New at this, but confident

[award]

Hi, everyone. We are, of course, new to the world of feline diabetes, but I feel quite confident that we will be able to manage it and enjoy life with our sweet 14 1/2 yr old, Frankie. The diagnosis comes in the wake of our Doberman being diagnosed with Congestive Heart Failure in December and passing away a week ago. So when we learned that our buddy was diabetic only 5 days later, it was not what we expected, but was indeed something we can handle. Thanks to everyone on this site for all of the very helpful information. It's good to know that others are handling this well. We know it will just take time until it's all just a part of our daily routine.

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB.
There is tons of info here and lots of support.
We strongly advocate
- home testing to keep your Frankie safe (see my signature link Glucometer Notes for some details)
- a low carb canned or raw diet (see Cat Info for why),
- use of an insulin which lasts roughly 12 hours in the cat (ProZinc, Levemir, Lantus, or BCP PZI).

 

[Critter Mom]

Welcome to you and Frankie.

I'm sorry to hear of your sad loss.

Diabetes is a manageable condition. There's a bit of a learning curve at the beginning and it takes a little while to get the hang of working with a particular insulin but you've found a great place to learn. There are many resources here to assist you as you work Frankie's diabetic needs into your everyday routine.

 

[award]

Thank you! We just started this new adventure in insulin yesterday, each of us having given one injection of Lantus each so far. It's no big deal. Frankie never even knew what we were doing. Glucose meter should be here from Amazon this week in time for our vet appointment. Once again, it sounds like it will be an easy process (we have a VERY cooperative cat here) and just something we'll be getting used to in our daily routines. We're already feeding only canned food, but having a hard time finding one that all 4 cats like. Sheesh- the one that was feral and used to have to eat mice and lizards and drink out of puddles, is the most finicky one!
Thanks to everyone for their good questions and answers on all of the forums.

 

[Critter Mom]

Great picture of Frankie. What a beautiful tail!

 

[Wendi]

My vet prescribed my cats food so we use purinas diabetic management canned and dry food. I separate her to feed her while the other cats eat their food. There's no way I could afford to give them all the diabetic food. It is very expensive.

 

[Critter Mom]

@Wendi - there are many commercial low carb foods that are perfectly suitable for diabetic cats, and much cheaper than prescription foods. Where are you based? We can point you to food lists.