Newly Diagnosed!

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jmoran

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Hello,

My 16 year old cat Chelsea was diagnosed a little over a week ago. I am giving her 2 units of ProZinc 2x/day and switched her to a wet diet of pruina DM. No issue with the shots, she is eating, coat looks better. SHe still sleeps all the time, but that is typical for her anyway.

I have a few questions:

In reading the "newly diagnosed thread" it states that monthly costs are average 40 dollars. However, I paid almost 140 for her insulin. What am I missing?

The Vet wants me to bring her in for the day where they will check her levels every 4 hours. Is it better if I just get a kit and do that myself?

Is it safe to feed my other cat the Pruina DM food? I have tried to use different foods, but of course she wants what the other is eating.

I am trying to monitor her water intake but I an not sure what is normal intake for a cat? any idea?

Thanks in advance for your help.
 
Hi and welcome.

Talk to your vet and let him/her know that you'd like to hometest your kitty instead of taking her there for the "curve" the testing every couple of hours. As you suspected it is better to get a kit and do it yourself. It's safer for Chelsea because you'll know how she is before each shot and during the day and it's cheaper for you.

I think the ProZinc is about the cost that you mentioned. The initial costs are often higher than the maintenance costs. Plus if this were my kitty I wouldn't feed the script canned food but instead feed a low carb/high protein canned food. All kitties can benefit from that. Currently my cats eat Fancy Feast the pate variety or Friskies pate variety, but others feed Wellness, Merrick or a number of other canned you can find at the pet stores that are grain free.

It's good that her coat looks better. Is she drinking less water than before? What were her symptoms when she was diagnosed and what was her diet before diagnosis?
 
The insulin is the most expensive part of this sugar dance. Testing at home is relatively inexpensive. We have ideas for inexpensive meters and places to buy cheaper strips. Testing at home eliminates any visits to the vet; you can just fax him your numbers from home. (More accurate anyway as most cats are stressed at the vet and stress raises bg levels.) We do not feed expensive "prescription" food. There are no prescription ingredients in prescription food. It is more expensive and generally has inferior ingredients to pet store and supermarket foods. Most of us feed Fancy Feast, Friskies, Merrick and Wellness. We try to stay under 8-10% carbs. Check out this food chart: Janet and Binky’s chart

Compared to other diseases cats can have, diabetes is a home managed disease (just like with people) and relatively inexpensive to treat successfully.
 
The $40 dollar estimate per month would be the cost for the insulin, test strips and meter. The Prozinc costs that much up front, but that vial will last you quite a while. A relion meter costs 9 bucks, and 100 test strips cost about 30.
The vet test will cost you more than that most likely, and that's just one day of testing.

You can feed the other cat the DM, but you'd be better off feeding both of them lower cost (and better for them too) food like Friskees Pates or Fancy Feast Classic varities. You can also but Walmart's Special Kitty food. All of those choices have less carbs than the DM does.

Have you seen the "Newbie Kit" sticky thread on the index page? You can get a meter, strips, and other goodies from Lori for the cost of shipping. That will save you some of the initial "set up" cost if you are interested in home testing.
Carl
 
Oh, about "normal" water intake. A regulated kitty, who is eating only canned food, will drink very little water actually. There is enough in the food so that they don't visit the water bowl much. When you first start treating the diabetes, they will still drink a good bit, but with the food change and the improvement in BG levels, they will gradually decrease the water drinking.

Carl
 
Just wanted to say welcome and please home test... it could save a life..
I have a spreadsheet that the bottom in my signature of my Sugar Bean when I started testing at home which the vet did not really think was neccessary! Thank goodness I found THIS PLACE.... I fully believe that with the folks here convincing me to home test is what saved my girl... Our first test - she was only 27. The wonderful board helped me via phone and here for many hours, late into the am hours and Bean is still with me today. This place also convinced me to return the prescription food and use Binkys list to purchase her low carb food. So, off to the pet stores I go with my printed list and guess what???? My Bean girl is in remission from all the help I have received here!
Welcome and many furry hugs to you both :cool:
 
Thank you all so much! My other cat (14 yrs old, Josie) has an overactive thyroid so I need to give her a pill 2x a day in her food. So feeing them differnt food just isn't working because Chelsea wants josie's food.

The initial issue with Chelsea was that she wasn't using her litter box to urinate. I also noticed the water bowl being low every day. They are not drinking allot now which is good but she is still having issues with the littler box. I am hoping it is because she smells her old spot. I have used all the sprays etc but she still goes there. I have puppy pads down now and she goes on them. But we are having the carpet replaced so I hope she returns to the litter box

She has bad arthritis and has trouble walking so some sites suggest a longer litter box which is on the list. I will definalty return the other food and get those mentioned here.

In looking at Janet and Binky's chart, 9-lives has very low cards but now one seems to mention feeding that. Am I reading this incorrectly?
 
Like Sue said, most of the lower carb 9-lives are the tuna flavors, and other seafood options. Too much fish is not good, diabetic or not. Unfortunately, many of the 9-lives options are not "pates", but are shredded, or bits, or chunks with lots of high-carb gravy mixed in. The Friskees pates tend to be better, although Purina just can't seem to stay away from filling many canned flavors with gravy.

Was Chelsea having problems getting in the litter box before diabetes? I'm thinking that along with the arthritis, she might also be experiencing some degree of neuropathy. (Which should improve as her BG gets under control)

Carl
 
Carl,

To be honest, I am not 100% sure if she was having trouble before. I had 2 sick cats at the same time. Someone was vomiting, someone was urinating and someone was going poo poo on the floor. The cats live in our basement, we call it thier apartment. So, they are very solitary!

The vomiting was my other cat because of her thyroid. The urination was chelsea and the poo poo.....who know's. I assume Chelsea as well.

I think everything in under control but it is hard to tell with the carpet in the condition it is in. It's getting replaced tomorrow...so we will see.

I will stick with the pate types of food. I ordered the testing kit so I will start that soon to see what her BG is! She is drinking so much less that I think we are moving in the right direction.

Thanks to all for your help!
 
One of my cats started peeing outside the box at the time she we diagnosed. Before that time, she had no issues.
That was in 2009.
Now, I have tried diff locations, diff boxes, diff litter, and she would still pee just in front of the box.
I then thought that maybe her bladder is full and it is bothered by rubbing on the edge of the box when getting in, so I put a step in front of the box. She now uses the box.

I still start her off each morning by putting her in the box when I get up so she can get her day started with an empty bladder. She has short legs so it was likely most of the problem. The box is about 8in high and the step is an old clear plastic drawer this is about 4in high.... she can step onto the drawer and then into the box.

you can also put the box in a plastic boot tray and put the puppy pads on the tray.
 
Thank you for that information. That makes sense. Chelsea has a very low hanging gut and it may be in the way :-D

I have another question, since I just switched both cats to wet food, I am unsure of how much is normal for them to eat. I feed them 2x a day. If I am home I will try and feed them more. But what is normal? 1/2 can, 1/4 can?

They both needs to gain weight so I want to make sure they are eating enough!

Jane
 
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