Newly diagnosed on Friday-Need any and all advice!

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Hazelhartt

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Hi, My cat Penny was diagnosed with diabetes on friday. i'm still learning all the lingo,so i'm not sure if i'm saying this the right way.The vet said her glucose level was 580.We took her in today to get her first insulin shot ,and to learn how to do it. It all seems so overwhelming to me-so much info at such a fast pace.I've learned a little since finding this website.Tomorrow i am on my own with the shots.She is on 2 units of Prozinc every 12 hours.We are feeding her Hills prescription diet m/d that we got at the vet.She is on amoxcillin(100 mg) every 12 hours for a UTI-the reason we took her in.I'm nervous about where we go from here.Any advice would be very welcome so i can calm my nerves.We have 8 other cats here so it's hard to keep Penny out of the dry food that the other cats get.Now that she is eating canned food 2 times a day she isn't picking at the dry so much.Will it cause her any problems if she does get some of their food?They eat meow mix dry.
 
Hazelhartt said:
Hi, My cat Penny was diagnosed with diabetes on friday. i'm still learning all the lingo,so i'm not sure if i'm saying this the right way.The vet said her glucose level was 580.We took her in today to get her first insulin shot ,and to learn how to do it. It all seems so overwhelming to me-so much info at such a fast pace.I've learned a little since finding this website.Tomorrow i am on my own with the shots.She is on 2 units of Prozinc every 12 hours.We are feeding her Hills prescription diet m/d that we got at the vet.She is on amoxcillin(100 mg) every 12 hours for a UTI-the reason we took her in.I'm nervous about where we go from here.Any advice would be very welcome so i can calm my nerves.We have 8 other cats here so it's hard to keep Penny out of the dry food that the other cats get.Now that she is eating canned food 2 times a day she isn't picking at the dry so much.Will it cause her any problems if she does get some of their food?They eat meow mix dry.
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welcome to the site. You will get all the help and info you need to get your Penny healthy again.

I can't say anything about the insulin you are giving, but I think that dose is pretty high and may turn out to be too high once Penny is better after her meds have cleared up the UTI. You may find that 1u twice a day is more like it.

for the food, you really want to stay away from the dry, and if you can swing it, you will have 9 healthier cats on your hands just by switching over to wet canned food.
for the best to feed Penny, you want to aim for food that is under 10% carbs; here is a list of foods and their contents and a couple other links for you.

Binky’s Food Lists
Feeding Your Cat: Know The Basics of Feline Nutrition
List of Low Carb Healthy Treats

I would try Penny on some other foods, many people feed fancy feast or friskies pates. The vet's expensive food is not better in ingredients.

There's no need to worry as you will get a great deal of info and help and support here.

Ask all the questions you have and you will get answers here.
 
Welcome!

Hills M/D canned is still too high in carbs for a diabetic cat. The only prescription food that is in the acceptable carbohydrate range (under 10%) is Purina DM Canned, but it's pretty much the same thing as the cheaper grocery store brands of low carb cat food. You can get a premium canned food with human-grade ingredients for less than what you'll pay for the prescription diet with lower quality ingredients. Check out Binky's list that Gayle provided for you and pick out anything canned in your price range that works for you.

With that UTI, it's absolutely necessary to get rid of the dry. Not only will it keep Penny's blood glucose levels high because of the carbs, the lack of moisture in the dry food is usually what causes the Urinary Tract problems to begin with. A canned diet will keep her consistently hydrated and prevent future UT issues.

One possible solution is to switch all of the cats to canned food--I know that sounds like a monstrous undertaking at first, but it's not as hard as it seems. If you get something like Special Kitty from Walmart, Sophistacat/Purrfect Choice from PetSmart, or Friskies in the big 13 oz cans, you'll find that the cost of feeding canned to everyone isn't that much more, especially when you take into account that cats eat less canned food than dry, they go to the bathroom less so you save $ on cat litter, and you save money on future vet bills from diseases related to dry food like diabetes, UT issues, obesity, and kidney disease. There is a member here, MommaOfMuse, who has 13 cats (with 2 diabetics) and feeds them all the same canned food, so I hope she'll stop by and give you some advice. It's also a good idea to feed more than twice a day if you can--cats have fast metabolisms and do better with multiple small meals a day vs two big ones. And it reduces food begging A LOT once you get rid of the dry.

I agree with Gayle that 2u is too high a starting dose. Most cats on a low carb, canned diet don't need much more than 1u of insulin. The recommended starting dose is usually 1u for this reason. If you are changing the diet, I think you'll find that 2u will be too much. Blood glucose is usually much higher at the vet than at home because the cat is stressed out, so those numbers aren't very accurate. Are you home testing? If you're not, home testing is just about the best thing you can do for your wallet and Penny's safety. You can use any human meter that uses a small sample of blood. A couple inexpensive meters that are easy to find are the Relion Confirm and Micro meters at Walmart. If you need tips or links or advice on home testing, post back here and we can help--it's a little hard the first week but it's super easy once you get the hang of it. The members here have a ton of tips and tricks for just about any problem you might encounter home testing.
 
You have already gotten good advice on food and testing. Both very important.

Here is a huge document on ProZinc - how it works, how to dose etc. Too much for one sitting, but great to copy off things you want to reread.
http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799

I think the dry food and the antibiotic complicates things enough that it is hard to see what kind of a dose she should be on. I would start with hometesting, get that down and once you see how the insulin is working, go from there. Here is a hometesting 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 26-28 gauge is good. Any brand will work as long as the lancets match your device.

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.
 
Welcome Hazel and Penny,

As Julie has already told you I have 13 cats of my own two fo which are diabetics as well as currently a foster momma cat with two 3 week old kittens, everyone here eats exactly what my two diabetics eat, just good old fashioned Friskies pate style canned food. Now I had it fairly easy when it came to switching everyone over to the new canned diet when we adopted our first diabetic, because they pretty much thought they had hit the jackpot with the new yummy food.

At first with our herd we thought it would be much more expensive to pu them all over on to canned food, but wanting to keep our new diabetic safe we bit the bullet and made the switch, and yes, the upfront cost was slightly higher but in the end run it has become much cheaper to have them all over on a more species appropriate diet. Not only is one of my diabetics has now been in remission and off insulin for the last year and 3 months, my other has greatly reduced her insulin needs, but the most amazing results have been in my 11 non-diabetics, everyone is now sleek and shiney, my overweight kids lost weight with ease, my skinny minis gained weight and my guy with extreme food allergies (would literally tear his face apart) is no longer on daily pred to keep his face intact and hasn't had an allegic outbreak since the diet change except when he disappeared for 10 months and came home in a full allergic outbreak. We also haven't had to take a single cat tot he vet for UTIs since the switch, before we were averaging at least one every couple of months especially in our older males. And our litter consumption has gone way down as well, since less junk in results in less junk out, and now the litter boxes don't reek nearly as bad as they use to on the dry food.

And our little foster momma is sleek and shiney as well and doesn't have that drug down look that so many nursing females seem to get, as well as it is the perfect food for her kittens to start out on as it doesn't require super strong teeth to chew it, her kittens are both in excellent health and I have yet to see in of the traditional little kitten sniffles or watery eyes etc.

Overall if I would have known what I do now about cats and diet there would have never been a bag of dry cat food in this house. Because for a Motley crew of basically former strays/ferals & abuse cases in their former lives I have 13 cats that could hold their own in any show ring with the fancy purebreds, for coat condition and overall health and appearance and it really doesn't cost us much more than feeding them a high quality dry.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
Hey, I'm in the same boat as you only diagnosed a couple weeks ahead. Just to let you know I am nervous, overwhelmed, scared, but I can say my cat is already doing much better than she was. I only joined yesterday, but everyone is so helpful it feels like I've been here forever. I will just say what the others already have, be careful with the 2 units especially if you switch to a lower carb food, my cat had no meaningful response to the insulin and I switched diet last friday and BAM! Numbers are down by the next meal and she now responds much much more strongly to half as much insulin. Good luck to us both!

Cathy
 
Thank you to all of you!! You have been so very helpful!Today was Penny's first full day of insulin.I think i handled it pretty well-did it while she was eating.The vet did say that her dose would probably be lowered in a short time.Today i did feed her 3 times-she seemed to be hungry around 1 pm so i gave her half a can.I did go out this morning and buy the fancy feast classics that this site recemended .She really liked it!!I could switch all my cats to wet food-except one.My siamese-he refuses to eat canned food(he wouldn't even eat it as a kitten) He hates any kind of "human" food too.He would be a big problem. He does like his dry food with warm water on it.But i somehow doubt he could be converted to canned.
I plan to go tomorrow and buy a glucose meter so that i can test at home.I looked at several,and with the help of the pharmacist decided on the relion meter like you suggested.I'm pretty nervous about the whole idea,but i made a commitment to Penny and i plan on keeping it!!She is supposed to go back to the vet next week to be tested again and i plan to talk about her dose with him then.Thank you all again for the help,i will be using this forum as much as i can-suddenly i don't feel so alone in this!!!
 
You made it through day 1 it gets easier from here on out. :-D So easy in fact that despite having 11 healthy and happy cats, both of my diabetics were adopted as diabetics when my first diabetic girl had to leave me for the Rainbow Bridge.

It won't be long at all and your Penny will be a shiney new Penny! :-D

Just remember that here the only silly question is the one that goes unasked. And unlike the vet's office, we never close there is always someone around to answer any questions that pop into your mind at any given hour of the day or night.

From your very first post you become a member of this family and we will worry about you and Penny like she was one of our own furry babies, we will cheer her successes, hold your hand and her paw through the rough patches and walk the floors with you when she is sick.

And if you ever need or want some hands on help all you need to do is give us a general location (city & state) and we will try to round up someone close enough to pop in and show you the ropes. :-D

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
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