New diagnosis..I am so overwhelmed

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Nicole789

Member Since 2017
Hello everyone :-)

My cat Mac was just diagnosed two days ago. He is 15 years old.

Mac came from a neglectful home. He was in the home of a hoarder keeping cats in a filthy basement for the first eight years of his life. He wasn't in the greatest of shape when I adopted him.

The OSPCA Animal Investigators (here in Ontario, Canada) seized him from the neglectful home and put him into the local SPCA animal shelter. I found him there three months later. It was love at first sight and I had no reservations about taking an 8 year old, sick cat home.

He came to me with upper resp and a digestive upset. I had that fixed with the help of a vet. He soon became happy and as healthy as he could be (for a cat with his history). He has chronic runny eyes (we clean them at least four times a day). Over the years he has had: unexplained allergies resulting in hair loss, cloudy eyes, upper resp 4 times (the last time was so bad that we weren't sure if he would survive), and numerous other medical issues...all treatable, all not severe.

But he has never been completely healthy. We have given him the best care possible and based on eight years of neglect he has done relatively well. As I said, he is 15 years old now.

He had a back injury in April and was put on prednisolone. He was on it for 2 months. He experienced some pretty bad side effects, but I thought they were temporary and would go away after the med was stopped. Also, you can't just quit prednisolone cold turkey. Their bodies become dependent on it and you have to wean it off them. So....

After 2 months on that horrible drug, he has diabetes. He was NOT pre-diabetic before (he had a blood test done right after the injury). I am convinced that the drug caused the diabetes. The vet said this can happen, but only with long-term injectable prednisolone use. But there is way too much of a coincidence here.

The other thing is that I am going back to school in the fall to complete a one-semester program. My new career will involve lots of travelling abroad. I am absolutely torn as to what to do. I was planning to have someone take care of him while I am away, but I cannot expect someone to give him a needle twice a day.

I have decided to try oral medications first (hypoglycemic pill). He is already on Fancy Feast wet food - I have read that this is suitable for diabetic cats.

My vet wants him to go on Purina DM dry food but I have reservations about this.

However...I am wondering what people's thoughts are on my cat's quality of life...he is already geriatric and based on his history I am wondering if I am just putting him through unecessary suffering. The other thing is, if the pills don't work (we have not begun the pills yet), I am not sure if giving twice daily injections is feasible based on his age and my travelling. I am completely devastated. Please help.
 
Welcome to FDMB. You have come to the right place for help treating your kitty.

First of all, I have to applaud you for taking in an older, sick kitty! You have seen him through so much! Kudos to you. :cat:

Steroids are a frequent culprit in diabetic kitties. The good news is that, if that was the cause of his diabetes and since he was only on it for two months, he may have/ a good shot at remission. Treated properly, Feline Diabetes needn't affect your cat's quality of life. As far as giving him his shots, it's pretty easy to do and if your regular pet sitter can't/won't do it, try looking around for a vet tech or student who would be willing to earn a little extra pocket change!

Your instincts about dry food are on the money, they are way too high in carbs and not good for ANY cat, much less a diabetic one!. Those "special" or Prescription" foods have nothing in them that is different from any other cat food on the market, they are just more expensive. Canned food that is under 10% carbs is what is recommended, and there are lots of budget-friendly brands, like Fancy Feast and Friskies. HERE is a link to a list of readily available foods, complete with the nutritional information regarding percentage of carbs.

I don't think you would be putting him through unnecessary suffering at all. My cat was diagnosed two years ago at age 17 ; he's 19 now and still going strong! :):)
 
I agree with everything that Squalliesmom said above. I'll just add that I think that, if the goal is remission, shots are a much better choice than the pills. Basically, with insulin shots you are giving the pancreas a "rest" and a chance to heal and start producing their own insulin again (unlike with humans, this is possible with cats!). What the pills do, on the other hand, is to push the already-stressed pancreas to produce insulin-- it can work to help keep the blood glucose manageable, but it's not fixing the underlying problems.

Mind you, this is just my layman's understanding, and it is possible that there have been advances in the medications used since last I looked into this, but if it were my cat and I had a few months before the traveling started, I'd give the insulin shots a try and see how it went. It really isn't as bad as it seems-- harder on the humans at first than on the cat, really, and then even that gets to be routine very quickly.

It's so wonderful that you took Mac in and have given him a good life since his rough start! :)
 
Thank you everyone. The pills don't seem to be working, so I am trying to decide whether to go the insulin route. If he has to be injected twice a day, I just don't think we will be able to do it. We live in a rural area, with one barely-competent cat-sitter in the whole area (I would not trust her to give injections). We live very far from family and friends and we travel out of town a lot on weekends to visit them. We are not home twice a day on weekends. I do not want to be isolated out here because of needing to give injections to my pet. He gets extremely stressed when travelling, so that is not an option.

On the other hand, I want to do everything I can to help him! I am so stressed and upset about this. I guess I can only hope that he goes into remission and that we can find someone competent to watch him when we are out of town.

As far as injections go, how does that work? Someone at my vet's office said there is a type of insulin that you give them ONCE a day (not twice). Has anyone had experience with this? After that begins, what is the routine for doing sugar tests? I dont' know anything about this and I am completely overwhelmed. And stressed. I think about this constantly.
 
I see you have more details about Mac here so I am putting a link to your other thread here as there was a response there to your questions.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/glyburide-not-working.181580/

If you are willing to give Mac a chance, remission is possible. It may take a bit of time with insulin support but having a plausible cause for his diabetes [prednisone), removing that from the picture, and getting him started on insulin ASAP would increase his chances of remission.

There are some insulins that are a bit more flexible than others as far as shot times and might work better for you and your schedule. We all have lives and sometimes it's a balancing act to look after ourselves while keeping up to kitty's schedule but it is doable. Most cats adjust to testing and shots in short order and many of our cats come to get us at shot time so I'm sure Mac will adapt.

If you let us know where in Ontario you are located, there may be someone in your local area who can offer suggestions about pet sitting for those times you are out of town. Sometimes the vet techs at the vet's will do testing/shots.
 
Thank you everyone. Mac has definitely been showing signs of aging over the last few years (slowing down a lot and losing weight little by little so we didn't even notice, really. We started making jokes that our "Old Mac" was "out to pasture.") But when I look at photos of him even from one year ago, let alone two or three years ago, I realize how much he has changed (I am talking about before he had the injury and went on prednisolone, and before his diagnosis). I am now thinking that instead of aging slowly like he did before, he is now aging extremely quickly. I am thinking that putting him on a regimen of two needles a day plus testing twice a month at the vet's office plus fiddling around with a dosage until he (maybe) gets better...?? (no guarantees)....might be the wrong way to go at this point in his life. It is absolutely breaking my heart, but I feel it might not be in his best interests at this point in his life to prolong his life. I am absolutely devastated by this whole thing.
 
Kudos to you for taking in an older and beautiful mature cat. Where is a picture when you need one (just click "upload a file" on a posting).

You are getting good advice from the others. With a parent like you, Mac has more years left.
 
Nicole, you know Mac better than anyone and only you can judge his quality of life. Ultimately you have to do what you think is best for both Mac and you. Treating the diabetes is really very simple for both the humans and the cat and our cats barely notice us testing and giving injections. The majority of us test at home so we are not subjecting our cats to continual vet visits. In fact most of us don't see the vet for the diabetes at all. If you are willing to learn to test at home, you can look after Mac without adding a lot of turmoil to his life or yours. You'd be surprised at how much better our kitties act and look once they are on a treatment regime. Mac had been through a lot and you are the best judge of how to proceed but don't let this diagnosis be your only deciding factor because the diabetes is quite treatable and with treatment you might find Mac getting some of his younger self back. :)
 
Similar to Chris' China, our Leo lost 1/3 of his weight before we diagnosed diabetes. It takes awhile to dose the insulin and for the kitteh to regain the weight. But as Chris said, the results can be astonishing.
 
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