Ayme
Member Since 2024
Very long post incoming!
I am so happy to have found such a wonderful community, but I am so overwhelmed with my kitty boy’s brand new diabetes diagnosis. We are in Australia.
Anchor is a 13 year old domestic long hair male. Up until October 2023, he returned completely healthy panels though he has had a grade 1 heart murmur for some years. In November 2023, he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a gallop rhythm/grade 4 heart murmur and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. With ongoing thyroid treatment, his heart murmur returned to grade 1 and heart issues significantly decreased. At this time, we got him a Solensia shot as vet suspected some arthritis.
Anchor had a negative reaction to the Solensia, though we did not realise and thought it was the thyroid meds so he ended up having two shots. He has had months of self mutilation from severe face and neck itching. When he would scratch, we’d need to use the cone and give him steroids.
Luckily we have been monitoring him really closely as we try to get the right level of thyroid meds, because we have just gotten a surprise diabetes diagnosis! The vet believes it is steroid induced. We literally watched him become diabetic over the past two weeks in his blood draw results.
Yesterday he began insulin (1 unit of Glargin/Lantus x2 daily). We also began a low carb diet of Tiki Cat and Ziwi Peak. He was eating high carb food over the past week (Hills ID, Royal Canin Digestive, Pro Plan Sensitive) as vet wasn’t sure if it was GI troubles at first.
Our vet specialises in cats and has/works with diabetic cats often so we took her advice to administer insulin and then have a monitor placed next week to see how Anchor is responding. After this group, we went out and bought a home test kit (though 2 hours after eating and insulin) and his result was 16.6/298.8 on the human sensor.
The issues we have faced already are:
-Anchor does not eat a full meal at set meal times. He has always been given food at certain times but grazes on it for hours. He’s also accustomed to free feeding on dry food though he never has more than a few bites. We understand this can affect insulin administration and are stressed. Tonight we offered 4 different wet foods to try and get him to eat something prior to insulin and it was really stressful when he still didn’t eat much.
-He never eats the same amount in a day. We always have offered 3-4 meals plus snacks/treats and dry food. Sometimes he eats a whole tin, sometimes half, sometimes a quarter or none. Sometimes he eats all his treats, sometimes none at all.
-He is a big boy and very very strong both physically and willed. If he does not like something e.g insulin administration or ear pricks he will make it absolutely impossible for his humans.
-I am home alone in the mornings for the stressful feedings/ear pricks/insulin with Anchor and a newborn human child and worry that I’m going to have a mental breakdown over the stress of keeping my fur baby alive and well.
I would appreciate any and all insight and tips that have made a positive difference for your babies. I am desperate to keep Anchor well and in good health. I have read probably hundreds of the threads and am SOOOOOOO overwhelmed with everything.
I am so happy to have found such a wonderful community, but I am so overwhelmed with my kitty boy’s brand new diabetes diagnosis. We are in Australia.
Anchor is a 13 year old domestic long hair male. Up until October 2023, he returned completely healthy panels though he has had a grade 1 heart murmur for some years. In November 2023, he was diagnosed with hyperthyroidism, a gallop rhythm/grade 4 heart murmur and hypertrophic cardiomyopathy. With ongoing thyroid treatment, his heart murmur returned to grade 1 and heart issues significantly decreased. At this time, we got him a Solensia shot as vet suspected some arthritis.
Anchor had a negative reaction to the Solensia, though we did not realise and thought it was the thyroid meds so he ended up having two shots. He has had months of self mutilation from severe face and neck itching. When he would scratch, we’d need to use the cone and give him steroids.
Luckily we have been monitoring him really closely as we try to get the right level of thyroid meds, because we have just gotten a surprise diabetes diagnosis! The vet believes it is steroid induced. We literally watched him become diabetic over the past two weeks in his blood draw results.
Yesterday he began insulin (1 unit of Glargin/Lantus x2 daily). We also began a low carb diet of Tiki Cat and Ziwi Peak. He was eating high carb food over the past week (Hills ID, Royal Canin Digestive, Pro Plan Sensitive) as vet wasn’t sure if it was GI troubles at first.
Our vet specialises in cats and has/works with diabetic cats often so we took her advice to administer insulin and then have a monitor placed next week to see how Anchor is responding. After this group, we went out and bought a home test kit (though 2 hours after eating and insulin) and his result was 16.6/298.8 on the human sensor.
The issues we have faced already are:
-Anchor does not eat a full meal at set meal times. He has always been given food at certain times but grazes on it for hours. He’s also accustomed to free feeding on dry food though he never has more than a few bites. We understand this can affect insulin administration and are stressed. Tonight we offered 4 different wet foods to try and get him to eat something prior to insulin and it was really stressful when he still didn’t eat much.
-He never eats the same amount in a day. We always have offered 3-4 meals plus snacks/treats and dry food. Sometimes he eats a whole tin, sometimes half, sometimes a quarter or none. Sometimes he eats all his treats, sometimes none at all.
-He is a big boy and very very strong both physically and willed. If he does not like something e.g insulin administration or ear pricks he will make it absolutely impossible for his humans.
-I am home alone in the mornings for the stressful feedings/ear pricks/insulin with Anchor and a newborn human child and worry that I’m going to have a mental breakdown over the stress of keeping my fur baby alive and well.
I would appreciate any and all insight and tips that have made a positive difference for your babies. I am desperate to keep Anchor well and in good health. I have read probably hundreds of the threads and am SOOOOOOO overwhelmed with everything.
