New Member Intro & Questions

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Hi everyone! I'm helping care for a neighbor's neutered male diabetic cat, named Cartman, and fostering him in my home. Cartman is a very loving cat. He was diagnosed with diabetes by a vet some time ago, but my neighbor has been unable to afford the veternarian care he needs and has a multiple cat household where all the kitties are free-fed dried kibble. She has tried to manage his diabetes with diet with canned food (although inconsistantly), and complicating this, Cartman is a picky eater. He 's under-weight and I suspect his blood sugar levels are elevated. I've taken him in to my home on foster basis with my neighbor's blessing, to provide him with more individualized care and attention and hopefully to get his blood sugar under control. Unfortuantly, my husband & I don't have the money either for veternarian care and insulin, so we're taking a conservative home treatment approach. Since bringing him to my home, Cartman has been on a special diet of Fancy Feast White Chicken Appetizer and/or Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys Shredded White Chicken and Garden Greens (protein & calories) and Iams Kitten Pro-Active dry food (calories & nutrition), and I'm supplementing this with GNC Ultra Mega High Calorie Booster (for cats) and Cat-SIp, which he loves and laps up. Later this week, after pay day, I'm going to go get an inexpensive blood glucose meter so we can moniter and track his blood sugar. I'm hoping we can manage his diabetes and get his blood sugar under control with diet modification and blood sugar monitering. What do you think? Is this a safe approach? Do you have any thoughts on the types of foods I'm giving him? Are there any other alternative treatments to insulin or anything else I can be giving him food or supplement-wise to help to maintain safe blood sugar levels and help him gain weight?
 
Hi and welcome.

Thank you for taking this kitty into your home and helping him.

Cartman would do best on a canned only diet, some insulin and of course hometesting as you mentioned.

Do you have other cats? Would feeding canned only be a problem? While premium foods are great, many folks do well on Friskies canned pate varieties, Fancy Feast classics, 9 Lives pate varieties or even Wal-Mart Special Kitty. The dry food has higher carbs than canned, it's like a human diabetic eating sugar, the carbs will raise blood sugar and make regulation or even remission hard to achieve.

You can order a newbie kit through this site. "Lori and Tom" maintains that and simply asks for help with shipping costs. You can see the information here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=19541
 
Check out Binky's Page for information on the percent of calories from protein, fat, and carbohydrate in many popular foods. There are separate pages for newer canned food, older canned food, and for dry food. For routine feeding, we suggest a limit of no more than 10% of the calories coming from carbohydrates. Low carbohydrate, high protein, moderate fat diets seem to do the best for our sugar cats.

A problem with dry food is it may put your cats at risk of urinary tract problems in the long term. For discussion of this by a vet, go to Cat Info, Urinary Tract Health
 
Mr. Cartman you are one lucky boy to have someone want to help you! Welcome to you both! You have found the PERFECT site to help you along with this without high vet bills.
I would also take a look at the cal.booster and see what ingredients are in it. I thought that stuff was high carb / sugar too. Just a suggestion. When I purchased my meter and supplies, I believe I was able to purchase all of it for under 40.00 including the neosporin for the ears, and the syringes for insulin. But the meter, 50 test strips and a box of lancets will probably be under that.
When I looked up the foods from Binky list, I looked thru them and picked a few on the chart that were in the 10% and under carb list but were higher in calories as I was trying to get Bean to gain some weight. This chart is priceless for help on the correct foods. Lots of folks trying to transition to wet only will also purchase a few different kinds for the picky eater to try, but will also purchase the lowest carb dry which is Core and add a bit of fora flora (get at a vets office - can purchase by the packet for 2.00 ea) or sprinkle some Parmesan cheese on it. Tuna water is something that kitties like and could get a picky one to like.
I bake chicken and add a bit of parmesan cheese to it for my ladies of the house for low carb treats as well.

Welcome aboard to a great place to be for advice, support and understanding!
 
I think what you are doing trying to help Carman is very nice, however, I would urge you to start insulin sooner rather than later. It seems that he's been diabetic for some time now according to your post, so, the time to start insulin is now.

Many cats need a short course of insulin and then head into remission and no longer require insulin - though that is not true for all cats.

Best,
Pam and Layla
 
Thank you for the warm welcomes :smile:

Thank you for the information on the newbie kit, neither his mom (my neighbor) nor I knew there was such assistance out there. I have checked it out and look forward to ordering a kit later this week, after payday (unfortuantly, we're broke until then). No, Cartman is the only cat in my house, which is part of the reason why I took him, so he could be on a more specified diet than his litter-mates at home. The canned food he's on is Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys (shredded white chicken and garden vegetables) & he seems to love the stuff, I don't think transitioning him is going to be an issue. However, I have some concerns about diarrhea, which I've posted in another thread. Aso, I'll have to do some research & see if what other canned foods might be a good option (he doesn't like pate canned foods, nor Friskies or Science Diet Prescription canned foods :razz: ). Before I got canned food, I was giving him baked chicken, which he loves & was yowling for at meal times, but we've run out of chicken until we go grocery shopping. Before chicken, I tried giving him tuna & he actually sniffed once and turned his nose up at it (little stinker!) I was also glade to have found the Frugal Feline Diabetes site and have spent some time familiarizing myself to it. Forgive me if I seem ignorant or not well informed on these matters, it is still all very new to me and overwhelming at times!
 
Hi and Welcome!

Thanks for taking Cartman in and trying to help the little guy out. While some Fancy Feast is great to feed a diabetic cat, the Elegant Medleys are still pretty high in carbs you will find them here http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html but at least it is better for him than dry food, and you maybe able to use those (mixed with some of the classics) to get him to shift over to an all canned diet of a lower carb canned foods.

As far as the newbie kits go, I'm sure that Lori would be more than happy to send it out to you asap without you paying the shipping up front, then when you can you can always get her back later if you like. But the sooner you are testing at home the better idea you have of how he is doing with just a diet change and then will be able to start insulin without worries.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
Cartmans mommy,
no reason to feel ignorant! You are wonderful! for researching and learning but most of all caring and loving!!
That is what this place is all about. And baked chicken is always good for them. I am trying to transition my girls (at least 2 of them) to raw right now. I go to walmart and buy 10# for 5.90, separate in bags and bake chicken w/out seasoning on the weekends. We are doing ok with it right now.... Civie Slappy WILL NOT eat anything but 2 foods, one is scription a/d and the other is sardines! She HATES tuna???????????? weirdo kitty for sure! But this is new for her as she is 15 and always ate dry... she has only been eating wet for 2 1/2 months and we will try to get to the better wet soon.
Right now I mix fancy feast with friskies and sophisticat from petsmart to make the ff go a little farther. My kitty budget is getting low.
Want to say hurray for cartmans mom, keep up the good work.... you will get the hang of this shortly :razz:
 
Unfortunately, the Fancy Feast Elegant Medleys and the Iams are too high in carbs for a diabetic cat. You want to keep his diet under 10% carbs.

Have you see this page? http://catinfo.org/#Transitioning_Dry_Food_Addicts_to_Canned_Food_ It might help with getting him used to the lower carb pate foods. chopping up pieces of chicken and mixing them in the food might help, or if you get low carb treats like these from Petsmart you can sprinkle the crumbles on the food to help make it more appetizing. Or you can try different types of food and see if there's one he likes. I feed Merricks, and while it's a premium food my local independently owned pet food (the Ithaca Grain and Pet Supply) store sells it for $1.16 for a 5.5 oz can. This food is very palatable and many cats that don't like pates like it because it's chunkier. Bandit gets the Cowboy Cookout, Surf and Turf, Grammy's Pot Pie, and Turducken. If you can find a store near you that sells it for a similar price, it will actually be cheaper for you than the FF elegant medleys, and about the same price as the regular Fancy Feast. Here's a link to their store locator so you can find a place that might sell it: http://www.merrickpetcare.com/locator/.

That's just one suggestion for food--but you can try out different kinds and see if he takes to one more than the other. It's very common for some cats to have an aversion to liver, which is a large ingredient in all the grocery store pates like Friskies or Fancy Feast. You might find that he takes to a food with very little or no liver, something like EVO or Wellness. If he does end up liking one of those foods, they sell them in larger 13 oz cans which makes them more affordable, the same price or less than Fancy Feast.

I agree with starting insulin sooner than later. The sooner you can start the better Cartman's chances are of going into remission. The key elements to treating his diabetes successfully will be a low carb canned diet only (all food under 10% carbs), hometesting, and a slow acting insulin like Lantus, Levemir, or PZI.
 
Just an update:
I happy to report that I received Lori & Tom's Newbie Kit yesterday and I am very grateful for this gift. Although I haven't had a successful blood draw with Cartman yet (yeah it takes some practice & it's a learning curve), I'm now on my way to being able to moniter and manage his blood sugar. After recommendations, I took Cartman off the dry Iams kitten food without any problems. Also, the evening before I saw your post, Julie & Bandit, I started transitioning Cartman to the Friskies pate, by mixing it with the Fancy Feast Shredded Chicken appetizer and slowly phasing it out, and he took right to it :)
Life with Cartman has been...interesting. Our weekday routine starts with Cartman meowing and demanding his breakfast at 6 am, which I feed him and run interferance so he doesn't get under hubby's feet while he gets ready for work. Then I lay back down for a bit, until between ten and noon, usually waking to a meowing kittty either laying on or next to my head and kneading my face, I get up and feed him, and then he sleeps for the rest of the aftenoon. Because I work on weekends, Cartman goes back home to be cared for by his mom, Susie, and I pick him up either on Sunday night or Monday afternoon and we start the routine all over again :) Yes, it is a lot of work, but rewarding and worth it! Because of his diabetes, Cartman is hungry more often than most cats and needs (or should I say "demands") to be fed wet cat food every four to sx hours. It's like having an infant in the home :razz: Yes, it is a lot of work, but rewarding in having Cartman's companionship and unconditional love, and definitely worth it!
 
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