New here - Benny's Diagnosis

[Tiger2]

Hi all,

Came accross this forum today and thought i would join up.

Our 11yr Bengal Ben was diagnosed with type ii diabeties about 3 months agonand is on 4 units of Lantus insulin twice a day.

Its been a bit of a slow and steady approach with our vet but he is fairly stable on this dose now, check up in a month.

Cheers

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to FDMB!
Would you like to tell us a bit about yourself and your beautiful Bengal kittie please?

What is your kittie's name....not sure if it is Ben or Tiger??
How much does he weigh?
Also how did you arrive at 4 units? Did you go up slowly and by how much a time? Eg 0.25, 0.5 or 1 unit?

I see you are feeding him some dry food. If at all possible we suggest you get rid of the dry and feed all canned or raw food. This is because the dry is usually much higher in carbohydrates than is good for diabetic cats (we recommend less than 10% carbs) and it has very little moisture in it....and cats need water. If you do decide to ditch the dry don't do it until you are testing the blood sugar levels because they can drop a lot once the dry is taken away...and you need to do it slowly and only while testing so you can keep him safe. People here will help you.

Are you home testing? We strongly recommend you home test the blood sugars.
Here are some links to show you how to home test. It is not hard...just a matter of practise.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Here is the spread sheet link to record the numbers if you decide to test
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...te-a-ss-and-link-it-in-your-signature.130337/

Also could you tell us your name?
And what country you live in?
It is great you are helping your kitty with diabetes...he is a lucky boy.
Welcome again....ask lots of questions....we love to answer them for you and help you and your boy

 

[BJM]

Welcome to FDMB, the best place you never wanted to be.

There are 4 things you'll need to manage your kitty's diabetes:
- You - without your commitment, the following won't work.
- Home blood glucose monitoring with an inexpensive human glucometer such as the WalMart Relion Confirm or Target Up and Up (the pet ones will break your budget!). This saves you the cost of going to the vet for curves and done regularly, removes the need for a fructosamine test.
- Low carb over the counter canned or raw diet, such as many Friskies pates. See Cat Info for more info. If already on insulin, you must be home testing before changing the diet. Food changes should be gradual to avoid GI upsets - 20-25% different food each day until switched. There are 2 low carb, dry, over the counter foods in the US - Evo Cat and Kitten dry found at pet specialty stores and Young Again 0 Carb found online.
- A long-lasting insulin such as ProZinc, Lantus, BCP PZI, or Levemir. No insulin lasts 24 hours in the cat, so giving it every 12 hours is optimal for control.

 

[Tiger2]

Hi Bron and Sheba & BJM,

Sorry for the long delay in replying to your posts.

I'm Helene and live in Australia. My beautiful boy is Ben (Benny), he is 11 years old and weighs 7.2kg (and stable ) We started at 2 units of Lantus with the vet and gradually increased until he was stable (I can't remember the increments but it was at the vets advice and monitoring).

Benny is a fussy little man - won't eat wet (canned) food of any kind whatsoever - only kangaroo!! We have two other cats in the house so taking away the dry would be tricky (and Ben's sister Jemma would literally shout the house down ... she loves her dry food. She has lymphoma poor little girl but is still with us 2 years on from diagnosis and is the boss of the house )

As for the testing, I usually do it in conjunction with my vet (a wee sample or blood test) but will look into the home testing. It does get a little expensive going to the vet all the time (our local vets is fairly reasonable though luckily).

That's our story and thanks for welcoming us to the board.

Cheers
Helene (and Benny)

 

[BJM]

Since you're using Lantus you may find it helpful to read over the sticky posts at the top of the Lantus forum. They'll explain the optimum way to store Lantus, and describe 2 methods for using Lantus - Tight Regulation and Start Low, Go Slow. Since you indicate it isn't possible for you to ditch all the dry food, you'll be using Start Low, Go Slow.