Newly Diagnosed

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momosmama

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Hello. My name is Amy, and my cat's name is Moses or Momo. She is 2 1/2 years old, a DSH who was a rescue and also has Cerebellar Hypoplasia. She was diagnosed as diabetic today and I am taking her back to the vet Thursday morning to go over all of her treatment needs and get her started with insulin.

This is my first time in years and years of ownership and rescue (I'm the director of a small no-kill rescue for high-risk cats in the Philadelphia area) dealing with diabetes in a cat and any advice is so very appreciated. Thank you.
 
Hi Amy,

Glad you found us.

Is her CH mild, moderate or severe? As I told you on FB, there is another here who has a CH/FD, she posts as Anne & Zener. http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=4474

If she's bobbing her head a lot it could make hometesting the blood sugar harder, but hometesting is very important. My concern with CH and FD is keeping the kitty from going too low and becoming hypoglycemic. You know with CH cats we worry with anesthesia and the effects that it can have on the brain. I worry about the same thing happening with CH, if she has a seizure from low blood sugar her CH could get worse, however this is only my thought on that, I'm not a vet or an expert.
 
Hi, thank you. I have 4 CH cats and one diabetic cat and she also happens to be one of the CH cats. I'll contact the other CH-diabetic owner you just mentioned as well. Momo's CH is mild-moderate. She walks well, but kind of skips, and has mild head tremors. She rarely falls, but can be a bit wobbly on the steps.
 
Do you hometest your other diabetic? Momo is young to be diabetic, we usually see this in older kitties or if it's type 1 they are younger when they get it. Do you know what her diet was before she came to the rescue? A low carb, high protein diet would be good for her.
 
No, Momo is the only diabetic. She ALSO has CH. Sorry if that wasn't clear. She's my first diabetic cat.

She's been with me always. I've fed her mostly RoyalCanin food but occasionally others as well, high quality foods usually natural. She's never had any sensitivities or problems, I didn't even suspect anything like diabetes until her bloodwork came back with elevated glucose. No increased thirst or urination or unusual weight loss. She's petite and has always weighed about 6 - 61/2 lbs. She was 6 lb 1 oz yesterday. I know 2 1/2 is rather young for Type 2 and old for Type 1, but I'll let the vet sort that out -- he wants to start her on insulin ASAP and she has an appointment first thing Thursday morning.

Yes, the CH issues you mentioned have been a concern to my vet as well but she has been spayed. He just avoids anesthetising them if they are under about a year and a good weight if they have CH and they've done well in his care, I trust him completely.
 
Welcome, Amy. Jennifer asked me to stop by since I tend to spend most of my time on the Lantus board. I think she's assuming your vet will be recommending either Lantus or Levemir since both of these insulins have a great track record for getting a newly diagnosed cat into remission. There is a ton of information about Lantus and its use in the starred, sticky notes at the top of the Lantus board.

I noticed in your other thread you mentioned that Moses had an infection and that's why he was at the vet. It's entirely possible that the infection is what has thrown his blood glucose (BG) levels out of whack. If this is indeed the case, it's very important that you start home testing. I'm assuming that Moses is on an antibiotic? For many cats, if they have an infection or an inflammation, including gingivitis, their BG numbers will go up. Once the problem starts to clear, numbers can come back down. If you're giving insulin, you need to be able to adjust dose as the infection clears out so being able to test is very important.

Are you feeding Royal Canin canned or dry? Most of the Royal Canin canned foods are fairly high in carbs. They range from 4% for the urinary formula to 28% for weight control formula. Royal Canin dry foods are all above 30% carb. A diabetic cat needs to be on a low carb, canned food diet. We consider low carb to be less than 10% carb and most of us feed much less than that. Janet & Binky's list and this spreadsheet with pet food nutritional values has information on carb content of most brands of cat food.

Please let us know how we can lend a hand. The people here are very generous with their time and their knowledge. (And I dropped a note to Anne and Liz to let them know you had joined FDMB.)
 
Amy,

I am assuming and hoping Lantus would be the insulin your vet would prescribe because it's gentle and much easier on the kitties. For a CH kitty, if it were my Lilly Grace, I would not want to use anything harsh, I'd want to start low with Lantus and adjust her dose accordingly.

Does your CH get particularly startled or nervous easily? Stress can elevate blood sugar and add that to the infection/Antibiotics that Sienne mentioned, I have to again say that hometesting is going to be your best tool.

I know with CH kitties that not all are great with handling emotions and over stimulation can be a problem for some, my LG falls off the bed if a truck drives by and honks. She's also fallen if Ron sneezes. If Momo is as bad as LG and over reacts to stimuli, I wonder if that too could have raised blood sugar.
 
If you have the actual lab values, that'll help us in giving feedback.

As the others mentioned, both infection and vet stress may raise glucose levels.

Was it a fructosamine level, or a glucose level? The former reflects glucose levels over time, whereas a blood glucose is the level at the time it was taken. If the fructosamine was high, I'd be more likely to believe a diagnosis of diabetes, particularly if its still high after the infection has been cleared.
 
She was seen by a vet in the practice I always take her to but her regular vet was in surgery and did not see her. Her regular vet just called me and said he reviewed her work and that he wants to retest her before doing anything with insulin or prescription foods, that 330 in an asymptomatic cat who is actively sick with a viral infection does NOT indicated diabetese in one one test.

So Thursday we retest!! Here's hoping....

She eats dry royalcanin or Purina Naturals One or whatever they call it now in the beige bag. She is a rather picky eater so the vet has had me giving her what she'll take within reason, but her weight is always steady and very healthy at 6 to 6 1/2 lbs every visit. I have her to the vet at least quarterly as I do with all my CH cats. She always gets glowing reviews on her weight and general condition (coat, teeth etc).

She's just the most wonderful girl.. I can't bear the idea of anything happening to my baby, I am eager to do everything I can to keep her healthy, and get to the bottom of this. Thank you all so very much for your helpful comments!
 
momosmama said:
She was seen by a vet in the practice I always take her to but her regular vet was in surgery and did not see her. Her regular vet just called me and said he reviewed her work and that he wants to retest her before doing anything with insulin or prescription foods, that 330 in an asymptomatic cat who is actively sick with a viral infection does NOT indicated diabetese in one one test.

So Thursday we retest!! Here's hoping....

She eats dry royalcanin or Purina Naturals One or whatever they call it now in the beige bag. ...
Click to expand...

Oh good! That is very encouraging. If you can find a good canned food she'll eat, that may help with the glucose levels for now. You might try the Fancy Feast Classics - 3 oz cans, so little goes to waste if she doesn't like it.
 
The vet says he wants to try that if she is infact diabetic. He said tonight to let her eat what she always eats, he is fairly confident she'll be fine with that til he sees her. Thank you!
 
zener, that sienne mentioned, also has CH - he's been sick the past few days, though, so it make time liz/anne a day or so to get to you. they've been in your shoes and are the nicest people ever to help you and moses! if you don't hear from them, come to the Lantus Tight Reg Insulin Support Group and look for Zener. he's a sweetie! :-D
 
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