, trouble is that I work during the day and now with daylight savings finished here (we are in New Zealand) it is dark not long after I get home now. As the place I live in doesn't have a proper fenced or set section area I don't feel safe wandering around outside after dark. I have toys inside for him, including a cat tunnel and a ball that i put some MD biscuits in for him to roll around and get the biscuits out of, and of course cat nip mice etc.
Am just finding it hard at the moment with the stress of the cost of keeping him and him stressing me out with his behaviours. He can be so demanding, and it is hard when i am trying to get stuff done for myself, like trying to do some research I what I can do for him that cuts my costs but still works for him.
 
have started giving him less biscuits and mixing his md meat with some Jimbos - which is straight red meat for pets. have also seen in supermarket some frozen chicken mince for cats which is pre cut into portions. not making too drastic a change to his food a moment as have to wait for payday to be able to get some more test strips for the glucometer - found out they are $50 a pack. He has finally settled down now - is in his tunnel, so hopefully he will just sleep on the bed with me for the night. Vets haven't been too supportive when i asked about changing diet - guessing they get kickbacks from the suppliers and off course they want me to spend my money with them, but just can't afford to do that. They did tell me to cut back on the MD wet food and give him more of the biscuits to help save money, but his blood sugar levesl went back up when I did that - hence the change above.
 
Tygerz said:
Vets haven't been too supportive when i asked about changing diet - guessing they get kickbacks from the suppliers and off course they want me to spend my money with them, but just can't afford to do that.
Click to expand...

That is exactly right. Hills paid the vets to sit through some seminar where they were brainwashed into thinking Hills were good quality, vet formulated foods. They aren't. :lol:

They did tell me to cut back on the MD wet food and give him more of the biscuits to help save money, but his blood sugar levesl went back up when I did that - hence the change above
Click to expand...

Wow, that's like telling a mother that if feeding her child healthy food is too expensive, to feed it candy and sweets instead to save money :lol: I don't know what low carb treats you can get over there, but most of us here use some kind of freeze dried meat treat, Purebites and Bonita flakes are a few I can think of. You can even buy chicken breasts, boil them, and cut them up into small pieces for treats. Freeze the leftovers and thaw as needed ;-)

If you are struggling with finances you may want to contact DCIN. They may be able to help with the cost of supplies if you are willing to commit to treatment :-D
 
Thanks to you all for posting replies for me, really appreciated. Even if we are in totally different time zones lol. To start with I did exactly what the vets said, but the results weren't coming and the costs kept getting higher - using more insulin meant of course meant buying it more of it. So then I starting looking for more information. It made sense that feeding a more natural diet to what a cat would eat if in the wild would help drop the sugar levels, but the vets seemed very anti and were telling me that I would possibly create more problems for Cosmo and he would be in a worse situation. I got told that it sounded like I had to make some serious life descions about keeping going with him or putting him to sleep since the finances are so tight. My Cosmo is about 12 years old, I have had him for almost 11 and a half years of that, he is part (mostly I think lol) Burmese, he is full of personality and as difficult and stressfull as I have been finding him and the financial side of this, I just can't bring myself to make that final descion yet and not have him in my life. So I will continue on for now, and once i get some more test strips I will work on adjusting his food some more - don't want to make anymore changes there without testing.
So thanks again for listening (or reading really) my rantings and for commenting here for me. And of course for helping me understand that it is ok to try things outside the square and to do things that are a bit different from what the vets tell me.
 
Feeding low carb canned food means less insulin needed. My EX vet was like your vet, she discouraged me from testing my cat at home and told me that other brans than Royal Canin were no good and decided to put my cat on Royal Canin Dry food. Well guess what? 3 days later I was back at the vet and my cat's BG levels had never been so high! She had to keep my cat for the night and did a BG curve which costs A LOT. When I left that day, I decided it was time to try a different approach, one that my vet would definitely hate : I got low carb canned food and got a glucometer. I never needed to go back to the vet because of diabetes and my cat didn't even need insulin couple of days after that!

Oh and by the way, I got a new vet! One that understands I can do many things on my own, for financial and moral reasons, and this one works WITH me not against me!

If your vet wants to put your diabetic cat on dry food... you definitely have to right to question his "nutritionist abilities". He's telling you to do EXACTLY the opposite of what has been working for all of us on this forum!

Good luck to you, whatever option you will choose

:)
 
Yup... in an ideal word we could rely on our vets to be right 100% of the time. But they need to know a LOT of stuff about a LOT of animals, so having a vet specialized in feline diabetes is rare. However, we more than specialize in it here on the forum - we live and breathe it 24/7/365 :-D What you DO need to do is find a vet who is willing to work with you, and not against you. Your vet has to understand that this is YOUR cat, not his cat, and anything you decide on regarding treatment is up to YOU. YOU hired HIM for your cat, not the other way around, and he needs to work with you or you will need to take your business elsewhere.

Good plan not to muck with food until you can test though. Dropping the carbs can cause his numbers and insulin need to plummet. Which means you'll be spending less on insulin, and less on food, as that prescription stuff is just overpriced junk!
 
ok, I am getting over this. Do I just let the bloody cat go outside as he pleases or do i put him to sleep? This is getting too stressful. It is one thing worrying about always being home in time for his feeding and injections and trying to keep on top of his blood sugar levels. But not being able to open doors and windows because i have to keep him inside and having him always scratching at the doors and windows and trying all avenues to get out is doing my head in. I am tired of not just being able to go to bed at night and just go to sleep without having to get up several times to get him to stop scratching at everything.
 
OK. if this has come down to a choice between PTS and letting him outside, then open every door and window in your house.
The two big concerns that are specific to a diabetic cat as far as going outside are:
1 - you won't have total control over his diet. If neighbors feed dogs or cats outside, and feed high carb junk food, and he gets into it, then his BG numbers will be screwed up because of it.
2 - He may not be around when it is time to test, feed and shoot.
The rest of the concerns, getting into cat fights, getting hit by a car, whatever.... that goes for any cat, not just a sugar kitty.
I spend most of my time in PZI, and I know that there are a couple of cats there who go outdoors every day.

If you think your cat will come in the house regularly (like around shot times), and you don't feel the chances of him getting "contraband" food are very likely, then being an innie-outie kitty beats the hell out of putting him to sleep.

To me it comes down to a quality of life issue here (his and yours). Would you rather have a cat that is harder to regulate but enjoys his life, or a cat go into remission and hate life?

Other opinions might differ, but when "PTS" becomes a real option, then do something that makes that choice disappear from the list of options.

Carl
 
What about checking for salvage and scrap lumber and building materials at construction and demolition sites and putting together a "cat-a-tat" - a screened outdoor enclosure to keep him safe, yet outdoors?

Another thing that may help is regular play/exercise sessions of 15-20 minutes, preferably before meals, twice a day. It simulates the normal hunt, catch, kill, eat, eliminate, groom, sleep cycle of cats, improves the bond between the 2 of you, and reduces stress ... for the cat, anyway.
 
I wanted to keep my cat safe but also let him out / air in so had a gazebo type enclosure built that is more like a smaller fenced in garden with wire netting over the top. Keeps him safe and my anxiety low. He just wanders round eating grass and sleeping anyway and i know where he is.
 
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