Hi and welcome to FDMB. None of ever expect our furkids to have diabetes, but it's even more of a shock when they are so young. My girl was diagnosed at the ripe old age of 4 too!
We advocate home testing which not only gives you the ability to make sure it's safe to give insulin and see how a dose is working for Chloe but it also keeps vet costs down because you won't have to take her back to the vet for curves. The other benefit is that most cats get quite stressed out at the vets which elevates their blood sugar so home testing gives you more accurate BG readings. When you start testing you can set up one of our spreadsheets on which we log our readings and share with members here so that if you have questions or concerns, you can get assistance whenever you need it.
Most of our members use a human glucometer and all the reference material here is based on the use of a human meter unless specified otherwise. If you are in the US, the most popular meters amongst our members are the Relion Micro or Confirm both of which need only a small sample of blood and have reasonably priced strips. If you are located elsewhere, let us know where and we can provide suggestions. We have lots of information available
here to help you get started testing and lots of other tips and tricks that we can share to make testing very easy. Many of our kitties come to get us at test time and purr through the process which only takes a few minutes. Cats ears don't have a lot of nerve endings so they don't feel anything near what we feel pricking a finger so don't worry about hurting Chloe! She will be just fine.
Dealing with a diabetic cat takes a commitment from you and a tiny bit of time and the first couple of weeks my seem a little overwhelming but you will soon find it's much easier than you think it will be and of course you have everyone here to help you get up to speed very quickly.
If we can get you to set up a signature (the light grey text at the bottom of our posts) with information like your name, Chloe's name, your general location, the diet Chloe is on, the meter you are using when you get one, and any other medical issues that Chloe is dealing with, any history of ketones or DKA, and anything else you think we may need or want to know, it will keep us from constantly asking you the same questions over and over.
To set up a signature, place your mouse pointer over your screen name in the upper right hand screen. This brings down a menu and you can select "signature", the second option in the left column. A text box will appear where you can enter the information you want to share. The signature is limited to three lines so if you run out of space , you can separate bits of info using a slash or "|". When you are done putting info in the text box, click on the "Save Changes" button under the text box to save it and it will appear on all your future posts. You can edit it anytime info changes or you need to make additions.
I'll stop there so you can catch your breath and do a little reading and your bit of homework (signature)
. I'm sure you will have questions once you get started testing but in the meantime if anything pops into your mind, just holler and we'll be here.
