New Sugar Cat -- Let me introduce Neo

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swandiver

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Neo is a big, muscular Siamese/black cat mix with the shiniest coat you've ever seen. He is 12 years old, about 16 pounds and solid. We noticed he had lost a little weight and was peeing a lot. We were very stunned to find out he is diabetic -- he acts like everything is fine in his world, he's still the alpha cat in our 4 cat household. I am his "grandmeowmy."

We have a mobile vet who comes to the house, so she has started him on Prozinc (1 unit, not turned back to .5 unit). I have an Alphatrak on order (and who knew you needed a prescription to order!), so haven't done any home testing yet but will be happy when it arrives.

His glucose levels in his first diagnosis was 439 ( normal is 64-170)serum fructosamine level was high 770 ( normal 142-450).

When the vet came in on Tuesday (after dosing since Saturday night) his glucose level was 54! She came about 3.5 hours after feeding and dosing, so she cut him back to the half unit of Prozinc.

Neo had been on a 1/6 can of Friskies pate (6 oz. can?) and free-grazing Purina One. We've taken him off of the hard food completely and he is getting a can of Friskies, spread out in 4 feedings. He acts like he is totally starved when feeding time comes around.

Once we start moving him to a lower carb diet I am seriously considering Fancy Feast over the prescription meds, as I've had cats with renal issues totally diss this food.

We have only been giving him injections since Sunday night and he is very good about it. We are juggling schedules to accommodate feedings and shots (3 adults in the household). Any helpful suggestions?
 
You are already on the right track, so I don't have any suggestions to you, in particularly with the last since don't have multi-cat household experience. But I am sure you'll find plenty of others here that does.

So just to say welcome to you and Neo.
 
Where did your order your AlphaTrak? I have 2...I bought one on Amazon and one one ADW and didn't need an Rx for either.
 
arozeboom said:
Where did your order your AlphaTrak? I have 2...I bought one on Amazon and one one ADW and didn't need an Rx for either.
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ADW -- I looked online and didn't find anything cheaper than what they were offering.
 
swandiver said:
arozeboom said:
Where did your order your AlphaTrak? I have 2...I bought one on Amazon and one one ADW and didn't need an Rx for either.
Click to expand...

ADW -- I looked online and didn't find anything cheaper than what they were offering.
Click to expand...

It's not necessary to buy the alphatrak for what you're using it for--yes, it's calibrated for pets, but that doesn't make any difference when you're testing except that you move your point of reference (for example, below 50 is low on a human meter, where below 80 is low on a pet meter). Since most people use human meters, the dosing protocols actually have the variance for human meters written into them. It's more important that you have a meter that you can afford to test more frequently with than one that is made for animals. Not that there's nothing wrong with using an alphatrak if you can afford it, but human meters work just as well and they are WAY cheaper and easier to get strips for. Many people here use the Relion meters from Walmart (or Arkray Glucocard on ADW), because they are inexpensive and reliable. You don't need script for human meters. I wanted to mention this in case it wasn't too late to cancel your order for the alphatrak.

You definitely don't need the prescription vet food. The only prescription diet that is appropriate for a diabetic cat is canned Purina DM--all the others are too high in carbs. However, the Purina DM is the same thing as a cheap-mid grade commercial food, so all you're paying for is the label, and if you're going to spend that much money you might as well get a premium food with better ingredients. You can feed any canned food as long as it's under 10% (but preferably under 7 or 8%) carbs, and there are foods in every price range that fit this requirement. Here's a link to the low carb flavors of Fancy Feast: http://www.felinediabetes.com/glutenfree.htm, and a link to the cat food nutrition charts for many other options: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/posting.php?mode=quote&f=28&p=727416, and an updated food chart of premium foods: https://docs.google.com/file/d/0B8Uu8g1u8Su9YTgxNGE1MDItM2MyMC00Y2Y3LWI4ODMtMzhkYTkxOGM4NThk/edit
 
Thank you so much for your responses. We debated about going with a "human" meter, but went ahead with the Alphatrak. If we find it becomes too expensive to use, I'll be up at Wal-Mart getting a Relion, for sure. I will be happy when *whatever* gets here so we can do some glucose testing.

Friday is our "bad" day -- no one is at home during the day. I did get a timed feeder so he will get fed in 6 hours, and shut our two cats in our bedroom/bathroom so I don't worry about Neo getting in to eat their dry food (which is going to be changed to a lower carb one soon - they refuse to eat soft food, go figure!).
 
swandiver said:
Friday is our "bad" day -- no one is at home during the day. I did get a timed feeder so he will get fed in 6 hours, and shut our two cats in our bedroom/bathroom so I don't worry about Neo getting in to eat their dry food (which is going to be changed to a lower carb one soon - they refuse to eat soft food, go figure!).
Click to expand...

Have you seen this? http://catinfo.org/#Transitioning_Dry_Food_Addicts_to_Canned_Food_ There are a lot of very useful tips for transitioning stubborn cats. Don't give up--many cats are stubborn but they all almost always will transition. It just might take a little work, but it's worth it!
 
I wanted to say welcome to you!

Some great advice so far..... this is the best place you could be for your baby. All the ppl here are all here for the same reason: our furry loved ones.

It wont be long til you will have all of this down and in your back pocket and offering advice to other newbies.

I know what you mean for multi family kitties.... I have 3. Sugar Bean can only have low carb foods and the oldest one Civvie Slappy refused to eat wet until she got very sick (dont know why), and I had to dropper feed her - very very hard to do with kibble ohmygod_smile

During her sick bout, I was dropper feeding script a/d...very high in carbs. After months and yrs (ok not yrs, but sure felt like it) of trying to keep Bean out of her food, I decided to dropper ffeast chicken..IT WORKED. Now, she will only eat chicken...very very picky girl, but if the other 2, Sugar Bean & Ittle Sista get into her food (and they do), it is ok.

When Bean was first dx, she ate alot and I was told by this site, to let her. Let her eat as much as she wants until this gets a bit regulated and she would probably drop back on her own and she did. Also, if they start running low on the bg, alot of times they will find food to bring that number up (just fyi).

I am so glad to hear that your meter is coming soon, as I think that is one of the most important things that we humans can do for them..
Please glance at Beans spreadsheet, she was extremely low the first test I did. All the folks here helped me 4+ hours get her back to normal! Thank Gosh :shock:

I know her food change from high carb to low carb dropped her numbers by almost 100. Bean is in remission now - for almost 1 yr. I believe that is do to this forum; helping me with foods, micro dosing, home testing. I would have been one lost mommabean without them.

Good luck, sorry for the long post. Keep posting, asking, reading - you will be a pro in no time at all ;-)
 
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