Newly diagnosed kitty question

[Debbrilacy]

My cat Milo was just diagnosed with diabetes. The doctor needs a urine so she can test for ketones, and we need because he is scheduled for dental surgery next week. I am currently sitting in the bedroom with him, trying to get him to pee in the test crystals. He is laying in them! Any tips for attracting him to actually peeing in it, instead of getting cozy?! He has to be isolated in here because we have another cat. I have food and water in here, too!

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry your kitty has been diagnosed with FD but you have come to the best place to get help.
I'm very glad your vet is going to test for ketones.
When the vet prescribes an insulin ask if you can have either Lantus or Prozinc. Older insulins such as vetsulin is no longer recommended for cats. To treat feline diabetes successfully you need a long acting suitable insulin for cats, low carb food and hometesting the blood glucose to keep your precious kitty safe.

I’ll link CATCHING AND TESTING URINE.

Here are some useful links for you

Low carb food chart diabetic cats need canned/wet food that is 10% or less carbs. There is no need to feed expensive prescription foods and definitely no dry foods which are too high in carbs.

Hometesting hints and links there is no need to buy a pet meter. A human meter is just as accurate and safe and is much cheaper to run. When you get lancets, get size 26 or 28

Help us help you this has the spreadsheet instructions and how to set up a signature which tells us all about your kitty.plus other useful into including a hypo box. Make sure you get one set up for when insulin is started.

I hope you will keep posting here. This is a wonderful and knowledgeable and supportive community and everyone is happy to help and support you.
Bron

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The best suggestion I can make is to ask your cat to drink a lot of water!! Unfortunately, cats are not very predictable and are unlikely to urinate on command!

Your vet could very easily get a blood sample and test for ketones. There are blood ketone meters that work just like a blood glucose monitor. You prick your cat's ear, get a drop of blood, the strip that's in the meter sucks up the blood an gives you a reading. If your cat is having a dental, I would hope that the vet has run labs. You need pre-procedure labs to make sure there's nothing besides diabetes present.

 

[Debbrilacy]

Hi and welcome to the forum. I’m sorry your kitty has been diagnosed with FD but you have come to the best place to get help.
I'm very glad your vet is going to test for ketones.
When the vet prescribes an insulin ask if you can have either Lantus or Prozinc. Older insulins such as vetsulin is no longer recommended for cats. To treat feline diabetes successfully you need a long acting suitable insulin for cats, low carb food and hometesting the blood glucose to keep your precious kitty safe.

I’ll link CATCHING AND TESTING URINE.

Here are some useful links for you

Low carb food chart diabetic cats need canned/wet food that is 10% or less carbs. There is no need to feed expensive prescription foods and definitely no dry foods which are too high in carbs.

Hometesting hints and links there is no need to buy a pet meter. A human meter is just as accurate and safe and is much cheaper to run. When you get lancets, get size 26 or 28

Help us help you this has the spreadsheet instructions and how to set up a signature which tells us all about your kitty.plus other useful into including a hypo box. Make sure you get one set up for when insulin is started.

I hope you will keep posting here. This is a wonderful and knowledgeable and supportive community and everyone is happy to help and support you.
Bron

 

[Debbrilacy]

Thank you so much. I can already see that this site will be very helpful to me. I have had cats my entire life, but this is my first to have become diabetic. He is also the first to have needed extensive dental surgery.
I feel fortunate to have found good doctors, and this site!

 

[Debbrilacy]

The best suggestion I can make is to ask your cat to drink a lot of water!! Unfortunately, cats are not very predictable and are unlikely to urinate on command!

Your vet could very easily get a blood sample and test for ketones. There are blood ketone meters that work just like a blood glucose monitor. You prick your cat's ear, get a drop of blood, the strip that's in the meter sucks up the blood a gives you a reading. If your cat is having a dental, I would hope that the vet has run labs. You need pre-procedure labs to make sure there's nothing besides diabetes present.

We were finally able to isolate
Milo in the bedroom, with food and water, and the nonabsorbent crystals in a pan. It took a long time, but finally at 4:45 a.m. he gave in and peed! No ketones! The vet is putting him on one of the 2 recently FDA approved oral medications. Yay.. no insulin! He has had extensive bloodwork to prepare for his dental surgery this Monday, September 9. I am so scared! Normal, I’m sure.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

I am going to link you to information about the new oral insulin medications. They are not without their risks. One of the main risks is ketones forming and we have seen that happen here on the forum. Ketones can develop further into DKA which can be deadly so please read the information closely before deciding on the oral meds.
NEW ORAL MEDICATIONS

 

[Sienne and Gabby (GA)]

The other issue with the SGLT2 inhibitors is you and your vet need to be on top of your cat's lab work. There are a number of lab values which make using these medications a problem. Please make sure that Milo's labs make him a good candidate. We've had vets who have ignored the disqualifications and it's been disastrous.

 

[Debbrilacy]

The other issue with the SGLT2 inhibitors is you and your vet need to be on top of your cat's lab work. There are a number of lab values which make using these medications a problem. Please make sure that Milo's labs make him a good candidate. We've had vets who have ignored the disqualifications and it's been disastrous.

Update: I so appreciate everyone’s input. Here’s where we are at, at this point. My general vet read extensively about the oral meds, and is not feeling comfortable ordering either for Milo yet. The dental vet will have a quick acting insulin on hand in case, and they will monitor his glucose levels during surgery. After the surgery, we will give it a week or 2, then recheck his levels in hopes he shows improvement, which sometimes happens when the tooth and gum disease is taken care of. I am praying that happens, and that I don’t have to make a decision about insulin.

 

[SmallestSparrow]

Update: I so appreciate everyone’s input. Here’s where we are at, at this point. My general vet read extensively about the oral meds, and is not feeling comfortable ordering either for Milo yet. The dental vet will have a quick acting insulin on hand in case, and they will monitor his glucose levels during surgery. After the surgery, we will give it a week or 2, then recheck his levels in hopes he shows improvement, which sometimes happens when the tooth and gum disease is taken care of. I am praying that happens, and that I don’t have to make a decision about insulin.

I hope Milo does well in surgery and his blood sugar issues resolve without needing medication. I do have a suggestion for just in case: use this time to get him used to handling his ears (like we tell folks to get cats used to you touching their toes so you can eventually cut their nails). My boy always hated anyone touching his ears, not to pet, not to give Mirtaz—HATED it. So ear rubs and treats just in case you need those ears in a few weeks

next read all you can/watch videos etc on how to test their blood. If he doesn’t improve and goes on Bexacat you will likely need to check his blood for ketones initially frequently and then if he acts off or at a schedule your vet recommends. In some ways the time my boy was on bexacat was a good lead in for insulin in that I was already an old hand at testing blood so all (“all” ) I needed to master was the injections. You may want to consider researching meters that test for glucose and/or ketones (ask your vet what they recommend) so you’ve had a chance to price them and if need be order them. I was in a panic the 5 days it took after starting Bexacat before my meter arrived with me screaming at Amazon and UPS and a pet pharmacy and FedEx because they all lost my Prime and /or overnight delivery. The same thing happened again when I ordered Alphatrak when he started insulin. I’ve read several posts where a new member is desperately trying to sort out something and replies their meter hasn’t arrived. I know many here get them at their pharmacy or Walmart (using human meter) but I live in a small rural town and no one stocked them —they all said to order online.

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Update: I so appreciate everyone’s input. Here’s where we are at, at this point. My general vet read extensively about the oral meds, and is not feeling comfortable ordering either for Milo yet. The dental vet will have a quick acting insulin on hand in case, and they will monitor his glucose levels during surgery. After the surgery, we will give it a week or 2, then recheck his levels in hopes he shows improvement, which sometimes happens when the tooth and gum disease is taken care of. I am praying that happens, and that I don’t have to make a decision about insulin.

I am glad your vet has researched the oral diabetic meds abs decided to not use them.
Good luck with the dental.
What I would do, while you are seeing how Milo goes after the dental, is to test several times a week for ketones which can appear if insulin is needed and not given. This is an insurance policy which is well worth doing and can prevent more problems if caught early.
Also make sure the food you are feeding is low carb

 

[Debbrilacy]

I am glad your vet has researched the oral diabetic meds abs decided to not use them.
Good luck with the dental.
What I would do, while you are seeing how Milo goes after the dental, is to test several times a week for ketones which can appear if insulin is needed and not given. This is an insurance policy which is well worth doing and can prevent more problems if caught early.
Also make sure the food you are feeding is low carb

Thank you! What’s your secret to testing for ketones regularly? I have 2 cats, so I had to get the crystals and isolate Milo in order to get a sample. It took almost a full day to get that! I can’t imagine trying to get him to use this regularly (plus I have to make sure cat #2 doesn’t use it!). I am feeding Fancy Feast pate.

 

[Debbrilacy]

I hope Milo does well in surgery and his blood sugar issues resolve without needing medication. I do have a suggestion for just in case: use this time to get him used to handling his ears (like we tell folks to get cats used to you touching their toes so you can eventually cut their nails). My boy always hated anyone touching his ears, not to pet, not to give Mirtaz—HATED it. So ear rubs and treats just in case you need those ears in a few weeks

next read all you can/watch videos etc on how to test their blood. If he doesn’t improve and goes on Bexacat you will likely need to check his blood for ketones initially frequently and then if he acts off or at a schedule your vet recommends. In some ways the time my boy was on bexacat was a good lead in for insulin in that I was already an old hand at testing blood so all (“all” ) I needed to master was the injections. You may want to consider researching meters that test for glucose and/or ketones (ask your vet what they recommend) so you’ve had a chance to price them and if need be order them. I was in a panic the 5 days it took after starting Bexacat before my meter arrived with me screaming at Amazon and UPS and a pet pharmacy and FedEx because they all lost my Prime and /or overnight delivery. The same thing happened again when I ordered Alphatrak when he started insulin. I’ve read several posts where a new member is desperately trying to sort out something and replies their meter hasn’t arrived. I know many here get them at their pharmacy or Walmart (using human meter) but I live in a small rural town and no one stocked them —they all said to order online.

That is good advice. I tried poking his ears for a sample several times a couple weeks ago. All I achieved was getting such a tiny spot of blood that it wasn’t enough to use. He has dark ears, so I even shaved a spot, but his skin is dark, too! I will look for videos.

 

[SmallestSparrow]

That is good advice. I tried poking his ears for a sample several times a couple weeks ago. All I achieved was getting such a tiny spot of blood that it wasn’t enough to use. He has dark ears, so I even shaved a spot, but his skin is dark, too! I will look for videos.

The more you poke them the better at bleeding they become so have hope! I thought I’d never get it and now it’s like “come Methos”…he trots over to get a treat and I now rarely pray (or swear) during the process. One hint (I think from this board) was using a rice filled warmer or filling an old pill bottle with warm water—but he won’t let me hold that on his ear and since he has fragile skin I’m afraid of burning him. I just try to have the room toasty before an attempt.

dark hair is hard. I’m still bad enough that I sometimes pierce his ear. If the inside drop is bigger I use that …

I saved his most favorite in the world treat for blood testing. Sometimes he will sit in our testing spot and look up at the treats then at me like “shouldn’t we do a treat, er, test yet”

also, once I poke if it’s not a big drop I’ve put pressure on both sides of it and the drop gets bigger (think of poking your finger then squeezing).

good luck, I know it’s hard in the beginning

 

[Debbrilacy]

The more you poke them the better at bleeding they become so have hope! I thought I’d never get it and now it’s like “come Methos”…he trots over to get a treat and I now rarely pray (or swear) during the process. One hint (I think from this board) was using a rice filled warmer or filling an old pill bottle with warm water—but he won’t let me hold that on his ear and since he has fragile skin I’m afraid of burning him. I just try to have the room toasty before an attempt.

dark hair is hard. I’m still bad enough that I sometimes pierce his ear. If the inside drop is bigger I use that …

I saved his most favorite in the world treat for blood testing. Sometimes he will sit in our testing spot and look up at the treats then at me like “shouldn’t we do a treat, er, test yet”

also, once I poke if it’s not a big drop I’ve put pressure on both sides of it and the drop gets bigger (think of poking your finger then squeezing).

good luck, I know it’s hard in the beginning

Thank you for the tips. I tried the rice, but maybe I made it too big for little ears. I can’t make the room toasty because I live in FL and the a/c is always on! I will try the warm water. I can see his veins on the inside of his ears, so if that’s okay to use I’ll try that! You are very helpful!

 

[SmallestSparrow]

Thank you for the tips. I tried the rice, but maybe I made it too big for little ears. I can’t make the room toasty because I live in FL and the a/c is always on! I will try the warm water. I can see his veins on the inside of his ears, so if that’s okay to use I’ll try that! You are very helpful!

I think when I was watching videos I saw some doing inside and some outside. I’m no expert so hopefully a senior member will come along to either agree or correct me. I don’t aim for inside but sometimes I “oops”. It’s been 100+ most of the summer here, I just turn off AC for a while or help him find a nice sun spot for a snooze before test time. For our 0300 test I will admit there’s a bit of occasional swearing

 

[Bron and Sheba (GA)]

Thank you for the tips. I tried the rice, but maybe I made it too big for little ears. I can’t make the room toasty because I live in FL and the a/c is always on! I will try the warm water. I can see his veins on the inside of his ears, so if that’s okay to use I’ll try that! You are very helpful!

Shine a torch behind the ear and you will see the vein running along the outside of the ear.you need to prick between the vein and the edge of the ear. Sounds hard but it’s not. You will get there. Prince the fur side of the ear. Try putting a time amount of gasoline on the fur and the blood may bead up better.

Re testing for ketones. If you are having trouble getting a urine specimen you could get a blood ketone meter which tests similar to a glucose meter. The strips are more expensive but you don’t need nearly as many. If you google blood glucose meter you will find some to choose from.
I was lucky with Sheba. I just had to place her into the kitty litter and she would pee for me.