? New here, 2 sugar babies- I have questions!

[Julie W.]

Hello! I just joined the group and read through 2 hours of materials on the site. SOOO helpful and informative. I have some questions, but let me give my kitty diabetes background first.

I have two cats, both 13 years old, one male and one female. Before the diagnosis, I had always just fed dried food (Friskies something or other). Five years ago, the male cat, Kiki, was diagnosed with diabetes. The vet started us on ProZinc and suggested the AlphaTrak2 meter when I inquired about home testing, so that' what we use. I also switched Kiki from dry food to wet food at that point (Friskies meaty bits usually). That's I've been feeding ever since. He did go into remission for about a year, but the diabetes came back and we have just lived with it since - I test twice/feed/shoot a day.

Now my female cat, Rogue, has been diagnosed as well. I hadn't switched her over to wet food when I switched Kiki over just because it is so much cheaper to give the dry food and she was not overweight like Kiki, so I didn't think it would affect her like Kiki. Well here we are - she is diabetic now I am trying to find a good wet food for her now. My problem is this... she does not gobble down meals like Kiki. She grazes throughout he day and honestly she barely seems to eat much at all, but she is maybe 1 lbs overweight at this point so she must be eating. I know I should have been keeping better track of it. Anyway, I have tried giving her Friskies pate this week, but she licks all the juice off and then won't eat the rest. It it sitting there dried up when I get home from work. Then she looks at me like "where's my dry food?" So next time, I added water to the pate and warmed it up and mushed it around, thinking she'd just lick it up. She licked a little and then left the rest to dry up again. She won't freaking eat the wet food. It is not a chewing problem because she has no problem eating dry food. I don't get it! But it makes it very hard to have a regular insulin schedule if she's not eating when I give her food, or that she refuses to eat anything but dried food. I don't know what to do at this point. If I want her to eat, it seems like it has to be dried food. Does anyone have any other suggestions for wet food I could try?? She seems to be very finicky. I have only ever dealt with a diabetic cat who gobbles his meals down, but how does it works if the diabetic just grazes? I am gone to work 7am-5pm, so what she doesn't eat just sits there and dries up. Would insulin injections still be in the morning and evening if she doesn't have a regular eating schedule?

My other question: So since I have been using the AlphaTrak2 meter with compatible test strips ever since Kiki was diagnosed 5 years ago, it is taking a toll on my checkbook. After reading through one of the pages on here, I was intrigued to find that although AlphaTrak2 is recommended by vets because it is specifically for cats, I could be paying a whole lot less for test strips if I switched to a ReliOn meter. Is that right? What do I need to know in regards to the ReliOn meter and calibrating it for cats? With having two diabetics now, I am very interested in bringing my costs down!!!

I am interested in any and all of your opinions on the food situation and meter/test strip types to use!

Thanks in advance!

-Julie

 

[Idjit's mom]

Link to original post in Prozinc forum: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-to-the-group-i-have-questions.211933/
Hi again, Julie. I replied to your original post in the Prozinc forum, and see that Kiki is getting 5..is that Units ? 2X a day? That is a pretty high dose, and the experienced Prozinc members will probably have some questions about that. When you make the spreadsheet, please enter the testing data you have and that will help them see patterns on how the insulin is affecting him. Do you have a pic of the kitties that you could use as your avatar? I am eager to see them.

 

[Erin & Scott]

My other question: So since I have been using the AlphaTrak2 meter with compatible test strips ever since Kiki was diagnosed 5 years ago, it is taking a toll on my checkbook. After reading through one of the pages on here, I was intrigued to find that although AlphaTrak2 is recommended by vets because it is specifically for cats, I could be paying a whole lot less for test strips if I switched to a ReliOn meter. Is that right? What do I need to know in regards to the ReliOn meter and calibrating it for cats? With having two diabetics now, I am very interested in bringing my costs down!!!

-Julie

I'll address the easy question first - with the ReliOn meter, you don't have to worry about calibrating for cats. Much of the information on this website was developed from studies using human meters, so the human meters are essentially the standard here. The difference is that the "action number" is lower on a human meter than on the pet meter. So while you might need to take action (to avoid hypoglycemia) at somewhere around 65(?) on a pet meter, the number on a human meter is 50. It's just a different scale, and we use a spreadsheet that is color-coded according to the meter you use, so it's not at all an issue.

Speaking of which - please read through the info about spreadsheets and get one set up for each of your cats, then link them in your signature.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/fdmb-spreadsheet-instructions.130337/
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/understanding-the-spreadsheet-grid.156606/

This is probably the single most important tool you can use to allow people here to offer helpful feedback. It probably seems like a different language at first, but once you become more familiar with it, you'll come to rely on it for tracking your cats' dosage and BG, as well as other information about their general health.

Now, as far as food - I'm not an expert by any stretch, but we recently converted our two to wet food after Benny's diagnosis, and it's still an ongoing battle. Fortunately, Benny likes just about any wet food, so he usually eats pretty well. Shaddie, on the other hand, is a different story. Some days he laps it up, other days he looks at it and then paws the floor around it like he's covering waste. Since we haven't completely converted him, and he's not the diabetic, we let him graze on Young Again Zero Carb kibble. I'm not a fan, in general, and would love to get rid of it entirely, but of all the dry food available, that's one of a couple that are acceptable from an animal-protein and low-carb perspective.

Others will have tips for working with a picky eater to convert them to wet food. Many of us have timed automatic feeders we use to ensure that the cat has wet food available throughout the day. I use one for overnight (since we're home during the day). Have you come across Dr. Lisa Pierson's food chart?

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-chart.174147/

This gives nutritional info (i.e., %protein, %fat, %carbs, and phosphorus) for a large number of varieties of wet food - you may be able to find something appropriate that Rogue will find irresistible. Alternatively, have you tried giving her raw or cooked meat? You can do a raw diet, but you need to purchase supplements to mix in with the meat. Several folks here feed raw. We feed mostly canned, but Shaddie loves his liver-cicles (chopped chicken liver frozen in an ice cube tray).

Good luck with the meter, and with the feeding - you've come to the right place!

 

[Julie W.]

yes, sorry - 5 units 2x/day for Kiki. He is a big cat, and we started with 1 unit and gradually increased until we found the dosage that got him to normal range at the lowest point (before blood sugar started going back up). It's been what he's been on for 5 years now. I should really do another curve soon. I will make the spreadsheet as soon as I have time. And get a pic too! My cats don't really like each other so they are often not together, but I bet I can get one at some point!

 

[membeth]

So my diabetic kitty Pants is a grazer and I free feed her wet food. Now that we're on ProZinc, grazing is fine. As long as she's eating some, the vet says it's OK to give her a shot. When she was on Lantus, the vet said she had to eat a substantial amount of food before getting her shot, so I tried to switch her to timed meals to get her to eat more at once. Supposedly, most cats will get it and start eating meals all at once after a few days, but for Pants it was a disaster. She kept on eating a tiny bit and wandering off and then whining piteously when I took her food away. Cats! Argh!

She's fussy about what type of wet food she'll eat, so it took some experimentation to find something she likes. There are lots of low carb wet foods, so keep trying. I put out a bunch of options at once to see what Pants would go for. Also, it may help to add something your kitty finds irresistible on top of wet food. I put FortiFlora on Pants's food, which is supposed to be a probiotic, but I'm using it just for taste. Another option is bonito flakes.

When I'm home, I feed her throughout the day, but I work full time, so my strategy for when I'm out of the house is to give her two bowls, one at room temp, one at fridge temp. She starts eating the room temp bowl, but then moves on to the fridge temp one when it warms up. I sprinkle a little water on the fridge temp one so it doesn't dry out. Freezing cubes of food in an ice tray is another way to keep wet food fresher longer. Other folks on the site have used timed feeders with ice packs, but I've never tried.