Newly diagnosed Sassy-cat and I'm so confused and overwhelmed.

Status
Not open for further replies.
Felicia

Felicia

Member Since 2017
My 9 year old baby, Sassy-cat, was diagnosed last night with diabetes. I'm so new to this, I'm clueless where to begin with educating myself and reserching treatment options. I have the reports from the vet with her levels, but I might as well be reading greek at this point. Can anyone sugguest a good resource for terms or some way that I can possibly translate this information to really understand?

Admitting that I'm completely freaking out would be a vast understatement. I'm terrified, and I really don't want to screw up and not get Sassy-cat the best care she deserves, because I lack understanding of what's necessary.

Any education, advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Felicia
 
Felicia said:
My 9 year old baby, Sassy-cat, was diagnosed last night with diabetes. I'm so new to this, I'm clueless where to begin with educating myself and reserching treatment options. I have the reports from the vet with her levels, but I might as well be reading greek at this point. Can anyone sugguest a good resource for terms or some way that I can possibly translate this information to really understand?

Admitting that I'm completely freaking out would be a vast understatement. I'm terrified, and I really don't want to screw up and not get Sassy-cat the best care she deserves, because I lack understanding of what's necessary.

Any education, advice or information would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance,
Felicia
Click to expand...
Oh Felicia... we have all been where you are. The first two days after CC was diagnosed I cried constantly. I was overwhelmed and scared!!! You have come to the right place, we can definitely help you with any questions you have. Take a minute to breath and know that diabetes is NOT a death sentence... it's very treatable, and some cats even go into remission. right now it feels impossible, but in a few weeks it will all be routine.

Has the vet shown you how to give the insulin yet?
 
Has the vet shown you how to give the insulin yet?[/QUOTE]

Thank you so much for the positive thoughts and encouragement. I need that so much right now. I'm glad to have stumbled upon this group.

Unfortunately, the vet hasn't given me much info on the treatment plan or a lot of info in general. She's ordered the prescription diet food to be implemented immediately, which we picked up today, and the antibiotic for Sassy's UTI/kidney infection. She gave me the info late last night so I wouldn't have to wait, knowing she'd be away until the middle of next week. We won't be able to meet to discuss things in more detail until then, sadly.

She did leave me a copy of the reports to read with Sassy's levels, but I have no idea what any of it means. I know she intends to eventually put Sassy on an insulin called Lantus twice a day, once she's back in the office and is able to have the orientation with us to teach us how to give the injections.
I'm also supposed to purchase a glucomoeter, but again have no idea which would be best. I feel like I'm swimming upstream right now, not really getting far.
 
:bighug::bighug::bighug::bighug: I remember how scared and overwhelmed we were when Radar got his diagnosis.... breathe.... and know that you've found the perfect place to educate yourself. You will find here all the support, encouragement and guidance that will help you to help your kitty. Know that you are not alone. We will help you get started. This really helped us in the beginning.
 
Hi Felicia ! You and Sassy Cat are in the best possible place for wisdom, encouragement and guidance. If not for this wonderful Board I would have never been able to help Elmo. So, just hang in there and take it a step at a time . Members with lots of experience will be here shortly. Janet was one of the first people to help me and she is awesome !!!
 
If you'd like to read about feline nutrition.... take a look at this website (catinfo.org) put together by a vet Dr. Lisa Pierson. She explains all the things I wish I'd known about proper feline nutrition when Radar was first diagnosed.
 
Thank you for that amazing resource. I'll definitely look into the nutrition recommendations because that's one of the first things I've quickly learned today really matter. In many cases I've noticed the prescription diets suggested by the vet may not actually be the best option in some scenarios. I'd like to learn more about this.

Sassy's glucose levels were 408 yesterday at the vet, however she was also extremely stressed about being away from home, but that level seems alarmingly high.
 
I'd like to get a glucometer for home testing and learn more about that process. Charts, resources, trackers, and equipment suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sassy visits the vet regularly with her last visit being just 8 months ago and has always received a clean bill of health until now.
 
:) I poured over that website non-stop in our early days. Feline Nutrition is one of the things that it took me a while to wrap my head around..... but once I understood the basics and introduced Radar to actual real meat he never went back. :cat:
As for Sassy's glucose levels, 408 is high for sure and she probably doesn't feel very good at that level. :( However, the vet's office is a very scary place and BG numbers taken at the vet's are often very inflated due to extreme fear. We have a saying around here: it's much better to be too high than too low. I don't want to "fire hose" you with information but have you given any thought to home testing? I will encourage you to take a look at my signature and click on the link for our spreadsheet. There you can see what Radar has been up to today... but it may be especially educational for you to look at his spreadsheet from 2015 which was when Radar was diagnosed. I'm sure you'll have lots more questions. Head over to the Main Feline Health Forum and let us know what you want to learn about next. :)
 
Felicia said:
I'd like to get a glucometer for home testing and learn more about that process. Charts, resources, trackers, and equipment suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Sassy visits the vet regularly with her last visit being just 8 months ago and has always received a clean bill of health until now.
Click to expand...

We use the ReliOn Micro which is available at Walmart for a reasonable price. But the more important part of deciding what meter to buy is the cost of the test strips. Our first glucometer was the AlphaTrack2 and although it works great, the test strips are way too expensive. Another thing to pay attention to is the size of the blood droplet that's required to get the meter to work. For these two reasons we really like our ReliOn Micro.

Here are the directions for the spreadsheet we use here - a life saver when it comes to tracking trends and patterns. :) If you need help, just let us know in the Main Feline Health Forum and someone will be happy to help you.
 
Last edited:
Hi Felicia and Sassy. As hard as it might seem you can start breathing again. If you look at the log-in screen you'll see there are 15,000+ members here and we're almost at the 2 million message mark so this is the place to be. You'll hear that a lot. I don't have any advice for you right now but that big yellow cat on the left is Noah, our second diabetic cat. Nigel was Noah's brother, our first diabetic, and he taught us how to be patient with him. Cats trust because they are so smart and once you learn the basics the two of you will be fine.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top