My boy Steve

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Steve Kim

Member Since 2012
Hi, I introduced myself a few days ago and my boy Steve. So yesterday I bought a home testing kit from Walmart. Have not had success in getting a sample yet. Going to see our vet in 30 mins to get a reading. Fortunately, he is on board with me home testing if I can do it successfully. Yay. Actually, I have some food questions. He is a big boy and requires about 300 calories a day. Right now he is eating the purina DM. Can and a half a day. Too expensive. Fancy feast I also find expensive for the amount he needs to maintain his weight. My other cat eats friskier pâté varieties. I have checked out various food lists. Think he would be ok on the turkey and chicken varieties? Thx
 
Yes, as long as the friskees are the pate style, they're fine for a diabetic. I think they sell them in the big cans too, which can save you some $$$.
Carl
 
I have 3 cats and they all like different food.
Honey (diabetic) has just started eating FancyFeast but isn't very keen so she does get Friskies Pate as well - usually the seafood ones as they all love them and I can guarantee they will eat!

Regarding the testing, it does get easier. I can't believe how much I dreaded if for the first couple of weeks - I had to drag Honey out from under the bed by her scruff and hold her down.
Now, she has actually started coming (sometimes...) to be tested - the biggest help was finding a treat that was irresistable. Now, I just shake the bag and she's there (I'm using PureBites chicken).
Also, their ears start to bleed more after a while - now, I sometimes have too much blood and the meter reading fails :-|

And be as fast as you can - I have everything set out then: treat, warm ear (rice sock etc), smudge of vaseline on ear, put strip in meter, poke (with tissue for pressure), take reading, more treat, neosporin

Great that your vet is on board!
 
Welcome again :)

For whatever reason, Friskies pate is impossible to find around my house, so I buy the Fancy Feast. If you buy them in bulk, you can get them for much cheaper (I just bought a case of 24 at roughly $0.40 cents a can).

Since I'm not sure if you mean he's a big boy from just being a big cat or if it's because he's overweight, you might also want to check out Dr. Lisa's link about feline obesity, if you haven't already.

You might also want to try adding extra water to the wet food. I've noticed this stretches it out further and fills up the kitty faster.

And don't worry about the home BG testing! Keep trying and you'll both soon get the hang of it. You're already doing a great job so far by starting home testing in the first place. :mrgreen:
 
Hi, he is big cat. 17 lbs, not remotely overweight. I get friskies pretty cheaply. 10 cans for $5 full price but they go on sale frequently. :). I've gotta say, I love my vet. :). Went in for. Check and talk about all the new info I've acquired. He was receptive to so many of my ideas. Starting with allowing him a grace period on his new diet before injecting him further. Watching for symptoms of course. If I am unable together a home test done, thy will have someone come to my house to get a baseline for when he is relaxed. Reconsult on Monday. Steve is a bit of a special case because he is so young, in otherwise good health and went otj for a year and half. I fully expect to have to start the insulin again but hopefully we can look forward to another long remission. :)
 
One of my previous cats, although he was overweight at 25 pounds off-and-on throughout his life, was healthy at 20-22 pounds, so I know what you mean by a big cat! I have no idea how big Mikey may get, but since he's probably part Maine Coon, he'll also probably be a fairly large cat, unless the diabetes stunts his growth. :? (I'm the one with the kitten diagnosed last month when he was just under 6 months old).

That is really cool your vet is willing to do a home visit for BG testing. If I lived closer, I'd volunteer myself to come help you because that would have probably made my first week BG testing a heck of a lot easier. :lol:
 
Hi, this is our second go round. Steve was diagnosed at 10 months so I understand the whole kitten thing. There aren't
Many of us out there. How old is your kitty now? We had a full year and 1/2 otj. Really discouraging it came back but if we did it once we will do it again. Thanks! :)
 
He's just turned 7 months old on the 13th. Anything to be aware of that might be different in treating a kitten than an adult? I know what you mean by there not being very many of us out there. :? I haven't been able to find a single live person yet who had a diabetic kitten! Just articles and posts about kittens from before, but no responses yet. :(
 
Well, even though Steve is not a baby anymore he is still young. The thing I think I struggled with the most was trying to limit the diet on a growing kitten while trying to regulate his insulin. First time round we shot him blind. Didn't know any better. It was really scary. But we did it. I've heard that that is a greater chance of remission in catching it early and good regulation especially in a young cat. Happened for us. :smile: Kittens require so many more calories than adults. How is your vet? Sounds like you have been right on top of things
 
Steve Kim said:
Well, even though Steve is not a baby anymore he is still young. The thing I think I struggled with the most was trying to limit the diet on a growing kitten while trying to regulate his insulin. First time round we shot him blind. Didn't know any better. It was really scary. But we did it. I've heard that that is a greater chance of remission in catching it early and good regulation especially in a young cat. Happened for us. :smile: Kittens require so many more calories than adults. How is your vet? Sounds like you have been right on top of things
Click to expand...

Yep, that's been my battle, as well. When we first started out at the end of October, he weighed only 4 and a half pounds and didn't gain any weight until the last two weeks or so where he's now shot up to almost 6 pounds. That has really messed with his BG numbers and dosing level, I think.

My vet is uninformed about proper treatment of diabetic cats, but he seems to be willing to learn and requested that I send him some links to the things I've been reading because he was quite impressed with my spreadsheet and that I had learned how to home test all on my own. So, fingers crossed! :mrgreen:
 
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