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shanchamp

Member Since 2013
Hi all,
My furry Pluto aka "Super Cat" has been diagnosed with diabetes. My vet & FB friends have referred me here to get & gather lots of info on the hows, whats, whys, & etc .... So this board is highly recommended & truthfully I am feeling a little scared & overwhelmed. We meet with our vet Friday to learn how to inject, monitor diet (have changed to Hills D/M & Pluto loves it!), discuss monitoring glucose levels, what happens IF Pluto gets too much insulin, all the stuff I have a feeling everyone here has gone through already. So I suspect I will be spending some time here learning how the message board works & how to search for information.
* Any thoughts, suggestions, advice from anyone would be greatly appreciated - I just want to make sure I can get my fuzzy the best care possible! *
PS. I am the happy pet mom of 6 cats & 4 dogs - these babies mean the world to me & making sure they are all happy & healthy :-D makes me happy :-D
Thanks, Shannon
 
Hello and welcome to the board!

There are a few key things to know if your goal is remission. With the below things in place you have an 84%chance of remission barring any underlying issues so,,

1. Food, you want a low carb canned, is the hills canned or dry? Many of us like fancy feast classics pâtés, friskies pâtés or wellness grain free
2. Insulin, the best insulins for cats are lantus, levemir or prozinc
3. Home testing. Keeps your cat safe, gives the vet and you more info for dose changes. A cat meter isn't needed, human meters are fine. And with home testing you save money not having to do a "curve" at the vets which is usually inaccurate anyway due to the cat being stressed at the vet all day which also spikes their blood glucose!


Ask as many questions as you have!

Wendy
 
Wendy,
Thank You :smile:
Of course remission would be the absolute best ! Right now I would like to get him feeling better & back to being "Super Cat".
We changed Pluto to the dry D/M. Is the wet better? I am sure he would really LOVE that.
The insulin is Lantus. My vet also suggested I have Nutri-Cal on hand also & would explain that to me on Friday.
Any suggestions on a meter for home testing?
 
Lantus is a great insulin!

Purina DM wet is much better because its much lower carb but its liver flavour and many cats get sick of it in a few days, hence why we feed fancy feast classic pates etc. (Also cos of cost)

yes heres a shopping list for the meter etc

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

WEndy
 
Welcome Shannon and Pluto!
Cats seem to tire easily of the prescription wet food and it is expensive so I have been feeding fancy feast classics and my cat has never looked physically better. Fur is shiny, no flaking etc. Blew my mind that all the time I was feeding prescription food at 23 bucks for a 3 lb bag he looked and felt lousy and now I feed 2 cans for a buck and bam, he is doing great in terms of his skin/fur. Also, he took to it easily after being on only dry food for years. Canned food is the only food you should feed a diabetic cat if they will eat it. All of the dry foods cause a host of issues and most of them are high in carbs although a few purport to be low and perhaps they are but cats need the moisture from wet food anyway so it is an all around better choice.

Your vet is ahead of the pack in that he/she prescribed a great insulin that gives you a great chance at getting Pluto into remission with a little work and some home monitoring. What dose are you shooting (or have you begun yet?) as too much insulin can cause the cat to shoot past ideal dose. Around here they like to "start low and go slow"

My cat is not on Lantus, but there is a lantus board and they will explain the way that particular insulin works as in the case of lantus, the insulin builds up in the cat and that is called a "shed" which means that doses can overlap so strict AM/PM shot times are adhered to with it. I really don't know much more about lantus, but there are a lot of cats on this insulin so I am sure you will get great advice.

Best to you and Pluto and may your sugar dance be relatively short! dancing_cat dancing_cat
 
Kudos to your vet!

For more reading than you ever thought you'd do on feline nutrition, go to vet written site Cat Info. There's also a printable food list there so you can select foods with 105 or fewer calories from carbohydrates (not weight percent), plus explanation of why canned or raw is better than dry.

Check my signature link Secondary Monitoring Tools for additional assessments you may wish to make in monitoring your cat's health. Ketone testing, in particular, is recommended any time the glucose is uncontrolled, when there is an infection (raises glucose levels), or when the cat is not eating (increases fat breakdown). Ketones ocurr as a by-product of fat breakdown for calories. Too many may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis (DKA), a potentially fatal, expensive to treat, complication of diabetes.
 
A big FDMB welcome to Shannon and her "super cat" Pluto.

We have broad depth of knowledge here in the day to day management of feline diabetes. Ask questions and we'll answer them.

Most cats do not need more than a starting dose of 1U. If your vet advises more than that, ask why. Too much too soon can cause hypoglycemia. Very low BG (blood glucose) numbers can be life threatening to your cat.

I would recommend printing out these instructions how to deal with hypos and prepping a hypo toolkit just in case. Like the Boy Scouts, we would like you to "Be prepared". ;-)
 
Thank you to everyone who has responded & given me hope that I will successfully get this down in no time at all ! Also thank you for all the suggestions, tips, & advice. I am feeling less scared every time I get on here :smile: I have started a list of questions for our appointment on Friday. My husband & our roomie will be there with us also :-D to ensure that all of are properly educated on the hows, whys, & etc ! I did venture over to Petsmart tonight to search for some wet food & realized that the cans are not labeled like people cans - OH MY :YMSIGH: !! Since I hadnt written any suggestions from here down - I decided to come double check before I made any purchases. Pluto is really enjoying the D/M dry food right now & hasn't seemed to mind being put on a schedule.
 
My husband & our roomie will be there with us also :-D to ensure that all of are properly educated on the hows, whys, & etc !
Click to expand...
Oh hey! Sounds like more people to help with the home testing. It's so nice when you are not the sole caregiver.

The link to the shortcut food list that Rhiannon and Shadow put together is here. shortcut food list
 
I feed Friskies pate to all 14 cats in my house and no dry food ever, after having several cats be euthanized for renal failure over the years.

See Cat Info for more details why.
 
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