New to all of this and kind of lost... (Smeagol)

[Frederick Meyer]

Hey...

I posted an introduction in the main thread but I'll recap some info here.

My buddy Smeagol has been with me for 14 years. He's roughly 15 - 17 years old and a very content indoor cat.

A year ago he was at the vet with perfect blood tests. Recently he's lost weight (11 lbs to 7 lbs) and was diagnosed as diabetic. He started 1 ml of ProZinc insulin 2x a day last night.

We were told to switch his food but not given much more than "get Fancy Feast naturals". I looked at our local Petco and came up with Purely Fancy Feast as the closest option they had. The instructions say "1 tray for every 2 lbs daily" but I can only get him to eat about 1/3 of a tray at a time. (See pic below)

Previously he (and my 14.5 year old tabby and my 9 year old maine coon) were all eating Nutro Naturals Senior dry food.

I'm kind of at a loss for what to do now. He's going in for a "glucose drop" test all day Monday but we've had no other instructions other than "get him to eat his food in two meals twice a day and given him the insulin after. Keep his feedings 12 hours apart."

I'm probably posting in the wrong place but I could really use some help here. I just want my best friend to be comfortable again.

 

[Sharon14]

You’re in the right place! Most of us feed our cats several small meals per day. As for food, you want a low carb (under 10) wet food. Fancy Feast Classic Pates are good as are Friskies pates and many others. Here’s a link to the food chart we use http://catinfo.org/docs/CatFoodProteinFatCarbPhosphorusChart.pdf
If you aren’t home testing Sméagol blood glucose, I highly recommend it. It’s really the only way to keep him safe and know how well the insulin is working. You can pick up a human meter at any pharmacy, but most of us use the Relion Confirm or micro from Walmart. You’ll also need 26 gauge lancets and some test strips. Here is some info to get you started http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/hometesting-links-and-tips.287/

 

[Mitla96]

View attachment 35782 Hi Frederick! My cat Levi and I are new to this, too, first insulin on 4/17. That pdf of the wet foods is invaluable. From what I understand a lot of ppl recommend the Fancy Feast classic pates because they are readily available at the grocery store and inexpensive. I have been using those and Tiki Cat from Petco, and my sick kitty has been pretty happy. My cat has also lost weight (from 12 down to 8) and I am feeding him to what would be a weight goal (11lbs), so three small cans in 24 hrs. Also, I liked the Mark Portier and Buddy video about blood glucose testing, it seemed impossible a cat could be that good when you are sticking their ear but it really works. Someone said it is hard until you do it 10 times and that is true. (Pic is him healthy, he looks rough now)