Newly diagnosed cat - need advice please!

[concernedcatmom]

Hi all - mom of a 13.5 year old male that has just been diagnosed with diabetes. Thankfully we were tipped off by increased peeing and appetite loss, and the vet says he seems to be in the early stages as the rest of his blood and urine test results are fine excepted for high glucose in both (29 mmol/L in bloodwork) .

We have been given the option of treating via Senvelgo oral meds or Insulin. I'm inclined towards insulin - while it's definitely more time-consuming, having family members already taking it has given me an idea of how it works, it seems to be a viable cure long term, and starting treatment within 6 months of diagnosis may even lead to a remission. Senvelgo seems a new drug where not all the side effects are known, and for an older cat with possible undiagnosed health conditions I don't feel like trying my luck. And I don't know, it seems like just trying to pee all the extra glucose out isn't the best idea long term (unless the diabetes goes into remission), and he might have to go on insulin anyway.

That being said, I have a dilemma: I have to go on an unavoidable 4-day trip in 2 weeks time. That would leave me with a few options -

1. try to find a cat-sitter who can come twice a day and can be trusted to check if my cat has eaten and administer insulin,
2. try to find an affordable vet that can board him for 4 days so they can continue to administer insulin on time
3. start the treatment, hope it stabilizes in 2 weeks, then let him stay without the insulin for those 4 days, or
4. start his treatment after I get back

Unfortunately, I'm not really sure if I would be able to go for options 1 and 2 within my area (near Toronto). So if I'm unable to go with one of those options, what would be better between options 3 and 4? Is there another option I'm missing?

Thanks all!

 

[squeem3]

@Karolina & Nestle @Briana + Binx @Lara & Luciole (Lu) @Kat & Trixie are somewhere close to Toronto.

What are you feeding your cat? One thing you can do is to start feeding your cat a low carb canned food only diet now and learn how to hometest and when you get back from the trip, do a curve on your cat to see what the numbers look like and then start insulin if numbers are still too high (over 11 mmol).

 

[Briana + Binx]

Thanks for the tag @squeem3! Second your idea, it’s an interesting one!

In terms of the 4 options, number 1 might not actually be out of reach. Not sure if you’ve used Rover before, but pet sitters can now include in their profile if they have experience with injectable medication. Unfortunately, they don’t make it super easy to filter for that, so you have to manually search local profiles, but it’s how I found my pet sitter. It’s up to you based on comfort, but an option nonetheless! Another potential option, depending on circumstance, is I’ve had very generous friends/family be open to staying at mine while away and I’ve taught them how to administer, etc. Not an easy one though, but I can offer tips if that’s a possibility.

Good luck and keep us posted on how it goes!

 

[concernedcatmom]

Thanks for responding @squeem3 and @Briana + Binx

What are you feeding your cat? One thing you can do is to start feeding your cat a low carb canned food only diet now and learn how to hometest and when you get back from the trip, do a curve on your cat to see what the numbers look like and then start insulin if numbers are still too high (over 11 mmol).

that definitely sounds doable!

I'm currently feeding him Hill's Prescription Diet Gastrointestinal Biome dry food because of his chronic constipation (at our vet's advice). However, I've been reading up on these forums, and it seems like this food's carbs are too high (around 37%). After the diabetes diagnosis, the vet has recommended Royal Canin Diabetic diet (wet and dry both), however it'll be a challenge to get him to eat wet food as he has been a kibble kitty for almost his whole life (I have previously made several attempts to get him to eat wet food, no joy). Also the RC dry food still seems to have higher carbs (similar to the Hill's one actually) so I'm planning to look for the other suggested brands here such as Young Again and Dr Elsey's (will have to figure out where to find them in Canada). If I manage to get those, I can definitely start him off on them and start checking his blood sugar at home.


@Briana + Binx sadly I don't have any family or friends who would be up to the challenge, but I haven't given up on finding a suitable sitter who can administer the insulin. Like you say, it would involve finding the right person, but fingers crossed!

 

[Briana + Binx]

Also the RC dry food still seems to have higher carbs (similar to the Hill's one actually) so I'm planning to look for the other suggested brands here such as Young Again and Dr Elsey's (will have to figure out where to find them in Canada). If I manage to get those, I can definitely start him off on them and start checking his blood sugar at home.

I’m not 100% but I think my previous vet started us off with this dry kibble. I think it’s still considered high carb, but available in Canada and lower % than Hill’s. If you can work any wet food in (gradually), it should make a helpful difference. My other cat Sadie isn’t keen on wet food either, so I get the challenge. Hopefully something will work for you! And good luck with the pet sitter hunt, there must be someone out there!

 

[squeem3]

Definitely avoid the prescription food.

Young Again dry food can be purchased from this company approved web site: Paw Store

Dr. Elsey can be bought from Chewy's Canada site: https://www.chewy.com/ca/f/dr-elseys_f1v252112

Air dried raw and freeze dried raw are alternative options.

Transitioning your cat from dry to wet food

There's a web site that has info on constipation treatments (https://felineconstipation.org/) but the web site doesn't seem to be working at the moment. Have you tried things like fiber, Miralax / PEG, increasing water intake?

 

[Lara & Luciole (Lu)]

For food that's dry and isn't high carb, I use these for my kitties. The soft nibs and the larger patties crumble easily and have a dry food texture. I order these from Pet Supplies Canada | Shop Pet Products at Homesalive.ca. and Global Pet Foods have Stella & Chewy's, which are similar. That might satisfy your dry food lover

And to echo others, don't buy "prescription" diets from your vet. The vets mean well, but they get their "nutrition" education from these big pharma/pet food companies who have good marketing for sub-optimal ingredients.

 

[concernedcatmom]

Thank you again, friends!

As an update, I got a Contour test kit yesterday and tested at 21.4mmol/L last night and 25.9 this morning, so the levels are definitely high although I don't know if it's possible for the human machine to under-report the level for cats given that the bloodwork at the vet's got 29 (or may be it's just fluctuating in the 20s throughout the day).

@squeem3 following your link I ordered the Dr. Elsey's Cleanprotein Chicken dry food and it's arriving today. I'm planning to take a few more readings (luckily Robbie doesn't seem to mind getting his ear pricked that much .... so far) to establish a baseline and see what difference the new food makes. I guess ultimately what I'm hoping for is that the new food allows Robbie to continue to graze through the day (after he goes on insulin) instead of being forced to eat only twice as suggested by the vet - he's already going through so much stress and change, I really feel bad for having to turn his whole life (of which food is a big part!) upside down.

I guess one follow up question I had (planning for the future) is, the doctor has suggested Prozinc insulin, though I've been reading online that according to some reports cats on Lantus have a higher chance of their diabetes going into remission. What are the views here? Secondly, the estimate the vet has given me for insulin, container etc. seems much higher (by about 50 CAD) for the insulin supply compared to places like petsdrugmart.ca...should I still get these things from the vet?

 

[squeem3]

It's your money. Spend it where you want Vets typically overcharge. I got a box of syringes for $52 from the vet and the exact same ones were $15 online.

The Canadian members can suggest where to buy syringes and insulin from.

If you can get your cat eating mostly canned food, the canned food can be portioned out into a programmable timed feeder for snacks all day. Two meals a day doesn't work for any diabetic. You can ignore the vet about two meals only.