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Laur&Judy

Member Since 2020
Greetings all,
So happy to have found this helpful forum.
We’ve been reading some posts already and am feeling relieved!
We have 3 cats: Maxx and Mia ( bro and sis) that are 4 years. Monkey is our “older gal” at 11years and she was just diagnosed with diabetes.
Ok, we get the picture of what to do but have a “ beginner “ question:
Maxx is on a Urinary prescription diet both wet and dry and all 3 eat his dry food ( the girls get their own canned). They’re used to free range eating but nobody overeats ( yay).
Now Monkey has her special diet of wet and dry. We’ll be starting her insulin shots tomorrow.
Can all three eat Monkey’s dry prescription food? I know we have to feed only twice a day for all food now.

Any advice would be fabulous!
 
Welcome to FDMB are you going to home test? Thats the best way to get Monkey on the right track. I have to leave now but posting this brings your thread to the top.
Again
welcome, this is the best place to get good advice for Monkey!
 
Hi and welcome to you all.

First of all you don’t need a special prescription diet for Monkey. You need to buy canned low carb food that is 10% or less in carbs.
All prescription diabetic food is to high in carbs and all dry food is high in carbs...some is very high.
Also dry food is only 7% moisture compared to 78% moisture in canned and raw food.
I will put a link to suitable foods below.
https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf

It would be very wise for you to transfer all your kitties over to a canned low carb diet, including Maxx who is on the urinary dry food. That is very high carb and low in moisture. He would do much better on a canned diet and the extra moisture for his urinary system.
Vets get very little education about Feline diabetes and even less about diets and what they do get about food is presented by the big food companies who manufacture the prescription foods and that is why the vets all sell them and promote them. They have no special ingredients in them.

Also you don’t only have to feed twice a day...that is old thinking. Diabetic cats do much better on several smaller meals throughout the day as well as a good feed before the dose of insulin.
Can you tell us what type of insulin are you giving?

We would also recommend you Home test the blood sugars as you will know exactly how the insulin dose is working and you will be able to keep Monkey safe. It is not hard to learn to test.....we all do it here and it won’t hurt Monkey and he won’t hate you.
Here is a link to home testing. We can help you get sorted with that. A human test meter which you can buy from a pharmacy or Walmart is suitable.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

Here is a link for new members
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/

There is a lot more I could tell you but I don’t want to overwhelm you.
Ask lots of questions, we are happy to help. This is a very knowledgeable and supportive community.
Bron
 
You all rock!!!
Thanks for the speedy replies.. feel even better already!
We haven’t started insulin yet.. it’s ProZinc.
Cats are excited to hear that it’s not going to be terrible and their lives aren’t over.. sorry, humor is the only way to deal with everything!
Will check out your links etc this weekend. We’re going to the pet store tomorrow and will get them the right food!

Phew!!
 
Laur&Judy said:
You all rock!!!
Thanks for the speedy replies.. feel even better already!
We haven’t started insulin yet.. it’s ProZinc.
Cats are excited to hear that it’s not going to be terrible and their lives aren’t over.. sorry, humor is the only way to deal with everything!
Will check out your links etc this weekend. We’re going to the pet store tomorrow and will get them the right food!

Phew!!
Click to expand...
Fantastic!
Here is a link to Prozinc below
What is your starting dose?
Please give Monkey, Maxx and Mia a big cuddle from me!
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/...-the-prozinc-basics-please-start-here.164995/
 
If your vet sold you "prescription" diabetic food, you can take it back and get a refund. It's 100% guaranteed. Most of us that were conned into buying that junk and then learned how bad it really was returned it and just told our vet that our cat refused to eat it.

With the money from the food, you can go to WalMart and get a Relion Prime meter for $9, 100 strips for $17.88, a box of lancets for about $5 (look for 25-28 gauge) and you'll have all you really need to start home testing.

Most of us feed our own cats Fancy Feast Classics, Friskies pates or 9-Lives ground because they're under 10% carbs, easy to find and affordable.

If you haven't started insulin yet and there's no history of ketones, it's totally reasonable to try the diet change first and give yourself a few days to learn to home test.

If in 5-7 days the diet change isn't enough, you'll be ready to start insulin and be able to keep her safe since you'll know how to test!
 
Vet instructions are “ 1 Unit” 2xday.
Her numbers aren’t high by any means.
Her high glucose caused her to also have a UTI and she just started antibiotics for that (her glucose is 380).
We will switch over to Friskies pate ( great because they LOVE pate!!). Even picky Mia will be a happy kitty. The Vet didn’t charge us for food so we’re cool on that ( we got samples ).

Ok!! That’s enough for us to deal with tonight!
Will report back tomorrow!
 
Greetings all!
Slept well last night knowing that all’s going to be fine!
Went to CVS ( had to get peanut M&M’s and a script for myself) and talked to the Pharmacist about our Miss Monkey. We got a glucose meter kit and a box of test strips.The kit includes the Lancing Device as well as other needed items.
Then off to shopping for Fancy Feast.
Great news is that Judy gave Monkey her first insulin shot during Monkey’s breakfast and they BOTH handled it like pros!! ❤️
Onward and upward!!
Thanks again folks!!
 
Would you help us help you better? By filling out some information in your User Id "Signature", we'll be able to see some information at a glance, at the bottom of your posts.

Directions on setup and what we like to see are here>>>> Editing your Signature, Profile, and Preferences

Thanks, as you can imagine, this message board gets really, really busy. If you can help us with that information, it helps us to help more people.
 
Laur&Judy said:
Greetings all!
Slept well last night knowing that all’s going to be fine!
Went to CVS ( had to get peanut M&M’s and a script for myself) and talked to the Pharmacist about our Miss Monkey. We got a glucose meter kit and a box of test strips.The kit includes the Lancing Device as well as other needed items.
Then off to shopping for Fancy Feast.
Great news is that Judy gave Monkey her first insulin shot during Monkey’s breakfast and they BOTH handled it like pros!! ❤️
Onward and upward!!
Thanks again folks!!
Click to expand...
 

Just an update on Monkey our diabetes cat.
She had her bloods taken today and her numbers are PERFECT!! Whoohoo!! Dr. thinks 6-8 more weeks then test again. Wow!!

Question: for those if you that feed Fancy Feast Pate to your crew... is it because it’s the best food you’ve found because of the content or because you have so many to feed? We’ve always fed them a grain free high protein pate but it can be pricey...Just want to do the right thing and honestly it’s easier to ask y’all than our Vet!
Thanks!! Hope everyone is doing ok!
 
Hey Monkey and Laur and Judy!

User id "Signature", please? Pretty please? Pretty please with sugar on top?
Takes about 1 minute to set that up. Then we won't have to keep asking questions like "Which insulin?", "What food are you feeding?" "What is the diagnosis date for your cat?" etc.

Define "perfect". Or share the numbers on the blood work with us if you can. Screen shot of the test results, and include them in your next reply to link them?

Fancy Feast pate and Friskies pate style foods are so often recommended here, because they are readily available for most people in the US and Canada, found at a wide variety of grocery stores and on-line, they are inexpensive, they contain few carbs <10% that is appropriate for a diabetic cat and the ingredients are usually as good as if not better than the higher priced cat foods, and cats love them! Wide variety of flavors available for picky cats too.

I have one cat. She still gets fed the Fancy Feast and Friskies cat foods. With some mid-day snacks of Tiki Cat foods.

Which grain free high protein pate have you been feeding? If you let us know, it may be one of the ok foods for a diabetic cat. Or if it turns out to be high in carbs, you can keep it for your hypo toolkit. jojo and bunny's HYPO TOOL BOX

We have a food chart that lists many foods. Complied by a vet interested in feline nutrition. You want to look for the foods that are <=10% carbs for your diabetic cat. https://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
 
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