Hi! I'm a newbie here, but not so much a newbie when it comes to my diabetic kitty.
Bear was diagnosed last January at nine years old. It was a struggle for us both at first, but I love this cat. He is such a joy to own. He's so easy going and emotionally intelligent. No joke. Before his diagnosis, I went through a bad health spell that lasted for well over a year. I was in pain nearly everyday, with tears rolling down my face most days from the pain, stuck in the bed most of the time. This angel of a cat would come and lay down beside me with such a look of concern and then he would put his paw on my cheek and stroke my cheek. He would do his best to comfort me and he did comfort me. I am devoted to this little angel. That is one of the reasons I joined this forum. I want to be better for him and for my other cats, Patches (10 year old female) and Smokey (11 year old male). I know I still have lots to learn because I've been continually learning since his diagnosis.
I have learned so much, most of which I did not learn from the vet. When Bear was first diagnosed, my vet didn't even recommend at-home glucose testing! I had to request that and get a monitor ordered for me after he had a terrible hypo episode followed by a period of really high sugar due to the reduced insulin the vet put him on after the hypo episode. When I got the monitor and finally learned how to test him, I discovered that his sugar fluctuates too much for him to be on a fixed dosage. I had to fight my way through most of this including changing their diet from dry prescription food to canned wet food. That is when I learned that not all vets know about feline nutrition needs, much to my surprise! Each one of my cats improved in overall health, but Bear's main improvement was that he began to require less insulin when on wet food.
I have recently started trying to improve my cats health more. I'm currently interested in supplementing with coconut oil and have started my diabetic cat on about a half teaspoon of coconut oil a day. It is probably too early to tell anything, just three days, but he does love the oil and his black coat is super shiny. In addition to his daily dose, I've also been treating an ear problem of his with the oil as well. I drop three-four drops of the coconut oil into his ears each day and will continue this till the end of January when I'll go to once a week to try to get a handle on his recurrent ear issues. I will say that after the second day of treatment for his ears, he no longer scratched or tilted his head with his ear down. It appears to be working well.
I am also interested in pycnogenol and vit c supplementation and plan to look into that soon to determine if it is safe and if it will improve my cats' health and quality of life.
Please forgive anything that is not up to normal procedure. I am a newbie, an excited newbie at that. I look forward to learning on here and meeting you all. Thank God for our precious animals!
Bear was diagnosed last January at nine years old. It was a struggle for us both at first, but I love this cat. He is such a joy to own. He's so easy going and emotionally intelligent. No joke. Before his diagnosis, I went through a bad health spell that lasted for well over a year. I was in pain nearly everyday, with tears rolling down my face most days from the pain, stuck in the bed most of the time. This angel of a cat would come and lay down beside me with such a look of concern and then he would put his paw on my cheek and stroke my cheek. He would do his best to comfort me and he did comfort me. I am devoted to this little angel. That is one of the reasons I joined this forum. I want to be better for him and for my other cats, Patches (10 year old female) and Smokey (11 year old male). I know I still have lots to learn because I've been continually learning since his diagnosis.
I have learned so much, most of which I did not learn from the vet. When Bear was first diagnosed, my vet didn't even recommend at-home glucose testing! I had to request that and get a monitor ordered for me after he had a terrible hypo episode followed by a period of really high sugar due to the reduced insulin the vet put him on after the hypo episode. When I got the monitor and finally learned how to test him, I discovered that his sugar fluctuates too much for him to be on a fixed dosage. I had to fight my way through most of this including changing their diet from dry prescription food to canned wet food. That is when I learned that not all vets know about feline nutrition needs, much to my surprise! Each one of my cats improved in overall health, but Bear's main improvement was that he began to require less insulin when on wet food.
I have recently started trying to improve my cats health more. I'm currently interested in supplementing with coconut oil and have started my diabetic cat on about a half teaspoon of coconut oil a day. It is probably too early to tell anything, just three days, but he does love the oil and his black coat is super shiny. In addition to his daily dose, I've also been treating an ear problem of his with the oil as well. I drop three-four drops of the coconut oil into his ears each day and will continue this till the end of January when I'll go to once a week to try to get a handle on his recurrent ear issues. I will say that after the second day of treatment for his ears, he no longer scratched or tilted his head with his ear down. It appears to be working well.
I am also interested in pycnogenol and vit c supplementation and plan to look into that soon to determine if it is safe and if it will improve my cats' health and quality of life.
Please forgive anything that is not up to normal procedure. I am a newbie, an excited newbie at that. I look forward to learning on here and meeting you all. Thank God for our precious animals!
