Hi Mike,
A warm welcome to FDMB - a place we often refer to as the best place you never wanted to be.
There is quite a steep learning curve at the beginning and it can take a little while to develop a routine that works well for you and M&M (lovely pic, BTW!) but as you learn more and get into the swing of things it gets easier as you go along and eventually it just becomes second nature. Diabetes is most definitely do-able!
With the right diet and a good insulin it is possible for a cat to go into diabetic remission (low carb diet-controlled, non-insulin-dependent). Granted some kitties may not achieve remission but they can still live long and happy lives with the right insulin treatment and diet.
If you have a choice of insulin at the outset I'd suggest Lantus; a study showed it to offer the best rates of remission in newly diagnosed cats following a treatment method called the Tight Regulation Protocol. Lantus is expensive in the US but we can point you to a reputable Canadian pharmacy where many, many of our members purchase their insulin at a
significantly lower price.
We've got lots of educational resources here to help you learn and we can point you in the right direction if you let us know what you need help with. Also there are members here from around the globe so there's usually ongoing support here pretty much 24/7/365.
First and foremost we strongly advocate home monitoring of blood glucose levels; it's the best way to keep a kitty safe during insulin treatment. Home testing can also help you to learn the pattern of response to the insulin which is a tremendous aid to determination of effective insulin dosing and thus optimising a kitty's regulation.
Most people here use human glucometers with a cat-specific reference range to monitor their cats. Pet-calibrated meters are also available but the strips for the human meters are much more affordable. If you're in the US Walmart's Relion Micro and Relion Confirm meters are very popular with members here (affordable strips and only a very small blood sample is needed).
Here are some useful links to help you learn more about how to home test:
Home testing links and tips (has tutorial video)
Testing and injecting tips (has a helpful diagram of the testing 'sweet spot' on the ear)
If you are picking up testing supplies be sure to pick up some Vaseline or neosporin (ointment, not cream - a little film on the ear makes it easier to collect a blood sample). You'll also need some urine ketone test strips (e.g. Keto-diastix or Walmart's Ketone test strips). Here's why you need them:
Are you testing your kitty for ketones? If not, do it!
You'll also find details of other useful supplies in this post:
Hypo toolkit
I note that Scooter was vomiting before you brought him in to the vets. Did the vet check his ketone levels? Did the vet mention anything about diabetic ketoacidosis? If you could let us know ASAP we will be able to give you some tips on supportive meds and home care which can aid recovery.
Mogs
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