New Member Looking for Support

[rachel & taylor]

Hello everyone,

Thank you so much for reading my post. My partner and I have had a terrible time getting our Indy regulated. We have very little support from our veterinarian who is absolutely lovely but very young and doesn’t know much about the condition. We have exhausted all of our extra funds taking her to vet appointments and are out of options, but she is still quite unwell. She went from being sweet, cuddly and only slightly sassy to mean, aggressive, and violent towards our other cat. We started her on her insulin in January under the guidance of our vet and she still isn’t regulated and we are at our wits end. She’s miserable, and we’re miserable. It’s awful. We can’t leave any food anywhere in the house or she will chew through the packaging to eat it. She even chewed through a bag of flour one day and ate quite a bit of it! We would never abandon her, she is our family. But we also can’t help but feel like we are terrible cat parents because she is just so miserable all the time. I stumbled onto this website and it feels like a Hail Mary but I am incredibly thankful to have found this community. I’ve been reading on the forum and will order a BG testing kit when I am able. I’ve also found some useful info about different insulins. I didn’t even know there were options! But mostly I guess I’m not looking for specific advice as much as just some general encouragement. Is it possible to get her regulated after all this time, has anyone else has such trouble? I feel like my whole existence revolves around this cat, which wouldn’t be so much of a problem if I felt like I was doing a good job and helping her. Any hopeful words or guidance would be more appreciated than you know. Thank you in advance.

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Welcome @rachel & taylor
You couldn't have found a better group to join
You are not terrible cat parents , most vets have no clue how to treat diabetic cats
If I didn't take the advice from the experienced members here my Tyler wouldn't be in remission since 1-24-21
We need some information about Indy, once you set up your signature we will be able to help you

Here is the link so you can set up your signature and spreadsheet
Here is a link helping us to help you link. If you noticed, our members have some basic information about their cat's in their signature. This helps us to not pester you by asking the same questions (your cat's name, insulin type, date of diagnosis, etc.) repeatedly. We also have a link to our spreadsheet in our signature. We are very numbers driven. The spreadsheet is a record of your cat's progress. By linking it in your signature, we can follow along and provide feedback should you need the help.

The signature is at the end of everyone's post in gray ,information about our cats

• Add info we need to help you:
  • Caregiver & kitty's name
  • DX: Date
  • Name of Insulin (do not include dose or frequency)
  • Name of your meter
  • Diet: "LC wet" or "dry food" or "combo"
  • Dosing: TR or SLGS or Custom (if applicable)
  • DKA or other recent health issue (if applicable)
  • Acro, IAA, or Cushings (if applicable)
  • Spreadsheet link. Please put the signature link on the bottom line of your signature information, on its own, so it is easy to find.
  • Please do not put any information about your location in the signature for security reasons. If you wish to add your country location, please add it to your profile.

Be sure to click the 'Save Changes' button at the bottom. If you need help urgently it is important we know these things at a glance. We don’t want to waste valuable time finding out information.

Also almost all of us use human meters that's what our numbers are based on

Just to show you about the Spreadsheet
Don't be nervous about the spreadsheet
About the spreadsheet
AMPS - means AM Pre Shot the first test you take in the AM ,you need to withhold food 2 hours before testing so it's not food influenced

Units is where you would put how much insulin you gave
+1 is one hour after giving insulin if you were to test then that's where you enter his _BG number
+2 two hours after giving insulin. ditto
+3 and so on until you get to PMPS - PM pre shot withhold food 2 hours before testing

+1 same as you do for AM cycle

We don't give times because we are all in different time zones that's why we use the + numbers



You can look at any members spreadsheet to see what it looks like, it's at the end of everyone's signature just tap on it


If you need help setting it up just ask we have a member here who will be happy to do it for you

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

If you live in the US, it's important to test Indy before you give insulin first thing in the AM and first shot in the PM to be sure her BG number is safe enough to give her the insulin
You would withhold feeding her 2 hours before this so the BG is not food influenced
We feed our cats the bigger meals at AMPS and at PMPS and then smaller meals during each 12 hour cycle , such as +2 ( 2 hours after giving insulin ) then +4 . Some members feed their cats snacks 3 times during each 12 hour cycle

Most of us use the Relion Premier Classic human meter from Walmart, it's inexpensive and works just fine
Here is the link for the meter and test strips so you don't have to search for them
Relion Premier Classic Meter at Walmart for 9 dollars
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-CLASSIC-Blood-Glucose-Monitoring-System/552134103

The tests strips are 17.88 for 100
https://www.walmart.com/ip/ReliOn-Premier-Blood-Glucose-Test-Strips-100-Count/575088197

Has Indy lost weight?
How often are you feeding her? Diabetic cats need more food since they can’t process the nutrients in food well so they eat and still will lose weight. It’s best to feed the 2 largest meals at shot times and an additional 3-4 snacks or smaller meals throughout the day.
She's probably not regulated and that's why she's always hungry

Always aim for the sweet spot warm the ears up first, you can put rice in a sock and put it in the microwave, test it on the inside of your wrist to be sure it's not to hot, like you would test a babies bottle. You can fill a pill bottle with warm water and roll it on the ears also.Just keep rubbing the ears with your fingers to warm them up

6. As the ears get used to bleeding and grow more capilares, it gets easier to get the amount of blood you need on the first try. If he won’t stand still, you can get the blood onto a clean finger nail and test from there.
When you do get some blood you can try milking the ear.
Get you finger and gently push up toward the blood , more will appear
You will put the cotton round behind his ear in case you poke your finger, after you are done testing you will fold the cotton round over his ear to stop the bleeding , press gently for about 10 or 20 seconds until it stops
Get 26 or 28 gauge lancets
A lot of us use the lancets to test freehand not the lancing device
I find it better to see where I'm aiming
Look at the lancet under a light and you will see one side is curved upward, that's the side you want to poke with
Here is a video one of our members made testing her kitty
She's using a pet meter that has to be coded ,with a human meter you don't have to code it.
So ignore that
I have always used a human meter
VIDEO: How to test your cat's blood sugar

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

We will do our level best to help you and you can educate your vet!! There is a huge volume of information here both in terms of what members know from their experience (e.g., I've been here well over a decade as have the other moderators) as well as in the posts that provide information on feline diabetes. In other words, everyone is overwhelmed at the beginning of this journey. We're here to help.

It is certainly possible for a cat to get regulated after several months of being diabetic. There is a greater chance of a cat going into remission the sooner the diagnosis is made and treatment is started. However, when I first got here, there was another member who started about the same time and her cat decided to go into remission after 2 years. That's unusual but it happens. A cat can be regulated at any point. Not every cat has an equal chance at remission (it depends on whether the cat's pancreas is still working adequately) and some cats don't read the "manual" and make regulation a challenge. Gabby lived with diabetes for 6.5 years.

At least for me, it took me a while to accept that Gabby was not going to go into remission. She was a challenging cat to even keep regulated. She was notorious for fast, early drops in her numbers to the point that I'm sure she gave me a number of gray hairs. But, I learned to understand her patterns. Home-testing will give you the data you need to develop an understanding of those patterns and give you greater flexibility. After Gabby passed, I wrote a tribute to honor her legacy. (See post #7 in the link.)

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

You already got a lot of info and I know it can be overwhelming. Can you please tell us what insulin she’s on and the dose?

you don’t need an expensive pet meter, most of us use human meters with Walmart’s ReliOn being the most affordable option. Home testing daily is the only way to get your cat regulated. It will also save you money on vet visits since you can do the curves at home. If you can get all the testing supplies from Walmart and setup a spreadsheet, I’m positive we can help you. We also have lots of testing tips to make it easier on you and your cat. I had lost hope with Minnie too, but the pros here helped me get her regulated. She even developed severe neuropathy, which she recovered from almost completely once she was regulated. It had been almost a year for Minnie so yes, it’s not only possible but very likely that we can help get her regulated. Remission is another story as Sienne said.

what food are you feeding her? Unregulated cats can’t process the nutrients in food so they are ravenous and will eat and still lose weight. Again, that gets sorted out once the diabetes is under control.

Unfortunately most vets do not know a lot about feline diabetes….they have many animals to look after and they all have different diseases and treatments. With a diabetic cat you need

• A low carb wet diet that is 10% carbs or under. Most of us use around 4-7% carbs
• A suitable insulin such as Lantus or Prozinc which are long acting, more gentle insulins than the old insulins.
• We recommend hometesting the blood glucose with a human meter…it is not necessary to use a pet meter which is expensive to run and is no better. It will keep your kitty safe and you will know how the dose is working for your kitty. Only testing every so often will not tell you what is happening in between those times and an awful lot can happen in even a day.
• HELP US HELP YOU has information about the spreadsheet, signature and hypo box which you will need to be able to look after your beloved kitty properly

A word of warning though…don’t change the food you are feeding at the moment over to the low carb food until you are testing the blood glucose because a change over can drop the BGs by up to 100 points and we don’t want you to have a hypo on your hands.

We are happy to help you with setting up the spreadsheet, sorting out what food to buy, how to transition safely to a low carb diet, how to learn to home test and much more.

FOOD CHART have a look on this chart and choose foods that are under 10%.

You will also need some higher carb foods for that hypo box..information in the help us help you link.

This is an excellent site for diabetic cats…it has been around for more than 25 years and has very experienced people to help you.

Keep asking lots of questions!

 

[Diane Tyler's Mom GA]

Hypo kit
Have your hypo kit ready if needed
Honey
Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Beef Feast in Gravy 20% High Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Gourmet Chicken Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Turkey Feast in Gravy 15% Med Carbs

Fancy Feast Gravy Lovers Chicken and Beef in Gravy 15% Med Carbs



Good idea to mark the cans with magic marker how many carbs
And some honey

Or any on the food chart. Doesn't have to be Fancy Feast just an example about the med and high carb foods


https://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/dr-pierson-new-food-

10% and under is low carb
11% -15 is medium carbs.

16- 24 is high carb.