New Member - Bobbythecat.

[Bobbythecat]

Hi everone! What a relief to find this forum! I live in Portugal (am British) and have just had our cat Bob diagnosed with diabetes. We have 5 cats including Bob's brother George. Unfortunately a neighbour decided he wanted Bobby and started feeding him, in spite of me asking him not to on multiple occasions. Goodness knows what Bob has been fed....but none of our other cats, including his brother, are diabetic. I will start reading the advice on the forum but my immediate concern is food! The vet is pushing Hills, both dry and wet, which he hates; we feed our cats tinned Miamjiam. Bob is in the first few days of insulin (caninsulin - I already realise this is a dog med and not good!) and wearing a Libralink monitor. Bob is thin. his readings are spiking beyond what Libralink can measure - over 500 and going down to 320. Vet says he can eat what he wants right now but not in the 30 mins prior to insulin. Any food advice would be gratefully received; would need to be available to buy through Zooplus as they operate in Portugal, so European made food. Thanks in advance!

 

[CORKY]

Welcome to FDMB
Do not waste your money on any “prescribed” food they are horrible for a diabetic cat, the foods your vet mentioned are over 20+ % carbs, and a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can or raw food between 0-10% carbs, have a feeding schedule of about 3-4 small meals or snacks during the day plus the two main meals before shot, grazing is not an option you want to know Your cats’s true level before giving a shot food raises levels, If you are feeding kibbles (dry) the transition from dry food ( high carbs) to wet food ( low carb) needs to be a slow transition you do not want to upset Your cats’s stomach as well as testing during this transition is important since it can lower the glucose levels, it is very important to home test the glucose level you do not want to give insulin without testing, it can cause hypoglycemia, you do not need a pet meter you can use any human meter, testing prior to shot and about 2-3 times during the day, not only to create a pattern but to see how the insulin is working throughout the day, what insulin and dose where you prescribed? ProZinc and Lantus are the best insulina for cats they are a12-hour insulin gentle on the cats, the protocol for both is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, keep posting

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and welcome. We do have a list of foods available in the UK and Europe here: UK Cat Food List. Some might be just UK specific, but we've had other members not too far from you. You are ideally looking for food under 10% carbs. It's the bright yellow column on the chart. Higher carb food is OK to keep around in case his blood sugars go low.

We have some Sticky Notes at the top of this forum Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH. that you might want to read. My kitty was started on Caninsulin as well.

Yet more reading, sorry! This post might be of help: New? How You Can Help Us Help You! It does get easier after the beginning, though it may feel like you are drinking information from a fire hose at first.

 

[Bobbythecat]

Thanks so much for this advice. My vet told me to feed him only two times per day, before the insulin shot! I really thought this could not be right, especially as he is thin, so I have been giving him smaller feeds inbetween. What i will do now is space them out carefuly, so he gets his larger meals before insulin. Unfortunately, he has been put on Caninsulin; has been on it for one week. I will find out if ProZinc or Lantus are availabe in Portugal and discuss with the vet. She may not be happy, since have already told her I won't feed the special diabetic food . on his current insulin, he fluctuates to above 500 ( beyond the meter) down to sometimes 200. it has got very slightly less extreme but I don't think it is going great. I don't think he has put on significant weight. He does not seem unwell at the moment and we have bought a tracker so he can go out and we can find him. We live in a tiny village and one of our lovely neighbours has put a notice on the villiage Facebook page explaining that everyone must make sure not to feed Bobby, or leave food where he can get it and why. He is unlikely to go beyond our villiage....well, we will find that out!

Welcome to FDMB
Do not waste your money on any “prescribed” food they are horrible for a diabetic cat, the foods your vet mentioned are over 20+ % carbs, and a diabetic cat needs to have a diet of wet can or raw food between 0-10% carbs, have a feeding schedule of about 3-4 small meals or snacks during the day plus the two main meals before shot, grazing is not an option you want to know Your cats’s true level before giving a shot food raises levels, If you are feeding kibbles (dry) the transition from dry food ( high carbs) to wet food ( low carb) needs to be a slow transition you do not want to upset Your cats’s stomach as well as testing during this transition is important since it can lower the glucose levels, it is very important to home test the glucose level you do not want to give insulin without testing, it can cause hypoglycemia, you do not need a pet meter you can use any human meter, testing prior to shot and about 2-3 times during the day, not only to create a pattern but to see how the insulin is working throughout the day, what insulin and dose where you prescribed? ProZinc and Lantus are the best insulina for cats they are a12-hour insulin gentle on the cats, the protocol for both is TEST-FEED-SHOOT, keep posting

 

[Bobbythecat]

Hello and welcome. We do have a list of foods available in the UK and Europe here: UK Cat Food List. Some might be just UK specific, but we've had other members not too far from you. You are ideally looking for food under 10% carbs. It's the bright yellow column on the chart. Higher carb food is OK to keep around in case his blood sugars go low.

We have some Sticky Notes at the top of this forum Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH. that you might want to read. My kitty was started on Caninsulin as well.

Yet more reading, sorry! This post might be of help: New? How You Can Help Us Help You! It does get easier after the beginning, though it may feel like you are drinking information from a fire hose at first.

Thanks very much! I am going to have to see about the alternative and better insulins. I will seek out more local members! They may well know what is available. Yes, a fire hose is about it! I just can't take it all in and have just ot a book to write down stuff appropiate to Bobby ....and where I can find it on here!

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Lantus is an insulin commonly used by humans. Depending on the country, you may or may not need a vet prescription to buy it at most human pharmacies (chemists). Prozinc is an insulin for cats, the question is whether your vet has experience with it or has it for sale. My vet only had experience with Caninsulin. It wasn't until a locum vet came in, that new Lantus, that I got started on it. He pointed me to FDMB for dosing.

For Caninsulin, read the relevant Sticky Notes on the top of this forum: Caninsulin / Vetsulin and N / NPH There are two of them. It's a quieter forum to post, so stick to posting here for now. I had several notebooks I wrote in for Neko. And printed off the relevant pages, like how to handle hypos.

 

[Bobbythecat]

Thanks very much. I will have a good look at that info. It never rains but it pours..... we have three horses, one of them 30 years old, who has been on borrowed time since 2024 with an inoperable tumour in his mouth. The vet came to check it 2 weeks ago, the same week that Bobby became ill and the mass is now enormous and the horse is in pain. Sadly, he will be put to sleep today. With arrangements for that and work I have not had a lot of time to digest the huge and excellent information on FDMB. Grateful to be here!

 

[Chino]

My biggest advice is to breath. As a newby myself is to remember this is "break in" mode. Do the routine and be kind to yourself. It takes several weeks for your cats body to get use to the insulin routines and eating requirements.

If on long acting 1 shot every 12 hours the important is routine and watching for hypoglycemia visible cues in the cat. Numbers maybe different than you expect or predict until the cats body gets use to it.

I tell my self everyday....
Important is to be kind to your self and patience.

 

[Bobbythecat]

My biggest advice is to breath. As a newby myself is to remember this is "break in" mode. Do the routine and be kind to yourself. It takes several weeks for your cats body to get use to the insulin routines and eating requirements.

If on long acting 1 shot every 12 hours the important is routine and watching for hypoglycemia visible cues in the cat. Numbers maybe different than you expect or predict until the cats body gets use to it.

I tell my self everyday....
Important is to be kind to your self and patience.

Thanks for your kind words of encouragement. I am sure we will get there. Bobby seems pretty good in himself, I see a tiny bit of regulation already (1 1/2 weeks in on, unfortunately, caninsulin) and I think he has gained a tiny bit of weight and his coat looks much better. The best news is that we can safely let him out and he has not run off......to neighbours in the next villiage who fed him goodness knows what (including a chicken carcass we think - x-rays showed cooked white bones - that stopped him pooping and sent us into vets in emergency) in spite of us asking them repeatedly not to and we believe caused his diabetes. We bought him a Tractive collar and have set their property to 'danger' just in case but so far he has hung out at home 'helping' with outiside work, like he always did before they lured him away with supermarket biscuits! He was so unhappy stuck in one room, as he has been for over a month and is now a much happier cat! This group is excellent; very grateful to be here.