New Here Dino just got diagnosed with diabetes

[Dino and Marbles]

Hi, I'm new here. My 8 year old male tuxedo tabby Dino was just diagnosed with diabetes. Lost 6 pounds since July 16th. Glucose is 530. No insulin as of yet, waiting on urine test to confirm. I'm so afraid for my boy. Normally Dino ate dry food in the early morning a can of wet food mid morning and free feeding during the day. I have no clue if this was induced by stress since I have a guest at home for a few months who has spooked him mistakenly four times. We discussed Dino's health and his dure need to be calm and return to his normal home setting. Guest seems to agree and is going back home. In the meantime, I need pointers as to lower his current glucose level with meals. What do you recommend as over the counter treats and food while I wait for meds?

 

[Liz & Crowley]

Welcome! I know it's scary (I've only been here for a few weeks so the fear is still fresh!!), but I want to reassure you that diabetes is very manageable! I don't have Crowley to a regulated place yet, but he's already feeling so much better.

One big thing is switching to wet food, specifically a low carb wet food, asap. There's a lot of posts around about the benefits of wet vs dry food, so I won't get into it, but you can find a great breakdown of different foods here. As far as treats, I give freeze dried chicken breast.

I would also take some time to read through the info here! First stop is here, where it lays out forum basics if you want to get integrated into the community. Getting a spreadsheet set up so you can be ready to home test is really important imo because the more data you have, the better, and there's a standardized system that the group uses. The vet might not mention home testing (mine didn't until I brought it up) but it's crucial to managing diabetes safely.

Don't be afraid to ask questions! The people here have a lot of experience and are very willing to help. I was super scared to start all of this, but now it's become a relatively normal and easy part of the routine and people were willing to help answer questions I felt really dumb asking (I accidentally gave Crowley a 0u dose instead of .5u because I was misreading the syringes! But it's good I asked!).

 

[Lisa and Witn (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB. We know the diagnosis of diabetes is very scary and overwhelming at first. You have found the best group to help you learn how to manage your cat's diabetes.

There are three things that work for caring for a diabetic cat. First is diet. You should feed a low carb/high protein canned or raw food diet. There are only a couple dry foods we recommend, almost all dry foods are high in carbs. You also do not need to feed prescription food either despite what your vet may try to tell you.

Second is a good long acting insulin. There are several available and on this site you will find boards that are for each one. The insulin you do not want are short acting ones like vetsulin or caninsulin. These work fine for dogs, but not cats. Insulin glargine, Prozinc and PZI are some of the long acting insulins.

Third is home testing. This is extremely important. This means testing your cats glucose levels before every shot and also between. This shows how well the dose is working and also prevents giving insulin when the glucose level is too low. You can use either a human or pet glucose meter.

There is a lot of important information on this site. Start reading through it. Ask any questions you may have. We are here to help you learn and no question is considered not important.

 

[Dino and Marbles]

Welcome to FDMB. We know the diagnosis of diabetes is very scary and overwhelming at first. You have found the best group to help you learn how to manage your cat's diabetes.

There are three things that work for caring for a diabetic cat. First is diet. You should feed a low carb/high protein canned or raw food diet. There are only a couple dry foods we recommend, almost all dry foods are high in carbs. You also do not need to feed prescription food either despite what your vet may try to tell you.

Second is a good long acting insulin. There are several available and on this site you will find boards that are for each one. The insulin you do not want are short acting ones like vetsulin or caninsulin. These work fine for dogs, but not cats. Insulin glargine, Prozinc and PZI are some of the long acting insulins.

Third is home testing. This is extremely important. This means testing your cats glucose levels before every shot and also between. This shows how well the dose is working and also prevents giving insulin when the glucose level is too low. You can use either a human or pet glucose meter.

There is a lot of important information on this site. Start reading through it. Ask any questions you may have. We are here to help you learn and no question is considered not important.

Thank you so much I didn't think I can use a human glucometer this is great!! I definitely will start reading more. The vet doesn't tell you all these things in terms of food and the meter.

 

[Dino and Marbles]

Welcome to FDMB. We know the diagnosis of diabetes is very scary and overwhelming at first. You have found the best group to help you learn how to manage your cat's diabetes.

There are three things that work for caring for a diabetic cat. First is diet. You should feed a low carb/high protein canned or raw food diet. There are only a couple dry foods we recommend, almost all dry foods are high in carbs. You also do not need to feed prescription food either despite what your vet may try to tell you.

Second is a good long acting insulin. There are several available and on this site you will find boards that are for each one. The insulin you do not want are short acting ones like vetsulin or caninsulin. These work fine for dogs, but not cats. Insulin glargine, Prozinc and PZI are some of the long acting insulins.

Third is home testing. This is extremely important. This means testing your cats glucose levels before every shot and also between. This shows how well the dose is working and also prevents giving insulin when the glucose level is too low. You can use either a human or pet glucose meter.

There is a lot of important information on this site. Start reading through it. Ask any questions you may have. We are here to help you learn and no question is considered not important.

Thank you soooo much it I scary. In terms of injecting insulin, I lnever done it to animals. I learned to do it with my mom, setting up her dose. My poor baby. I never knew this could happen.

 

[CORKY]

Thank you so much I didn't think I can use a human glucometer this is great!! I definitely will start reading more. The vet doesn't tell you all these things in terms of food and the meter.

Most members use the ReliOn Premier meter and strips (Walmart) or any human meter, we actually base our numbers on human meter

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB! This is literally the best place you never wanted to be.

Do you have any idea what your vet's plan is? If your kitty was diagnosed a few weeks ago, I would hope your vet would begin to start treating Dino sooner rather than later.

You've already got some great advice about diet and home testing. The helping you to help us post (also linked by @Liz & Crowley) has information on how to set up both your signature and spreadsheet. The signature will give us some basic information about Dino so we don't keep asking you the same questions. The spreadsheet will allow you to track his progress and we can follow along and offer suggestions.

If your vet recommends an insulin other than Lantus (glargine -- it's in generic now) or Prozinc (PZI is the "old" name), ask why the other insulin is being recommended. The American Animal Hospital Assn only recommends Lantus and Prozinc as the other insulins do not provide the same duration. Both of these last at least 12 hours whereas the others can last only 8 - 10 hours and are dosed twice daily so numbers tend to swing wildly and they can drop blood glucose numbers hard and fast. Also, there are now two new oral diabetes treatments. Members here have had mixed results and not all vets are truly up to speed on their use. You need to be absolutely sure that your cat is not showing any ketones to use these medications.

We have any number of suggestions to help Dino get used to home testing. There is a huge volume of information on the Health Links/FAQ page. Take your time looking it over otherwise you'll be completely overwhelmed!

Please let us know how we can help.