New to feline diabetes and FDMB

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Backyardtarpon

Member Since 2013
Hi All,
I just wanted to introduce myself (Leah), and my 15 year old calico (Jezzi). On March 22, 2013 she was diagnosed with feline diabetes. Her BG was 519. Her vet started her on 2 units of PZ insulin twice daily. She is now at 6 units twice daily.

I've spent the past week reading through this wonderful websites, and posts from other members, and have accuired many needed answers, but I have a long way to go. When this all began, I had a number of questions for the vet, who, answered rather bluntly, not to my satisfaction. I believe I will be looking for a different vet. One of the questions I had for him was the use of home testing devices. I do a lot ( and I do mean ALOT!) of free sample stuff online, and have been sent six brand new glucose meters. When I asked him about the use of these meters, he told me that human meters did not work for cats and would give me false readings. I hadn't even told him what brands they were. Anyway, he told me that I would have to order a special meter designed for cats and that they were very expensive. Or I could keep bringing her there four times a week until she was regulated, at $12 a pop! Please don't get me wrong, I would do anything for her, but I'm not made of money, and I'm certainly not in a position to line his pockets! So tonight I finally found the answers I was looking for under home testing, and that I can use certain human meters, if for no other reason than to make sure she is still under control and her BG number hasn't shot up again. I'm pretty upset that this vet misinformed me. Maybe he is not familiar with some of the newer human testers, maybe he is old school, or maybe he is just greedy. But, bottom line, I'm going to seek the advise of another vet.

In closing, I want to thank each and every one of you, for posting questions, answers, your own experiences, advice, opinions, and tips & tricks. Without the information found on these web pages, I would be lost and confused and unable to give Jezzi the proper care she needs. I really had no clue that feline diabetes was as wide spread as it is. I honestly didn't think I'd find the wealth of information that this website holds. Again, thank you all so much!

Also, for those of you in need, I will be posting a topic under Supply Closet to offer the remaining glucose meters to whomever needs them. I will gladly give them away if I could get help with shipping costs. They are brand new in sealed boxes and shipping should only be a few bucks. I will list the brands in that post.

Thank you
 
Welcome Leah and Jezzi! Yes, we feel hometesting is the safest and best way to treat your sweet kitty. Let us know whether you need some tips and ideas to get started. You have a mild long lasting insulin which is great. The other part of our protocol is wet low carb food. What are you feeding Jezzi?

If you want to add your city/state to your subject line, maybe we have a member nearby who knows a good FD vet.

Thanks for donating the meters. Even with name brand meters, people can buy strips for a lot less on Ebay.
 
Hello and welcome to the board!

Sounds like you need a new vet for sure. If you tell us what state you are in (or country whatever) we may be able to advise. Human meters (most of them) are perfectly reliable for cats as you have read here. Which one did you decide o keep? When you post on the supply closet can you also provide the Info on how you obtained them since you are good with freebies and maybe other members can learn from it?

6 units of pzi is high, what kind brand/type of food are you feeding? Wet or dry?

Testing is a great idea and will really give you (and us if you are willing to share a spreadsheet) an idea of what's going on.

And thanks again for the meters!!!

Wendy
 
Welcome!

In addition to blood glucose testing, it is prudent to check for urine ketones. Ketones are a by-product of fat breakdown and may occur with not enough insulin + infection + not eating. Test strips may be purchased at most pharmacies either in the diabetic supply aisle or behind the pharmacy counter, depending on the pharmacy. Tips for testing urine ketones may be found in my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools, along with some supplemental tactics for assessing your cat.
 
Thank you for such fast replies, I knew I was going to like you all.

Jezzi gets 2 trays of the Fancy Feast Appetizers (breakfast & dinner), she also gets a mix of dry consisting of Iams Indoor health and Mature that is always available to graze on. The vet said those were great foods, but if anyone has a better suggestion, I'm all ears. She has been getting these food for many years. My only issue is that she is very picky, and the combination of the foods I've listed keeps her happy.

One of the test kits I have does test for ketones, but I'll have to get them out and make a list. I won't get to it till tomorrow afternoon, but will compile a list of the brands and links to the website so people can lookup each meters benefits. Tomorrows my birthday (I'll be 27 again...for the 20th time! lol) so my husband and I are going fishing.

I live in Merritt Island Florida. About 5 miles from Kennedy Space Center & NASA. So if any one knows of a good vet, please pass the info along. This is all so new, I was so afraid of those first few injections that I wasnt sure I'd be able to do it. Now I can without her barely noticing.

I've got so many questions to ask, and so much information I want to research that it's overwhelming. My brain is going faster then my fingers. I just read that " letter to my human". SPOT ON! How true it is.

I'll give it a rest for tonight, I don't want to wear anyone out already.

Thank you for welcoming me to FDMB, Ive got so much to learn.
 
I think it could be a great help to look at food choices. On this chart, you'll see the Iams dry foods range from 26 - 46% carbs. We try to stay under 8% or less.

http://binkyspage.tripod.com/dryfood.html

Fancy Feast appetizers are great treats but not nutritionally complete (check the labels). Look on this chart for some brands and flavors:

http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=94685


It's true, you want to be careful switching foods. Not only because you want her to continue to eat, but because switching to all wet can mean a drastic change in blood glucose levels (our Oliver went down 100 points overnight). So you want to be testing at home and comfortable with it so you can monitor as you switch.

Lots of us let our cats graze on wet food. I use an automatic feeder which dispenses the food when I want him to eat, and I freeze it so it'll thaw as he waits.

Keep reading and asking questions. We have lots of tricks to make it whole sugar dance easier and successful.
 
for transitioning a cat from dry to wet food, this site by member Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM is excellent.
http://www.catinfo.org/docs/TipsForTransitioning1-14-11.pdf

I'm fostering a diabetic cat from my local shelter. After being unregulated at the shelter, on high carb dry food and some low carb wet, I decided to switch him to an entirely wet food diet. It was HARD! Wink is a dry food addict. ohmygod_smile

I probably used most of these tricks to get Wink to eat canned/wet food.The best tip, was to feed less and less of the dry and more and more of the wet each day. It took 3 weeks and I was cutting back on the insulin amounts at the same time but not fast enough. Hypos are not fun to deal with. Friskies pates and Fancy Feast pates are good low cost options for a low carb diet for a diabetic cat.

The good news is that the switch to low carb canned food lowered his blood glucose (BG) numbers and we were eventually able to get him off insulin entirely. He is what we call OTJ or off the juice, meaning no insulin is required.

If you are switching to low carb canned food, you need to give less insulin. Probably cut the insulin dose in half.

Good luck. Let us know what you need help with the most.
 
I appreciate all the advice and will research the charts you sent. Problem being she is incredibly picky, I have tried every kind of wet food available.

I am taking her in to see a new vet this week and will discuss foods with her.

I don't mean to make this short, but we just had 60+ mile an hour winds from a hail storm. Our grill is in the pool, the boat is swinging on the lift, and our crab pot just went flying into neighbors yard. It's always something in Florida!
 
Maybe give the wet food another try - there are lots of types - and most cats love fancy feast but many of us here feed those or wellness grain free or Friskies pates. Give the transitioning tips a try too.
Here is a list of foods - you want ones less than 10% calories from carbs (column C).. http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

Have you chosen your meter yet? many of us just use urine test strips for ketones...
 
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