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hummerbee

Member Since 2014
This week one of our four cats was diagnosed with diabetes, I've been trying to familiarize myself to this new topic since then!

We took him in over the summer for another family member, he's a 12 year lovey guy but somewhat bullied as are the others by our youngest kitty. He doesn't much like to come out of the spare room for very long and interact. He's lost 2 pounds since July just before he was brought into our home, most of which seemed to be muscle mass (he is an indoor cat). His blood tests came in alright, and I've been unable to get his urine samples for any other conditions like UTI.

Right now, I'm trying to narrow down the food. Our vet had us get w/d to start and glipizide twice daily, for two weeks to see if by a slim chance it will help regulate him before insulin injections. By day 2 he doesn't seem to like it nailbite_smile and the vets office was closed before I could get some advice on it. Before I fed each cat 1/3 cup of dry food and split up a can of wet food into 4 parts to each. I understand that the best food to help him is low in carbs (less than 10%, 5% is preferred). I found one site that said Fancy Feasts Classics are good, he seemed somewhat more interested in it than the w/d. And we just got the Salmon Pill Pockets to help him with the glipizide both times each day, I didn't want him to associate me with trying to get a pill down his throat.

I've read the threads and tables for the different percentages of carbs and other important factors for diabetic cats. How does his loss of muscle mass factor into this choice, I have no idea! I'm only a week in but I think I'll be asking all sorts of questions on here for to take care of my boy.
 
Glipizide does not let the pancreas heal; it forces it to work harder until it burns out with no chance at getting off insulin in the future. Using insulin and a low carb, over the counter canned or raw diet, may enable your cat's pancreas to heal and return to normal function (not something humans can do!).

Because he couldn't use the carbs in his food, his body was breaking down fat and muscle for calories - thus the weight loss. As he becomes regulated, he'll put it back on.

Friskies pates are also low carb and less expensive than Fancy Feast. All the cats should be eating canned low carb per Dr Pierson of Cat Info.
 
Here is what the catinfo website says about the w/d food...
Hill's Prescription canned w/d: (28% carbohydrates)
Pork by-products, pork liver, water, corn flour, powdered cellulose, chicken fat, chicken liver flavor*

Hill's Prescription canned w/d with* chicken: (26% carbohydrates)
Water, pork liver, pork by-products, chicken, powdered cellulose, corn starch, oat fiber, guar gum......locust bean gum, carrageenan, chicken liver flavor*

*Please be aware that the word "with" means that a product is required to contain only 3% of the ingredient - in this case, chicken. The word "flavor" means that the product is not required to have any of the ingredient present.

That is way too many carbs to regulate him with diet. I've been shooting for under 6% with my cat and he still isn't regulated yet. However, he is much lower then he was at the vet.

BJM has lots of good info. This would be a great time, before insulin, to start the low carb diet.
 
Many people here feed the Fancy feast classic pates - they are a low carb and economical choice. Don't give dry at all.

I would start insulin and home testing his blood to keep him safe as soon as possible. Glipizide is only going to stress the pancreas more and you want to give him the best chance of remission. Ask for Lantus, Levemir or Prozinc.

In fact I would start home testing now, you may already be seeing a drop in blood sugar due to the diet change.

Wendy
 
Thank you for the responses! I've had to isolate him into the bathroom so he couldn't eat his old food from another cats bowl. I'll definitely be checking for moving on to insulin and home monitoring. I just wish I had more funds to do so immediately, I'm a full time student and it's time to buy books/pay my Spring bill so I'll have to postpone the textbooks for now. He definitely doesn't seem as sluggish as he used to be, I suspect he was just being extremely cautious because of the others. I've happily been able to give him some one on one time.
 
Then I would choose Friskies pates as they are cheaper cos you can get bigger cans. I would also pick up a relion confirm or micro from walmart as they are good and cheap reliable meters so you can see if they food is working - he may not need insulin at all.. or not for long. Heres a shopping list:

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 with pain relief 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 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

Wendy
 
Looks like I might've gotten lucky on the food, the wet food we've been feeding them with the dry was the Friskies Classic Pate! The food chart from catinfo.org says the carbs are 10% or under excluding one flavor if I'm understanding it correctly. I'm wondering if the glipizide is effecting his appetite because he's just not eating much. I was familiarizing myself with the home monitoring process on catinfo so I spent a bit of time looking at lancet sizes and the need for cotton balls :) It's unbelievable the amount of information that's on that website, I've been sharing it with my fellow cat loving friends.

Thank you so much for the list of supplies, I'm about to put together the total costs to get him fully set up.
 
Yep the friskies pâtés are mostly under 10% calories from carbs except for the mixed grill.

I would Get a meter and urine ketone strips and see where he is at. Then stop the dry and the glipizide. If he is still out of normal cat range (50-130) then ask the vet about insulin.

Wendy
 
Yes he's been off the dry since Monday when he was diagnosed since I was told he could no longer have his old food. I couldn't remember the type of wet food we were giving him at the time when the vet asked. We'll see about getting his meter/strips/and lancet supplies when we go into town tomorrow now that I have an idea of what needs to be done.

Thank you again, Wendy, for taking the time.
 
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