New Diagnosis in the UK

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Kate and Basil

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Hi, my 10-year-old cat Basil was diagnosed with diabetes on the 12 of August- 2 days before our scheduled summer holiday! We had noticed he was a bit more lethargic than normal (but we put that down to the recent heat and his black fur and size- he was nearly 7kg!), he had been losing weight (again, figured it must be the heat) yet his appetite was voracious- he was really desperate to get at any and all food, but he'd always been a greedy cat! On the Thursday, however, he walked into the room and seemed to 'skate' across it, something was wrong with his hind legs, so I took him to the vet. She suspected diabetes, given all the symptoms, and after a blood test, she was proved right.

She asked me to bring him in so they could monitor him overnight and do a glucose curve on him, but as we were going away for the week (and normally just leave our cats at home and have the in-laws come in to feed/water them) we thought it best for him to stay at the vet while we were gone. That way, he would be closely monitored and would get his injections at the proper times and intervals.

So now that we are all home, I've done a lot of research on feline diabetes. My cats have always been fed dry food (now I feel guilty!) and we've even put Basil on diet food, with some, but little success (he was over 8kg!) Now I've learned that wet food with low carbs is the best for the cats, and my other cat will now get just wet food. However, now that Basil is on insulin (1unit of Insuvet Lente twice a day), I'm nervous about cutting his carbs too drastically or too quickly. Not to mention, when I mentioned a high protein diet, the vet said she actually recommended a high carb diet, for the slow release....

I know I will be told to test his BG levels at home, but I don't have a glucometer a the moment, I'm still not even comfortable giving him the insulin. They showed us how to inject on a little rubber dog, but the reality of an animal with fur, etc. is much different- I don't even think I got the first 2 doses in properly!

Finally, as we are trying to get him to eventually lose just over a kilo, the vet suggested feeding him a 'light' food, twice a day, about a half an hour before injections. Is it best to just feed them twice a day, or are smaller, more frequent feeds better for a diabetic cat.

Any advice (particularly relating to food/products/vet services in the UK) would be greatly appreciated. It's nice to know there are so many people out there going through this as well- so many people just say, 'I didn't even know that cats could get diabetes!'

Thanks in advance,
Kate and Basil
 
Welcome Kate!

You are the second UK person today. (Check a little lower down the page for Kim and Shakti.) We have a number of folks in the UK; they will be along with suggestions.

Yes, wet lo carb food is best. (Don't feel bad - probably 95% of us came here feeding our cats dry food. We just didn't know.) This website by a vet explains alot about diet: http://www.catinfo.org. BUT DON'T CHANGE OVER TO WET COMPLETELY BEFORE YOU ARE HOMETESTING. When we changed Oliver from dry to wet, his blood glucose levels went down 100 points overnight. If we hadn't been hometesting, and had shot our usual dose, we would have given him too much insulin.

Newly diabetic cats are literally starving; their bodies are not processing their food well. So we advise feeding them more than you might usually, and try for several smaller meals during the day. You can free feed wet - just put out a little at a time, or freeze it in cubes and leave them out to thaw.

We always gave Oliver his shot while his nose was deep into his breakfast (or dinner) and he never noticed.

Hometesting sounds daunting, but it is very doable. And so important. To get a prescribed dose of insulin and just give it day after day without knowing what is happening is frankly, dangerous. We figure we would test our human children; we do the same for our cats. Here is a good beginning site: http://www.sugarcats.net/sites/harry/bgtest.htm and a video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zE12-4fVn8

There may be someone who lives nearby who could come help the first time with hometesting. If you want to put your town in your post, we may have a member nearby.
 
Hi Kate and Oliver,

No advice here as I'm new to this too, but just to offer morale support and friendly waves!

I think this is a good place to have found...

Kim (and Shakti)
 
Thanks, Sue. I've ordered my home testing things, so as soon as they arrive, I will start to keep a record. I'm just so worried about the food issue. Basil seems to be off the dry food (I think because he was getting a combination at the vets), and I want him to eat before his shots, but I'm so nervous about giving him too little carbs at this stage. I did note that you said the gravy based wet food have more carbs, so maybe I'll use these for now to get him to eat for the shots. I'm just so nervous about him becoming hypoglycemic and not realising it as he such a lazy lump at the best of times!

Hi Kim, glad to know there is such a great resource here! I find the vets to be much like the NHS doctors...they just reiterate the 'protocol' and don't do much thinking outside the box! It's very frustrating sometimes! What are you feeding Shakti, and how much/how often? Where in the UK are you? I'm in Basildon in Essex.

Thanks again for your support,
Kate (and Basil)
 
Yes, higher carb wet might be a good idea until you master hometesting.

Here is the info on hypo: viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887 We printed it off and put it in the kitchen with our supply of syrup.

You can do some preliminary work before your supplies arrive. Put a flashlight behind Basil's ear and find the little capillaries that run off the vein toward the edge of the ear. The vein runs down the edge of the ear. You will want to aim for the capillaries. You can find a spot where you think you might want to test and put him there, play with his ears and give him a treat, several times a day. By the time you get your stuff, he may be wanting to jump up and be ready for a test!
 
Hi Kate

Three new UK members in a single day!

You sound like you're doing great but I will send you my contact details by Personal Message. We're based in Essex.

If I can do anything to help or support you, just pick up the phone.

Love
 
Hi from one Kate to another :mrgreen:

I'm English but live in Germany.I do have a lot of info related to UK so hopefully can give some guidance.

Food-One day I'm going to have chance to converse with Janet/Binky and get it all on her list!
I used Felix 'As Good as It looks' puches.Less than a £5 for 12. These are approx (it's all approx as they don't have to give exact values for animal food) 3.4% carbs.
I prefer under 5% as this is what cats would get from natural food source-mice, but generally anything under 10% is considered low carb.
I need to go and hunt out my list of the different ones. I would definitelysay avoid any Science/Hills or DM,WD etc-expensive and not as good as commercially available food.

Sadly vets aren't very up in general on FD-UK seems particularly bad!
It would seem you've been given an insulin that hasn't got a brilliant press and is outdated in comparison to what is now available.If you haven't seen already, here is some basic info on it:
http://petdiabetes.wikia.com/wiki/Insuvet_Lente
The UK, unlike USA has a cascade system that vets have to follow in terms of prescribing medication.Thus, very few will prescribe any of the human insulins (Lantus/Levemir-both have had fantastic results on this board).There is a new one out Prozinc and that seems to be getting favourable comments and lasts longer in your cat and not as harsh acting I believe (we were fortunate in being able eventualy to get Levemir).

Can I ask-what dose are you on?

Feed Basil pretty much as much as he wants-his body can't process the food right now and he is literally traving. As for dry food, don't beat yourself up-me too!!

Please keep asking questions.
 
I believe that Kate and Basil live about thirty minutes drive away from me. I have offered to visit Kate and Bas to help them start hometesting.

Thanks Hope for alerting UK FDMB to our new members

Love
 
Simon, thanks for your quick responses to my email. I would really appreciate your help and guidance when it comes to home testing- should get my kit today or tomorrow, so I will be in touch.

Kate- Basil is on 1 unit twice a day. I've switched him over to wet cat food (one that's not too low in carbs at the moment) and give him a few kibbles as well. I don't want to push his BG levels down too quickly before I can test him. I have to admit, I don't know much about insulin, but I'm looking forward to being able to track his BG levels to show to the vet when he goes in on the 1st (which will also be his 10th bday!) If it's not producing a nice curve, I'll have a chat with her about possibly changing.

Again, thanks to everyone for their kind and helpful advice. It's so daunting, and I have such new-found respect for people who live with this disease!!!

Kate
 
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