Newly diagnosed and scared, can anyone help?!?!

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jjnalley

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Hi, my name is Jessi, and my baby is Tanaya! Tananya lost alot of weight, really fast. I took her to the vet on 9/13, and the vet tried to tell me to put her down because she had cancer. I love this cat, I have had her for 10 years now, so if there is antything I can do to saver her I WILL DO IT!! I put my foot down and made him give her a full body blood panel. Next day vet calls me and says that she doesn't haver Cancer she has feline diabetes millitus. I think that scared me just as much as the cancer. I have never heard of feline diabetes before, and the vet that was treating her gave me no hope. I refused to think of me just letting her go. I am so scared, and upset!!! I am glad that there is a message board like this to help. Please if anyone can offer some support I can REALLY use it right now, I just feel like I am loosing my mind.
If anyone can give me advise or encouragement please feel free to leave me a message on here or e-mail me at jjnalley26@yahoo.com!!
I can really use the support!!
Hope everyone is haveing a good day today!!
God Bless!
Jessi and Tanaya
 
Hi Jessi and Tanaya. I'm sure others will be along shortly to guide you through the first steps. I know it is VERY scary at the beginning - we've all been there. But you can do this. Where are you located? There may be someone nearby who can help you.

MJ&Donovan
 
Oh Jessi, feline diabetes is VERY treatable and your furrbaby can live a long happy life with it. Some kitties even reach remission and as long as they are fed a diet low in carbs no medications are needed.

Are there other vets in your area? I would start looking for one that isn't so negative! I think I would have punched my vet had she been so pts trigger happy instead of working to find the problem and treat it. Your vet obviously doesn't have enough experience with FD to treat it successfully so I would look for another vet (or just get your insulin prescript from the vet and use the people on this site to help you with treatment.)

I suggesting reading and reading and reading. I think I spent 3 days reading all the information and the forums on this site before I ever posted. There are so many people her that are far more experienced and knowledgeable in managing feline diabetes than many vets are.

Its a scary diagnosis, but it isn't a death sentence so don't give up hope. My Smokey went of the juice in less than 4 months after diagnosis and less than 2 months after finding this site and learning how to feed properly and home test.

Best of luck to you and Tanaya!
 
Good for you that you didn't listen to your vet or you would have euthanized your kitty for something that is very treatable. Although a bit daunting at first, once you and your kitty are in a routine, you will find treating feline diabetes is not really a big deal at all. In just a few weeks to perhaps months, you'll notice your kitty feeling better, acting more like her old self and looking better.

Breathe. You have come to the right place, and you are a very good pet parent for being so proactive. People here will help you to help your kitty feel better. Diabetes is completely treatable!
 
Diabetes is very treatable; my Thomas has been diabetic, and getting insulin for almost 10 years now. The good thing for you, is that with the newer insulins, many more cats are going into remission.
Welcome,
Dana
 
Hi Jessi. You're in the right place. My vet suggested the same thing to me, but I found this place and it saved us.

It could be that your vet simply isn't experienced in FD, so finding a vet who is may be first on your list of things to do. When you give your location, it could be that some of our forum members live near you and have some recommendations.

Many times, changing foods to low carb wet foods can have a very positive affect on a kitty with FD. It caused a big change in Calliope.

I'm working and can't right much at this time, but read the stickies at the top of the page. This is VERY treatable and folks here can walk you through it. They did that for me and they've done it for many.

Take a deep breath and get ready to make your kitty feel better!
 
Jessi, don't be scared.....diabetes is so treatable. As others have mentioned.....time to find a new vet. Most vets, unless they know the owner extremely well, will not say PTS no matter what the condition is. They give all the medical information, the outlook, and leave it up to the owner. Tanaya is only 10 and has a lot of years ahead of her. If you could tell us the town/state where you live there might be someone in your area to help you at least locate a good vet.

If she is only eating dry food, now is the time to switch her to canned only. Easier to do before starting insulin. You will need to find a vet though to be able to get insulin. Now is also the time to buy a meter.......Walmart's Reli-On is a good cheap meter. Don't forget to buy test strips and lancets though and also some Keto-Diastix. The Keto-Diastix you can use to test her urine for not only glucose but for ketones.

I would suggest not waiting long to find another vet and get started on some insulin though. Your future new vet should also request bloodwork done from previous vet to go over those results. Cats can live many years with diabetes.....good, happy years with a pro-active owner.
 
Welcome, Jessi!

The first thing you can do to help Tanaya is change her food to a low-carb wet diet. This can be done very economically (you do NOT have the use the prescription diet the vet will suggest), and I would encourage you to take a look at Janet & Binky's food chart here: http://www.felinediabetes.com/diabetic-cat-diets.htm. As you can see, you will be able to purchase Friskies, Fancy Feast, and other canned foods at a fraction of what it would cost you to purchase food at the vet's office.

Also, you will need to learn to hometest Tanaya. If you have trouble with that, there may be people near you that can help you learn how to do that.

Of course, your kitty will need insulin. Most of us use long-acting insulins like Lantus, Levemir or PZI. Please take a look at the forums on this board and read the "sticky notes" on each. That will give you a good overview of each insulin, how each works, etc.

After all this you will have a ton of questions - please do not hesitate to ask. We're here to help you help Tanaya.
 
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