New Member - New DX

[Miera & Marek]

Hello, all! Just got the diagnosis on Thursday that one of my two sweet boys is diabetic. They are 14yo brothers.

They were eating mostly Blue Buffalo dry food, using an auto-feeder, with a can of Friskies or Fancy Feast every day or two. Both were losing weight (they needed to!), but unfortunately, it looks like Marek's weight loss wasn't a healthy one. I had noticed in the past month or so that the water dish was empty faster and there was more urine in the litter box, but I didn't put it together until the vet suggested running labs during his annual check-up.

I have never dealt directly with diabetes, so I followed the link the vet sent me to this site and have been reading tons over the past few days. Thanks to my work schedule and being wholly unprepared to monitor him, I just gave him his first shot this morning so I can be home to keep an eye on him for the next 3 days. Will be doing his first pre-shot check shortly.

You guys have cultivated an absolutely amazing source of information and support and I hope to be paying it forward as soon as I have a handle on things myself. The spreadsheet alone is a sanity saver!

For our personal situation, Marek is on Lantus - 1u to start. [Questions:] I've read about adjusting doses by .5. The pen I got only does 1s - is this something I would simply need to request from the pharmacy? Also, my vet said she hadn't seen much data on how cats react to the generic for Lantus. I went with the name brand just so that wouldn't be a variable while finding out how he responds. Have members here noticed a difference in the two?

I stopped dry food on Thursday. They're already happy to eat wet food. Our biggest hurdle is they are absolutely convinced that chicken is not food. This is something we've struggled with both wet and dry for years. I picked up some Tiki Cat varieties, but so far I've had to mix in some of their Friskies (which are the higher carb varieties, per the Cat Food Chart, 10-19'ish) or Fancy Feast, just to get them to eat. I will be picking up some of the recommended FortiFlora today to see if that will convince them. (Will also grab some more lower-carb Friskies) Fortunately, they've both lost enough weight that they'll be okay on maintenance/a little more loss. [Question:] They also refuse to eat very much in one go. It seems from what I've been reading that leaving the wet food (only a meal's worth at a time) down for him to finish may not cause any problems, as long as I watch numbers. Any input there?

My biggest [question] has to do with my work schedule. I work 12s (so away from home almost 14 hours at a time), 2 or 3 on, then 2 or 3 off. I can come home once a day - about 5 hours after I first leave, and only for about 20-30 minutes. And - even worse - I work days for 4 weeks, then nights for 4. Which means 5am/7pm will become 5pm/7am (I have 3 days off to transition each time). I definitely don't want to mess up on his dosage. Does anyone have any recommendations? (I wish a better schedule were an option, but they're paying me enough to treat him. hah). I expect a wet food auto-feeder for the evening meal might be the best option so he can get his shot as soon as I walk in the door, but beyond that, I could really use some guidance.

Wow - I'm not much of a chatter usually, but I guess I needed to vent to people who knew what I was going through! Thanks in advance for any guidance. I hope to have a few more healthy years with my fuzzy little monsters.

Miera

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

First of all, I’m super impressed your vet sent you to us. He or she is def a keeper!!

great job on getting your signature and spreadsheet setup already. It’s great that you’re testing especially since you cut off the dry food.

a lot of folks here use the Lantus generic which is glargine. From what I understand, they’re bioidentical so no difference when it comes to effectiveness. There are ways to get the actual Lantus discounted though. I always ordered mine from Canada since it’s 1/3 of the cost there. A lot of members here think Costco pharmacy has great pricing and there are online coupons like goldrx you can use at regular pharmacies.

It’s okay for cats to eat several meals throughout the day. It’s actually better for their pancreas and helps avoid big sugar spikes. Since they don’t like chicken, have you tried other flavors like turkey or novel proteins like pork or lamb?

I’ve always only used syringes to draw the insulin from the pen and then inject them. The issue with the pen is exactly what you already said, you can adjust those 1/2 or 1/4 unit doses. If you’re in a state that doesn’t require prescription for syringes, you can pick them up at any Walmart. If not, you’ll need to ask your vet for a prescription. These are the ones I used and they have 1/2 unit markings on them:

I’ll let others chime in about your schedule and the best way to handle the shooting times.

Lastly, I just wanted to give you the link to the Lantus forum. Lots of great info there. I suggest you read all the yellow sticky notes: https://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/forums/lantus-levemir-biosimilars.9/

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.

 

[Miera & Marek]

My vet is definitely a keeper! This was only my second visit with her, but she treated my brother & his (grass-allergic!) mini dachshund very well several years back.

Thank you for the info on the syringes. That makes a lot of sense. I'll have to find out whether they're prescription - didn't even know that was necessary in some places. And thanks for the tips on getting it cheaper. Fortunately my vet didn't just call it in at my regular pharmacy - she checked with Wal-Mart, too. CVS wanted at least 3 times as much for it.

I have been reading on the Lantus forum, too. I need to go back. My brain is still working on assimilating everything I've read this weekend.

As for flavors, I just now put FortiFlora on something they sneered at this morning and the plate is now half-gone. Looks like that'll be a good fix. I have tried several flavors other than chicken, but they're even harder to convince that pork and turkey (and beef, rabbit, and lamb) are food. They are fish fiends, though I try not to feed that often. I'd like to get them eating chicken, if I can, since it seems to be the best on the dietary numbers. But fed is best. It may take some time, but I think we'll figure out what won't make them go on strike.

Again, thanks for the help!

 

[Ale & Bobo & Minnie (GA)]

Have you tried freeze dried treats? I wonder if they’d have the same reaction with it. Or real chicken? Curious. Bobo also seems to like the fish flavors better but he’ll devour the freeze dried chicken pieces. Every cat is different (ECID)

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

Welcome to FDMB!

Your schedule is going to be tough. Lantus allows a little bit of flexibility with regard to the timing of shots. Every 12-hours is ideal. You probably have about 30 minutes of wiggle room. The difficulty is that Lantus is a depot type of insulin and the cycles overlap. If you shoot early, it acts like a dose increase. If you shoot late, it acts like a dose reduction. If you shoot 2 hours early then shoot 2 hours late the next cycle, you can't make up for having moved the timing of the dose. It will also have an effect on the depot since it won't have a chance to stabilize given the back to back to back changes in the shot time.

So, any chance you can find someone who would be able to give Marek a shot on the days that you're working? Any friends or family that would like to learn about feline diabetes? And failing that, could you find a vet tech or pet sitter if that's affordable?

 

[Miera & Marek]

Thanks, both of you, for the replies!

I will add some freeze-dried treats to my arsenal (if they'll eat them!). Real chicken is, unfortunately, a bust.

As for getting an assistant for the shot timing, I'll have to look into that. Friends & family aren't an option, unfortunately. But the sitter/tech is on my list of options now (not something I'd considered). I'll see what other options there may be (unlikely, but I don't want to overlook something).

(I am giving it on 12s right now, just to be clear.)

Thanks again!