My 8 year old male has just been diagnosed. We have yet to see the internal medicine vet (diabetes result of steroids for dermatitis). I am wondering what to expect at the initial visit beside blood tests and prescribing insulin. I've also read about cats being hospitalized to be stabilized. Is this really necessary or do I have the right to refuse. Any advice will be helpful
new diagnosis
- Thread starter slazor
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Dyana
Member Since 2009
Of course you have the right to refuse. Almost everyone on this board home tests their cat's blood sugar. Most of us use a human glucometer. The test strips for the human glucometers are a lot less expensive. Cats who are diabetic can go into remission. Your cat may be one of the lucky ones. The percentages are fairly high for cats that are treated right away and their blood glucose well controlled right from the get go.
Hopefully your vet is a good one that will work with you in your cat's care.
Hopefully your vet is a good one that will work with you in your cat's care.
KPassa
Member Since 2012
We recommend only three insulins for use in cats: Lantus (glargine), Levemir (determir), or PZI/ProZinc. Other insulins will not work effectively with a cat's faster metabolism. Please let us know what insulin they prescribed and what starting dose. We've seen quite a few newly diagnosed cats started at way too high of doses. 1u given twice a day is the usual starting dose, so anything higher than that or anything not dosed consistently (i.e. once daily dosing) might be problematic.
We also recommend a low carb diet of less than 10% carbs (the lower the better). Friskies Pates, Fancy Feast Classics, and Wellness Grain Free are some commonly used commercial foods around here for diabetic cats. They don't need a "special" diet; just low carbs. These foods are also perfectly safe to feed to your other cats (if you have any).
Finally, we are huge advocates of testing your cat at home. This will give you a better idea of how your cat is doing on the insulin dose and it keeps your kitty safe from dropping too low or remaining consistently too high. No fancy and expensive pet meter is required and most of us here use human meters so we're well-versed in accounting for the "discrepancies" between a human meter and a pet-specific meter.
All of this information is contained in the AAHA Guidelines for Diabetes from 2010, so your vet should hopefully be up-to-date. If not, I would bring a copy of this with you to the vet visit in case they want to prescribe you an outdated insulin or try to discourage home-testing or are pushing (always) overpriced and (usually) high carb "prescription" food on you.
We also recommend a low carb diet of less than 10% carbs (the lower the better). Friskies Pates, Fancy Feast Classics, and Wellness Grain Free are some commonly used commercial foods around here for diabetic cats. They don't need a "special" diet; just low carbs. These foods are also perfectly safe to feed to your other cats (if you have any).
Finally, we are huge advocates of testing your cat at home. This will give you a better idea of how your cat is doing on the insulin dose and it keeps your kitty safe from dropping too low or remaining consistently too high. No fancy and expensive pet meter is required and most of us here use human meters so we're well-versed in accounting for the "discrepancies" between a human meter and a pet-specific meter.
All of this information is contained in the AAHA Guidelines for Diabetes from 2010, so your vet should hopefully be up-to-date. If not, I would bring a copy of this with you to the vet visit in case they want to prescribe you an outdated insulin or try to discourage home-testing or are pushing (always) overpriced and (usually) high carb "prescription" food on you.
Wendy&Tiggy(GA)
Member Since 2011
Welcome to the board!
Kay summarized everything really well but tell us more about your kitty and yourself - names? and where do you live - that will help us better advise on food to get, meter to buy etc.
When is your next vet visit? I would start the low carb wet canned food ASAP as it can make a big difference.
Wendy
Kay summarized everything really well but tell us more about your kitty and yourself - names? and where do you live - that will help us better advise on food to get, meter to buy etc.
When is your next vet visit? I would start the low carb wet canned food ASAP as it can make a big difference.
Wendy
Deb & Wink
Member Since 2013
Fancy Feast classic pate style and Friskies pate style are good low cost food choices with <10% carb content
If your cat has signs of ketones, that is an indication DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) can develop. That does require a very expensive hospital stay to keep your cat alive.
Otherwise, we can provide you with any advice you need to deal with the diabetes at home.
Please do a sanity check here with us before your cat gets any insulin. It is rare for a cat to require more than one unit as a starting dose.
Please, spend the extra money up front to get one of the better insulins. Humulin N/Novolin N are cheap but that is the one thing to recommend them. The duration is only around 5-6 hours and you will need to be monitoring and dosing your cat 3 to 4 times a day with those NPH type insulins.
If your cat has signs of ketones, that is an indication DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) can develop. That does require a very expensive hospital stay to keep your cat alive.
Otherwise, we can provide you with any advice you need to deal with the diabetes at home.
Please do a sanity check here with us before your cat gets any insulin. It is rare for a cat to require more than one unit as a starting dose.
Please, spend the extra money up front to get one of the better insulins. Humulin N/Novolin N are cheap but that is the one thing to recommend them. The duration is only around 5-6 hours and you will need to be monitoring and dosing your cat 3 to 4 times a day with those NPH type insulins.
BJM
Member Since 2010
Welcome!
If you haven't started insulin yet, work on ensuring the diet is low carb, canned or raw
food. Cat Info is a veterinarian written site which will explain a lot about good nutrition in the cat, plus there is a printable food list there. You'll want a few cans of high carb gravy style foods in case you ever have too low glucose numbers.
If you have started insulin, hold off on diet changes until you are comfortable with home testing, as the glucose can drop 100 points if you are switching from high carb to low carb foods.
In my signature link are some Learning Tips and some Secondary Monitoring Tools you may find helpful.
If you haven't started insulin yet, work on ensuring the diet is low carb, canned or raw
food. Cat Info is a veterinarian written site which will explain a lot about good nutrition in the cat, plus there is a printable food list there. You'll want a few cans of high carb gravy style foods in case you ever have too low glucose numbers.
If you have started insulin, hold off on diet changes until you are comfortable with home testing, as the glucose can drop 100 points if you are switching from high carb to low carb foods.
In my signature link are some Learning Tips and some Secondary Monitoring Tools you may find helpful.
Wendy&Tiggy(GA)
Member Since 2011
I sent Sherry a PM to see how things were going (sherry fyi if you click on "subscribe topic" at the bottom of this page you will get emails whenever someone adds a post). She responded as follows:
My response is that yes, the dexamethasone is a steroid and is likely the culprit.Will he be on it long term? I am hoping others can suggest other meds that dont have steroids in them, plus I would chat to your vet about it.
Saying that though you can treat the diabetes with a good low carb wet diet and insulin. Have you started insulin yet?
Wendy
My response is that yes, the dexamethasone is a steroid and is likely the culprit.Will he be on it long term? I am hoping others can suggest other meds that dont have steroids in them, plus I would chat to your vet about it.
Saying that though you can treat the diabetes with a good low carb wet diet and insulin. Have you started insulin yet?
Wendy
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