Newly diagnosed

[Weezie&Annie]

Hi, I'm glad to know you are all "out there". We were adopted by a sweet little cat who came to feed at our feral cats' dish and wound up as a second house cat by way of a trip to our vet to clean her up,/health check. We named her Orphan Annie which has now devolved to just Annie. As a retired nurse practitioner, after a short time I recognized the 3Ps, suspected DM and it was confirmed by Dr. B. Am familiar with treatment of human DMs, but novice at feline DM, so I'm going to rely heavily on you who have experience. We don't know from where she came or how old she is, but she is a lap-sitter, which is what our long-time companion Maine Coon, Miss Moneypenny (Penny) is not so we are enjoying her and wish to help her regain good health.

 

[Carl & Polly & Bob (GA)]

Hi and welcome!
We're all here to help, so fire away with any questions.
Carl

 

[Pumbaa]

Glad to see you found your way here, but sorry to hear that Annie is diabetic.

You are so lucky, being a retired nurse practioner, as probably nothing phases you. *LOL* So many of us are absolute wrecks when we receive that diagnosis for our cats!

The people on these boards are wonderful, and have tons of experience and helpful information! And they helped me regain my sanity in the first few stressful weeks after the diagnosis on my Pumbaa.

The first things everyone will ask you are:

Is Annie on insulin now? What kind of insulin, what dosage and what shooting intervals?
What food is Annie eating?
Are you home testing her BG levels?

I wish you nothing but the best in getting Annie regulated and "off the juice"!

Suze

 

[BJM]

We strongly advocate the following:

1) home glucose testing, with a regular human glucometer - many of us use the WalMart ReliOn, which is a branded version of the Arkray USA Glucocard 01, available from American Diabetes wholesale, one of the shopping partners listed above, under the shopping link. It is one of the least expensive and easy to use. You do not need a pet-specific meter, as data and norms have been developed for use with human glucometers.

2) low carb canned or raw food - less than 10% of the calories should come from carbs, and around 7% seems to work well, depending on how sensitive the cat is. Ditch the dry food, and ditch any prescription food, as you can get as good or better quality food with low carbs over the counter. Fancy Feast Classic pates are just some of the choices. Here are a couple of lists to review:
Binky's Page
Pet Food Nutrition Values

Home glucose testing may take a while, so there are some secondary monitoring tools linked in my signature. One you'll want to use, unless you pick up a blood ketone meter, is the urine ketone testing as you know that high ketones may indicate diabetic ketoacidosis. It is expensive to treat and potentially fatal in cats, too.

3) if your cat does require insulin, we recommend a long-acting one, such as Lantus, Levemir, Prozinc, or PZI. Avoid Humulin N as it last only 6-8 hours in the cat, so good control would require TID dosing. Also avoid Caninsulin - it was developed for DOGS, not cats and does not last long enough!