Newbie

[DE727UPS]

Hello. I volunteer at a humane society and enjoy working with the cats. I have three healthy cats at home. There was a diabetic cat at the shelter that became the favorite of all the volunteers and staff. Sadly, the shelter didn't have the resources to give her much special care and they were going to put her down. She was on a limited amount of dry food for diabetic cats and not sure if they gave her insulin. I decided to foster her so the shelter wouldn't be forced to put her down. The local vet is a friend and agreed to work with me to see if we can get her stabilized.

Cat has been on Science Diet MD for about a week. She is still very skinny but has gained half a pound in a week. She is on Vetsulin at one unit twice a day. Have an appointment on Thursday to check her blood.

While at the shelter she was on 3/8 cup a day of some dry diabetic food. She always seemed very hungry.

She came to my vet a week ago. Switched to the MD wet food and started on the Vetsulin. I was told she drank a lot of water and peed a lot. Vet is boarding her and keeping an eye on her when I'm gone (I work out of town).

I've had her two days. She always seems pretty hungry. Vet said to give her as much wet MD food as she wants. I'd say she does 1.5 to 2 cans a day for a 6 lb cat. Her poop is normal. She does pee more than my other cats but doesn't seem to drink that much water or what I would consider too much water. I've tried regulate her food to 8 to 10 feedings a day at about 1.5 cans a day. Vet says small amounts and frequent feedings are best. She grooms herself, is curious about her new surroundings, and even runs once in a while. She doesn't seem to have the energy or desire to play like my other cats. The overriding behavior is she seems like she is hungry a lot.

I've learned from this site that checking her blood sugar daily is key to regulate when to give her shots and when to feed her. That's not getting done now and will speak with the vet tomorrow.

Her name is April.

 

[Wendy&Neko]

Hello and Welcome. That's great of you to foster a kitty with diabetes and give April a second chance.

We believe in three things here to help manage diabetes. The first is a low carb canned wet or raw food diet. The site www.catinfo.org is a good read and there is a food chart there listing a lot of the commercially available foods. Something under 10% carbs is best for diabetics. MD is not the best food and also pretty pricy. The second key is home testing as you've read. Don't change the diet to lower carb food until you are home testing. The change in carbs can make quite a drastic difference in insulin needs. And thirdly, using a good long lasting insulin. Cats have fast metabolisms, so something like Vetsulin (Caninsulin as it used to be called) doesn't last long enough in cats. Better alternative insulins are Lantus, Levemir, Prozinc, or PZI.

April will be hungry until she gets better regulated, as it's insulin that helps get the sugar into her cells.

 

[Vyktors Mum]

We started on caninsulin (same thing as vetsulin) but because I was home testing we were able to see that the insulin wasn't giving the duration necessary. We had fast drops early in the cycle then equally fast rises so that more on the time was spent in high numbers than nice low healing numbers. The sooner you can start home testing and see for yourself what's going on inside her the better.

Good on you for giving her a chance. We'll be more than happy to help with any queries that you have.

A tip on buying a meter - you do not meet an expensive pet meter, nearly everyone here uses a human meter. Welcome aboard

 

[Critter Mom]

Hello and welcome to you and April.

I think it's wonderful that you're helping April. And it's great that your friend the vet is helping too.

As Vyktors Mum says, unregulated diabetic cats are very hungry indeed. They also pee a lot more because the glucose builds up in their bloodstream and is excreted in the urine. Because of the sugar, diabetic cats are a bit more at risk of urinary tract infections so keep an eye on that. If you add a little water to April's food she may pee a bit more but it will help to flush out her bladder regularly. That said, if you feed her more, then she will get additional water from her food. Because Vetsulin has quite a fast and hard onset, it's best to give quite a decent feed just before giving April the insulin injection so that she will have enough carbs on board to 'feed' the insulin. I did that with Saoirse when she was on that insulin. I also gave her smaller meals every few hours during the cycle.

Also, lethargy is another very common symptom of diabetes. The excess sugar in her blood is going to make April feel lousy; and because the cells in her body can't use glucose properly for energy it's understandable that she hasn't much get-up-'n'-go at the moment. As April starts to respond to insulin, her energy levels and interest in her surroundings will increase. Some undiagnosed cats stop grooming altogether and their coats get very shabby indeed. It's very encouraging to hear that April is grooming herself.

It's great that you're going to home test. It's the best way to keep April safe and make sure that she's on the optimum dose of insulin. Assuming that you're in the US, meters popular among stateside members here include the Relion Confirm or Micro (both available from Wal-Mart). The test strips are much cheaper than for pet meters (such as the Alphatrak 2). Human meters read a little lower than pet-calibrated meters, but they are safe to use in conjunction with a suitable blood glucose reference range. (You can get details here.)

 

[DE727UPS]

Thanks for the comments. I always mix her food with water to make a mush which is easier for her to lick up. She has only peed once this morning so far, so I don't think that's excessive. Will talk to the vet about how to start home monitoring. My job keeps me away quite a bit but the Vet will take her if I leave. I think he wanted to give her a week on the MD and 1 unit of vetsulin to establish a base line. I'm hearing vetsulin might not be the best, nor the MD. Will ask the Vet about that.

 

[Critter Mom]

It's great that you'll have that support to help April.

Lantus, Levemir and Prozinc/PZI type insulins tend to be longer-acting in cats than Vetsulin and may give better control going forward.

 

[Deb & Wink]

Welcome aboard.

If you pick up a meter for testing, the human glucometer such as the Relion Confirm or Relion Micro available at Wal-mart are great choices and only need a small 0.3 microliter blood drop (think size of the head of a pin). Low cost for meter and best of all low cost for the test strips. The pet specific meters like the Alphatrak are very expensive ($100-200) and test strips for them are $1-2 a piece.

You'll want to pick up lancets for poking too, and the ones with a bigger pin for poking, 26-28 gauge, work better at first. Look for lancet boxes labeled "for alternate site testing".