Newly Diagnosed

[ZoeyMaineCoon]

Our 5 year old Maine Coon Zoey was diagnosed with diabetes yesterday. For the past several weeks to we think maybe months she had been drinking more water, peeing, and eating everything in site. We had two cats and thought that the water bowl getting empty fast was the result of both of them. We ended up giving the second cat back to the humane society because he was torturing the maine coon and having other issues that we had tried to take care of. We thought Zoey peeing outside her box was a result of the second cat and the changes. She was always great with her box. We had joked that our maine coon liked pizza and pretty much begged for any people food we were having. Before this period she always wanted to smell people food but would never eat it. So finally, we decided that something was very wrong. I am a 3rd year medical student and my knowledge of medicine made me think of diabetes once we were able to recognize these changes in her. My husband brought her to the vet on friday and her blood glucose was 600 and she had glucose in her urine. We are awaiting blood chemistries and a urine culture for a concomitent UTI. The vet taught my husband how to give her injections of lantus and instructed us to start her on a presciption diabetic diet. She was given 3U of lantus at the vet at 10:30 am on friday. We were instructed to give her another 3U of lantus after she ate some food that evening. We did that around 7pm. I woke up at 4 am for my surgery rotation this morning and couldn't find Zoey. (She is normally waiting at the door when she hears the alarm go off). And found her lethargic in her kitty bed. When she saw me she tried to walk and just kinda moved on her belly. I knew immediately she was atleast moderately hypoglycemic. We had not boughten any karo syrup and tried to feed her pancake syrup instead. She got a little better but threw up any food she tried to eat. We finally got some karo syrup and were able to revive her. She is now more responsive. We called her vet this AM and were instructed to hold her insulin this weekend since she had such a strong reaction and let her eat food as she wants it. We are to try again after a meal on monday AM with 1U lantus.

Any advice? Do you think 3 Units was a little much? I know from my medical experience that lantus is supposed to be very gentle and slow acting and the risk of hypoglycemia is not too great from it. I am considering getting a home glucometer for her. We already got little glucose pee strips for her. I love my maine coon. She is the sweetest best cat I have ever had and I am hoping we will be able to control this more easily and that she can live for a long time. It was just so scary to see her like that this AM. She has never been ill in the 2 years I have had her. (She was adopted from a Pure Bred Rescue).

Advice is appreciated. Thanks
Julia

 

[kate and lucky]

Hi Julia,

thank goodness you saw the signs!
3u is too much. Lantus builds up in the system too, which may be why it took a couple of shots.
The ethos of this board is start low, go slow.

Starting over with 1u and hometesting is definitely the way to go if your prepared to do this.

Some starters-http://binkyspage.tripod.com/faq.html

Alot to wade your way through, but hopefully as a medical student your used to lots of reading :mrgreen:
You'll see that there are better commercially available foods than the prescription stuff. You must start on the 1u though.
As kitty was over 600, would also strongly suggest you test for keytones (one reason is lack of insulin. I know you may know this but get a lot of lurkers here who read and don't post). Keto diastix from any pharmacy and stick strip under pee stream.

Any other health issues?
If you look at the stickies at the top of this forum and general cat health you will find lots of helpful advice and tips.
Setting up a profile (and hopefully a spread sheet if you do hometest) really helps other beans give you the most helpful advice whilst not putting kitty in danger.

It's hard to trust a board, but click on some threads and you'll see what advice is good and makes a difference. Always good to get a number of eyes on your thread so your not just listening to one bean.
Lantus has shown excellent results in research tests if used within 6 months of diagnosis.

We tend to increase in increments of .25u (yup means a certain amount of eyeballing at times) and getting syringes with 1/2 unit markings.
Ths is so you don't miss the ideal dose.
Most cats have type 2 diabetes, but unlike humans still need insulin to give them a shot at remission (diet controlled).
Need wet food under 10% carbs (I prefer under 5% as same as natural food source, mice)you'll see a link to the canned food table in the link I posted.

Also want to get some HC food and karo in case of hypos. Again on one of the health stickies is a list of 'hypo toolkit' so you have everything should you need it.

Keep asking lots of questions.Noq is a stupid one.
Good Luck :mrgreen:

 

[Randi & Max (GA)]

Welcome Julia & Zoey

Kate is so right in what she said. It is a good thing you caught Zoey.
3u is pretty high to start off with.
We mostly start at 1u and work are way up slowly so that the perfect dose is not missed.
What food are you feeding Zoey?

Here is the link again for the food chart. You do not need to feed the food from the vet.
Most people feed fancy feast and friskies.
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html

This board is the best place to be to help Zoey. We started in Nov and Max has been off isnulin exacly 5 weeks ago today.
We had no vet support at all. All the help we had was from here.
Please head over to the lantus insulin group and read the stickies there.

Hometesting is extremely important. We use the Relion meter from Walmart. The syringes too.
Please ask many questions.
Click on the links in my signature so you can see for yourself.

 

[Phoebe_TiggyGA_NortonGA]

Welcome to FDMB!

after a couple days off -- start over at 1 unit BID. Lantus needs to be a pretty steady 12 hours apart

For glucometer - a human glucometer is fine for testing cats -- their blood glucose is in the same range as humans and the meters / test strips for human meters are much less expensive and more readily available.

I like the Maxima AST from www.hocks.com

key features to look for in a meter:
cost of test strips -- figure about 3 per day average
tiny amount of blood (0.3 micro liter is the smallest but test strips are approx $1 each - the Maxima needs 0.5 and costs $0.30 ea)
"sipping action" strips or "approved for alternate site testing" (easier for getting the blood into the strip from squirmy cats)

You do not need to feed prescription food. The best food for diabetic cats is LOW CARB canned or raw food. Anything containing grains or gravy is not good.

some excellent resources:
www.catinfo.org is a Feline Nutrition website published by a veterinarian
google Janet & Binky's Food Charts for Protein/Fat/Carbohydrate content of cat foods. The labels on the food packages does NOT contain carbohydrate details. Looking at the ingredients is helpful -- but Janet & Binky's lists are the best. The Canned Food list is split into OLD and NEW because it got too long. Check both to find your favorite flavors.
There is a shorter list of "Gluten Free Fancy Feast" -- this might be easier to start with.
Choose food containing less than 10% carbohydrates for best results.

I have two diabetic cats - adopted through this board and DCIN - Diabetic Cats In Need - after my first sweet sugarcat Norton passed away from cancer. We feed WELLNESS canned Chicken & Turkey to all 5 cats.