newly diagnosed -- next step home testing?

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LJ and Ernest

LJ and Ernest

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Hi Everyone,

Last week I took my 10-yr-old Tabby, Ernest, to the vet because he was drinking a lot of water and peeing a lot. I suspected diabetes and it was confirmed. His BG was at 417. We tested for other infections/issues and he is clear. Ernest is 13 lbs and has always been heavy despite very restrictive feeding. The vet sent me home with Hills MD dry food and I have almost completely switched him over (he was on Orijen dry). I talked to the vet yesterday and she says the tech will call me to schedule some time next week for what I think is a BG curve, but actually I am not sure.

Been reading through this board and I think I would like to do the home testing myself. Ernest is not on insulin yet.

Is doing a home test before I go to the vet, or even talk to the vet, a reasonable next step? Should I switch out his food to something else? Should I do that first? It sounds like the dry Hills MD may not be the best option based on what I am reading, but I worry about too much food switching when Ernest is already not feeling right.

Also, if I do the BG curve myself, how do I share that with the vet? Is there a particular format they like to have it? Or do I even need to share it? I know all the answers are probably on this site, so links to where to go would be great.

Thanks so much everyone! What an amazing resource this site is.

LJ and ErnestCat
 
You can switch Ernest onto wet low carb food; no dry food is good for diabetics.
Here is some food link info - look in Binky's list and select some foods with carbs under 10%.
By switching to low carb wet food, you may find that you have a diet controlled cat.
Many people feed fancy feast or friskies pates; you do not need to feed any vet rx food which is very expensive and of poor quality.

Home testing is important, even if you do not need to give any insulin to Ernest, because he may need insulin in the future. Without home testing, how would you know? Taking a cat to the vet office for a curve does not give true numbers because all cats are stressed at the vet. I have 2 cats and they both test differently at the vet; one tests much higher, and the other actually tests much lower than his usual numbers.\

you can get help to set up a google spreadsheet with the people on this site for recording all your test numbers, and you can either print a copy for your vet or you can email a link to the spreadsheet to your vet.
 
You have done some great research already to help Ernest. Yes, I would just start testing him at home. You do not need your vet's permission although it would be nice if they are supportive. Just let us know how we can help you get started.

Dry food just isn't good for diabetics. Read this website by a FD vet to understand why: www.catinfo.org. If I were you, I would return the dry to the vet, tell them Ernest won't eat it and buy some wet lo carb commercial food.

Once you get some numbers, it will help you and your vet decide on the initial dose. Some, but certainly not all, cats need only a diet change to reverse the diabetes. Others need only a short time on insulin. Maybe Ernest will be one of the lucky ones.
 
Just wanted to say hello and welcome. I'm sure you're already figuring out that you've come to the best place for help with your diabetic cat. When my cat Max was diagnosed with diabetes, the vet put us on Science Diet dry M/D too. I was a little hesitant at first to change Max's diet from what the vet recommended, but the wet low carb diet has made a huge difference in his BG #'s. I feed Fancy Feast Classic, but there are a lot of low carb wet food options if you look at Janet and Binky's chart. Home testing is a great tool too. Knowledge is power and knowing your cat's BG #'s can really help you know how best to treat Ernest. Read all the info you can and keep asking questions.
 
Thanks everyone. I already had a can of wellness food that meets the lo carb specifications on binkeyspage, so Ernest is eating that this morning. Well, trying to eat it. He prefers dry food and always seems confused by wet food. But now I am thinking the all dry diet could be the reason he has always been overweight and why he has diabetes now. I have learned so much in the past week...

Up next, heading to the walmart to look for a Relion and then attempting home testing.
 
Great! Here's a shopping list:


A human glucometer. Any one that sips and takes a tiny sample is fine. The meters are often free at drug stores; it’s the strips that are expensive. You can, however, buy them on ebay at less than half the price of stores. Lots of people here also like the ReliOn from Walmart. It is an inexpensive meter and its strips are the cheapest around. Try the meter out on yourself or someone else before you try it on your cat. You want to be familiar with it before you poke the cat.

Lancets and a lancet device. Usually, until the ears “learn” to bleed, a 25-26 gauge is good. Any brand will work.

Ketone strips. (Ketostix) Just like human diabetics use. You will sometimes need to test urine if the numbers are high.

Rice sack. Make this out of thinnish sock, filled with raw rice or oatmeal and then knotted. You heat this in the microwave until very warm but not hot. Then heat the ears before poking.

Also nice to have. Flashlight: so you can look at the ears and find the little capillaries that come off the vein running down the ear. Vaseline: Put a tiny smear where you want to poke. It will help the blood bead up.

And some lo carb treats to give your kitty, successful test or not Lo carb treats

Let us know how we can help - we all have things that helped us. For Oliver, heating the ear was vital.
 
LJ and Ernest said:
..... But now I am thinking the all dry diet could be the reason he has always been overweight .....
Click to expand...


Two of my other cats lost 2-3 pounds after I switched everyone to low carb canned food (WalMart Special Kitty Meaty Turkey & Giblets dinner) ... with free feeding. I put out enough for 12 hours at a time; it may help to have some of it frozen first, so it stays fresher throughout the day.
 
LJ and Ernest said:
But now I am thinking the all dry diet could be the reason he has always been overweight and why he has diabetes now. I have learned so much in the past week...

Up next, heading to the walmart to look for a Relion and then attempting home testing.
Click to expand...

Yup, could be - empty carbs will do that. After I learned about feline diabetes and a healthy diet for cats - I compare dry food to feeding cats cookies and crackers all day. No wonder Sweety was 18 lbs at one time!

Good Luck with hometesting! If you don't get it at first - keep trying, you'll get it! And not a bad idea to get urine Ketone test strips while you're there. Better to be safe, they don't cost that much.
This IS a great board, isn't it?!
 
Ok, I have my supplies and plan to do BG Curve tomorrow. Looking through the board and links I see that there is a method to testing when a cat is getting insulin, but Ernest is not currently. So when do I do the first test? Before he eats in the morning or after he eats? After that, I will just keep testing every couple of hours (poor kitty) but does it matter when the first test is?

BTW, I have him eating canned food from Binky's list right now and he definitely has perked up in the past few days. Maybe I am fooling myself but he does seem slightly better.

Thanks again everyone. This board is giving me the confidence to do the BG curve and helping me with my worries about doing it wrong or making Ernest upset.
 
It doesn't matter so much as long as you get some data. Before a meal is good as is a hour or so after. A few days should tell you if Ernest has diabetic numbers high enough to need insulin. And whether the food is bringing them down. Generally the thinking is that you only have a week or so of diabetic numbers before you should start insulin, because the pancreas has a limited time to heal.
 
We use a headlight flashlight that is a flashlight you wear on your head when we do testing so both hands are free. We got it somewhere like Lowe's or Home Depot. It really helped.

If you have switched from all dry to now all wet food, your cat may get the pukes or poops due to the diet change. When we did that, we had to add probiotics to the food to help with the tummy issues. It worked in only a day or two.

When we changed the food to wet food that was high protein low carbs, my cat starting to feel better and look better. His fur got softer, his muscles were more defined, he played more, his dander went away...an overall better appearance and improvement.
 
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