NEW MEMBER: Quick Question while I get things organised

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Matt AUS

Member Since 2022
Hello All - I have been devouring these pages for a week now, as we have a newly diagnosed cat that's gone straight to insulin.

I will prepare "the spreadsheet" :) asap, but I'm flat out getting meters, strips, Hypo kit etc all prepared at the moment. Also getting around to an Introduction here etc.

My quick Q is: is 5.2% Carb Food low enough in carbs? Will it prevent remission? We're on Glargine insulin, 1I twice daily.

We're looking at making our own food, using raw chicken thights (skin on) and using the brilliant additive mix from a business called Raw Meow here in Australia. As Boz (our boy) is also suffering mild CKD, their "LOW" option is a low phosphorus option, yet it is reported to be 5.2% Carbs when fully mixed as a meal.

Any help in these early stages would be hugely appreciated.
 
Thanks so much @Wendy&Neko . This is a massive learning curve under great duress for all, but I'm not surprising anyone here with this info.

Have made about 45 bookmarks here, and have printouts all over the kitchen from this site, which is absolutely brilliant, and a life saver for our Boz, and for us.

We're PETRIFIED of a Hypo, and have so much to learn here about treatment is beggars belief. But we persist!

Thanks again.
 
Absolutely been reading your 1st link, but hadn't seen the 2nd - onto that now and added the bookmark! :)
 
Hi Matt and Boz and welcome to the forum. I live in Sydney.
The Raw Meow mix is good and the low phosphorus option is great.
Do you post on the Raw Meow Facebook page?
I make my own raw food mix but I think the raw meow is great.

If I can help in any way, just let me know.
If you can get your signature and spreadsheet set up that will be a great help for us to be able to help you. The first few weeks are the hardest as it is a big learning curve. But it does get much easier.
HELP US HELP YOU has some very useful information in it including the hypo kit set up
 
Thanks @Bron and Sheba (GA)!

Just getting replies in this little thread has made us feel so much better... like we're not alone and just guessing at things. We're definitely wanting to take a softly-softly approach to this.

Yes, I'm extremely aware of the signature and spreadsheet requirements here, but right now, there's really not a lot to add as we're still sorting all the protocols and so forth, and don't even know his full disease status. I only just got a blood glucose meter today - the Contour Next (plus strips), and haven't used yet, as I wouldn't have a clue what to do with the results, and will seek info about this from the diabetic specialist we're going to see..

Also got today a Ketone Meter + Strips - Abbott Freestyle Optium Neo, and some Emla Cream. Have Vaseline, Isopropyl, Honey, some insulin syringes, some feeding syringes (if I can figure out what to put in them for a Hypo - honey may be too thick etc), wool pads and have on the way via online purchases:
  • Zorbaline B-12 (he has weak back legs)
  • Glucose Gels - flavoured unfortunately - I would have thought unflavoured would be better. Will keep looking, but panic'd to heck about HYPO.
  • 28G Lances
  • Glucose and Ketone Control Solutions (Hi/Lo)
Looking VERY closely at the Raw Meow stuff - didn't know they had supplements also, and had a really good 20 min chat to Laura at Raw Meow this evening, which was extremely informative. Not a FB user, but will probably join the FB Group for them based on how impressed I am with her and her products..

Appointment with specialist Dr. Linda Fleeman here in Melbourne, Australia possibly as soon as Weds 9th Nov. She seems a world expert in diabetic pets, so our boy is absolutely blessed to have access to her. Appt with Linda starts with a 2-3hr consultation/examination which will completely go over our boy and get on top of whatever ails him, and will hopefully start getting us closer to his correct dose of insulin - we're on the newbie 1U 2/day routine on strict 12-hour interval (Glargine).


  • Still need to solve the heating of the ear thing, but will probably start with the proven rice-in-a-sock.
  • Still need to learn all about Rectal intervention should it be required. Tools, mix to inject, methods etc. Indeed, I wouldn't even be confident feeding him via syringe if a Hypo occurred, so will need to know much more about this.
  • Still need to sort best way to log food intake - by calories? By Weight? Will ask specialist and ponder this a bit more.
  • Still need to figure out how you guys give 0.5 or 0.25 unit increments of insulin, which I suspect will be important to be able to do. We're using syringes now and it's hard enough on these ones to get a single unit correct, much less if someone says go to "1.25 units". In Australia, 1/2U syringes are not available, so I've written to a UK place called Hyperdrug who apparently sells to Australia, but I cannot checkout with them online.

Just so happy to have found this site and its folks. I guarantee that as I learn, I will try to pay it back by maybe helping those poor owners like me who come here as complete messes in the future. :)
 
You really don’t need the Elma cream to do the testing on the ear. You will find Boz will hardly notice it.
I am going to give you a couple of links about home testing.
HOMETESTING HINTS AND LINKS
One of our members testing his kitty.

HOW TO USE THE SPREADSHEET

With the food, you feed a meal before the insulin shot and then we recommend you give 2 or 3 low carbs snacks during the first half of all the cycles. It needs to be low carb so under 10% but most us feed around 4-7% carbs most of the time. Some vets will want you to only feed two meals a day but that is old thinking. Two main meals and a few snacks is much better for the pancreas and the kitty is much happier.
Get some higher carb foods as directed in the links I have sent you in case of low numbers. Wrote the number on carbs on the top of the cans with a texta so you know how many carbs are in the can.

The routine is to test, then feed then shoot in that order.

Do you have the U100, 3/10ml, 30 or 31 gauge, 6 or 8 mm insulin syringes? These are the ones you need. If you get the 0.5 ml syringes they are too big and too hard hard to do the smaller increments. I am trying to get a supplier to order in 1/2 unit syringes to Australia at the moment…no luck so far.

Just be aware that not all vets like hometesting the blood glucose. Some vets are opposed to it which is crazy as that is the only way you can keep you kitty safe and see how well the dose is working.
Also some vets will want to sell you the prescription wet and dry food which is much higher in carbs than is suitable for diabetic cats.







 
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