Newly diagnosed

Hi,
My cat Arwyn(12) was diagnosed this week with diabetes after taking her in for an anal gland abscess. Even though I have training as a Vet Assistant, I've become overwhelmed by everything especially with finding the right food and eating enough before the insulin injection(Lantus 1 unit twice a day).

Some background info on her is that she was eating a dry Gastro diet(for messy poos) until she stopped eating over Thanksgiving weekend. She did eat our other cats wet food(Preformatrin) so we fed her that 3x a days, but I could tell something was off. On Sunday night I noticed scabbing on her behind and the overnight the abscess burst so she went to the vet on Monday got had a blood test done. She's on antibiotics and pain meds 2x a day and I've got her eating 3x a day.

I've done some research on high protein, low carb foods and I feel like things I read on some sites are contradicted on other sites. My parents have switched her to Fancy Feast pates a few days ago because of things they've read online and refuse to buy the vet brand food. Arwyn's eating it and enjoying it, but her bowel movement are bad. The Vet is pushing DM and is coy on any other food options...

Today, we started her insulin. She ate about 3/4 of a tin before going into the vet for the injection. When I picked her up I asked about how much to feed before the next injection and was told to follow the guidelines on the tin and only do her feedings twice a day. So, she should be eating a tin and half before each injection, but she eating half of that amount. I'm concerned about her being hungry in the time in between injections.

I'm sorry if anything that I've written is confusing, I'm the the best at explaining things when I'm overwhelmed. Any advice would be appreciated and thanks for your help

 

First of all, welcome to the FDMB! This is the best place you never wanted to be!!

The Fancy Feast Classics, flaked and roasted are all low carb and a lot of us feed them as well as Friskies pates and 9-Lives ground because they're under 10% carbs, easy to find and affordable. There are lots of other choices though. This food chart lists lots of common foods and their nutritional breakdown. There's absolutely nothing in those "prescription" foods that treats diabetes. If you look at the ingredients, you'll see they're really pretty low quality. Actually the term "prescription diet" is nothing more than a clever marketing ploy.

Lantus is an excellent insulin for cats and your vet has started you at a reasonable starting dose. Most cats should start at between .5 and 1U twice a day.

Your vet is just wrong about the feeding though. One of the nice things about Lantus is that it's gentle....it usually doesn't start to "kick in" for 2-3 hours after it's given, so it's not so important that your cat eats a certain amount before getting it. As long as he's willing to eat, he can take his time eating! Also, it's easier on the pancreas to deal with multiple, small meals instead of 2 big ones (just like humans are told to eat 6 small meals). Most of us feed our diabetic cats every 3-4 hours. The only time we don't want them to eat is the 2 hours immediately before shot times so that when we test, we get a number that's not influenced by food....which gets us into the subject of home testing.

We are big proponents of home testing. Tests that are done at the vet's office are unreliable due to vet stress which can cause the blood glucose to go as much as 200 points higher than at home. By home testing, you get more accurate results. It also allows you to always know exactly what's going on inside your cat's body so you can react if you need to. You don't need a fancy pet meter either. Most of us use human meters like the Relion Prime from WalMart (if you're in the US). It's $9 and the strips are $17.88/100. The Alpha Trak pet meter is about $50 and the strips are about $1 EACH.

Keep asking questions! You're in the right place!!

 

Welcome to FDMB Alex and Arwyn! We are si glad you are here.
Chris has given you excellent advice. The part about letting Arwyn eat is most important. Diabetics cant metabolize food properly so they are just plain hungry. Once you get on a regular insulin treatment that should subside. To get you acquainted on how things work around here you may want to start here:
New? How You Can Help Us Help You!
Theres a ton of information here with good people to help you navigate it all.

WELCOME TO OUR FAMILY

We look forward to getting to know you both!
jeanne

We love questions so keep em coming.

 

Chris is 100% right. Diabetic cats can’t process the nutrients in food efficiently so they can eat and still be hungry and continue to lose weight. It’s important that they eat throughout the day and that they eat enough calories. Diabetic cats also burn calories just by peeing since there’s sugar in their urine. Don’t restrict food. A good rule of thumb for daily calorie intake is 20 times ideal weight.

 

You're in good company with reeling overwhelmed at the beginning of this adventure. We've had vets on the board who were overwhelmed because they were using an insulin they weren't familiar with.

Maybe I missed it but what insulin has your cat been prescribed. It looked like Chris assumed Lantus but I didn't see the information in your post. When you feed your cat really can depend on what insulin you're using. With the shorter acting insulins, you have to have food on board at least 15 min to an hour before a shot. With Lantus, this isn't the case. You can test, feed, and shoot all within a few minutes of each step.

Since you mentioned Thanksgiving, I'm assuming you're in Canada. This is a link to a food chart for foods that are available in Canada.

A probiotic may help with the poo problem. I'm a bit fan of S. boulardii. It's available at many health food stores. I use ReNew brand and others like Dr. Jarrow's + MOS.