Hi and welcome to FDMB. I understand this may be hard to believe, but FD is something that is very manageable. The important things that you need to do to help your cat is a low carb canned or raw food diet, home testing glucose levels before every shot and an insulin that works well in cats.
For the food, almost all dry foods are high in carbs, even prescription food. We recommend pate flavors of canned food or a raw food diet. Any food that has gravy in it generally is higher in carbs. The best thing to do is to try to switch all of your cats to the same food. This will prevent your sugar kitty from cheating by eating the high carb food, but also reduce the risk of the other cats developing FD.
The next is home testing. This means testing a small drop of blood with a glucose meter before every shot. You can use either a human or pet glucose meter. Most members do use a human glucose meter since they are less expensive to use. Pet meter strips are more expensive and usually must be ordered online. If you do use a pet meter, I also recommend having a human meter and strips as a backup in case of an emergency. The reason you need to test before every shot is to make sure it is safe to give the insulin. Diet changes to a low carb food can significantly lower glucose levels. Plus your cat may respond differently to each dose. By testing before every shot, if the reading is too low you will need to skip or delay the shot to prevent hypoglycemia. Plus testing also will let you know how well the dose is working and if it needs to be adjusted.
Finally insulin. You want to try to avoid short acting insulins like Vetsulin, Cansulin, Humulin and Novolin. These do not last long in a cat's body and can have steep drops in the glucose levels. Better insulins are Lantus, Levemir, ProZinc and BCP PZI. These last longer in the cats body and help maintain more level glucose levels. The first two are human insulins you can get from any pharmacy. The other two are pet insulin that you have to order online or through your vet. All of these are good insulins for cats.
Don't worry, we can help you learn all of this. I'm sure you have a ton of questions and we encourage you to ask them. The reason for this board is to help cat owners learn how to care for their cat.
