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Socks<3Katie

Socks<3Katie

Member Since 2020
Hi everyone!

My name is Katie, and my fur baby’s name is Socks (in case my username didn’t give it away :)). He’s been recently diagnosed as diabetic, and I’m at a loss as to where to start...He is 17, and has been with me since I was 12..so more than half of my life. The vet helped somewhat, but didn’t really give me a general direction on what should be done. He has ordered insulin, but that’s about it. Does anyone have any advice, or just recommendations on food to give him? Attached is a photo of my sweet baby
 

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Awww! Your Socks is the cutest! I am also a newbie, and boy have you come to the right place! If you go to the Health Links section of the forum, there's a ton of useful information. Scroll down until you see a post that says "Feline Diabetes- Newcomers, start here!" That will get you started.

Also, there's a sticky post at the top of this forum section, "Dr. Pierson- New Food Chart." which is a great place to learn what diet can help your kitty. It helped me and Bill so much. Many members here feed Fancy Feast canned food because it's low in carbs. The variety is important. The classic pates and the naturals are low in carbs, as are some of the flaked flavors, but not all FF varieties are low carb, so check the chart.

What I've learned is this, with some knowledge and care, you can really help your kitty feel better. So, don't fret, start reading, and you rock for taking such good care of Socks!
 
Welcome to the FDMB!

Most of us feed our cats Fancy Feast Classics or Friskies pates because they're under 10% carbs, easy to find and affordable. There's a Food Chart that offers more options too. No kibble or "prescription" food!

Hopefully the insulin your vet ordered was ProZinc but a lot of vets are still using Vetsulin which is fine for dogs but doesn't usually work too well in cats. ProZinc is a veterinary insulin specifically for cats.

The important thing for now is to get Socks onto a low carb canned or raw diet. As long as there weren't any ketones in the picture (your vet would have told you), changing the food first before starting insulin is the best (and safest) time to do it. Lowering the carbs in the food can drastically reduce the blood glucose numbers and some lucky cats can even be diet controlled right away (although most need at least a short time on insulin)

While you're changing foods, it's a good time to learn to home test. Most vets don't discuss home testing with their clients but if you had a diabetic child, you'd be told to test before every shot and it should be the same for our furkids.

Also testing that's done at the vet's office is unreliable due to vet stress which can raise the glucose as much as 200 points. By testing at home, you get more accurate results. By testing before every shot, you make sure it's safe to give insulin at all. By testing in between shots, you learn how well they are really responding to treatment.

Most of us use the Relion Prime meter from WalMart because it's affordable to use. There are "pet" meters, but the strips for them are about $1.00 EACH....the Prime's strips are $17.88/100.

In this thread there are a couple of video's to help show you how to home test but there are several others on YouTube to watch too.

Again, welcome to the best place you never wanted to be! Keep asking questions! The people here are very generous with their time and knowledge!
 
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