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Sharon & Eddie

Sharon & Eddie

Member Since 2020
Hi all. I'm Sharon and my 11 year old Maine Coon/Persian is Eddie. He was just diagnosed with diabetes December 2019. I made it a mission to read up on all the medical information, etc. and I am still at a crossroads as to what I should do. The vet started him on Novolin 2 units twice a day and his blood sugar is still not stable, so it has been gradually increased to 4 units twice a day. Yesterday they ran blood work for kidney and thyroid and all came back normal. The vet made me switch to a high protein dry food. They discourage wet foot since it can cause kidney failure with diabetic cats. Eddie has started peeing outside his litter box (I clean it every day) and the vet said he has developed an aversion to his urine - I guess the smell of it - and that is why he is not using his litter box. They also discouraged me from using a human glucose monitor as the readings would not be the same as a feline glucose monitor. I love my Eddie Eddie, but I am considering euthanasia as I know it can go sideways very quickly and I do not want him to suffer. Any advise, recommendations would be most appreciated. Thank you.
 
Oh, my. So sorry you are dealing with this!

First and foremost, there is nothing in your post that suggests that Eddie is anywhere near the point where euthanasia would be the best option. Full stop. What I am hearing is, and I'm going to be blunt here, you are getting some inaccurate information from your vet. In particular:

1) I've never heard of wet food leading to kidney failure with diabetic cats. On the contrary, my understanding is that the more water and moisture cats get in their food, the less stress is put on kidneys. The only thing I can think of that your vet might be thinking is that one of the low-carb wet foods that is commonly recommended for diabetes, Purina's Fancy Feast pates, tends to be very high in phosphorous, which can be bad for cats that already have kidney problems. But that isn't a reason to avoid all wet foods for a diabetic cat! And your cat has normal kidney values in any case! I honestly don't understand your vet's reasoning here.

2) On using a human glucose monitor-- does your vet believe that no monitoring is better than using a human monitor, just because the numbers won't match a feline monitor's? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Most of us here use human glucose monitors (largely because of the cost/inconvenience of the feline monitor strips). They work great for keeping our kitties safe and adjusting dosage. Are the numbers a match for the feline numbers? No, but we know what the normal non-diabetic range looks like for cats using these monitors (50-120, mostly under 100), and we know when things have gone too low (under 50) and we need to take action to keep the cat safe.

OK, that out of the way, here are my other impressions from your info: 4U of Novalin is a high dose of a particularly harsh insulin. I strongly encourage you to consider home testing Eddie's blood glucose if you are going to shoot that dose. I also encourage you to look at other insulins that have been found to be more suited to a cat's metabolism, particularly the depot insulins Lantus and Levemir, and the non-depot insulin ProZinc. They are much gentler and safer to use in cats than Novalin (though in all cases, we are strong advocates for testing BG at home).

There are a lot of reasons why Eddie may be peeing outside his litter box, from medical to behavioral. I don't think I've heard of a cat developing a smell aversion to their own urine, but I suppose it's possible. I would still be looking for other reasons-- a UTI is one possibility. Another is just that he is feeling miserable and is trying to let you know. We can help you work on this problem-- obviously, we can't diagnose medical problems over the internet, but we can offer suggestions of things to check out and give tips on trying to address a behavioral issue.

Please don't give up on Eddie! Feline diabetes is very treatable! Please let us know how we can help!
 
Hello Sharon and Eddie! My Billy is also 11 and was also diagnosed in December.

I love our vet, he's helped us many times, but I quickly found out that he knew very little about feline diabetes. I did my own research, found this site, and Billy is doing great now.

1- I'm with Nan on this. Research and many vets suggest wet food can help avoid kidney failure in cats. Yes, cats that already have kidney issues need to watch phosphorous. Billy has diabetes and allergies. He's done awesomely on wet food. In fact, his water consumption is way down and he's now peeing in small, normal amounts.

2- My vet didn't suggest home testing at all, and then scolded us for using a human meter. I don't care. I use a ReliOn meter from Walmart and home test regularly. This saved Billy's life on day 5. Click on Billy's spreadsheet in my signature, and you can see exactly how useful home testing is. Not only did it keep us from giving Billy 2 units of insulin when he was only at 52, it helped members here advise us when it was time to lower the dose.

Never heard of the smell thing either. My apologies to your vet, but it sounds nutty to me. Is it possible that Eddie has some neuropathy going on in his back legs? I he jumping less? Does he ever have cat litter caked in his back feet? Is he ever walking on his hocks instead of up on his feet? Try putting his litter in a low pan and see if it helps. If he is experiencing neuropathy, it should improve as he gets his blood sugar regulated. Billy had this, and it improved rapidly once he was getting what he needed.

Agree with Nan that you are using an insulin that is not optimal for cats. Lantus and Levemir are the gold standard for cats. My Billy is on ProZinc, which has worked awesomely for him. I would talk to the vet today and try to get a different insulin. If the vet won't work with you on this, quite frankly, I would get another vet. It's that important. And please do test at home. 4 units is huge for a starting dose, especially with such a harsh insulin. If it were me, and I'm no expert, I would drop that down to 1 or 2 units and test before every injection, until I got a better kind of insulin. And I would test before every single dose. If you get a number under 200 on a human meter, skip the dose. You can fine tune that no-dose number later, after you get more experience with how Eddie reacts to insulin, but for now it's better to be safe than sorry. Better a day of high blood sugar levels than a dangerous hypo event.

Now, I'm going to show you two pictures. The first one is Billy day zero. Just diagnosed and so very sick. He isn't in the middle of closing his eyes in this picture, he looked like that for two days. Not eating. Litter caked in his back feet. Not jumping. diagnosed with BGL over 500. We thought he was going to die.


Now, take a look at this picture. It's only 11 days later. Billy is active, alert, eating, and no longer has any signs of neuropathy. 11 days of the right treatment was all it took for him to feel this much better.


We didn't get there by following our vet's instructions. We got there by doing our own research and getting help from the members of this site. Now, Billy is in remission and diet controlled. We'll have to watch him carefully, but it's completely worth it.

I know it's overwhelming, but I promise you it gets better, and less overwhelming the more you read and the more you know. Read the sticky posts at the top of the Health links section of the forum. So much good information! And to get the most out of the people who help here, read this post: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

There's also a great food chart here.

This board helped save my sanity, and absolutely saved my Billy's life. It can help you and Eddie too.
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Oh, my. So sorry you are dealing with this!

First and foremost, there is nothing in your post that suggests that Eddie is anywhere near the point where euthanasia would be the best option. Full stop. What I am hearing is, and I'm going to be blunt here, you are getting some inaccurate information from your vet. In particular:

1) I've never heard of wet food leading to kidney failure with diabetic cats. On the contrary, my understanding is that the more water and moisture cats get in their food, the less stress is put on kidneys. The only thing I can think of that your vet might be thinking is that one of the low-carb wet foods that is commonly recommended for diabetes, Purina's Fancy Feast pates, tends to be very high in phosphorous, which can be bad for cats that already have kidney problems. But that isn't a reason to avoid all wet foods for a diabetic cat! And your cat has normal kidney values in any case! I honestly don't understand your vet's reasoning here.

2) On using a human glucose monitor-- does your vet believe that no monitoring is better than using a human monitor, just because the numbers won't match a feline monitor's? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Most of us here use human glucose monitors (largely because of the cost/inconvenience of the feline monitor strips). They work great for keeping our kitties safe and adjusting dosage. Are the numbers a match for the feline numbers? No, but we know what the normal non-diabetic range looks like for cats using these monitors (50-120, mostly under 100), and we know when things have gone too low (under 50) and we need to take action to keep the cat safe.

OK, that out of the way, here are my other impressions from your info: 4U of Novalin is a high dose of a particularly harsh insulin. I strongly encourage you to consider home testing Eddie's blood glucose if you are going to shoot that dose. I also encourage you to look at other insulins that have been found to be more suited to a cat's metabolism, particularly the depot insulins Lantus and Levemir, and the non-depot insulin ProZinc. They are much gentler and safer to use in cats than Novalin (though in all cases, we are strong advocates for testing BG at home).

There are a lot of reasons why Eddie may be peeing outside his litter box, from medical to behavioral. I don't think I've heard of a cat developing a smell aversion to their own urine, but I suppose it's possible. I would still be looking for other reasons-- a UTI is one possibility. Another is just that he is feeling miserable and is trying to let you know. We can help you work on this problem-- obviously, we can't diagnose medical problems over the internet, but we can offer suggestions of things to check out and give tips on trying to address a behavioral issue.

Please don't give up on Eddie! Feline diabetes is very treatable! Please let us know how we can help!
Click to expand...

Thank you so much for being up front and candid with me, as I am overwhelmed by all that has happened in the last 2 months. Eddie's BG was 245 yesterday afternoon, 6 hours after his last insulin dose. This is my first experience with insulin so I would not know what is a good one versus bad one. I will ask the vet if she can change out his insulin. This is a new vet and I just joined her practice in October 2019. My old vet was over charging on everything.
 
Juls and Billy said:
Hello Sharon and Eddie! My Billy is also 11 and was also diagnosed in December.

I love our vet, he's helped us many times, but I quickly found out that he knew very little about feline diabetes. I did my own research, found this site, and Billy is doing great now.

1- I'm with Nan on this. Research and many vets suggest wet food can help avoid kidney failure in cats. Yes, cats that already have kidney issues need to watch phosphorous. Billy has diabetes and allergies. He's done awesomely on wet food. In fact, his water consumption is way down and he's now peeing in small, normal amounts.

2- My vet didn't suggest home testing at all, and then scolded us for using a human meter. I don't care. I use a ReliOn meter from Walmart and home test regularly. This saved Billy's life on day 5. Click on Billy's spreadsheet in my signature, and you can see exactly how useful home testing is. Not only did it keep us from giving Billy 2 units of insulin when he was only at 52, it helped members here advise us when it was time to lower the dose.

Never heard of the smell thing either. My apologies to your vet, but it sounds nutty to me. Is it possible that Eddie has some neuropathy going on in his back legs? I he jumping less? Does he ever have cat litter caked in his back feet? Is he ever walking on his hocks instead of up on his feet? Try putting his litter in a low pan and see if it helps. If he is experiencing neuropathy, it should improve as he gets his blood sugar regulated. Billy had this, and it improved rapidly once he was getting what he needed.

Agree with Nan that you are using an insulin that is not optimal for cats. Lantus and Levemir are the gold standard for cats. My Billy is on ProZinc, which has worked awesomely for him. I would talk to the vet today and try to get a different insulin. If the vet won't work with you on this, quite frankly, I would get another vet. It's that important. And please do test at home. 4 units is huge for a starting dose, especially with such a harsh insulin. If it were me, and I'm no expert, I would drop that down to 1 or 2 units and test before every injection, until I got a better kind of insulin. And I would test before every single dose. If you get a number under 200 on a human meter, skip the dose. You can fine tune that no-dose number later, after you get more experience with how Eddie reacts to insulin, but for now it's better to be safe than sorry. Better a day of high blood sugar levels than a dangerous hypo event.

Now, I'm going to show you two pictures. The first one is Billy day zero. Just diagnosed and so very sick. He isn't in the middle of closing his eyes in this picture, he looked like that for two days. Not eating. Litter caked in his back feet. Not jumping. diagnosed with BGL over 500. We thought he was going to die.


Now, take a look at this picture. It's only 11 days later. Billy is active, alert, eating, and no longer has any signs of neuropathy. 11 days of the right treatment was all it took for him to feel this much better.


We didn't get there by following our vet's instructions. We got there by doing our own research and getting help from the members of this site. Now, Billy is in remission and diet controlled. We'll have to watch him carefully, but it's completely worth it.

I know it's overwhelming, but I promise you it gets better, and less overwhelming the more you read and the more you know. Read the sticky posts at the top of the Health links section of the forum. So much good information! And to get the most out of the people who help here, read this post: New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

There's also a great food chart here.

This board helped save my sanity, and absolutely saved my Billy's life. It can help you and Eddie too.
Click to expand...
Hi Juls don't mean to hijack but I have to tell you again Billy is such a gorgeous kitty
I just love his coloring
 
Nan & Amber (GA) said:
Oh, my. So sorry you are dealing with this!

First and foremost, there is nothing in your post that suggests that Eddie is anywhere near the point where euthanasia would be the best option. Full stop. What I am hearing is, and I'm going to be blunt here, you are getting some inaccurate information from your vet. In particular:

1) I've never heard of wet food leading to kidney failure with diabetic cats. On the contrary, my understanding is that the more water and moisture cats get in their food, the less stress is put on kidneys. The only thing I can think of that your vet might be thinking is that one of the low-carb wet foods that is commonly recommended for diabetes, Purina's Fancy Feast pates, tends to be very high in phosphorous, which can be bad for cats that already have kidney problems. But that isn't a reason to avoid all wet foods for a diabetic cat! And your cat has normal kidney values in any case! I honestly don't understand your vet's reasoning here.

2) On using a human glucose monitor-- does your vet believe that no monitoring is better than using a human monitor, just because the numbers won't match a feline monitor's? Talk about throwing the baby out with the bathwater! Most of us here use human glucose monitors (largely because of the cost/inconvenience of the feline monitor strips). They work great for keeping our kitties safe and adjusting dosage. Are the numbers a match for the feline numbers? No, but we know what the normal non-diabetic range looks like for cats using these monitors (50-120, mostly under 100), and we know when things have gone too low (under 50) and we need to take action to keep the cat safe.

OK, that out of the way, here are my other impressions from your info: 4U of Novalin is a high dose of a particularly harsh insulin. I strongly encourage you to consider home testing Eddie's blood glucose if you are going to shoot that dose. I also encourage you to look at other insulins that have been found to be more suited to a cat's metabolism, particularly the depot insulins Lantus and Levemir, and the non-depot insulin ProZinc. They are much gentler and safer to use in cats than Novalin (though in all cases, we are strong advocates for testing BG at home).

There are a lot of reasons why Eddie may be peeing outside his litter box, from medical to behavioral. I don't think I've heard of a cat developing a smell aversion to their own urine, but I suppose it's possible. I would still be looking for other reasons-- a UTI is one possibility. Another is just that he is feeling miserable and is trying to let you know. We can help you work on this problem-- obviously, we can't diagnose medical problems over the internet, but we can offer suggestions of things to check out and give tips on trying to address a behavioral issue.

Please don't give up on Eddie! Feline diabetes is very treatable! Please let us know how we can help!
Click to expand...


Thank you for all this wonderful information...looks like I have my work cut out for me. He did have two UTI's when first diagnosed with diabetes but his urine has been clean ever since. He did not have any underlying conditions prior to being diagnosed. I will be giving him more wet food now that I know. He's currently on Iams high protein salmon and chicken dry food. When I do feed him wet, it is usually Purina One or Blue Buffalo. I never feed him Fancy Feast as that is the MacDonald's for cats. I have a human glucose monitor already that I used on myself. So I will be reading up on how to use it for cats. I plan on asking the vet about another type of insulin. If she gets insulted, then I will be looking for another vet. Thank you for giving me some peace of mind.
 
Hi

I'm really sorry to hear what you are going through, unfortunately I would have to say is very similar to what a lot of us have gone through, most vets even though they can be very good at a lot of stuff ( I know mine is a great surgeon) do not know much about diabetes and nutrition which causes a lot of trouble, Babu was also started with Novolin, no testing because apparently the vet didn't wanted me to get stressed and he basically hypoed (went too low in his blood glucose levels) with only 1 unit and with 1 shoot so we learned the hard way how important home testing is and I use a human meter ( there are no vet meters where we live so even vets use human meters )

Most of us ended up either changing vets and finding one that actually had experience dealing with diabetes or handling the diabetes ourselves and agreeing with the vet he would handle other issues, the protocols and diets that are suggested here have been used by thousands of cats with very good results and there are even scientific studies to back them up ( take a look at the segment for education and at the stickies of each forum)

Diabetes is treatable and your kitty can have a very happy normal life once he gets regulated it may take time
 
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Sharon & Eddie said:
He's currently on Iams high protein salmon and chicken dry food.
Click to expand...
While not as high in calories from carbs as some dry foods, I looked up the stats for this one, on a site called Cat Food DB. It's 34.3% calories from protein, 39.4 calories from fat, and 26.3% calories from carbs. Frankly, they can call it high protein all they want, but it's higher fat than anything. Members of this site have had the best success with calories from carbs under 10%, so that 26% is quite high. There are, I think, only 1 or 2 dry foods that get close to under 10% calories from carbs. Perhaps another member can tell us what they are.

I used to think Fancy Feast was McDonald's for cats too, but it got my Billy into remission, so I've stopped smack talking it, lol. But there are many, many choices on the food chart I linked for you. You can absolutely find a canned food that works for you and Eddie. Personally, (and this is just my opinion) I don't trust the Purina One, because I can't tell what the percentages of calories from carbs are. Fun fact, Purina makes Fancy Feast too. With the Blue Buffalo, it really depends on what flavor you are feeding. Depending on type, they range from 3% calories from carbs to 19%. The grain free "Basics" are some of the worst, (mostly 17% to 19%) because they have so much potato. Don't make the mistake I used to, that "grain free" means lower carb. What decided me against the Blue Buffalo (and everyone has to make their own decisions about what to feed their cat) was that they were so fat focused and didn't have enough protein. I wanted Billy on a high protein diet, not a high fat one. That's why I ended up with the Fancy Feast, though there are certainly other options out there.

Do take a look at that food chart I linked. I learned so much from that.
 
Sharon & Eddie said:
Thank you for all this wonderful information...looks like I have my work cut out for me. He did have two UTI's when first diagnosed with diabetes but his urine has been clean ever since. He did not have any underlying conditions prior to being diagnosed. I will be giving him more wet food now that I know. He's currently on Iams high protein salmon and chicken dry food. When I do feed him wet, it is usually Purina One or Blue Buffalo. I never feed him Fancy Feast as that is the MacDonald's for cats. I have a human glucose monitor already that I used on myself. So I will be reading up on how to use it for cats. I plan on asking the vet about another type of insulin. If she gets insulted, then I will be looking for another vet. Thank you for giving me some peace of mind.
Click to expand...

UTI's can be hard to clear on diabetic cats ( the high concentration of sugar in the urine helps bacteria grow) , they usually take more than one round of antibiotics, what is usually recommended is to give one round of antibiotics wait 10 days after the round is finished and do a culture, if it's clear, wait a month and repeat the culture again, if in any of the cultures bacteria is found he would need another round of antibiotics all of this is because is quite common for the UTI to return

Contrary to the common belief Fancy Feast are not a bad food and the pate varieties (without gravy) are diabetic appropriate, there are other brands that are ok too, take a look at the list they mentioned earlier (http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf) and choose one that is 10% or less in carbohydrates and as high in protein as possible and in any case any wet food is better for the kidneys than dry food luckily for you Eddie does not have kidney problems, but for cats who do, the recommended diet is wet with low phoshporus content.

There is a post by Dr. Lisa Pierson who has dedicated a good part of her career to feline nutrition that talks about this http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...r-more-than-just-carbohydrate-content.175004/
 
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I am totalling overwhelmed by all the wonderful support I am getting right now. The love on this forum comes through and for that I thank you all!! I downloaded the chart, now I just need to understand how to read it. :) I do have another cat, Levi who is 5 and absolutely LOVES wet food, so he will be in his glory.
 
PLEASE, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT CHANGE THE FOOD FROM WHAT YOU ARE FEEDING NOW TO A LOWER CARB FOOD until you are hometesting!!!

My apologies for shouting at you Sharon and Eddie, but doing the food switch is not safe to do until and unless you are home testing.

Especially not safe since you are giving Novolin, one of the NPH insulins. I've used that for a short period of time with 2 cats. Please confirm you are using the Novolin N insulin as there are different types.
Please confirm your cat Eddie is getting 8 units a day of Novolin. Or if the 4 Units is split, 2 units in the morning, 2 units in the evening.

Are finances a big concern? Is that why your vet recommended the NPH insulin? We have ideas on how you can obtain insulins at places other than your vet.

p.s. I'm swearing at my 'flaky' computer as I try to reply to your post.
 
Sharon & Eddie said:
I am totalling overwhelmed by all the wonderful support I am getting right now. The love on this forum comes through and for that I thank you all!! I downloaded the chart, now I just need to understand how to read it. :) I do have another cat, Levi who is 5 and absolutely LOVES wet food, so he will be in his glory.
Click to expand...
When Babu was diagnosed I actually changed all of my cats to the same wet low carbohydrates high protein diet and it was wonderful for them even their coats improved and easier for me
 
Sharon & Eddie said:
I am totalling overwhelmed by all the wonderful support I am getting right now. The love on this forum comes through and for that I thank you all!! I downloaded the chart, now I just need to understand how to read it. :) I do have another cat, Levi who is 5 and absolutely LOVES wet food, so he will be in his glory.
Click to expand...
You have already gotten some excellent information, I just want to add (or reiterate) that you should not change Eddie’s food until you are home testing. Switching to a lower carb food can cause a decrease in blood glucose, and if that happens while you are giving 4u of novolin, that could be very dangerous without monitoring.

The food chart is extensive and can be a bit overwhelming, but the main thing you are looking for is less than 10% in the carbs column :cat:
 
Here is a good link for you Sharon.
Beginner's Guide To Novolin/Humulin/NPH

Please read it to get a better understanding of Novolin.
With Novolin insulin, you should do the Pre-test BG reading, feed your cat, wait 45-60 minutes for the food to start digesting, test again then give the insulin. If feeding dry food, it should be at LEAST 60 minutes from food fed after pre-shot test to giving your cat insulin.

NPH insulins have a very fast onset, steep dives(200-300 points in a short period of time, and a short duration, usually only lasting 6-8 hours in a cat.

ECID though. Every Cat, Caregiver, Cycle is Different.
 
Deb & Wink said:
PLEASE, ABSOLUTELY DO NOT CHANGE THE FOOD FROM WHAT YOU ARE FEEDING NOW TO A LOWER CARB FOOD until you are hometesting!!!

My apologies for shouting at you Sharon and Eddie, but doing the food switch is not safe to do until and unless you are home testing.

Especially not safe since you are giving Novolin, one of the NPH insulins. I've used that for a short period of time with 2 cats. Please confirm you are using the Novolin N insulin as there are different types.
Please confirm your cat Eddie is getting 8 units a day of Novolin. Or if the 4 Units is split, 2 units in the morning, 2 units in the evening.

Are finances a big concern? Is that why your vet recommended the NPH insulin? We have ideas on how you can obtain insulins at places other than your vet.

p.s. I'm swearing at my 'flaky' computer as I try to reply to your post.
Click to expand...


Novolin N, 4 units a.m., 4 units p.m. She phoned in the prescription to Wal-Mart which costs me $25.00. She never suggested another type of insulin. I will call her office to ask her about another type. I understand about hypoglycemia as I have it and need to eat 6 times a day. So please rest assured I will not change the dry food until I get the insulin changed and start the home monitoring.
 
Sharon & Eddie said:
So please rest assured I will not change the dry food until I get the insulin changed and start the home monitoring.
Click to expand...
Thank you.

8 units of Novolin N is an extremely high dose. Probably the only thing that has kept your Eddie from having a hypoglycemic episode is the dry food.

Here is a link to a document that lists the hypoglycemic symptoms for a cat and a second document of what you should have in your hypo toolkit.
How to treat HYPOS - THEY CAN KILL! Print this Out!!
jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

Since our cats can't speak to us in English, or Spanish or any human language, we have to know their body language and signs. "Know thy Cat". Then, we grab a BG test to see if they are low.
 
Sharon & Eddie said:
I understand about hypoglycemia as I have it and need to eat 6 times a day. So please rest assured I will not change the dry food until I get the insulin changed and start the home monitoring.
Click to expand...
Good plan, Sharon. Deb is absolutely right about not changing diet until you are home testing. Important with any insulin, but doubly so with a fast acting one. When we switched Billy's diet, his blood glucose readings dropped rapidly. Every cat is different, but it's always better to be safe. Eddie is a lucky boy to have a smart mama like you!
 
Deb & Wink said:
Sharon I feel like we are overwhelming you with information. Do you want us to keep the information coming, or have you had enough for now? (Different strokes for different folks)
Click to expand...
'

Yes, please do continue to mentor me. I was preparing myself to say goodbye to Eddie, and during that time I asked God to give me a sign, a suggestion, clarification, anything. Then I received the idea to google 'outcomes for feline diabetes' and this forum was the first link at the top of the page. Prayers answered. I have been absorbing all I have been reading, still have more reading to do and formulating a plan to deal with my current vet and possibly get a second opinion from other vet who specializes in cats. I am starting to feel hopeful again, thanks to all of you wonderful people. :kiss:
 
Sharon & Eddie said:
They discourage wet foot since it can cause kidney failure with diabetic cats.
Click to expand...
I've never heard of wet food causing kidney failure.
Sharon & Eddie said:
Eddie has started peeing outside his litter box (I clean it every day) and the vet said he has developed an aversion to his urine - I guess the smell of it - and that is why he is not using his litter box.
Click to expand...
Ever been pregnant? or stuck far away from "toileting facilities"? Well, think of being pregnant and all that extra urine and the weight of the fetus pressing down on your bladder. Same sort of idea with Eddie going outside the litter box. Urge incontinence is a possibility. Try adding another litter box. Lots of other reasons for peeing outside the box, including a new baby in the house, moved the furniture, other cat is chasing Eddie away from the litter box, UTI,......................

Sharon, I know this is a lot to ask at the beginning. After all, you only joined the FDMB message board a couple of days ago.
Two things that would help us immensely to help you better. A signature and setting up a spreadsheet where you record the BG (blood glucose) tests you do, the number of units of insulin you give, and any notes in the Remarks column that might help explain to us why the BG readings are like they are.

How to do that is explained in this post.
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!

Would you do that for us please? Signature first of course. Then the SS or spreadsheet. It's a standardized format, so you don't have to "reinvent the wheel."
 
Sharon, if you would please. Continue to ask all your questions in this same "thread". It helps those of us "mentoring" you to see everything together, and look back to review when we need to know, to refresh our memories.

I think we can help you and your Eddie a lot.

Diabetes is a journey. It took time for Eddie to become diabetic. It will take time to get him feeling better.
"This is a marathon, not a sprint."

There is hope. Please do not give up on Eddie yet. We'll help you all we can.
 
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