Questions about making my diabetic cat comfortable

Status
Not open for further replies.
N

Naideana

New Member
Hello,
I'm very glad to find a site with so much good information and with an excellent message board.
My 13-year old female cat has diabetes. I don't know how long she's had it, but she has all of the classic symptoms, the most recent of which has been weak back legs. My family cannot afford to take her to the vet, so I was wondering what I can do for her at home. I understand that without vet treatment this will be fatal, but I want to know if anybody has any thoughts on how much longer she might have, or any advice on how I can help make her comfortable.

Thank you for your time,
Naideana
 
well, you can try putting her on the proper food from janet and binky's chart canned wet food for starters. It is lo carb
but to be very honest , if blood sugars remain elevated and no insulin treatment given, the cat will literally starve to death and it is not a pretty site.
maybe someone has other options for you but you have come to the right place and these folks can help you treat the cat as inexpensively as possible
 
If you have read this board, then you know we are all about treating diabetic cats. We can give you many ways to treat her at home, economically, but it will have to involve one vet visit to get a clear diagnosis and insulin. We have free kits for hometesting and will be glad to teach you how so you won't have to take her to the vet for blood glucose checks, an unnecessary expense. We advocate wet lo carb diets which can be inexpensive, non prescription foods like Friskies.

We will do everything we can to help you help your cat. Unfortunately, the cruel truth is that untreated diabetics slowly starve to death. There is no way to make her comfortable without treatment, and in virtually all cases, that means insulin. Some cats only require it for a short time, but there is no guarantee.
 
Welcome to the FDMB! I am so sorry to hear about your cat. It is so hard in these economic times to get our pets the proper attention.

Your kitty may have classic symptoms but there are so many other illnesses that can mimic diabetes. Have you had a blood sugar reading (preferably several) to confirm that she has diabetes?

The first thing you should do, regardless of her diagnosis, is make sure she is on a high protein WET (canned) food. Many cats improve just on this. It may seem more expensive than dry or low-protein canned food, but most likely you will have to feed less and the cost will be the same or lower.

If your cat has back leg weakness due to diabetes, giving methyl-B12 (not regular B12) vitamins to her can dramatically improve her symptoms. Others here can chime in about the best place to get methyl B12.

Although it is absolutely not the best insulin for cats, Humulin N can be used and is about $28 a vial at WalMart for their Relion brand made by Eli Lilly drug company, much cheaper than other places and much cheaper than a really good cat insulin like Lantus, for example. One vial lasts a long time. Even giving one unit twice a day can help your cat, but you absolutely have to know if the cat really has diabetes.

Untreated diabetes will be fatal. That can happen within weeks or can take 6-12 months. Please contact your local animal shelters to see if they can do free or low cost testing for you. Also, we may be able to get someone from FDMB to help you out with testing the blood. What city are you in? (Please don't give a specific address on a public message board.) Alternatively, you can also use urine testing strips to check the glucose. This isn't a great method but certainly better than nothing!

Let us know how we can help.

Best,
Rebecca
 
I have some insulin (Lantus) that I could give you, but would need confirmation that your kitty does have diabetes. If you'll post your city, somebody could probably come over and help you test. A vet visit really is important, but as long as you get a few blood glucose readings, I would send the insulin to get you started.
 
judging from how it progressed in my cat i don't think you could expect more than 6 months (could be much much less). we waited so long because my vet wanted to, and i finally had to fight them to get her on insulin. at that point she had given up on eating, couldn't walk, and was severely depressed. it was horrible -- i don't think you want to go thru the same thing.

pleading with you to go to the vet. most states require vets to write prescriptions for any necessary meds, so all you would need is probably a single vet visit to confirm the diagnosis via blood/urine tests and get the prescription. we could help you with the rest. even if the vet wants you to, you do not have to get a blood glucose curve at the vet's office when you start your cat on insulin. we can walk you thru doing the curve at home once you learn to home test her blood glucose. (i'd just tell the vet i intend to start her on the standard 1 unit of insulin every twelve hours and reduce by 0.25u if she drops too much on that amount)

over a year's worth of lantus is probably about $10 a month if you buy the cartridges or pens via canadadrugsonline.com but you need a prescription to get it ($129 including shipping).

check out janet & binky's food charts (the new and old canned food charts at this link: http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html)for inexpensive canned cat food with under 10% carbohydrates (go for higher protein ones and avoid ones with gravy or starches unless your cat's blood glucose drops sharply). you do NOT need to buy any prescription cat food from the vet. even friskies and 9 lives have decent canned food for diabetic kitties.

learn to home test. you can get a newbie kit for the cost of shipping, get a full rebate in the sunday paper (Walgreens or other pharmacy ads) for a blood glucose meter (the kind diabetic people use) so you end up just paying the tax on it, or go to walmart and pick up a cheap relion meter and test strips. other supplies you'd need would be lancets to get blood from your cat's ear ($7 for a box), cotton balls ($1-2 a bag), and syringes ($17 per hundred via hocks.com).

it's not horrendously expensive. the most expensive thing would be getting a curve done at the vet, which you could avoid by testing at home.

honestly, you can do this. many of us have been in your position before. once you get a routine going it takes only about 5-10 minutes a day to treat your cat--well worth it for the love she gives you.
 
Thank you so so so so so so very much to everybody who has replied! I'm absolutely overwhelmed by your willingness to help, and I'm so grateful for your support!
So, it sounds like the very first thing I must do is confirm the diagnosis, right? Do I have to take her to a vet, or can I test this at home? I'm sorry if you've already told me and I didn't understand, I'm just kind of confused by all this new information I've absorbed in the past night. So just to clarify, will this be possible to treat without a vet appointment? If she must go, I'll see what I can figure out.
I'll try to get to the store tomorrow to get some better food, for sure.

Thank you again, your quick replies really mean a lot to me!
-Naideana
 
yeah, you really do have to go to a vet because the symptoms can come from other things like infection or hyperthyroidism. so i think at the least you'd need a blood test and most probably a urine test, too. the vet might suggest you pay for a fructosamine, which tests the general blood glucose level over the past two weeks or so. i wouldn't bother with that, as you'd be able to collect glucose data on your own when you're home testing.

plus you'd need an insulin prescription, which you wouldn't be able to get without physically bringing the cat in for a checkup.

glad to help, and welcome aboard!
 
Your cat, deserves to be treated for this easily treated problem... however you should be absolutely sure that she has diabetes.... A simple Fructosimine (sp?) test done by vet will confirm it.

Then... change diet to low carb foods... begin insulin treatments... we can get you a test meter and a diabetic starter kit for free... then we'll guide you to treating her. I had a diabetic Charlie that was diagnosed at 12 and was PTS at 18 from a painful stroke... I have a second that I adopted knowing he was diabetic.... He had his diet changed and was on a 'touch' of insulin for 10 days... and has been diet controlled for the last three years...

Good luck and God bless you and your little furry one.
 
Naideana said:
Thank you so so so so so so very much to everybody who has replied! I'm absolutely overwhelmed by your willingness to help, and I'm so grateful for your support!
So, it sounds like the very first thing I must do is confirm the diagnosis, right? Do I have to take her to a vet, or can I test this at home? I'm sorry if you've already told me and I didn't understand, I'm just kind of confused by all this new information I've absorbed in the past night. So just to clarify, will this be possible to treat without a vet appointment? If she must go, I'll see what I can figure out.
I'll try to get to the store tomorrow to get some better food, for sure.

Thank you again, your quick replies really mean a lot to me!
-Naideana
Click to expand...
You will need to see a vet to confirm the diagnosis and get insulin. Your vet will likely want to do a fairly comprehensive examination/evaluation to make sure nothing else is going on besides diabetes (assuming she does, in fact, have diabetes). As far as insulin, there are many choices (Lantus, PZI, etc.), and each acts a bit differently. Once you have settled on the type of insulin, we can help you understand how it works, dosing, etc. You will need to get syringes in the appropriate size for the insulin you use, and a box of 100 syringes costs about $15.00 at Costco, and about the same at Wal Mart, etc.

If you are interested in getting one of our Newbie Kits, please see here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=19528. There are some things you will need to have on hand in the event of a hypo incident. Take a look here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=2354 and here http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=1122 for information on hypos.

Janet & Binky's food chart (link above) will provide you with a list of low carb wet food in a variety of brands that will be good for your kitty.

Please post back with questions and concerns...we're here to help and support you and your cat.
 
I just want to let you know that I had to have my cat put to sleep today. She was really a lot sicker than I realized, and it was what was right I think. She had totally lost strength in her back legs, was very lethargic, and had stopped eating and drinking. This all happened in 24 hours, so she didn't have to suffer too much.
I want to thank all of you for your kindness to me and your eagerness to help. I hope you understand that I chose not to treat her. You've all been so optimistic, but her condition was really bad and I think it may have been too late to do very much good.

This site has been a wonderful resource for me in the short time that I've been here, and I will defiantly use my new knowledge to help keep my sister's cat healthy so that this hopefully won't happen to her.

Thank you again, everyone - your kindness has really touched me.
Best wishes for all and your feline-friends,
Naideana
 
My heart breaks for you.

My diabetic cat, Ripley, became ill quite suddenly at the end of her life and we were SURE it was related to diabetes because the onset was so sudden. It turned out she was riddled with cancer and after intensive hospitalization and testing for 3 days, she had to leave us. We still can't believe it 3 years later.

Don't blame yourself. Cats hide so much. You loved your cat. Fly free sweet kitty!

_REbecca
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top