Newbie - 2 weeks in - Jake - 7 years old

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Ski851

Member Since 2013
Jake was just diagnosed two weeks ago with diabetes! He is 7 years old, and about 20 pounds. He is a very large kitty. He was always free-fed Purina cat food, and I never knew the effects of this on him.. No one ever warned me! He is a large cat in general, but he is considered obese! He was peeing everywhere but inside his litter box a few weeks ago, so after a trip to the vet, it was discovered he was diabetic.

He is currently on 3 units of Lantus - I NEVER thought the shots wer going to be something I could handle, but (knock on wood), I have gotten a routine down, and dont get nervous, and think my tecnique is pretty good!

He is on a new food, as of about 4 weeks now, and he loves it.. Earthborn Holistic. (Any comments on this food?) He previously was eating almost 2 cups of food per day, if not more.. He is down now to about 1 cup, and two tablespoons of wet food.. He eats AM and PM..

Jake is VERY unhappy when he goes to the vet, and has to be sedated when we arrive. For this reason, testing is very difficult for us. Our vet wanted us to start off with the shots and get that down, and now I want to begin testing. A friend had a meter that she no longer uses for herself, and set us up with all of the supplies.

We tried last night, on his paw (per the vet reccomendation), and needless to say, I was not able to strike gold. . I am terrified of doing it on his ears. He has some small tumors on the edges of his ears. Now, not to say this isnt possible, but I just am afraid he will FREAK. When we tried the paw, he didnt even flinch, which makes me think its not even getting into his skin. I even tried the highest possible setting.

Should I just attempt the ear? My fiance shares the same fear, that Jake will go absolutly nuts, and he is the only person to help me at home. Jake is extremly strong and I can't really hold him down.

I would appreciate any feedback! Learning to live with this has been tougher emotionally on me then on Jake. He loves the attention and comes running when I pull the insulin out of the fridge! (I suspect he thinks it is his wet food though!)

Glad this site is here to lend me some help!
 
Welcome to the board!

To get you some data, though not the most precise, check my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools. These can be helpful in assessing how he is doing while you work on blood glucose testing.

Positive reinforcement is going to be crucial in home testing. Find a low carb treat - bits of fresh baked or boiled chicken/turkey - and reward him for coming to the testing site (a half bathroom is good - you can shut the door!!!) Work on getting him used to having his ears fiddled with - pet, massage, rub, etc. and treat. Always treat after the behavior you want to reinforce.

You may need to burrito wrap him - set him on a towel, then wrap him up so he can't get away, nor get a limb out to nail you. Treat!!! And treat often!!!

If you are currently giving insulin, do NOT change the food until you are testing the glucose. The level may drop over 100 mg/dL and drastically change the insulin amount needed.

Some reading on Feline Nutrition at Cat Info. We recommend canned or raw food with calories from carbohydrates under 10%. Two low cost examples are Friskies pates or Fancy Feast Classic pates.
 
Hi Jake's caregiver and sugardude Jake and welcome to the FDMB. What is your name?

I'm Deb and that tuxie in the picture to the right is my sugardude Wink. I got him off the high carb dry food and then off the insulin. He has been OTJ for 4 and a half months now.

He is on a new food, as of about 4 weeks now, and he loves it.. Earthborn Holistic. (Any comments on this food?) He previously was eating almost 2 cups of food per day, if not more.. He is down now to about 1 cup, and two tablespoons of wet food.. He eats AM and PM..
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That Earthborn Holistic food you are feeding is pretty high in carbs, even the grain free versions like Primitive Feline. Lots of pea, pea protein, potatoes, and fruits and veggies, all of which add unnecessary carbs to the diet. We try for <10% carbs in any foods we feed.

On a guaranteed analysis basis, it's roughly 23% carbs. You need to call the manufacturer to get the as fed values so you can compare it to the food chart BJM referred to.

What is the wet food you are feeding?

3 units is a high starting dose of Lantus. How did your vet arrive at that dose?

The protocol we use bases the starting dose on the ideal weight or the current weight if underweight, rounding down to the nearest quarter unit for safety.
Let's say 15 pounds is Jakes's ideal weight.
15/2.2 = 6.8 kilos
6.8 kilos * 0.25U = 1.7
round down 1.7 to nearest quarter unit = 1.5U starting dose

Even if we use Jake's current weight, the dose is rather high.
20 pounds /2.2 kilos per pound = 9 kilos (overweight)
9 kilos * 0.25 Units/per kilo = 2.25U
 
The current dose may be high in order to handle all the carbohydrate calories being fed!
 
Thank you all for the responses. My name is Jill, and live in Tucson Arizona. I should be more specific, jake has been on Acana dry food for over a month now, and that was what he was on when he was diagnosed. I purchased a small bag of the earthborne, and have only mixed in a tiny amount, beginning three days ago. I will stop giving him the earthborn and stick with the Acana. Our vet said that was a good selection. He is eating Nature Variety Natural Instict wet food and gets about two spoonfuls in the AM and two in the PM. This is his reward for his shot.
As for the dosage, this is simply what our vet recommended and I was too emotional to even ask why. I am going to give the blood testing another shot tomorrow... I was really hoping I could do it in his paw as our vet suggested, but the advice across the board seems as though this is not the best way.
I may pick up some of the strips for ketone testing tomorrow. He tends to pee on his plastic litter catcher mat once a day.. I can probably just use that? He tends to go pee after the shot..
I must say, since starting on the insulin, jake is back to his old self. He is up all night playing with his toys.. He RUNS when I get his food out... His eyes are big and bright, and his coat is getting better. Jake has never been much of a groomer to begin with. He's a very sweet cat..
Our Jack Russell terrier, Corsa, even licks his ears for him from time to time and he doesn't mind! He has always enjoyed this as long as he is in the mood.

Any treat suggestions that I can purchase? Hearing that Friskies is ok for him makes me nervous. I've always thought of it as the McDonald's of cat food.. Even though the Purina he was on is not much better!

Thanks again to all of you!
 
I'm feeding Friskies pates to 14 cats and they're doing great. If I could afford Wellness, or Tikki Cat, I'd do that, but those just aren't in the budget with this many.

Switching completely to low carb canned or raw may drop the glucose level 100 mg/dL, so you'll need to be testing if you're already giving insulin.

Gradual food changes of 20-25% different food each day reduce the risk of having adverse GI reactions of vomiting, diarrhea, or food refusal. They also allow you to gradually adjust the insulin dose as the food change takes effect.
 
BJM said:
I'm feeding Friskies pates to 14 cats and they're doing great. If I could afford Wellness, or Tikki Cat, I'd do that, but those just aren't in the budget with this many.
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I only have two boys, but they eat the amount of four! (They're still growing kittens.) I feed them both Friskies as well and they've been eating that for most of their lives. I supplement with one can of Tiki Cat chicken or raw or boiled chicken breasts (up to 20% a day) to make sure they're getting enough protein, but I've never had such active cats with such beautiful coats till these two (I also had no idea about the dry and that's what I had always fed to my previous cats).

You can use the paw pad, but get the lancets for "alternate testing sites." There are a few people who test that way here for various reasons, but the preferred method is the ear (it's easier to access for testing and they don't walk around in the litter box on their ears).
 
Hi Jill from Tucson!

I should be more specific, jake has been on Acana dry food for over a month now, and that was what he was on when he was diagnosed. I purchased a small bag of the earthborne, and have only mixed in a tiny amount, beginning three days ago. I will stop giving him the earthborn and stick with the Acana. Our vet said that was a good selection.
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Unfortunately, the Acana dry food has the same issues as the Earthborne Holistic, too many carbs.

For example, the Acana Wild Prairie has these carbohydrate ingredients: russet potato, peas, sun-cured alfalfa, sweet potato, pumpkin, spinach, turnip greens, tomatoes, carrots, apples, organic kelp, cranberries, blueberries. On a guaranteed analysis basis, it's 32% carbs, even higher in carbs than the Earthborne Holistic.

The Nature's Variety Instinct Grain-free canned foods are actually very good low carb (1-3%) foods for a diabetic cat. Rather low in protein and high in fat though.

My cat Wink was on the Acana dry foods at the shelter and his BG's were in the 300 to 500 range. Once I got him to my home, I switched him to low carb Fancy Feast, and his BG's plummeted and he went OTJ.

Please, do not switch foods until you are more successful at home testing. A switch to low carb food can drop the BG's 100 points, and with that high 3U dose, your cat could go too low.

You may be interested in the AAHA AAHA Diabetes Management Guidelines for Dogs and Cats. Vet journal published in June 2010. They recommend feeding your diabetic cat canned food with the lowest carbohydrate level in the diet that the cat will eat.
 
I am feeling very defeated with hearing about my food choice not being so good. I wish my vet had not given me the ok on this... I did pick up some cans of Evo wet food, the specific low carb, grain free kind. I will use this as his pre shot treat now.. The cans are much bigger and helpful. I did try to do a blood test this morning via a kitty burrito. Total fail. He hated me and I couldn't even get close to drawing blood. He is just way too strong for me to do alone. I did purchase the ketone strips with the underanding that they may not help me very much, but I felt I needed to do something. I am going to have to keep on my current path until I can get the blood testing down I guess. His level was 600 when he was at the vet.. I just want the best for him, and I feel like I'm not giving it to him.. :(
 
Keep trying and dont give up on the testing!

I know when I first learned and tried with the paw pads, burrito, ears, it was very frustrating but you'll get the hang of it! Also, try really hard not to be nervous. Kitties do pick up on it majorly. I found that out with my kitty. Good luck! :)
 
Most of us were feeding more than 10% calories from carbohydrates initially, until we found this site and learned that we might get off the insulin by going low carb. I was feeding various Iams dry foods that were less than stellar before Spitzer was diagnosed.
 
Well.. As I know this is not totally accurate. I was able to test Jakes urine this morning with a ketone strip and got a negative result.. I feel a little bit better about this, again, knowing it is not 100% accurate. Will try for some blood later when my fiancé gets home. He is stronger than me and maybe will be able to control the kitty burrito!
 
Welcome to the board!

Dont beat yourself up about the dry.. nobody tells you about this stuff!

You may see a sudden drop in blood sugar as a result of feeding a lower carb canned food so the sooner you start getting testing the better! A drop in blood sugar means less insulin is needed depending on how low it goes! And maybe you will even be able to get him off insulin entirely.

Wendy
 
Good Afternoon Everyone -
Does anyone have an opinion on giving a few drops of holistic calming liquid? I have been reading about it online, and a colleague recently used in on her pet to calm him down and she said it worked well.. I wanted to get Jake a little calmer before I could test - Maybe I acutally need to take it myself! Thoughts? It is all natural and alcohol free - No one reported side affects... I absolutly dont want to make him sick, but I'm willing to try anything!
 
What is the specific calming liquid? Like a Rescue Remedy? I've only ever tried the Nature's Miracle Calming Spray, but there's Feliway plugins that I hear work very well. I also just found out the other day that there are even collars.
 
Actually, you might try wearing him out a bit with 15-20 minutes of active play.
 
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