Newbie Introduction

Status
Not open for further replies.
skippersmom

skippersmom

Member Since 2013
Hello!
My cat, Skipper, has been in the hospital since Thursday with diabetic ketoacidosis. It was touch and go at first, but he started eating on his own last night. If he continues to progress then he may come home tomorrow. We did not know he was diabetic prior to this. He is 4 and not overweight. He is also very low key so I didn't think much about him sleeping for 2 days on my daughters bed until he threw up what looked like coffee and wasn't willing to walk. Looking back the fact that someone started spraying and cleaning the kitty box had become a sticky mess should have been a sign, but with more than one cat there was no way to tell who was having trouble.
I guess what I'm looking for now is any advice and knowledge that you can all offer on caring for a diabetic cat.
Thanks!
Rae Ann
 
Rae Ann - it looks like you have two posts going - you may want to delete one, so you don't get confused - yes there is a lot of help and information we can provide to you.

I'm going to give you our general introduction primer to get you started and hopefully not overwhelm. Please ask questions and keep asking - there is a lot to learn, a steep learning curve, but well worth it and it will become second nature to you quickly.

Ready... here goes:
------------------------------------------------------------------

WELCOME, this forum is a great place to gain knowledge and really learn how to manage feline diabetes. By doing just a few things each day (that really won't take up much of your time at all), you won't need to worry about losing your precious cat, not where feline diabetes is concerned.

There are three key factors to managing diabetes: food/nutrition, home testing and insulin

1) Feline Nutrition: Now, as far as diet - definitely dump the dry food (if you are feeding any) and if the vet recommends purchasing prescription food like DM just say "no thank you". ALL cats, and especially those with diabetes, do best on a species appropriate diet that is high in protein and low in carbs. Dry food DOES NOT fit that bill and DM food, even canned, just really isn't that great as far as quality. Most here on FDMB feed low carb/high protein canned, raw bought from a pet store or they make there own.

Here is a link to a site by a vet "Dr. Lisa DVM" ... who also posts on this board from time to time ... www.catinfo.org

If you look on the right side of her site, she has a food comparison chart to help you figure out what food you want to get based on the carb %.

You want to keep the carb % below 10% and around 7% is great. (Personally, I stay between 0-6% carbs.)

While on her site, you can read about in-depth info. on nutrition and how to make raw food, etc.

Here is another link that will give more information about food/nutrition

Nutrition/food info

The good thing with feeding your diabetic cat this way, is that it is ALSO good for any non-diabetic cat too. All your cats can safely eat the same food without worry and it may save you some costs and headaches of having to do separate feedings and keeping track of what they are eating.


2. Home testing: It is impossible to convey the value of testing your cat's BG (blood glucose) level at home. Some vets will "suggest" this, but most won't even mention it. They will send you home with insulin and an amount to shoot and maybe some instructions about hypoglycemia (blood sugar dropping to a dangerously low level).

Well, the thing is, human diabetics don't EVER give themselves insulin without checking there BG to make sure it is safe to do so, so why shouldn't it be the same for our kitties. Here on FDMB it is. You will notice that the vast majority of people here test their cat's BG at least 2x/day (before giving each shot to make sure the level is safe enough) and periodically at other times to see how the cat is responding to the current dose. We use a human glucometer, test strips and lancets - which are all very readily available and easy to use.

Our kitties get lots of love and treats for "putting up" with this and most of them actually come out to be tested on their own 'cause they want those treats . Here is a collection of great links that "Carolyn and Spot" pulled together about home testing. See what you think ... it truly is the best way to not only keep your cat safe but also really get a handle on this disease and help him to live a healthy life with FD (feline diabetes).

Home testing Links

3. Insulin: There are several types of insulin available. The top three we recommend are Lantus, Levimer or Prozinc all are great insulins. They are gentle insulin and given twice (BID) per day in 12 hour increments.

Please read up on the insulins available, here is a link to the Insulin Support Groups:

Insulin Support Groups

However, one caveat and again this shows how these three things are inter-related:

If you are feeding dry food or even a high carb food, BEFORE removing these foods, please make sure of your insulin dose as it will most likely need to be reduced, so as to avoid a possible hypoglycemic situation due to the removal of the dry/high carb foods that will lower the BG’s and reduce the amount of insulin required. Again, another reason why home testing is important.

I know this all seems like a lot, and that is because it is ... there is a learning curve here. But as long as you are determined and keep at it, you will have it down before you know it and you'll be seeing the results in Your cat' overall health and happiness. Ask all the questions you can think of – that is why we are here!

Also, if you have not done it yet, take the time and fill out your profile. It will help when others come on and read this. Also, let us know where you live - city/state or city//province/country as there are probably people in your area who can provide on the ground support and help you to learn home testing, etc.

Now, you can do this on a budget. Here is a shopping to get started:

1. Meter ie Walmart Relion Confirm or Micro*
2. Matching strips
3. Lancets - little sticks to poke the ear to get blood . new members usually start with a larger gauge lancet such as 28g or 29g until the ear learns to bleed. Optional - lancing tool.
4. Neosporin or Polysporin ointment with pain relief to heal the wound (can use generic brand)
5. Mini flashlight (optional) - useful to help see the ear veins in dark cats, and to press against
7. Ketone urine test strips ie ketodiastix - Important to check ketones when blood is high
8. Treats for the cat - like freeze dried chicken, even rotisserie chicken, deli chicken, canned tuna will work
9. Karo syrup/table syrup, honey or any sugar product like jam, jelly, etc. if you dont have it at home - for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast -
10. A couple of cans of fancy feast gravy lovers or other high carb gravy food- for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast


• We suggest the Relion meter and matching strips from Walmart, as they are the most economically priced meter and strips. That is assuming you have a Walmart nearby. If not, then you can purchase any human glucometer except for Freestyle with butterfly strips or any meter with TRU in the name. People have had issues in the past with these meters and best to start off with something else.


Here is a link to questions that you can ask any vet:

http://www.indulgedfurries.com/petdiabe ... stions.htm


OK, that's enough for the moment. What questions do you have?
 
Delete the 2nd post before anyone responds to it.
Go up to the main Health board level (link near top of this page) and click on that.
Then scroll down to the post of yours with no responses and click on that.
In the upper right is an X.
Click on that to delete the empty post.
It will ask you to confirm; click Yes.
Go back to the forum where you may then watch this post's responses.
 
Thank you! It sounds like I have some shopping to do. At first I thought the vet would be sending me home with all the things we would need. I don't think they mentioned home testing. I have to take him back in a few weeks for a glucose curve.
I was feeding only dry food and will have to switch all of them. This list ofi structions is great and feels manageable. thank you yo. I'm not as overwhelmed as before.
 
Not all vets will suggest home testing. There are some that will even tell you that you aren't allowed to do it, which is just bunk.

You also don't want the vet necessarily providing the supplies, they will charge a huge premium for things that you can get on your own cheaper.

You will need prescriptions from the vet, especially if you go with the human insulins and syringes.

If you learn how to home test, you can save the money and stress of taking the cat for a glucose curve - all that is - is testing the cat every two hours over a 12 hour period - something you can do yourself at home and get real numbers that will not be vet stress induced and artificially high that can cause the vet to recommend too high of a dose of insulin.

We even have a google spreadsheet that you can fill in and share with the vet to track his Bg's (blood glucose) numbers.

Yes, we have everything you need here.

The most important thing is to get him out of DKA and danger and then start the process - if you tell us where you are - there may be a member close by who can provide in person assistance.

Make sure the vet shows you how to give injections and if he is familiar with home testing (we suggest using the ear edge for that) he can show you how to do it - if not, no worries, we have videos and photos and step by step instructions you can follow.
 
Skipper is eating on his own and using the kitty box now. His urine no longer smells like ketones either but they wont have an official reading until morning. The only bad news today is he spiked a fever even though he is perking up and moving around. He may be coming home tomorrow. They said that ideally they would like to keep him for a few more days but they understand that cost is a factor as well. They want me to home test his glucose levels and keep them up to date on the readings. They are offering him both dry and soft cat food and he will only eat the dry. Partly because at one point they were force feeding him the soft food. They would like me to us Purina DM when I get home. I would like to try the best food for the price that will help him. His readings are still in the 300s but the vet seemed more concerned with getting him eating.

So here is my list before I go get him tomorrow:
1. Relion Ultima Blood Glucose Monitor
2. test strips
3. lancets
4. food

I'm one of those people that works better within a written schedule, so can you give me an idea for a feeding, testing, insulin schedule? Also, how do I incorporate my other 2 cats. They are used to having dry cat food available 24/7. What kind of feeding schedule should a healthy cat be on and what food should I feed them?

Thanks!
Rae Ann
 
For dry, if that is all he'll eat for now, 3 low carb choices are:

Evo Cat and Kitten
Stella & Chewey's freeze dried - which can be rehydrated slowly to shift over to wet
Young Again 0 Carb - actually 5% calories from carbohydrate the way we calculate it; also, internet order only.

Once he is stable, you can work on transitioning him to canned or raw low carb food.
 
Rae Ann,

Please refer to Dr. Lisa's website for ideas and tricks to transition all your cats to wet food only.

http://www.catinfo.org

You don't need to pay the $$ for prescription food. You can purchase perfectly safe low carb food at the pet store. The prescription food is not high quality, you are paying for the hype of what is supposedly does, which you can get much cheaper at the store.

If you can't go through the food chart list right now, I get it, so here is are a couple easy choices:

- Fancy Feast canned food - any flavors that are listed as CLASSIC PATE STYLE
- Friskies canned (both 5.5 ounce and 12 ounce) - any flavors that are PATE STYLE

Are you seeing the theme - for the most part (again check the food chart) foods that are pate style usually are low carb - which is under 10%.

Foods that are grilled, in gravy, sliced, diced, shredded typically are high carb and good for the hypo kit - especially fancy feast gravy lovers. In a nutshell, the hypo tool kit is if his BG's plummet this is a good way to help bring them up. We can go into more detail with that later.

Do you know what kind of insulin they are using currently with him?

Your schedule really depends on a couple of factors - what time they are currently giving insulin and if that works for your needs or not.

For example, your schedule could look like this - and change the times to really meet your schedule


7:00 test and give insulin
7:05 feed
9:00 test again (give a treat)
11:00 give a snack and test again
1:00 test (give a treat)
3:00 give a snack
5:00 test
7:00 repeat

I don't know if you have set meal times or give snacks. My cats are free feeders and while I would put out canned food, they wouldn't eat it all at once and would come back throughout the day to graze. That worked fine for me and mine.

What was your routine prior to all this? We can help you keep as close to that as you want.
 
Previously, our cats all just ate Friskies indoor dry food at will. So I think I will by some low carb hard food and some soft food today. I'll work on getting all the cats on a feeding schedule. It is a good time since we are on break until the 6th. I'm a stay at home, homeschooling mom anyway so we are home most of the time. I leave to go workout and I go to my office for my part time job one day per week.
I did look at the food chart and, wow, there ate a lot of choices. Is there any benefit to going for pet store food such as Wellness over the grocery store brands? Costco sells the Frisckies pate by the case so that would certainly be an easy way to go..
I don't know what insulin they are using yet. I know it is around 140/ bottle. They wanted to try a more expensive insulin bit they didn't have it in stock and had already opened the 140 bottle so we stuck with that. I know his blood glucose levels are still pretty high but I think what they are feeding him may have something to do with that.
I thought I would stop by Petco today. Any recommendations for a low carb treat? He loves pepperoni, but that is people food and is probably a no no. He also likes canned chicken breast. It has 13g of protein, 1g of fat and 0 carbs...
Thanks again! I'm learning a lot fast!
Rae Ann
 
HEre is a link for low carb treats - viewtopic.php?f=3&t=9172

You need to get the name of the insulin - it is the only way we will know whether it's a good one to use for cats or not.

The three insulins we recommend for cats are Lantus (glargine), Levimer (Detemir) or Prozinc - If I may suggest - would you please call the vet right now and ask what insulin they are using. You really need to know this and if you can tell us, then we can better help guide you.

Buying Wellness or Friskies really depends on your budget and whether or not your cats will eat it.

Buying kibbles - if you must buy dry food - as BJM pointed out
BJM said:
Evo Cat and Kitten
Stella & Chewey's freeze dried - which can be rehydrated slowly to shift over to wet
Young Again 0 Carb - actually 5% calories from carbohydrate the way we calculate it; also, internet order only.
Click to expand...

Are the safest options - buying anything else, is just going to be problematic for controlling the diabetes.
 
Well, I talked to the vet this morning an they were worried that he hasn't eaten last night. He has a fever and is jaundice. So they asked to do another blood test panel which came back with great numbers. His glucose was 180. Hi phosphorus was a little low. She says she needs to review the case file and confer with the original vet before deciding when he can come home. I told her I was getting the glucometer today but didn't want to buy it if he wasn't going to pull through and she said well ask them if you can return it I it isn't open because she can't make any guarantees..huh? We at over $1300 now for the bill. Really getting torn with these ups and downs....wondering if we did the right thing here... :(
 
He may be developing hepatic lipidosis (the jaundice is a clue) from breaking down his own body fat for calories. This can cause the liver to swell and back up the bile into the blood stream. It is very, very serious.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top