The vet just called with the news today and told me it wouldn't be cheap to treat. They gave me the option of treating it, or to euthanize her. The last thing I ever want to do is euthanize her, she is the sweetest cat ever! I'm overwhelmed with the diagnoses due to the cost and I'm trying to get everyone one at home on board. They're not very supportive. We also have two other cats who eat regular dry food, but due to Jackie needing a different diet, the way they've been feeding the cats will have to change.
How much on average does it cost on a monthly basis to treat diabetes in a cat? They told me the insulin will be expensive. What all supplies do I need? And where can I get them at the best cost? Any suggestions or information would be helpful, thank you! I've also been looking into different foods, and I came across one called Crave, does it work okay with diabetic cats? My cat enjoys wet food, but she never fully eats it all like dry food.
Hi Anness,
Welcome
First off if you are talking about Crave Dry food it's very high in carbs, just
about any dry food.
If you are talking about Crave wet food I looked on the Chewy site and looks like
they are low carbs, but very expensive and the trays they come in are only about
35 or 45 calories. It would cost you a fortune to feed enough of them for Jackie to
get the right amount of calories.
Most of us feed Fancy Feast Classics Pate or Friskies Pate
I will give you the link for the food chart
Most of us use a human meter from Walmart
The Relion Prime costs 9 dollars
The Prime test strips cost 17.88 for 100 strips
26 or 28 gauge lancets about 3 dollars
Cotton rounds to put behind her ear so you don't accidentally prick your finger,then you would just press on her ear for a couple seconds to stop the bleeding.
Depending on what insulin your vet suggests , then we can tell you what kind
of syringes you will need.
I'd say maybe 18 dollars for 100 syringes
I know you want to save money, but if your vet wants to give you Vetsulin
(Yes it's cheaper than others, I forget how much it is) but it's actually used for dogs.
It's a harsh insulin and drops the cats BG fast.
Either Lantus or Prozinc is good.
Lantus is more expensive if you buy it here in the US, most of us buy it from Canada from Marks Marine Pharmacy.
I'll give you the link so you can check it out
Five pens or Five cartridges will probably last you over a good year depending on how many units your cat will need.
Don't let your vet try to tell you or sell you a pet meter such as the Alpha Trak 2
They are about 40-50 dollars and the test strips are very expensive something like
48 dollars for 50 of them
Just tell him you can't afford it
I'm trying to give you the best price for all the supplies, since you said you are overwhelmed at the cost.
I would never want to see any cat euthanized because they have diabetes.
For a vet to say either treat it but it will be expensive or euthanize your cat
just blows my mind
We can all steer you in the right direction when it comes to saving money and the
best price for supplies
Do you have the blood work results, how high did the vet say it was.
Have to tell you once you have everything and start home testing at home ,
there is really no need to see your vet unless of course you cat gets sick.
We have a spreadsheet here that we all use to keep track of our cats BG numbers.
Can discuss that later, but you can take a look at mine, it says Tyler's Spreadsheet
We can help you with that also when the time comes
You can also see after I get done posting is my signature, cats name, date diagnosed, type of food , cats age, type of insulin
When you decide what type of insulin you will be using you can set that up.
I know this sounds overwhelming but believe me once you get the hang of everything it's easy.
This is the best place you ever want to be.
The members here are very knowledgeable and have years of experience.
I really have to say they know more than most vets do.
If it wasn't for the advice they have given me my cat wouldn't be doing
where he is today, he's doing great.
I'll give you the link for the food chart and Marks Marine Pharmacy, your vet
would just have to give them a script for the lantus, and that's it.
You can call them and they will contact your vet, they will explain everything to you.
Good luck and Jackie is so adorable.
Start to do some reading on here about the different types of insulin's and
how they work.
Go to the Forums page and you can read about everything , they are
the yellow stickies
watching over you.