New member, 29th August 2021, newly diagnosed 'Chubbs'

[jomitch]

Hi folks,
I'm in New Zealand, we're in COVID lockdown and 4 year old Chubbs (he used to be a podge of a cat, not anymore) has just been diagnosed. This is my second diabetic cat, the first was maybe 15 years ago now but at least I know the basics of injecting insulin and taking blood from the ear. I'm waiting for a glucometer to arrive so that I can do a curve but at the moment I'm working on the vet's best estimate which is 2 units of glargine insulin every 12 hours. Chubbs is still on his usual diet too; we had a few problems with his feeding subsequent to a bout of illness and antibiotic treatment. He became quite picky but I've just discovered that whisker fatigue is a thing and feeding him from a plate has helped improve his feeding. Not much more to add at this point but I'm keen to get his blood glucose under good control in the hope that he'll go into remission.
Thanks in anticipation of support! Best regards to my fellow diabetic cat owners,
Jo

 

[JanetNJ]

Welcome to fdmb. Sorry about the diagnosis.

 

[Red & Rover (GA)]

Welcome.
Here is a list of low carb NZ food put together by one of our members:

• NEW ZEALAND LOW CARB CANNED AND AIR/FREEZE DRIED CAT FOOD)(updated 09/2019) Complied by Bron & Sheba (GA)

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

I'm happy to hear you know some of the basics. I'm linking a post that deals with helping us to help you. It gives instructions for what to put in your signature (e.g., date of diagnosis, insulin you're using) so we don't keep asking the the same questions over and over. It also provides information on how to set up a spreadsheet so you can keep track of Chubb's progress and so we can follow along and offer input.

I'm glad Kel (Red & Rover) provided you with the link to food lists in New Zealand. If you're not doing so already, you'll want to select foods that are less than 10% carbohydrate (although most people here feed their cats around 5%). However, your vet has started Chubb's on a higher dose than we suggest. I would not change any food until you have a meter and are testing to see where your cat's numbers are. A change to low carb food could drop blood glucose (BG) numbers precipitously.

Please let us know how we can help. The people here are very generous with their time and knowledge.

 

[Acadaca]

Hoping for the best for you and Chubbs. Once you manage to get the spreadsheet up hopefully it will include a lot of good numbers.