Panther

[Panthersmom]

Hi. I really do hope you can assist me or point me in the proper direction to get the assistance I require. First of all, I am Bernadine and myself and my daughter Chelsey have had panther about 8 yrs now and we love him like he's a baby. Two months ago, panther became very ill so I made an appt with a vet and he was diagnosed with a urinary tract infection and diabetes. He had two follow ups for his insulin and went from 1 CC twice a day to 3 ccs twice a day and then we got up last Wed and he was laying flat on the floor with four paws sprawled out and he had actually had a bowel movement and couldn't get up. It was heart wrenching! The visits over the last 2 months have cost me about $2000. I asked the vet last week if I could monitor his bg levels at home and she told me that I couldn't use a human monitor because it didn't calculate the cats' numbers properly and isn't designed to check bg in animals. I see on your site that many ppl are promoting and using these and would love to have one but I see you don't ship to Canada. I have been widowed 14 yrs and originally got the cat for my daughter as she was having a very difficult time with her dads passing so I thought a cat would keep her mind a little more occupied and he did. They became best buddies. I see here that in the US you can get 100 syringes at walmart for 15 while I pay 40 for 100 here in ON and the insulin I believe is another $30. I have maxed my credit card so in the process of getting that paid off so any tips that you can give me on saving money and how to get a kit as the vet wants to charge me 140 for a cat one!!! I am quite used to given needles and checking blood sugars as my hubby died with cancer and in the eight months leading up to his death I had to give him 3 injections everyday and 5 every other day and i've watched my dad check his sugars forever so it's just a matter of knowing where to check for the cat. Please help. I am in dire straights and not really sure how much longer I can keep up with these expensive vet bills and I can't by the monitor from them because as soon as I got my cc paid off last time, he got sick again and maxed it along with some other bills so i'm really in a pickle.

What is the best cat food to see him as I can't afford alot. Right now, he's been on whiskas hard food hairball control chicken flavoured. Recently, we started him with whiskas soft chicken and give him the soft with his injections and just leave dry in his bowl to go and eat and he eats a little of that through the day. He also likes to eat ppl food which I am guilty of giving to him. Thanks so much for your time and I look forward to a reply. My email is beddybrat@hotmail.com as i'm still not really sure how this site works to post or check messages so if u'd like to give me a short tutorial on getting started that would be great.

Sincerely,

Bernadine Gushue

 

[tysonlee]

Re: Diabetic Cats in Need--Sharing Resources

I hope this helps out with determining which type/brand of glucose monitor to get.....sometimes it just seems like information overload, lol. :?

 

[Zoni's Human]

Re: Diabetic Cats in Need--Sharing Resources

Hi, I just found this board, I hope Panther is okay. I am barely making ends meet with two p/t jobs, so I understand trying to cope with vet bills on a budget! My wonderful vet gave me advice on low-carb canned foods to help Zoni's blood glucose stay more normal. He used to be on Purina O.N.E. Salmon & Tuna flavor dry food, exclusively.

(It now looks like dry cat food in general is implicated in more and more cats becoming diabetic as the carbs percent in dry catfood has been increasing over the past few decades. Cats need meat and many dry foods are now over half grain/starch!) But, Purina did a study and found that 40% of diabetic cats went into remission when fed Purina DM dry food (which has calories % of 50% protein, 37% fat, and 13% carbs)... so, try to feed the greatest possible percentage of meat in his diet, and the least possible grains and starch. Cats turn protein into glucose but not as fast/dangerous as starch into glucose.

There are some cheap but diabetic-friendly canned cat foods. They need to have 4% or less of their calories from carbs to be okay for diabetic use. So, if you can find Friskies canned, the 4% or under flavors include: Kitten Turkey Formula, Kitten Ocean Whitefish Formula, Special Diet Beef and Chicken Entree, Special Diet Beef and Liver Entree, Special Diet Ocean Whitefish Dinner. If you can find 9-Lives canned, 4% and under flavors: Chicken & Beef Dinner, Flaked Tuna in Sauce, Ground Chicken Dinner, Ground Chicken & Tuna Dinner, Ground Chicken & Seafood Dinner. There are several other flavors that are only 5% to 7% carbs, and any canned cat food made with no grain product is still better/lower carb than almost any dry cat food. Walmart's Special Kitty brand also has several, but I can only find the flavors Mixed Grill and Super Supper. A rule of thumb seems to be, if it's ground (pate-like) it tends to be better, if it has shapes, slices, shreds, or chunks it tends to have wheat gluten or other starches in it. Read ingredients, and stay away from any grains and starches.

I wish you and your daughter all the best with Panther.

Donna