Newbie: Recently Diagnosed and scared

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cahickey

Member Since 2013
Hello forum users! My vet informed me of the FDMB as well as the helpful forum.

My name is Christine, and today my baby boy of 5 years old, Simba, was diagnosed. I've had him now for 2 years, adopted from my previous roommate who was a rather terrible cat owner. He had always been a relatively large garfield like cat, but he ate and played normally so I thought nothing of it. At the beginning of the month I started packing to move, and I also started noticing his sudden weight loss. One vet visit clarified it: he had diabetes.

I've never taken care of an animal before with a disease like this. I have two other cats living at home as well, Nemo and Raiza at 6 and 9, both males as well. I'm already feeling pretty confident in having to do the tests and have purchased my insulin and needles from the vet, but I'm not sure about a glucometer? Or what type of food? Or what amount I should feed him or how often I should feed him? There is a lot of information posted on the site but, unfortunately with my head spinning with all this new information there is too much information posted which isn't helping my panic.

So any hints, tricks, things... anything at all that would be great. Luckily I'll be moving in with my boyfriend in exactly a week so I'll have the emotional and physical support of him, but right now I could use someone who's experienced diabetic pets.

Thank you <3
 
I'm a newbie myself to this board but not to a diabetic cat. You are miles ahead of me by coming here right after diagnosis. The shots are easy and it sounds like you've got that down. I bought a Relion Micro glucometer at Walmart for $15. 100 test strips are $35. A box of lancets was $6. A box of 50 nitrile gloves was $6. Neosporin ointment $4. I use alcohol, Kleenex, q-tips, and hydrogen peroxide too which I already had but they are cheap. I use a nitrile glove on my working hand, right hand, I oly touch the test strips with a glove on and try to handle them on the edges only. I set up a well lighted area with all the stuff set up and give the guy zero carb treats from YoungAgain (online only) as a reward for letting me stick him. It seems to be working.

1) I set all the stuff out and also a thick towel for the little guy to sit or lay on and put on one glove.
2) I load the spring loaded lancet tool with a fresh lancet and set it to maximum depth. The lancet tool came with the glucometer.
3) I take test strip and place it in the glucometer just so, but I don't push it in deep enough yet to activate the glucometer.
4) I place the lancet tool, a Kleenex folded to about a 2" by 2" square, and the glucometer with the test strip hanging out of it but fairly secure, to my right.
5) I place the cat on the towel in front of me.
6) I soak both ends of a Q-tip in alcohol and apply some on both sides of the outer rim of the ear you are going to prick.
7) I grab the Kleenex and the lancet tool, pulling the handle of the lancet tool to double check that it is loaded and ready to lance.
8) I pet the cat's head and back, and then rub his ears a little to promote bleeding.
9) placing the Kleenex in my left hand on my fore finger I place the Kleenex on the inside of the cat's ear to keep from sticking my finders .
10) With the lancet in my right hand, quickly line it up and push the button. Lining it up means placing the lancet against the cat's ear about an inch from his skull and as near the edge of his ear as possible to lance the vein that runs in the outer perimeter of the cat's ear.
11) You should see a small droplet of blood form which you can gently squeeze to enhance the droplet forming.
12) Put the lancet down and with one hand holding your cat, use your working hand to push the test strip into the glucometer. The glucometer will beep, show a code, and then a droplet icon. It's ready to do it's thing.
13) While gently holding your cat's head put the edge of strip that's in the glucometer right at the base of the blood droplet. The blood will get sucked onto the test strip and seconds later you'll get a readout on the cat's blood glucose level.
14) Your done. Give your cat a couple of treats and put stuff back in its place.
15) Treat your cat accordingly to your recent CG test data.

It sounds like a a lot but it's pretty easy. I also test the cat's urine for ketones and glucose when I can. Bayer makes some test strips that do both.
 
A couple of things I forgot. The board got buggie at the end of the previous message, so I bugged out.

14) Hold the cat's ear gently, but firmly for minute where you lanced him. This pressure will help stop the bleeding and also help prevent bruising.
15) I use a Q-tip soaked on both ends in hydrogen peroxide to clean the lance site on both sides. I then apply a dab of neoporin ointment on the lance site on both sides.

Now your done. Clean up and give him or her a treat or two. 10 minutes tops...really.

I'm having issues with the proper insulin dosing of my cat right now. The people on this board are knowledgable and pretty diligent as well. They'll help your cat stay healthy. Had I been as wise as you and began BG testing early right from the vet when he was regulated and asymptomatic, my cat might be off the juice (off insulin), as they say here, by now. Don't sweat it. This is manageable and your cat will do well.
 
Welcome Christine and Simba to FDMB. How awesome that your vet told you about us. :-D

No need to be scared...this is the best place to be for Simba's sugardance. Feel free to ask anything you need to know....we are all here to help you.

What type of insulin are you going to use? What are the dosing instructions?
Are you feeding Simba low-carb canned food? Most of us here feed our sugarcats Friskies or Fancy Feast .... the pate types.
The Relion Confirm meter (from Walmart) is another good choice for testing...it uses a smaller drop of blood.

I am sure you will see posts from other members this evening with links to info on how to test, food chart, glucose levels, and also how to set up a spreadsheet (like Rumpelteazer's for example) to keep track of Simba's bg numbers/shots/etc. I can't remember all of the links. :oops:

Shot-time...will check back later. :smile:
 
If you're already using insulin, focus on home testing first to keep your cat safe.

If you're not using insulin yet, focus on diet change, which can lower the glucose 100 mg/dL give or take.

I put canned food down twice a day and leave it out as I'm currently feeding 14 civvies (non-diabetic cats).I feed Friskies Turkey and Giblets in the 13 oz cans; its low carb and economical with the number of cats I'm feeding.

If you have a cat that is ravenous and will scarf 'n' barf.com spread the food thinly across a wide plate to slow that down. Feeding mini - meals 2 or 3 times in the first 5 hours after a shot also helps. With my cats, it seems like the food consumption is about 1 oz per pounc, divided into 2 servings, as mine will graze. A diabetic may need 50% more food because of the inability to use it properly. (Multiply food anount by 1.5)
 
Hi Christine and Simba! That's a relatively young age for a diagnosis, so hopefully Simba is one of the many kitties that can become a diet-controlled diabetic (aka "broken" :lol: ).

cahickey said:
...I'm not sure about a glucometer? Or what type of food? Or what amount I should feed him or how often I should feed him? There is a lot of information posted on the site but, unfortunately with my head spinning with all this new information there is too much information posted which isn't helping my panic.
Click to expand...

It's easiest to think of diabetes management in a three-fold approach: Insulin, Food, and Monitoring.

First, what insulin did the vet prescribe? There are only three insulins that are recommended by the AAHA Guidelines for use in felines: ProZinc/PZI, Lantus (glargine), and Levemir (detemir). Since your vet already knows about this board, I'm assuming you were prescribed one of those three?

Next, for food it is recommended to feed low carb, wet food (less than 8-10% calories from carbs). Most of us here use the food list from the catinfo.org website. What I did was simply print it out and highlight anything on the list with less than 8% carbs (Column C) and took it shopping with me. Some of the cheaper options are Fancy Feast Classics, Wellness Grain Free, and Friskies Pates. As BJM mentioned, you don't want to change food if you're already giving insulin without home-testing first since a food change can cause a significant drop in BGs (Blood Glucose), which can potentially lead to hypos.

Finally, home-testing. This helps you know pretty much immediately how the kitty is reacting to the food change and/or the insulin dose. Steven has already provided you with some great advice on getting started on ear testing and I wanted to add another link with a few more tips and tricks.

And please let us know if you have any questions or need any clarification. The only bad question is the one that goes unasked. ;-)
 
Hello and welcome to the board!

Diabetes is perfectly manageable. As Kay said, are three main things to do if you are looking for good regulation , a healthy cat and possibly remission

Insulin - a good one like Lantus, Levemir or Prozinc. You don't want Caninsulin or Vetsulin - they don't work well in cats

Low carb Food - you want a low carb canned food like Friskies pates, fancy feast pates or wellness grain free. You can feed a few times a day, or free feed. Its up to you.

Testing - Critical to keep your cat safe. A shopping list is below. Once you get the meter etc we can provide tips on how to do this.

Wendy

Getting started shopping list
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. Cotton balls to stem the blood
5. Neosporin or Polysporin ointment with pain relief to heal the wound
6. 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. Sharps container - to dispose of waste syringes and lancets.
9. Treats for the cat - like freeze dried chicken
10. Karo syrup/corn syrup or honey if you dont have it at home - for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast
11. A couple of cans of fancy feast gravy lovers or other high carb gravy food- for hypo emergencies to bring blood sugar up fast
 
Hello board members!

Sorry about the delayed reply. I didn't realize that A. I had to subscribe to my own topic and B. that the emails from this site were dumping into my spam. With the chaos of me getting ready for a move I'd been on a rollarcoaster @.@

Simba has been doing amazingly, even after the move. Actually what's great is that his weight has evened out, his coat feels more fantastic than before, and he has much more energy. He feels like a kitten all over again in some ways. The vet is amazed at his progress as well.

Initially I had him on 2 units twice a day 12 hours apart- I don't remember his Insulin off the top of my head right now since I am at work. It was interesting putting the cats all onto a feeling schedule, but my oldest is happy to be getting wet food as well. He was pulled immediately off of dry food and I had him eating Frisky's Patte types like the Chicken and Tuna and the Poultry Platter since chicken is his favorite. After he was done eating he'd get snuggled in my lap and given a dry chicken treat (which my other cat Nemo would try to snatch and bug me the entire time for more treats) and then given the shot, and more insulin.

Last week I got a Freestyle meter in the mail from family (since my cousin is diabetic) and I got some strips on Amazon for a decent price. The first time I tested his blood I got a 48 and realized online that that was -really- low! So I stopped insulin, called my vet, had to wait almost two days to get a reply back and checked him about twice a day. I was an idiot at first poking his ear but he's gotten better about it. After being off of insulin for about 3 days I watched his levels go between 95-115 and he's still at those levels even after the move! The vet says we may have caught it early enough that the diet has helped that he's went into remission, but to of course keep track of his diet, his water intake, and his blood glucose.

I most certainly need to pull out some honey or corn syrup for some added sugar boosting, and possibly some gravy cans for when he gets a little low since I've caught him at the low 70s, high 60s sometimes.
 
If he can stay 40-130 for 2 weeks without insulin then we consider him in remission. You don't need to give syrup or gravy food to a cat thats not getting insulin.. 60 and 70 is perfectly normal and there is no danger of a hypo! So put that high carb gravy and syrup away - you don't want it messing with his possible remission .

Keep testing once a day to see and keep us updated. We are on day 4 of an OTJ trial now right?

Wendy
 
Right now he's been off of insulin shots since the 30th. He got his morning shot and I recorded him 8 hours later at 48, and then I fed him and then 8 hours later in the middle of the night got him at 65. The next day he scored at 112 and 98. I've been bad at testing him since the move on the 1st, but last night I checked him again after feeding and he scored a 75 so so far, so good.
 
This is wonderful news! Congratulations on getting him diet controlled so fast! We generally recommend testing twice a day for the first 14 days to catch a potential lapse in remission as fast as possible. After 14 days of no insulin, that means Simba is in remission!

And as Wendy said, no need to worry about low numbers when he's not on insulin. :mrgreen:
 
He's so active and desiring to play that he's driving my boyfriends nuts!

Still not on insulin, and his glucose levels have been rather normal for someone not on insulin. On the 8th he scored an 80 in late morning, and 60 in the late night, and then a 48 this afternoon. He's stolen my other boys dry food a few times (since the oldest cat doesn't like being 100% on canned it seems!) which has worried me a bit. Last night he kept mewling at the toilet bowl which I couldn't tell if it was begging for water or not since he never drank from it from what we had seen/heard.

But in comparison to a few weeks ago, he's an energetic kitten <3

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?v=10202561500223796 Boyfriend actually caught him sneaking cans coming home on Monday trying to get more food out of the sink. He's eating a little less than his intended weight in canned food as the vet advised, but between feedings and especially two hours before he gets suuuuper beggy and tries stuff like this.
 
Like a kitten. He's completely moved into the new home and loves it so much.

He also has had 0 insulin since I stopped giving it to him. Friskies Pate food only (mostly the poultry) and has been scoring between low 50's and high 80s. His fur feels amazing, he drinks out of the water bowl instead of cleaning his paws in it.

And every morning at 7 am he hears my alarm, jumps on my stomach, meows in my face till I get out of bed, and meows the entire time until the food hits the floor! His weight has been great, as has my other cat who's now on the wet food too. It's more expensive than the dry, yes, but it's showing a dramatic difference in both of them.
 
Isn't it amazing to see what a change in diet can do to our beloved kitties? Soft and silky fur, more energy, playing more, perhaps remission with the diabetes.

Sounds like things are going very well with Simba and it's great that he's still in remission. He and Wink can party at the falls! ;-)
 
:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:


Tips to stay OTJ

We say a cat is in remission if the cat can maintain BG levels for 14 days between 40-120 with most of that spent under 100. However, please keep in mind that once a diabetic always a diabetic.

1. Never feed dry - not even treats. If you change wet food types, be 100% sure the new food is also low carb and same low carb % as your current food. Some cats are very carb sensitive and an increase from 3-6% to 8-10% can spike the BG’s. Don’t feed if you aren’t sure!
2. Weigh every 2 weeks to 1 month to watch for weight changes. Too much of a weight gain can cause loss of remission.
3. Measure blood once a week, indefinitely. You want to catch a relapse quickly.
4. No steroids or oral meds with sugar - remind your vet whenever giving you any medication. Always double check.
5. Monitor food intake, peeing and drinking. If increasing, a sign of losing remission.
6. Regular vet checks for infection such as dental , ear or UTI. And get them treated quick!

If he does fall out of remission you need to be more aggressive and resolve issues/ back on insulin as soon as possible as the window for a second remission is tight if any.
 
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