My baby Clark was just diagnosed with diabetes

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Iloveclark

Member Since 2013
Help!!!!!! My kitty, 11 year old Clark, was just diagnosed this past Friday with diabetes. I feel so overwhelmed and saddened by this. I just hope I can take the very best care of him that he truly deserves. He is a great cat. Any encouragement a would be appreciated.
 
We can be VERY encouraging! We have a protocol here that has allowed the majority of cats to be regulated and many to go into remission. We use a mild long lasting insulin like Lantus, Levemir or ProZinc. We test before every shot to be sure it is safe to give the amount we are planning to shoot. And we feed a wet low carb diet to bring the levels down.

Do lots of reading and ask questions. We'd love to help you and Clark.
 
Hello and welcome to the board! No need to be sad, a diabetic cat can live a full and normal life. And many cats go into remission within the first 6 months depending on a few key factors and how strict you are with those.

We can certainly help but need to know more

- what country are you in? Helps us advise on food and testing etc
- what food is he currently eating? did the vet prescribe food?
- has he started insulin yet? If so, which and how much
- did the vet mention home testing?


Wendy
 
Welcome to you and extra sweet kitty Clark! This is the best place to be. Everyone here is super helpful and encouraging. They talked me through learning how to handle diabetes. Trust me, before you know it, you're a pro! Diabetes is totally manageable. Can we also get your name please?

You're in the right place! Don't let the diagnosis scare you. :smile:
 
Hi and welcome to FDMB.

As everyone has said, FD is easily manageable. The important things you need to learn are about diet, insulin, hometesting and treating a hypo. If you learn the first three, you have a very small chance to need to deal with the 4th.

Wendy has asked some questions and by answering these will help us advise you.

- what country are you in? Helps us advise on food and testing etc
- what food is he currently eating? did the vet prescribe food?
- has he started insulin yet? If so, which and how much
- did the vet mention home testing?

For diet, we recommend a low carb/high protein canned or raw food diet. Dry food is high in carbs and will make it very difficult for you to manage Clark's diabetes. You also do not need to feed prescription food if your vet tries to talk you in to it. Most of it is not effective and also high in carbs.

There are several types of insulins that work well in cats. Lantus (Glargine) and Levemir are both human insulins. ProZinc and PZI are pet insulins. All of these are long acting insulins and cats respond well to them. If your vet prescribes Humulin, Vetsulin, Caninsulin or Glipizide, you will want to ask your vet to prescribe something else. Humulin, Vetsulin, Caninsulin are all short acting insulins. Glipizide is a pill. None of these work well in cats.

Hometesting means using a human glucose meter to test Clark's blood glucose (BG) levels before every shot. You do this to make sure it is safe to give the insulin dose and eventually determine if a dose change is needed. There are also pet glucose meters available, but they are expensive and the only place you can get the test strips are at the vet. Human meters work just as well and it is easier to get the test strips.

There is a lot of info on this website. Concentrate on diet, hometesting and treating hypos first. Ask any question, no matter how minor you think it is, to us. We have all been where you are now and we are here to help you. Caring for a diabetic cat is not difficult or time consuming. It also can be done economically. We will be glad to share what we have found works best for us.
 
Welcome to the board. I am still pretty new at this myself but can tell you that the people here are warm and helpful. They really care about you and your sugarbaby. I can't advise on dosing or like that (cause I am fairly new) but I can advise to read the information provided here. It is very helpful!
 
Welcome!

I'm fairly new here as well, but the best advice I got was to read the information about why wet food is better for cats than dry food.

Diet change and insulin got my cat's diabetes under control (not remission, but symptom free) in less than 1 month.

Liz
 
Thank you for all the encouraging comments. I am Clark's mom and my name is Lori and I live in the united statesin California. Clark is 11 years old and just diagnosed on this past Friday and his doctor put him on Largine. On Friday his blood glucose level was at 457. I have given the insulin every 12 hours and I did get a a blood glucose tester from the vet that is for cats and dogs. So far his numbers have not come down. Actually when I took it again this morning it was still at 441. I contacted his doctor and had me bring him in to do a "curve" which I learned is checking his glucose level every 2 hours. He was also just diagnosed with Inflammatory Bowel Disease. His doc said between the two diseases they could be hard to get a handle on. Clark is a very finicky eater. His vet recommended wet food only ( rabbit or duck) but he will not eat it. So far I have not found a dry food that is ok for diabetes. Any help with info on that would be great. He is also having another ultrasound today to see uf he has developed Pancreatitis from having diabetes. To back up just a bit, when he was diagnosed with the IBD he was put on Prednidone which the vet thinks caused the diabetes Thank you all again for your comments. They are greatly appreciated.
 
Clark is lucky to have chosen you, Lori. I am on the same path, but it seems a little less scary knowing I am not alone.

Clearly, this message board is the place to find help. You already made a good choice for Clark coming here.

Cheers to better health for our pals.
 
Hi Lori and Clark! I'm also in California (OC).

With Lantus (glargine), it initially takes about 5-7 days after starting on it before you see the full impact on his numbers. Since you just started Friday, you'll want to hold this dose for a couple more days before re-evaluating and seeing if he needs a dose increase. After the initial start of Lantus, the time to wait between dose increases drops to 3 days. We also only recommend increasing by .25u at a time to make sure the proper dose isn't skipped. When it comes to Lantus, patience pants are needed and we keep a full supply of them here. :lol: ;-)
 
With the understanding that wet food is better for cats than dry food because wet food has:

- more water intake which is critical for cats which have a naturally low thirst drive
- more protein than dry food
- less carbs (typically) than dry food

If Clark refuses canned food, EVO band cat food is a lower carb dry cat food, however, please note that EVO dry cat food is still higher in carbs than Fancy Feast Classics wet cat food.

I would suggest checking out a Vet's perspective on cat food here! http://www.catinfo.org

Liz
 
Welcome Lori and sweet Clark!!
I see you are already getting some great advice here :-D And yes, this really is the place to be as you will get great guidance and support here.
Since you have been started on Lantus, here is a quick link to our board Lantus Forum which contains numerous 'stickies' at the top, filled with great information about using Lantus, what to expect, etc. Please do continue to post and let us know what is happening with Clark and ask questions :-D
Starting a spreadsheet to track your home testing numbers will really help us as well as you. Here is the link for getting that going Getting a Spreadsheet

No worries Lori, you're not alone here :-D
 
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