New to life with a diabetic cat

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moej

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I am Maureen and my little guy is Connor. We have a tabby, Graham (7 yrs old), and thought he might like a buddy. We adopted Connor in June 2011. Connor was 6 yrs old and was dropped off at the shelter last spring. We noticed that he drank more water than Graham but didn't really think it was anything serious. We noticed that he was losing weight...but he had a few to lose since he was 17 lbs at the shelter...so we thought that was a good thing. In February, we noticed his back legs were getting a little wobbly. That was a concern so we went to the vet. She suspected immediately that he had diabetes. A glucose check confirmed he was 500+ (the meter only read up to 500). We suspect he had diabetes when we adopted him but we learned that the shelter doesn't routinely check glucose. So he may have had it when it was there but they don't know for sure.

So, we have been doing BG curves at the vet, we switched to Hills Prescription M/D and he in on ProZinc. We started at 1 unit (2x) and several curves later he is currently at 4 (2x). His lowest reading was still over 200 at the vet last week. Connor is starting to catch on to the shots and it is stressing him out...which is stressing us out. I figured a better way must exist so I luckily found this web site through a Google search. I didn't even know that cats could get diabetes so I was relieved to find a whole community of people with kitties in the same boat. So, it sounds like we should be transitioning him to wet food (and probably Graham, too). The home monitoring is really making me nervous since he is not happy about his insulin shots I just can't imagine more stabbings. But it is something that I would really like to learn more about and try. I know his shots and wobbly legs are making him miserable so we really want to help him. I did read about B-12 (methylcobalamin) helping with his legs so that is mixed in with his food. I can't say that I have seen any improvement yet (2 weeks) but his glucose is still pretty high.

I am looking forward to learning more about how to help imrpove Connor's life.
 
Welcome to the group! It sounds like you're going through the same roller coaster ride I went through with my Tiny. It takes a while, but I'm sure you'll eventually find the right combination that will work for Connor.
 
Welcome! This site is amazingly wonderful!

I'm extremely new to this world as well (my cat was diagnosed a couple days ago) however one of the best things that someone here pointed out to me is that the prescription food isn't the best food. Look at the ingredients. The first ingredient is a meat by product. Not ideal for a pet food period. There are several wet foods that are lower in carbs than Hills. My baby boy is now Fancy Feast classic. Make sure it's the "classic" though and it is much more affordable than Hills. I've only been dealing with this for a couple days but I'm already seeing some little but very satisfying improvements. The vet gave me hills as well but it wasn't working. For one my cat didn't like it at all and he's not the pickiest eater. But I'm also seeing more improvement in his glucose levels since we switched over to Fancy Feast. Yesterday was our first day of home testing and my meter doesn't read above 600 so all it told me was high. Since switching his food we've already lowered it to 497 as of the last reading and that's in a 24 hour time period. Still pretty high but between the numbers improving and a physical improvement it's been highly encouraging.
I've been giving my cat his insulin injections while he's eating with no hassle at all. Maybe next time he's got to be poked sit with him for a little bit and pet him. Take some gentle cleansing calming breathes before you attempt it. Make sure it's a calm environment all around. No stressers around. Try to be as calm as you can about it. I'm lucky in a sense that I have a little experience in testing and insulin injections thanks to my grandma. Had to help her when she broke her arm. Another thing I did was I tested myself first so I could get acquainted with the meter and you'll see that the prick is really not that bad. Knowing how little pain its causing may help you to relax more about it. Plus pricking the ears is pretty easy once you get the hang of finding the the right spots. If you do the home testing in a well lit area or near a good lamp you can see the veins. Makes life much easier because then you won't miss as often. Also get a meter that needs as little blood as possible. I'm currently using the Relion confirm from Walmart and it only needs 0.3. As I said I'm a newbie and you can already see how much valuable information I've gained from this site. You've definitely come to the right place!
I wish you the best of luck with Conner and if you have any questions or concern there are so many wonderful experienced people on here who are more than willing to share their vast knowledge. And once you see that first little sign of improvement it will make all the poking and pricking feel more than worthwhile. I saw the first sign last night and a little more today and it feels like a ton of bricks have lifted from my shoulders.

Stephanie and Kale
 
Welcome to the board! While I am not familiar with the insulin you are using - we used Lantus - I am sure you are on the right track - you found us! :smile:
I am surprised about the issue with the injections. Cedric never minded the injections, but is not too keen about the BG reading pokes to the ear. Maybe it's the syringe you are using? Mabye the needle grade is too big? Cedric's are 3/10 cc, 5/16" and 31 gauge. The lancets I use from Target are 28 gauge. I use a reilon meter from wal-mart to test his BGs.

I had noticed for a few weeks that Cedric was drinking more water and I had taken him to the vet for his annual checkup just a week after we moved into our new townhouse (finally bought my 1st home last March, it'll be a year on tuesday). When I mentioned the water drinking the vet, who is familiar with FD, did a fructosimine (not sure if I spelled that right) test. They called the next day to tell me he was diabetic. Got him on the Lantus (I had bought a vial at the drug store, along with the syringes, both items with a script marked Cedric [last name] - feline. :lol:
This was on a Friday; I bought the meter on Sunday but could not get the strips until Tuesday because of the Easter holiday - pharmacy was closed and they keep the strips behind the counter, u nlike the meters. I switched Cedric to grain free high protein, low carb food, but he still ate wet and dry. The gang here finally get me to totally drop the dry - I was reducing the amount - and within 24 hrs his # dropped 100 points. Two day later his # were normal and have been ever since. That was last May.

Please pick up a meter. There are others out here that are good, but this one I got has the cheapest strips I could find (and that's where they get you). My mom worked for McKession and was going to get me one of their meters, but I passed (glad I did , she lost her job last fall!). The box of 50 is $20 and there is a new wal-mart doen the street - a small one- for when I need more strips. I test Cedricd every coulpe of week, but must update my spread sheet for the last couple of readings.

If you post your city and state ----->
maybe there is someone nearby who can give you pointers since you are having the issues with the injections.
Best of luck and welcome!!!
 
Hi Maureen,
Welcome to the board! Can you tell us when Connor got his first shot of Prozinc? The reason I ask is because if it's only been a month or so, that's a really quick climb up the dose ladder from 1u to 4u. And most kitties will be higher at the vet office than at home, so it could be that the numbers your vet sees are inflated by stress.
Is that Hill m/d canned or dry? Either way, the carb content on the Hills food is higher than ideal for a diabetic cat (even though m/d is supposed to be formulated especially for diabetic cats, go figure).

Good news is that there are dozens of cheaper brands of canned food that are much better for diabetics, and we can figure out how to help you improve his diet. That will lower his BG numbers too.
If you can home test, that will save you from the costs of the vet curves, and it will save him the stress of visiting the vet. Prozinc insulin is a good insulin for cats, and the PZI forum is full of people currently using it on their kitties, so there's plenty of good people who will be more than happy to share their experience with you.

My gut feeling is that Connor's dose is currently too high, and that the vet had you increase too much too soon. That happens very often, so don't feel singled out.

With home testing, a better food menu, and lots of helpful people to advise, Connor could be doing much better on a much lower dose is what I'm thinking. I'll ask a few of the PZI peeps to drop by and say hi!

Carl
 
Hi Marueen -

I'm Lu-Ann, and my boy Grayson has been using Prozinc for two months now. Carl is correct about the dose being high. Most people start out at 1 or 2 units. You need to give the kitty some time to adjust to the introduction of this hormone, I've read that it takes about 45 days before they start settling into a dose (not sure of the accuracy on that). Anyways, I changed Grayson's food before we started the insulin. When he first started, he was running as much as 24 hours on the dose, so we cut it back from 1 unit to .2 units. As he started "settling in", we determined he needed more. That and a ketone scare (a warning sign for possible DKA), resulted in a really rapid increase - but again, in .2 unit increments.

ECID - Every cat is different. For a while there, I thought I was going to mini- or micro-dose. Now it looks like the opposite end, as I just started my first dose of 4.0 units tonight.

The more data you can provide, the better everyone here will be able to assist you. Please ask all you want - either via this thread, on the PZI thread (where all the Prozinc Users hang out), or via PMs to one of us. The advantage of the PZI board is there are eyes up and on usually at all hours of the day and night. Let us know how we can best help you!

Lu-Ann
 
Hi Maureen,

Just wanted to say welcome to diabetesland! Didn't see anyone else mention it, or maybe I missed it, but when you switch to low carb food you will probably need to immediately lower your insulin dose. We went from shooting 1u am, 0.5u pm Prozinc with no real results to needing 0.2-0.05u and seeing good numbers pretty quickly. Kitten got her "last" shot 15 days after her diet change, and we have 6 days left until we can really claim that she is in remission. She was diagnosed with BG 450, and is currently running BG 39-62 with no insulin. Diet makes a big difference in many cats.

Cathy
 
Welcome to Maureen & Connor!

I promise you that you will never find a better place to adjust Connor and yourself than right here!

My Sugar Bean has been in remission for almost 1 yr.... I blame (lol) that on this forum alone!
They encouraged and encouraged and encouraged (gently) for me to home test. I am a big big baby when it comes to needles of any kind or any kind of change.
Bean started on 1 unit and the vet did her invet curve 1 week later and increased her to 2 units, 2 times a day. Because I took the advice from here, I did not increase that much, but I did increase because I did not want to go against my vets advice.

He also gave me prescription foods that the folks here said I did not need. At first, Bean liked the food. But it did not take long and she would not eat it. I followed the advice from here, printed my foods list from binkys list, and returned the vet script food for credit. Since then (April 2011), she has not been back to the vet yet. I home tested, adjusted the insulin per the test results, changed her food and treats and she has been just fine since.

Please view her spreadsheet in my signature and see just how powerful this insulin is! wow! I sure did not know that it could lower those numbers that fast..... Again, thank God for this forum.

If you want to share what town you are in, there are lots of helpful folks that could teach you hands on if needed. I know I needed it, ask, recieved and now my little 16 yr old civvie kitty is still with me today.

Sending furry paw hugs your way! Keep up the good work....soon, you will be passing on helpful hints, ideas and support to future newbies ;-)
 
Thank y'all for the welcome!

Stephanie & Kale - Tomorrow is the big day to visit Walmart :smile: I need to visit the Fancy Feast aisle and the glucose testing. I am really nervous about the testing part. It would be nice to see it done in person. I am near Manchester, NH in case anyone would like to demonstrate :smile:

Doombuggy - We use 29 gauge, 1/2". They are very thin and beveled. Connor didn't even twitch this morning for his shot but my hubby did the shot so maybe it is just me.

Carl - He was first diagnosed about 5 weeks ago. His initial reading was 500+ and he was started on 1 unit 2x per day. He has had a BG curve done at the vet each week (One time we waited 2 weeks). Each time the number is lower but not even less than 200 yet. Each visit has increased the dose by 1 unit. 4 just seems like a lot to me. Info from the PZI peeps would be great!

Cathy - That is so great! I would love Connor to follow in Kitten's footsteps (well, paw prints).

For those who used dry food and then needed to switch to wet food (everyone???) did you switch immediately or gradually over a week or so? It seems like an overnight switch would cause some stomach issues?? So, I guess I need to make friends with the glucose meter first. When I can take his readings correctly then I could transition him to wet food while being able to monitor his glucose and adjust the insulin. Is that a good plan?

Where does everyone administer the insulin shots? I've read that the scruff is not great so I am trying to work my way down but off to the side of the spine. Again, he seems to notice. Is that area too sensitive? Sadly, we are still trying to find the right spot for him. Some shots are perfect and others he complains about but we think we are doing it the same way each time.

I woke up at 2am this morning...couldn't sleep thinking about all of the shots, curves, food...so I went out and found Connor sleeping on the couch (which can sometimes be challenging with his neuropathy). He curled up next to me, purred and licked my hand. He is a very friendly cat but he never sits next to me on his own and definitely doesn't lick me. Maybe it was his way of promising not to complain and me promising to figure this stuff out. I think we came to an understanding during the 2am viewing of 'The Good Wife'.

Thanks again for all of the advice. I'm sure I will torture y'all when the meter is here!

Maureen
 
Hiya Maureen and Connor and Graham of course.


Concerning when it comes as were per se to administer the insulin, i.e give the shot, I do use the scruff on my Simba. He has been diabetic for nearly 6 years and I've moved around with the shots in the scruff as much as I have been able. Only last year, going on his 5th diabetic year did he get pain sensitive to the needle and shot in the scruff, but now I shoot a bit lower in the scruff towards between his shoulders.
I use a thinner and short needle though, a 30 gauge.
 
Ms. Maureen & Sweet Connor,
Very Very glad you bonded at 2 am....definately brought a tear to my eye reading that! wow! They do have all the power, dont they..
I believe he is trying to tell ya...it will all be ok mamma!
How was the movie? lol
 
Welcome, Maureen and Connor,

Hershey and I are fairly new to this dance. He was diagnosed in Nov, 2011 (Who knew cats could get diabetes??) and I immediately came home and started reading. We switched him to Wellness canned as soon as I got home from the store and there were no stomach issues. We did the food switch BEFORE he started on insulin, which wasn't until Jan, 2012. I kept hoping diet alone would be enough and couldn't possibly imagine the testing and the shots! But, here we are, just over 2 months later and starting to settle into some kind of routine (paha!). Okay, couldn't say it with a straight face...Do you have kids? I equate this to when my kids were babies. Sometimes we'd go for long periods of time on some sort of a schedule and then - what happened to the schedule?? Hershey likes to make sure I don't forget who's in charge around here!! :smile:

We watched videos online about testing and giving the shots...over and over. We always make sure to test Hershey sitting in our lap, in the same chair. Due to maturing eyes, we chose the chair next to the lamp. When he hears the lamp click on, he comes on in. We give a treat after testing, and feed at shot time and +6, so I'm sure the treats/food play a part in his eagerness to be tested! We also shoot while he's eating. I have been too slow a couple of times and he's finished eating before I could draw up the shot. He will flinch if he's not eating, but if I catch him eating he is totally unaware of the shot.

We have tried different spots to give the shot but came back to the shoulder area. For Hershey, it seemed to give the most consistent numbers. Initially, Doug did all of the testing/shooting and I handled the paperwork. I was nervous and afraid I would hurt him. Once I relaxed, so did he.

It really does get easier and you will grow more confident. I'm still not as confident giving advice as a lot of people here, but I was re-reading my initial posts a week or so ago and was pleased at how much more competent I feel now. You've found a SUPER family here and there is almost always someone around should you need something - even if it's just some company.

Take care -

Libby (and Hershey, too!)
 
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