New to this and have a few questions

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Mishy707

Member Since 2013
Hey everyone,
I recently found out my 10 year old cat has diabetes. Today was his first day of injections and I am stressing out. I am supposed to give him injections every 12 hours. This morning he got one and then tonight he got another. I followed what I thought was what the vet told me, but realized after I had given him the injection that I forgot to warm the insulin first! How is this going to affect him? I didnt give him any more for fear of over dosing. Also the vet put him on a new diet food too. The food is Hill's prescription diet m/d. I have another cat that isn't diabetic and he has been trying to get to the special food. He's has eaten some but I try to push him to eat his own. How will this affect him?
 
Hi Mishy,

First of all, Welcome to your and your kitty! What's his name? It's normal to be nervous and scared. It's a frightening diagnosis, and trying to manage it can be overwhelming at first, but if you stick with us, you will learn quickly and become more and more comfortable. Here are a couple of other questions for you to answer so we can all get to know you and your kitty better:

1)What kind of insulin are you giving your cat? What's the dose/how many units? I've not heard of the need to warm insulin before injecting, though I am really only personally familiar with Lantus. It's a human insulin that isn't supposed to be refrigerated, but we keep it cold so that it prolongs its life.
2) Did your vet run a fructosamine or blood test? Do you by any chance know what the results are? Here on FDMB, we all test our cat's blood glucose before giving every shot and do several spot checks throughout the day.
3)Do you have a glucometer? Many of us use the ReliOn meters you can find at Walmart. I use the ReliOn Prime; the strips are relatively inexpensive at $9 a bottle.
4) Are you feeding Hill's dry or wet? Hill's is not a popular brand around here. Cats need a high protein low carbohydrate diet. Many of us feed Fancy Feast Classic Pates. As far as your other cat, he should be fine, so no need to worry.
5) How much does your cat weigh? Is he underweight/overweight?

It's a good thing that you didn't shoot again since you haven't been able to test him. Shooting blindly can be very dangerous as you put your cat at risk for hypoglycemia. First things first, definitely go out and get a glucometer as soon as you can. We test our cats by pricking their ear to get a small drop of blood. You can find directions, resources, how to videos here. You will need a glucometer, test strips, lancets, and a warming sock which you can make by filling a sock with rice that you then heat in the microwave. Press that against kitty's ear to help draw the blood to the surface.

Another thing to make sure you have on hand is high carb gravy wet food or Karo corn syrup. This is for emergencies if your cat's BG drops too low. Another thing to add to the shopping list are ketostix to test urine for ketones. These can be bought at any pharmacy or Walmart.

Again, welcome! There's a lot of resources and wonderful information here --- you've found the best place to help you care for your kitty. We are a knowledgeable, supportive bunch of people who can help you provide the best home treatment to your cat to keep him healthy and safe.

-Courtney and Kismet
 
Unless you are giving a lot of insulin like more than 5 units it is not necessary to warm the insulin because the syringe will warm the insulin unless you store the syringe in the fridge.
Welcome too.
 
His name is buddy, I know it's a dogs name but it fit his personality pretty well :P.
1. The vet put him on prozinc.
2. We had run a blood test and that's how the vet found out he was a diabetic kitty. I don't have the test results but I'm definitely going to get a copy of them to see everything.
3. I don't have one of those but I will definitely be going out to buy one of those!
4. He is only eating dry food because usually wet old hurts his tummy.
5. He is over weight. My other cat socks is his litter mate and is about 14 lbs. Buddy tips the scale at 21. In general though they are both bigger cats.

Thank you very much for your support! At least now I have somewhere to start! Thank you again!
-Michele and Buddy
 
Hi Michele and Buddy,

Thanks for filling us in! I'm sorry to hear that wet food upsets his tummy, but it is highly advisable to get him fully transitioned to wet food. Cats are obligate carnivores and naturally have a very low thirst drive. In the wild, they only eat animal protein, and get a lot of moisture (80% water) from their food. Dry food has a very low moisture content, and furthermore, is made with grains. Cat's do not need rice, corn, or wheat, and may not even be able to properly digest it. Cats don't produce an enzyme that many other mammals do called amylase which helps to break down complex carbs. Many cats have gone into diabetic remission just by switching to wet food, depending on how carb sensitive they are. Fancy Feast Classic Pates are an excellent choice to feed as they are low in carbs, readily available at most groceries, and are affordable. Not only is Hill's TOTAL CRAP, but it's expensive.

When Kismet was diagnosed, our old (now ex vet) told me to feed him science diet dry and had me shooting a very high dose (3 units). When I finally tested him after finding FDMB, he was in the low 40s :shock: The people and knowledge here helped me save his life! After 2 weeks on insulin, he went into diabetic remission just by changing his diet to wet food! He was OTJ (off the juice) for 6 whole months! Diet is so important, and it is possible to transition them. It is not uncommon for cats to get upsets tummys when you change their food. That doesn't mean the food is bad, it's just that it takes some time to transition. Please think about switching to a completely wet food diet--- both your cats can eat the same thing, and it will be better for them both. Not only it is best for diabetics, but it also promotes renal health, ideal body weight, and has many other nutritional benefits.

This site: http://www.catinfo.org/ is run by Dr. Lisa Pierson DVM who frequents the board and has extensive knowledge on feline nutrition and diabetes. Look over her site for more on proper feline nutrition.

Some more homework for you. Once you get your home testing supplies and get your first test, you should set up a spread sheet for Buddy. The spread sheet is a universal document that we use to record our cat's blood glucose numbers. If you look in our signatures, you will see links to our SS. This is so that other members can easily access our cat's records to help give advice and recommendations, and so that we can keep track of their BGs ourselves. With a record like this, there is no need to pay for the expensive fructosamine tests that vets run. Directions and template are here : link to SS

AMPS = Morning Pre Shot (where you type the number you get right before you give your cat his shot)
PMPS = Evening Pre Shot
U = units of insulin shot

Since we all are in different time zones and shoot at different times, we use the + number system. +1, for example, means one hour after you shot. +2 is two hours after, etc, all the way up to +11. The next value is the Pre-shot value which is collected 12 hours after the last shot.

For shooting insulin, the method we use is Test, Shoot, Feed. Make sure you get a blood test before you feed and shoot insulin.
 
Welcome to the board! :-D

I've had first-hand experience with Hill's Prescription Diet M/D, and Prozinc when my cat, Blackie, was first diagnosed 3 years ago. Unfortunately, the Hill's is very high in carbs, and I ended up giving Blackie 8 units of the Prozinc 2x/day before we switched foods, and insulin.

I think you may find the same thing may happen with your kitty before long. I highly recommend switching to a lower carb wet food, which will help bring down the #s. Here are a couple of websites that have good quality wet foods:

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

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

The above links will give you a nice variety of different foods to help with the blood glucose #s. Hopefully, you won't need to do what I did in the beginning, and raise the dose each week. Sometimes Prozinc works on animals, and sometimes it doesn't. I would try the food first, and see what happens, and if it doesn't help, then you may need to switch insulins.

Hope that helps! Good luck, and I look forward to updates. :-D
 
Food transitions usually work best done slowly as abrupt transitions may provoke vomitng and/or diarrhea. Was the canned food tried previously phased in slowly or just 100% switched? If the latter, it may not be a problem if you transition slowly.

Whlie working towards that, you might switch the dry food to those which come closest to low carb - Wellness Core, Evo Cat & Kitten, and Young Again 0 Carb. They don't have the moisture a cat needs, but at least they don't overload the carbohydrates.
 
Hi Michele, I've put together a shopping list for new members that might be helpful. You can also download and print the list to take with you. Please let us know when you have the glucometer and get your first reading. Good luck!
 
Wow thank you everyone! Looks like I have a lot of homework to do and a shopping list to attend to. I'm definitely going to take all the new found information and use it with Buddy! Thank you again so much!
 
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