Chester&Jazzy
Member Since 2012
Hi everyone ! Look at all you awesome diabetic kitty owners! I've read through this board many times since Chester was diagnosed with diabetes,I've always been struck by the kindness and helpfulness and support that so many of you give so freely.I've never signed up because I have a decent amount of experience in the area our doggie Jasmine has been diabetic for a couple years now,she just went through the dreaded DKA a couple weeks back too,I have a good relationship with our vets and I just generally don't like to trouble people with issues I should be able to figure out on my own.I'm starting to feel a bit lost though.
Chester (12-15 yrs old) got his diabetes about a year after Jazzy ( 13yrs) got hers.He wasn't looking right at all and after he got up to the vets they vet were like " You'll never believe this, Chester is diabetic too ! The odds,right? o.o
Well,he not only has diabetes,but bladder stones,and liver dysfunction as well.Basically when he eats too much food at once he goes into seizures .I believe its called hepatic encephalopathy,my vet called it liver shunts too.I would love to feed him as a diabetic should be fed but if he gobbles up even 1/3 of a can of food ( Hills W/D so it's not even high protein), no amount of lactulose/noemycin ( i think that's the name) helps.If I feed him something high protein, it messes with his liver,but is good for his diabetes.If it's something low protein,higher carb that's better for his liver but worse for his diabetes.I'm screwed if I do, screwed if I don't it seems.
Not only that but hes also started having accidents ( I hope,instead of a behavior problem) so I took him back to vets,he had a UTI,was one Clavamox for almost 2 weeks , but I'm still getting accidents.I got him a pheromone collar and washed everything with Natures Miracle and Sprayed with Urine Off, I've gone the whole nine yards,still have spots.I've gone WAY past what I can afford for the both of them,I just got my credit card paid off too via income tax, not anymore :-\ Plus I have this odd flea or two that must get tracked in ( despite treating the house & yard several times) somehow and just one flea ravages his system.I feel like I'm going mad,I'm reaching to point where I'm overextended to the max,credit card, water bill ( from all the washing) light bill ( from all the drying).I have a 10 year old child to take care of too,it's just getting to me in a big way,driving my anxiety through the roof.
So here's the low down on Chester schedule : He gets 3 unit of Lantus 12 hours apart ( 9am & 9pm) he gets small increments of his canned food Feline W/D and some dry food which is Purina D/M thought the day.I know how bad dry food is but after throwing up the wet food so many times he's developed a hesitation about it. I've successfully knocked down the hepatic seizures to rarely happening feeding this way . He's so bony though, and his fur isn't thick and shiny and he's got some cataract and this is all attributed to the diabetic neuropathy ,his glucose numbers are hard for me to get because he is extremely uncooperative, regardless of how many tutorials I have watched and read.He just writhes and bucks,bites,yowls and scratches.He's good about his insulin shot though, go figure lol ! I know his curve is off , when he gets a curve at the vets it is almost always much lower than at home ( this happens with Jasmine too ,200 at the vets is 350 home) besides the cost the results are generally not accurate,I even have one of those fancy Alphatrak meters,I wish he'd cooperate instead of me wasting strip after strip ( which are around a dollar a piece) because he's too busy fighting me and whomever else is helping me ,it's SO a two person job to just get one reading then he hides and gets even more riled up in an hour or two for another reading
I've told the vet all of these things and I'm told I'm doing the best I can with the situation I'm given.I wanted to come on here anyway though and hopefully get some more feedback.I've heard a certain type of b-12 is useful for the muscle wasting, anyone have experience with that? Should I get chicken and feed that to him instead? How can I all do this within the current budget? Any advice or thoughts would be very much appreciated ! I needed to vent a little bit too, so thank you all for being here
Chester (12-15 yrs old) got his diabetes about a year after Jazzy ( 13yrs) got hers.He wasn't looking right at all and after he got up to the vets they vet were like " You'll never believe this, Chester is diabetic too ! The odds,right? o.o
Well,he not only has diabetes,but bladder stones,and liver dysfunction as well.Basically when he eats too much food at once he goes into seizures .I believe its called hepatic encephalopathy,my vet called it liver shunts too.I would love to feed him as a diabetic should be fed but if he gobbles up even 1/3 of a can of food ( Hills W/D so it's not even high protein), no amount of lactulose/noemycin ( i think that's the name) helps.If I feed him something high protein, it messes with his liver,but is good for his diabetes.If it's something low protein,higher carb that's better for his liver but worse for his diabetes.I'm screwed if I do, screwed if I don't it seems.
Not only that but hes also started having accidents ( I hope,instead of a behavior problem) so I took him back to vets,he had a UTI,was one Clavamox for almost 2 weeks , but I'm still getting accidents.I got him a pheromone collar and washed everything with Natures Miracle and Sprayed with Urine Off, I've gone the whole nine yards,still have spots.I've gone WAY past what I can afford for the both of them,I just got my credit card paid off too via income tax, not anymore :-\ Plus I have this odd flea or two that must get tracked in ( despite treating the house & yard several times) somehow and just one flea ravages his system.I feel like I'm going mad,I'm reaching to point where I'm overextended to the max,credit card, water bill ( from all the washing) light bill ( from all the drying).I have a 10 year old child to take care of too,it's just getting to me in a big way,driving my anxiety through the roof.
So here's the low down on Chester schedule : He gets 3 unit of Lantus 12 hours apart ( 9am & 9pm) he gets small increments of his canned food Feline W/D and some dry food which is Purina D/M thought the day.I know how bad dry food is but after throwing up the wet food so many times he's developed a hesitation about it. I've successfully knocked down the hepatic seizures to rarely happening feeding this way . He's so bony though, and his fur isn't thick and shiny and he's got some cataract and this is all attributed to the diabetic neuropathy ,his glucose numbers are hard for me to get because he is extremely uncooperative, regardless of how many tutorials I have watched and read.He just writhes and bucks,bites,yowls and scratches.He's good about his insulin shot though, go figure lol ! I know his curve is off , when he gets a curve at the vets it is almost always much lower than at home ( this happens with Jasmine too ,200 at the vets is 350 home) besides the cost the results are generally not accurate,I even have one of those fancy Alphatrak meters,I wish he'd cooperate instead of me wasting strip after strip ( which are around a dollar a piece) because he's too busy fighting me and whomever else is helping me ,it's SO a two person job to just get one reading then he hides and gets even more riled up in an hour or two for another reading
I've told the vet all of these things and I'm told I'm doing the best I can with the situation I'm given.I wanted to come on here anyway though and hopefully get some more feedback.I've heard a certain type of b-12 is useful for the muscle wasting, anyone have experience with that? Should I get chicken and feed that to him instead? How can I all do this within the current budget? Any advice or thoughts would be very much appreciated ! I needed to vent a little bit too, so thank you all for being here
