New to forum. My emotional support cat Eadie was diagnosed with feline diabetes on Monday April 27

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Maiyje

Maiyje

Member Since 2020
He is a 7year 9 month old redpoint siamese rescue. Since he was abandoned with us he's definitely taken on a caregiver's roll. He comforts me after any type of the 8kinds of seizures I have, as minor or relevant as simple partial or tonic clonics he is my emotional support throughout recovery. He is affection catsonified.
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Welcome to you and Eadie! What a beauty he is!! :)

Can you tell us a bit more about both of you? Is he on insulin now? What kind and what’s the dose? Also what do you feed him and do you have any questions for us?

You’ve come to the right place and I can only imagine how strong your bond is. I think what I want to say is that cats can live healthy lives with diabetes, so don’t feel hopeless and ask away :cat:
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Welcome to you and Eadie! What a beauty he is!! :)

Can you tell us a bit more about both of you? Is he on insulin now? What kind and what’s the dose? Also what do you feed him and do you have any questions for us?

You’ve come to the right place and I can only imagine how strong your bond is. I think what I want to say is that cats can live healthy lives with diabetes, so don’t feel hopeless and ask away :cat:
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@jt and trouble (GA) look at those eyes!!!
 
Maiyje said:
He is a 7year 9 month old redpoint siamese rescue. Since he was abandoned with us he's definitely taken on a caregiver's roll. He comforts me after any type of the 8kinds of seizures I have, as minor or relevant as simple partial or tonic clonics he is my emotional support throughout recovery. He is affection catsonified. View attachment 53169 View attachment 53170
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And now you get to be his emotional support human, what an honor that is! :bighug:
 
Aleluia Grugru & Minnie said:
Welcome to you and Eadie! What a beauty he is!! :)

Can you tell us a bit more about both of you? Is he on insulin now? What kind and what’s the dose? Also what do you feed him and do you have any questions for us?

You’ve come to the right place and I can only imagine how strong your bond is. I think what I want to say is that cats can live healthy lives with diabetes, so don’t feel hopeless and ask away :cat:
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He is currently transitioning to the prescription diet recommendations from his vet, he appears to be making the switch quite willingly. Hills W/D half wet half dry. Given to him as 2 supervised meals each day every 12 hours. Half hour before his 3 units of caninsulin twice daily. When I am recovering from any of my seizures, its certain I will be confused, but Eadie headbutting and being affectionate to me is ingrained enough that much I know is right.
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
Was he started out at 3 units twice a day? I dont know much about this insulin but there ARE people who do. Hang in there for more responses.
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In the meantime, here’s a helpful link for you:

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/new-how-you-can-help-us-help-you.216696/


Maiyje said:
He is currently transitioning to the prescription diet recommendations from his vet, he appears to be making the switch quite willingly. Hills W/D half wet half dry. Given to him as 2 supervised meals each day every 12 hours. Half hour before his 3 units of caninsulin twice daily. When I am recovering from any of my seizures, its certain I will be confused, but Eadie headbutting and being affectionate to me is ingrained enough that much I know is right.
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Maiyje said:
He is currently transitioning to the prescription diet recommendations from his vet, he appears to be making the switch quite willingly. Hills W/D half wet half dry. Given to him as 2 supervised meals each day every 12 hours. Half hour before his 3 units of caninsulin twice daily. When I am recovering from any of my seizures, its certain I will be confused, but Eadie headbutting and being affectionate to me is ingrained enough that much I know is right.
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Do you know what his blood glucose levels were at the vet?
 
jt and trouble (GA) said:
Thats a pretty high starting does. and the 28 must be the international meter reading? I am not familiar with that. Are you in the United States? Let me see if I can tag some people...
@Deb&Wink @Nan&Amber(GA)
@BronandSheba(GA)
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It was my mother's glucose meter. The vet told me that it isn't different from an animal's meter. I am Canadian and live in Northern British Columbia.
 
Maiyje said:
.. it was really scary. His glucose levels were 28 on Monday when he was tested at the vet. We have a glucose meter and 150 test strips as my mother just upgraded to a wearable. His levels have been far less frightening since he got his prescription diet & insulin.
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Hello and welcome to you and Eadie!!!

3U is indeed a high starting dose for Caninsulin. What kinds of blood glucose numbers have you seen since you started the shots?

We have a spreadsheet we use to record the BG data (you can see examples linked in most of our signatures). This really helps people on the forum help you-- we don't like to give any recommendations without a full understanding of the situation. Here's a link to the spreadsheet instructions, let us know if you have any problems or have any questions: FDMB SPREADSHEET INSTRUCTIONS
 
Ah, OK, the weight does help explain the dose. Still, I'm going to tag @Deb & Wink for help on this, as she's more familiar with Caninsulin.

Glad the food change seems to be helping! It really does make an amazing difference in some cats. I will say, most of us have found that the prescription diets from vets aren't necessary. Some of them (including probably the dry Royal Canin) aren't even that helpful. What you want is a low carb diet, which is available in (much cheaper) commercial foods. Tagging @Wendy&Neko for suggestions that are easy to find in the BC area!
 
Hi Maiyje and your extra sweet sugar kitty Eadie.

Maiyje said:
He is currently transitioning to the prescription diet recommendations from his vet, he appears to be making the switch quite willingly. Hills W/D half wet half dry.
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That Hill's W/d is very high in carbs. 37% carbs for the dry, 26% carbs for the wet/canned food.

There are better food choices for a diabetic cat, that are lower in carbs and can help him lose weight. Canned foods are less calorie dense, so can help a cat lose weight. The dry foods have many more calories.

Will he eat only the canned food for now? What did he eat before the vet suggested you change the food?

Maiyje said:
Yes he was started at 3 units twice a day. Last night was his first dose. This morning was his second.
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That is a really high starting dose of insulin.

Here are some basis on using Caninsulin (aka Vetsulin). Written by one of our UK members, with assistance from a lot of other people too. Sticky Beginner's Guide to Caninsulin (Vetsulin)

Maiyje said:
It is worth noting that on the glucose scale our vet tested Eadie for maxed out at 28... he was off the charts.
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We've seen cats higher than that, in the 35+ mmol/L (700 mg/dL) range.
 
Waving to you from Ontario, though I grew up on Van Isle.
There is no dry food, prescription or otherwise, in Canada that is low enough in carbs for a diabetic cat.
A number of Canucks feed Fancy Feast pate (called "classic" in the US) and Friskies pates. Some people feed their cats a balanced raw diet.
You can find a ton of information here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/threads/index-health-links-faqs.194624/
Scroll down to the food lists.
Note: the Canadian chart contains available-in-Canada only foods and may be a bit out-of-date.

Before attempting a diet switch to low carb, you must be testing regularly – before each shot and at least once during the cycle. Switching to low carb can drop a cat's number by up to 6 in world numbers (that's 108US – multiply by 18 to get US numbers which are the norm here but most of us can read both).

And do familiarize yourself with what to do in case of a hypoglycemic event. ("karo" in Canada is corn syrup – honey, maple syrup will do just fine as well)
If you encounter lower numbers than you are used to, please start a new post and someone will stay with you to help getting the numbers up to an acceptable level and keeping them there.
There are better insulins than Caninsulin for your cat. Lantus is a good choice, and very inexpensive in Canada. Lantus is having some supply issues due to the virus. Basilgar works very similar to Lantus.

I don't want to overwhelm you with a ton of information. Ask questions. We like questions.
 
Hello from the Vancouver area - though not Vancouver itself. My vet started my cat out on Caninsulin - not the best insulin for cats but it works for some, so let's see how you do. I was feeding the Wellness low carb wet foods at the time of diagnosis, and switched my girl over to raw a couple months in. There are some really good low carb raw products made in B.C., should you ever want to try that. Also lots of good low carb treats - generally just a single ingredient which is meat protein only. You'll find treats really help the testing process.

Tagging @Adrienne & Molly , also northern BC, she may have some suggestions on what is available in your part of the woods.

Can you tell me the brand of your blood glucose meter? It's good to use one that just takes a small blood drop for cat. You also want to start with larger lancets, 26-28 gauge until you get a little better at it and their ears get used to testing. Then you can move to the smaller lancets.

My Neko's blood sugar started out over 29 (522). We have a lot of US members here, so we've adopted ng/ml as the common measurement system. Just multiply the mmoL/l by 18 to get there. Our spreadsheets come in a version where you can enter the numbers in the format you are used to, and it'll automatically convert them for you to the US numbers.
 
Hello I’m in Northern BC. I live in Fort St. John what part of northern B.C. are you living? My Molly has been diagnosed since December of 2018. She was eating dry Royal Canine and wet food s/d. I made the switch gradually over to fancy feast. Now that’s all she eats is fancy feast pate. Beef and chicken and chicken freeze dried treats.
When she was first diagnosed her BG was pretty high. It’s a stressful time for sure. But the message board is here to help amazing people here. If you want ask me anything feel free :)
 
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