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MaryB & Chester

MaryB & Chester

Member Since 2012
Hello!
My cat Chester was just diagnosed diabetic. I'm scrounging up the money now to start treatment. I've been reading up on it all and I'm starting to feel a bit overwhelmed...Shots and blood tests and hypoglycemia and different meters and never taking off for weekends away ever again...it's a lot of information to process in a short time. :shock:

I have six cats total. Chester (my new sugarcat) is the consummate professional pet. A truly awesome, relaxed, happy dude. Blackie is my house-feral. He used to live outside until he got curious about indoor living and ended up hiding under my bed. He's turned into a very loving devoted cat, with some PTSD issues. Twinkie is a monster fluff-ball - very sweet and mellow. His sister Rizzo is our Diva. She's a beautiful medium-haired tortie who loves attention. If Rizzo is our Diva, Then Sophie is our Princess. She's the smallest cat with the biggest attitude. That leaves Shady, another tortie who seems to be a cross between a cat and an alien. Very sweet but very weird.

For those of you who have multiple cats, how do you manage feeding schedules? We free-feed dry food (Iams Digestive) to everyone (with six, it is SO much easier!!!), but I know that Chester is going to transition to strictly canned food. Right now, Sophie gets cans (Fancy Feast or Friskies) and we feed her three times a day. We figured we could just include Chester into that routine, but how do we keep him away from the dry food? In theory, if he gets enough can he shouldn't really want the dry, but what if he decides to get himself a snack? How much can that mess him up?

Is milk OK for a treat? I know it has natural sugars. I imagine Pringles are off limits now. Definitely no ice cream licks.
I plan on doing some more reading and board searches. There's just so much to learn!
 
Welcome to the board! It is a lot to take in and with a multi cat household it can be challenging to get food schedules down we had 5 cats when Boomer was first diagnosed. All kitties were free feed dry food. Once Boomer was switched to wet food and started getting his insulin we started only feeding 3 times a day the kitties quickly adjusted to the new feeding schedule and Boomer ate in the bathroom with the door shut. As for weekends off well that can be tricky if you can't find someone whi can test and shoot while you take a few days off. Our solution was Boomer became well travelled he handled hotel room great and loved to camp :lol:
 
Actually it isn't hard to feed a multi-cat household, just look down at my signature...lol..yep they are all mine. I have 14 cats two of which are diabetics that I adopted as diabetics from this very board. Around here everyone eats exactly what my two diabetics eat, just good old fashioned Friskies Pate style canned food. Now granted I work from home so I can be here to feed when I have to, but I know others that use automatic feeders or freeze the meals that they will be away for and put the food out frozen to thaw slowly so their kitties can nibble on it all day long.

One thing is that if you mix a little warm water with canned food it will stay fresh for a good 12 hours (or at least so they tell me, with 14 I've never tested this.. :lol: ) As leftovers is an unknown word around here. :lol: The nice thing about Friskies pates is that at least 3 flavors that I know of come in the big 13 oz cans and all three of those flavors are fine for a diabetic. In fact it was on a diet of Friskies Pate that got my big guy Maxwell complete off insulin and has kept him in remission now for 2 years. And my newest girl Autumn has gone from 1.5u of insulin with the diet change off dry to a mere .5u and dropping, but she is a special case as she went a very long time without any treatment for her diabetes before I adopted her. But I am still hopeful that she too will eventually go into remission as well.

Around here everyone eats 4 times a day once at 7am when I test and give insulin to Autumn, then again at 1pm which is right about when Autumn is going to be her lowest from her insulin, then again at 7pm when Autumn gets her evening shot, and lastly they all get a bedtime snack right before my husband and I turn in for the night to help keep Autumn from going low over night.

I know right now everything seems very overwhelming and complicated but once you find your groove caring for a diabetic cat is really very easy and only adds a couple of minutes to your day...Honest! Trust me if it was tough to do I would not have adopted 2 with all the healthy and happy kitties I already had after my first diabetic passed away. And actually Autumn is the third diabetic that I have adopted I lost my Musette is past May but it was to anemia not to diabetes.

The 3 keys to treating a diabetic cat are insulin, diet, and testing at home. All three are very easy to do. I'm sure others will chime in shortly, but I need to run to go test a kitty and hand out breakfast before they eat me...lol..

Just wanted to pop in and Welcome you and Chester to the FDMB family.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
We have five cats and one was recently diagnosed with diabetes. We were free feeding dry and now I am picking up the dry during the day and putting it out for the others to eat when Tiger(diabetic) eats his canned food (FF) three times a day. The others get a can of FF at night before bed. Until we can figure out another way that is the best we can do. They seem to be doing ok with this.
 
I have 3 cats (one diabetic now in remission) and they all free feed "young again zero carb" (dry) and blue
wilderness chicken (moist with parmesan). How do I keep straight who eats what? I don't. My answer to that was to invest in an infant scale. You can get a healthometer brand on amazon that has a nice cradle to make kitty feel comfortable, and a "hold" button to take the average over a period for a cat moving around. I simply weigh the diabetic one daily. My vet thought that was a good answer, so I offer it to you. I think the scale was all of $60 on amazon & I was very happy with the purchase.

Good luck.
 
Thank you all!
I suspect everyone's diet is going to shake up a bit while we figure out what's best for Chester.

Is there any kind of tracking app for Android that can help keep track of BG readings? I see that a number of you keep spreadsheets, but it would be SO convenient to just punch the info into my phone.

What does OTJ stand for?

Is it more important to start insulin first or start BG testing first? Or do they need to happen at the same time?
 
OTJ is off the juice in remission not on insulin and start testing first because a change in diet can drop the BG by as much as 100 so you need to know where Chester is at and how much to give someone here will help with dosing
 
OTJ = Off The Juice or in remission and off insulin (juice) :-D

Diet and testing if you have the option to start that way is the best, since some cats like my Maxwell all it took to get him into remission was ditching the dry food and putting him on an all canned low carb diet, granted he did have about 2 weeks of insulin before he was transported to me but once he arrived I gave him two shots total before he was completely off insulin. So with some cats it is merely a diet change that is needed.

Plus it is much easier to find their perfect dose if the diet is changed first, then testing to see where the numbers are at then adding insulin. Many times cats will drop over 100pts just with the removal of the dry food and it can happen very quickly so if they are started too high then diet changed you have a hypo on your hands.

But if you are giving insulin you want to be testing at home. It is absolutely the best way to keep Chester safe while on insulin. It lets you know at a moment's notice if he is first high enough to give insulin to, and second it gives you peace of mind that he isn't dropping too low.

Mel, Maxwell, Autumn & The Fur Gang
 
We use a spreadsheet on Google Drive/Docs to track numbers. The Technical forum has instructions. These can be shared on an Android device, as I've been able to see others' spreadsheets.

They may be downloaded to the device, but then you have to constantly upload them to the web. Its easier just to update the Google Drive web version
 
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