Hello everyone. It's my first post here so let me introduce myself. Im writing you from Athens Greece and I'm Nota. The reason is my cat, Mafalda. Mafalda is 4 years old and recently we found out that she has high glucose level at her blood. I dont know if this is diabetes or if we must take some more tests. That's the one question. The other that I want to ask is that Mafalda has also gum issues. For the time being she is eating alright but after her meal she seems in pain for a while. This thing "comes and goes". sometimes by itself and sometimes with help of interferon or antibiotics. the problem is that if it goes worse we must have cortisone shots ....and you cant do that I think if your cat has diabetes. Did anyone deal with that??? I'm quite upset since yesterday because I went to another vet (mine is on vacations) and she kind freaked me out that is for sure that my cat will die.... :sad:
Question about diabetic cat and gum disease
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MommaOfMuse
Very Active Member
Greetings Nota,
While I can't answer your question about dental problems, as I have no first hand experience with it. I can tell you absolutely that Diabetes is no more of a death sentence for a cat than it is for a person. It is managed exactly the same way, diet, insulin, and blood glucose testing at home before each and every shot. In fact it is so easy to manage that not only did I adopt one cat because he was a diabetic, I have adopted two. Maxwell & Musette, now since before adopting my two lovely diabetics I already had 10 non-diabetics...yes TEN! I really didn't have to go out of my way to adopt a special needs animal of any type, but I sure wouldn't trade in my sugarcats now.
Diabetes is one of those things that is best managed at home, in partnership with your vet. The three keys is first learning to test blood sugar at home, we use the exact same meters as a human diabetic does, we simply prick the edge of our cat's ear, like a human does their finger tip. Next comes diet, a diabetic cat, like a human diabetic needs to be on a low carbohydrate diet. Most of us feed canned pate style catfood. Not sure what brands you have available in Greece, but here in the US and in my house we use Friskies, 9-lives and Wal-mart's house brand Special Kitty. I know many here use Fancy Feast as well. Basically anything that doesn't say "In Gravy" and is either pate or loaf style. But if Mafalda is use to eating dry food you will want to be home testing before changing diet as just removing the high carb food that dry is, can dramatically reduce blood glucose. Lastly, although sometimes started before the diet change, is insulin. Which is just two tiny shots given under the skin twice a day, 12 hours apart.
And the best part is that now that you have found us, we can help you with every step of the process, short of actually prescribing the insulin. When you can or when you know, let us know what insulin your vet has prescribed and at what dose, as that will allow us to help you better. For now, read all the stickies (starred posts at the top of the page) and ask any questions you might have.
Oh yeah remember to just Breathe, and Welcome to the Family!
Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
While I can't answer your question about dental problems, as I have no first hand experience with it. I can tell you absolutely that Diabetes is no more of a death sentence for a cat than it is for a person. It is managed exactly the same way, diet, insulin, and blood glucose testing at home before each and every shot. In fact it is so easy to manage that not only did I adopt one cat because he was a diabetic, I have adopted two. Maxwell & Musette, now since before adopting my two lovely diabetics I already had 10 non-diabetics...yes TEN! I really didn't have to go out of my way to adopt a special needs animal of any type, but I sure wouldn't trade in my sugarcats now.
Diabetes is one of those things that is best managed at home, in partnership with your vet. The three keys is first learning to test blood sugar at home, we use the exact same meters as a human diabetic does, we simply prick the edge of our cat's ear, like a human does their finger tip. Next comes diet, a diabetic cat, like a human diabetic needs to be on a low carbohydrate diet. Most of us feed canned pate style catfood. Not sure what brands you have available in Greece, but here in the US and in my house we use Friskies, 9-lives and Wal-mart's house brand Special Kitty. I know many here use Fancy Feast as well. Basically anything that doesn't say "In Gravy" and is either pate or loaf style. But if Mafalda is use to eating dry food you will want to be home testing before changing diet as just removing the high carb food that dry is, can dramatically reduce blood glucose. Lastly, although sometimes started before the diet change, is insulin. Which is just two tiny shots given under the skin twice a day, 12 hours apart.
And the best part is that now that you have found us, we can help you with every step of the process, short of actually prescribing the insulin. When you can or when you know, let us know what insulin your vet has prescribed and at what dose, as that will allow us to help you better. For now, read all the stickies (starred posts at the top of the page) and ask any questions you might have.
Oh yeah remember to just Breathe, and Welcome to the Family!
Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
doombuggy
Very Active Member
Welcome! first off, sending you hugs! I don't know any Greek (just the alphabet) but would love to great you in your language. maybe someday you can teach us a few greek words.
I can chime in a little bit aobut the gum disease. My last cat (not a diabetic) had the gum disease. I took care of it by learning to brush her teeth and getting her dentals annually. I was not always successful with the toothbrush myself...Midora died at the age of 13, probably from complications of her gum disease - her kidneys went caput - one was enlarged and one was shrunk. When she died, she had less than 1/2 of her teeth left. My vet had a toothless cat, so lack of teeth doesn't inhibit their life or eating. i would suggest you try your best to keep your baby's teeth clean. Even a chew toy would help (I have a few for my current cat, as he likes to chew). mel has given you some good advice - breathe! You can do it! You love your cat that's why you found us. :smile:
my cat was diagnosed at Easter time (4/22/11) and took insulin for a month before he was diet controlled. he no longer gets insulin, but I do still test him (rats, I better do that when I get home!). for me, the insulin shots were easier to administer than the testing - I have trouble getting blood out of his ear. Funny, the nurses always tell me they have a hard time getting blood out of me too! Testing your pet will go a long way in helping you and comforting you. You will know what is going on with your cat in real time.
I am sure others will chime in with some advice. Welcome and hugs!
I can chime in a little bit aobut the gum disease. My last cat (not a diabetic) had the gum disease. I took care of it by learning to brush her teeth and getting her dentals annually. I was not always successful with the toothbrush myself...Midora died at the age of 13, probably from complications of her gum disease - her kidneys went caput - one was enlarged and one was shrunk. When she died, she had less than 1/2 of her teeth left. My vet had a toothless cat, so lack of teeth doesn't inhibit their life or eating. i would suggest you try your best to keep your baby's teeth clean. Even a chew toy would help (I have a few for my current cat, as he likes to chew). mel has given you some good advice - breathe! You can do it! You love your cat that's why you found us. :smile:
my cat was diagnosed at Easter time (4/22/11) and took insulin for a month before he was diet controlled. he no longer gets insulin, but I do still test him (rats, I better do that when I get home!). for me, the insulin shots were easier to administer than the testing - I have trouble getting blood out of his ear. Funny, the nurses always tell me they have a hard time getting blood out of me too! Testing your pet will go a long way in helping you and comforting you. You will know what is going on with your cat in real time.
I am sure others will chime in with some advice. Welcome and hugs!
Lana & Yoyo
Active Member
Gum disease causes inflammation and inflammation will make blood sugar go up. It is very important to get the problem taken care of. In fact, Nota, after you have gotten Mafalda on a low-carbohydrate diet, gotten her dental problems taken care of, and have had her on insulin for awhile, she may well go into remission. After that, you would need to keep her on a low-carbohydrate diet and have her teeth checked routinely.
Go to the index page and look for "Insulin Support Groups." Read the stickys for each of the insulins so you can educate yourself on the differences. It did not sound to me like your vet prescribed insulin so it looks to me like you will have to take charge of Mafalda's diabetes yourself. The newer insulins are Pro-zinc (PZI), Lantus, and Levemir. Lantus and Levemir are long-acting human insulins so you can do a web search and get a lot of info about them on websites for human diabetics as well.
It is a steep learning curve in the beginning but you will master it and your kitty will be fine.
Lana
Go to the index page and look for "Insulin Support Groups." Read the stickys for each of the insulins so you can educate yourself on the differences. It did not sound to me like your vet prescribed insulin so it looks to me like you will have to take charge of Mafalda's diabetes yourself. The newer insulins are Pro-zinc (PZI), Lantus, and Levemir. Lantus and Levemir are long-acting human insulins so you can do a web search and get a lot of info about them on websites for human diabetics as well.
It is a steep learning curve in the beginning but you will master it and your kitty will be fine.
Lana
Thank you all so much for your support. You know from yesterday that the doctor told me about dying from gum disease I can't stop thinking of it ...
Your advices are so needed at this time. Here in Greece still animals are treated like they have less soul..(if you can understand what I mean) so it's a bit "easy" for vets to treat these situations without consedering the whole condition of the animal (for example: cortisone cant be taken with interferon, or "lets let your cat a few days to see if the inflammation goes off").
At this time I'm waiting for a second blood and urine test so we can see the level of the glycose and then he ll tell me about insulin or not ....at the mean time my priority is eating properly so also we can do dental cleaning ...I'm really so confused. to see her suffering is for me the worst thing. :cry:
thank you again for the warm welcome and hugs.
I needed them so much.
p.s. please excuse my mistakes in English
Your advices are so needed at this time. Here in Greece still animals are treated like they have less soul..(if you can understand what I mean) so it's a bit "easy" for vets to treat these situations without consedering the whole condition of the animal (for example: cortisone cant be taken with interferon, or "lets let your cat a few days to see if the inflammation goes off").
At this time I'm waiting for a second blood and urine test so we can see the level of the glycose and then he ll tell me about insulin or not ....at the mean time my priority is eating properly so also we can do dental cleaning ...I'm really so confused. to see her suffering is for me the worst thing. :cry:
thank you again for the warm welcome and hugs.
I needed them so much.
p.s. please excuse my mistakes in English
BJM
Very Active Member
Nota
Welcome to the group. And don't worry about your English - if we don't understand something, we'll ask you to explain again. We've been known to ask English speakers to do that, too!
Working with vets sometimes takes a great deal of diplomacy! You may find it helpful to think up some specific responses to what you've already experienced or some requests you'd like to make. With politeness, of course!
Some examples: (I'll put in Google translates'sGreek version too)
English: I don't want to wait to treat my cat.
Google Translates to Greek: Δεν θέλω να περιμένω για να θεραπεύσει τη γάτα μου.
English: I want to try insulin for my cat.
Google Translates to Greek: Θέλω να προσπαθήσω ινσουλίνης για τη γάτα μου.
English: I am going to test my cat's glucose at home.
Google Translates to Greek: Πάω να εξετάζετε τη γλυκόζη γάτα μου στο σπίτι.
English: Here is a research article on feline diabetes.
Google Translates to Greek: Εδώ είναι ένα άρθρο έρευνα για αιλουροειδούς διαβήτη.
(we've got some veterinary research articles posted at the top of the various forums, along with other information.)
Welcome to the group. And don't worry about your English - if we don't understand something, we'll ask you to explain again. We've been known to ask English speakers to do that, too!
Working with vets sometimes takes a great deal of diplomacy! You may find it helpful to think up some specific responses to what you've already experienced or some requests you'd like to make. With politeness, of course!
Some examples: (I'll put in Google translates'sGreek version too)
English: I don't want to wait to treat my cat.
Google Translates to Greek: Δεν θέλω να περιμένω για να θεραπεύσει τη γάτα μου.
English: I want to try insulin for my cat.
Google Translates to Greek: Θέλω να προσπαθήσω ινσουλίνης για τη γάτα μου.
English: I am going to test my cat's glucose at home.
Google Translates to Greek: Πάω να εξετάζετε τη γλυκόζη γάτα μου στο σπίτι.
English: Here is a research article on feline diabetes.
Google Translates to Greek: Εδώ είναι ένα άρθρο έρευνα για αιλουροειδούς διαβήτη.
(we've got some veterinary research articles posted at the top of the various forums, along with other information.)
:lol: you made me lough so much with the translation....you're so right at all the things you said.
I'll also do some reading to be prepared for the next appointment with our vet. (can you imagine we have only two dental vets here in Athens. You can also imagine how much they charge)
thank you thank you so much...
I'll also do some reading to be prepared for the next appointment with our vet. (can you imagine we have only two dental vets here in Athens. You can also imagine how much they charge)
thank you thank you so much...
MommaOfMuse
Very Active Member
Nota,
Don't worry about the language barrier as we have literally people from all over the world here, while it is true that we mostly post in English, we really all speak one language and that language is the Language of Love of Our Cats.
Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
Don't worry about the language barrier as we have literally people from all over the world here, while it is true that we mostly post in English, we really all speak one language and that language is the Language of Love of Our Cats.
Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
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