New to this in New York

[ColeMW]

Hi,

First of all, thank you all for putting together such an amazing website. I am humbled by how much effort and care you all are putting into treating everybody's kitties so well. I would be grateful if you guys had some opinions on my situation. One of my family cat's was recently diagnosed with diabetes. He was given a prescription for a vial of lantus administered subcutaneously, and thats how he's been being dealt with for a few months. I know this isn't enough, so I am here looking for recommendations for a good vet in the New York area to do his curves/be his general doctor with him. I've also been looking at the diet sections and will be arranging to give him a better diet soon.

Additionally, I am considering rehoming him if possible, because I am very worried that we are not going to be able to take care of him regardless. My family does not make a lot of money at all - me and my brothers are students working through school/college and my mother works a lot too. Affording medical care + everything has been hard so far, and we have had harder times giving him his shots on time because everybody is in and out of the house at bad times. I don't live at home with him and my girlfriend is terribly allergic so I cannot take him into my place and I don't know if the others can realistically treat him well enough so we aren't harming him and giving him the best life he could have, which is what I want. We had a cat with a chronic health problem before and it was really hard - I think he could have lived longer than he did if he had someone who had more resources/time to take care of him and I do not want to repeat the same mistake for this one.

General help/advice would be really really appreciated on all topics from regular day to day maintenance to the rehoming. I'm sorry I don't have a ton of info to give you guys like you asked in the FAQ, I just don't have his numbers or anything. Let me know what you think, and thank you all so much whatever the replies are.

 

[Nan & Amber (GA)]

Hello and welcome!

I'm afraid I can't help with NYC (I assume) vets, but I can point you to a couple of resources for helping with finances and, if necessary, rehoming.

Tagging @Chris & China (GA) with DCIN (Diabetic Cats In Need). Most of their focus is on helping low-income caregivers get the resources and support they need to care for diabetic cats, but they do do some limited rehoming I think. They're a great organization and worth checking out, regardless-- if you qualify, they can help with insulin and other supplies. Another option for saving money on insulin is ordering from Canada, which many people do.

The original vet may have talked you into expensive "prescription" food for diabetes. This isn't necessary, you can feed ordinary supermarket cat food such as Fancy Feast or Friskies pates. The only thing to be cautious about is that you don't want to switch to those low-carb options without testing blood glucose-- going low-carb all at once can really drop the insulin needs down, so for safety you need to monitor. As an added (big) bonus: testing at home means you do not need to go to the vet for expensive curves!

For testing supplies, most of us use a "human" meter and strips (the biggest ongoing expense), with the Walmart Relion brand a favorite due to affordability. For other meters, you can often get good deals on strips online at amazon or eBay.

Hope this helps. I know how tough it is to manage all this, hopefully we can help you figure out a strategy!

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

No need to have the vets do the actual bg curves. You buy a bg meter yourself and do all bg checks at home yourself. That's the cheapest. Of course you do need a vet anyway with good knowledge of feline diabetes and it's guidelines.

Are you in Upstate New York or NYC?

 

[ColeMW]

Hi, thank you both so much, I really appreciate it. I am in the NYC area. I will definitely look at that place and see where I can get one. Also I will look into those diets as well. I should get him off the crunchy carb food correct? Thank you.

 

[Ann & Scatcats]

Yep, no high carb dry food. Although switching to wet food can be tricky. Flavours.
I was, to my big surprise, boycotted out by Simba & Gustav's neighbour cat friend Tiggy. I gave him fresh Greenland Ice Ocean shrimps and fresh good beef. Took pictures and filmed him short when he was this 5 Star Restaurant Boycotting. I also then bought him a half fresh grilled chicken and also fried up a fresh turkey filet to him. That was more his thing.
But as it turned out, his human had him turned on to ham. Beat me how he even could think that was even edible.

 

[JanetNJ]

Hi neighbor... I'm across the river in NJ. I don't have any suggestions for NYC vets. As others have said, if you test her blood glucose at home, you are going to save a bundle. Once I started testing my cat at home she didn't go back for an entire year. Lantus can be pricy but many here buy it from Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada (they ship to the us). A pack of 5 pens of lantus last about a year or so and only costs somewhere around $175. Lantus is good for 5-6 months after first used if kept in the refridgerator. adwdiabetes.com has good prices on syringes.

Food is not a big expense. Most here feed fancy feast classic or Friskies pate foods.

Walmart Relion Prime is probably the cheapest meter. Test strips are about $17 for 100 of them. I have a video in my signature showing how I tested my cat at home.

 

[Chris & China (GA)]

Hi @ColeMW and welcome to the FDMB!

Yes, DCIN has 2 programs to help. One is for one time assistance to get started (start up costs are the highest) and the other is for ongoing assistance (which is for lower income households that will need ongoing help, especially with insulin) Feel free to apply to the program that helps you the most. https://dcin.dreamhosters.com/assistance-programs/

We do send the Relion Prime meter from WalMart to our clients because it's so much more affordable to use than any other meter. The meter is $9 and strips are $17.88/100.

We can also post for re-homing, but we have over 100 diabetic cats currently looking for new homes so it can take time....and in the meantime, you'll want to keep him as healthy as possible. The link above also has the information about re-homing.

I live on SSI so I totally understand how frightening it can seem to care for them financially, but I didn't know about DCIN when China was first diagnosed. Luckily, I did find Marks Marine Pharmacy in Canada and for $190 (including shipping) I got enough insulin to last almost 2 years. I bought my other supplies at Wally World too. Syringes are $12.58/100 and lancets are anywhere from $2-12 depending on brand.

We're all here to help you so hopefully your "extra sweet" kitty can stay in your lives for a long time to come!

 

[Dyana]

I should get him off the crunchy carb food correct?

I would not take him off of the dry food too fast, as dry food is high in carbs and taking him off of dry and switching him to the lower carb wet foods suddenly can drop his blood glucose way down. We usually recommend changing the diet once you are home testing his sugars, so you can keep him safe. A symptomatic hypo can be life threatening. Please print out the Symptoms of & how to treat HYPOGLYCEMIA - what to do if your kitty experiences hypoglycemia and tape it to the cupboard where you keep your hypo tool box (please read Jojo's Hypo Tool box - be prepared, what to have on hand in case of an emergency).
There are lots of other stickies to read at the top of the Lantus forum, when you have time. Ask as many questions as you like. We are here to help.
Best Of Luck to you and your kitty