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JaneP.

Member Since 2013
Hello,

My name is Jane and my 7 year old orange and white tabby has been found to have a high blood glucose on his blood panel. The vet wants to confirm diabetes with a urine test. I have been trying to get a sample for two days, and no luck! They close today in 30 minutes, so it looks like it is not happening today. He is drinking more water but not peeing more. His name is Cheeks and I may remane him supper bladder! I have been reading a lot about the feline diabetes and feel terrible that this is happening to one of my 3 kitties that I love with all my heart. I am feeling overwhelmed and responsible which is probably normal. I just wanted to introduce myself and look forward to learning more about all of this from my vet and experinced cat owners. I thank you all in advance to what I can imagine is going to be a wealth of knowledge and support.
 
Welcome Jane!

Could you have your vet get the urine sample in his office? That might be a cleaner, better sample than you can get at home?
 
Thanks for your reply. Yes, I have appointment on Monday for them to get the sample. We were just trying to avoid the going to the vet trauma. But I guess Cheeks and I both will need to get used to going there. I will let you know how it goes. I'm sure that I will have questions next week. Thank you all.
 
As Sue stated: Home test!!!!! I learned my lesson very quickly! My kitty was Dx and my vet was doing all the curves. I went and bought the meter and strips and decided to test at home since my kitty has serious anxiety and stress issues, she flips her lid if anything is out of the normal. At the vet, her blood always tested really high and her fructo tests showed she did have really high BG levels. Since I knew that the vet was an extreme stressor on my fur baby, and after the advice from the ppl on this board, I tested at home and thank God that I did. My first try went over well, no issues except- SHE WAS HYPO. That night, had it not been for the amazing ppl on here, I don't think my girl would have made it. LESSON LEARNED!!!!!!!!!!!!! Anytime that I have tested Akasha at home, her BG has been lower, at the vet it soars, even after fasting. I also bought the strips to test her urine. I had no problem there either- she would actually let me collect the urine in a giant spoon while she went -was pretty simple and then I could see where she was without the costly vet visit... She is normally not the kinda girl to do things on anyone else's terms- we live on Akasha's terms around here- she is the ruler lol. But she was actually compliant for once in her life. So, in short, you will find the best advice here on this board, and test at home... It is imperative that you test at home to see what the BG is when kitty is in their normal environment.
 
Okay, I really have no idea what you guys are telling me. Can I get the test strips at one of the pet supply stores? Or is it rx only? Thanks so much for all your help and taking your time to help me. I am feeling very overwhelmed and scared for my kitty.
 
Here's a video to show it is done: Video for hometesting

Here's a shopping list for supplies:


A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. Some members stay away from any meter with True in the name and the Freestyle meters. Some people think they are unreliable and read lower than other meters. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 26-28 gauge is good. Any brand will work as long as the lancets match your device.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking. You can also use a prescription bottle filled with very warm water. It provides a good surface to poke against.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats

How to get the cat ready for home testing

First pick a place where you want to test. Some people use the kitchen counter, a blanket on the floor, between your legs while sitting – whatever works for you. Take the kitty there and give him/her lots of praise while you play with his/her ears. Give a treat and release. Next time, add the rice sack (thin sock filled with raw rice, heated in the microwave until very warm but not hot) or a prescription pill bottle filled with very warm water. Lots of praise, treat and release. Finally add the lancet so he/she will get used to the noise. The hope is that when you finally poke, they will be used to the process and know a treat is coming!
 
Hello and welcome to the board!

What are you feeding him? Wet.dry? type/brand?

Food can have a big impact on blood sugar and often by changing his food from dry to a low carb canned, you can reduce insulin needs or sometimes eliminate entirely.
 
Thank you all so much for your replies. He eats Little Friskies canned food and prefers the ones labeled tasty treasures. The dry food he was eating is Science Diet Light formula. He does not eat the dry food anymore, he abrutly stopped eating it about 10 days ago. The vet first thought that might be the cause of the weight loss. Man, I wish he had been right! Thank you all again for your time, and I will post later today after I take him back to vet for them to get urine sample.
 
So one of the key things in managing diabetes and maybe even allowing remission, is diet. Cats arent built to eat carbohydrates and it damages their pancreas so much that sensitive ones can become diabetic. So to help your kitty we recommend you switch to a low carb wet canned that is under 10% calories from carbs. Maybe 1/3 of cats we see here go into remission making the diet change alone!

So good news is that he isnt eating dry food any more as this is high in carbohydrates. However some wet foods are also too high in carbs. Friskies classic pates are good but tasty treasures are 20% carbs and up. So can you cut those out and only feed the low carb flavours? You can look the flavours up here (you want the third column C under 10%) http://www.catinfo.org/docs/FoodChartPublic9-22-12.pdf

To see if the food change is working, and to keep kitty safe if he ends up on insulin, you should start home testing too as soon as you can.

Good luck at the vets - few things to discuss

1. dont let him sell you an alphatrak meter - human meters are cheap and just as reliable.
2. if he wants to give you a prescription for insulin then ask for Lantus, Levemir or prozinc/PZI.
3. Ask if the urine has ketones - important to know as it will let you know better how to manage him.
4. Dont let him sell you expensive prescription foods - cats go off them really quick and the foods I mentioned above are just as good and cheaper.

Wendy
 
Welcome... and don't worry about being confused. It comes with the territory - things will start to make sense soon. Promise!

If your vet wants to confirm diabetes (and I applaud that!), his best bet is to do a blood test called a fructosamine. This gives the average blood glucose level (BG) over the past few months, so it would rule out high glucose from stress, a new infection, etc. And it's more accurate (and easier) than a urine test.

Boy... if I had a dollar for every cat who ended up on this board after eating Science Diet Light, I'd be as rich as Bill Gates. Seriously- take an overweight cat, and feed him dry cat food that's low in fat but extra high in carbs, and VOILA! A recipe for diabetes. :sad:

Remember that cats are obligate carnivores and need only fat and protein in their diet. Their bodies can barely digest carbohydrates - they need maybe 5% of their diet to be carbs. Now take a look : http://www.hillspet.com/sd-feline-adult ... od-dry.pdf It's over 42% carbohydrate. For an obligate carnivore, that's a heck of an overload. No wonder we burn out those poor little pancreases!

I do realize that confusion increases at first, but the more you read and ask, the less confusing it all becomes.

Good luck, and we'll be here for you.
 
Hi Wendy,

The diabetes was confirmed by glucose in urine, but no keytones. We started Cheeks on 3 units twice a day of Prozinc. All 3 of my cats are off the dry food and eating Little Friskies pate style without the gravies. They are eating 1/2 a cat at 6am and 1/2 can at 6pm. It's going fine now taking some getting used to for them. They were grazers and ate more food and more times a day.

After a week on the insulin, Cheeks stayed at the vet hospital all day and had blood draws and glucose checked throughout the day. Some were good and some were not. We have not made any other changes to food yet as the vet doesn't want to change everything at once for the poor guy. Now he is getting 4 units of insulin. They are running the blood testing again in two weeks. Hopefully he will be regulated by then. He is acting normal and seems fine. The vet wants him to lose 3 more lbs. getting down to 14 lbs.

Cheeks and his brother, Tigger and his sister, Minnie are doing very well with the changes in feeding and amounts. We all know how hard change can be for our kitties! I am gaining more knowledge and not so afraid to leave him alone. I am trying to stay positive and take good care of all my cats. A friend of mine is going to show me how to test his blood sugar at home this week.

I really appreciated everyone's help and support. Thanks so much!

Jane and Cheeks, Tigger, and Minnie
 
Sounds like overall he is doing pretty well. Great that he is on a low carb canned, great choice of insulin.

However 4 units is a high dose so early on so I can't wait for you to start home testing! Here's a shopping list to get yourself set up for when your friend comes over.

Getting started shopping list
1. Meter ie Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro.
2. Matching strips
3. Lancets - little sticks to poke the ear to get blood . new members usually start with a larger gauge lancet such as 28g or 29g until the ear learns to bleed. Optional - lancing tool.
4. Cotton balls to stem the blood
5. Neosporin or Polysporin ointment to heal the wound
6. Mini flashlight (optional) - useful to help see the ear veins in dark cats, and to press against
7. Ketone urine test strips ie Ketostix or ketodiastix - Important to check ketones when blood is high
8. Sharps container - to dispose of waste syringes and lancets.
9. Treats for the cat - like freeze dried chicken
10. Karo syrup/corn syrup or honey if you dont have it at home - for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast
11. A couple of cans of fancy feast gravy lovers or other high carb gravy food- for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast

Let us know how u get on. Until you start testing though keep a VERY close eye for hypo symptoms and make sure u have syrup in the house..http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=28&t=15887

Wendy
 
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