Should I treat my cat's diabetes?

Status
Not open for further replies.
D

dawnferrari

New Member
My cat is 15 years old. Due to an enlarged heart, thyroid, blood pressure, and joint problems, my cat has been on 3 pills twice daily, 1 liquid daily, and 1 injection monthly for 20 months. I was told by the vetinarian cardiologist at that time that she probably had about a year before her other systems (besides cardiac) would eventually start to break down and kill her. She was diagnosed with diabetes 1 month ago, and I vowed now to put her and me through another disease treatment, but now that she doesn't feel well, is weak and has lost weight, I'm wondering if I made the wrong decision. How hard could it be to treat diabetes? (I'm a nurse.) After the initial expenditure of energy in figuring out the right dose and getting into the injection habit once of twice daily, she'd have a good quality of life for a while. Can I please get opinions on just how hard this will be and just what kind of quality of life the cat has once they are regulated.
 
well, one nurse to another: you know diabetes is a very treatable disease and if diet is followed and proper insulin given, you can have a very good QOL. no different for a cat. by not treating the diabetes you are essentially starving your cat to death. not a pretty site to see and a very painful death. see janet and binky's food chart and put cat on appropriate diet of less than 10% carbs wet food. there is Fancy feast, special kitty, friskies, 9 lives and some higher end foods like wellness ect. http://binkyspage.tripod.com/canfood.html
3 better choices in insulin are PZI, lantus and levimir. pick up a cheap meter from walmart (relion micro or confirm) strips are the cheapest for these, some ketostix and go from there.
please read the FAQ and come back and ask away. we are all here to help you and kitty
 
Treating diabetes is easy

Learn to test blood sugar at home (we prick the edge of the ear for a tiny blood sample, and use a human glucometer)

Change food to high protein, low carbohydrate -- grain free is a good start -- will reduce insulin required to process the sugar.

Start insulin - a long lasting one like Lantus. Two shots a day -- the insulin needles are tiny and most cats barely notice the injection. Start at a low dose like 1 unit every 12 hours. Some cats need a bit more - some cats need a bit less.

So... we test the blood sugar before every injection, and we do spot checks at other times (as fits our schedule) because the main point is making sure the kitty does not go too low at "nadir". Nadir time can vary, but until you do a curve (after a week or two of insulin injections) -- getting some spot checks at +6 (6 hours after injection) will give you an idea of how the insulin is working.

The pills - glipizide - don't work in cats very well -- so don't waste your time going there.

The best chance of remission or diet control is to start insulin to give the pancreas some time to rest and heal. Some cats can become diet controlled within a couple months. Some cats will never become diet controlled.

My adopted diabetic cat, Tiggy, was diabetic for about 5 years before he came to my house. He was eating the wrong food and getting 5 units of PZI per day (sometimes 2x 2.5u, sometimes 1x 5u).

He is now on Levemir (a nice long lasting insulin) and a good low carbohydrate canned food diet. He is well regulated on 0.5u BID. So -- changing the food made a big difference in dose, but he still needs some insulin.

He is active and loving and has a really nice coat -- you would never know to look at him that he is diabetic.
 
If you don't treat her, you are essentially starving her to death because her body can't use the glucose she digests. If you aren't going to treat the diabetes, it would be far kinder to let her go.

You've gone this far and you can do this.
 
I can't imagine decided to deny treatment. I have two cats that require shots twice a day, and testing to see how they are doing. My cats don't mind the shots or the testing, and quite often will sleep through testing.

Quality of life would greatly improve and your cat would not be suffering.

Actually, there are many cats who do not need insulin if on a good low carb wet diet.... something to try and maybe the insulin could be needed for only a short time.
 
Hi dawnferrari, and, of course, your sweet furry girl (her name would be nice...),

Diabetes can be treated secondary to other medical issues. Dian and BJM explained very well what happens if diabetes goes untreated...

dawnferrari said:
How hard could it be to treat diabetes? (I'm a nurse.) After the initial expenditure of energy in figuring out the right dose and getting into the injection habit once of twice daily, she'd have a good quality of life for a while. Can I please get opinions on just how hard this will be and just what kind of quality of life the cat has once they are regulated.
Click to expand...
It's not hard to treat feline diabetes. Just takes a couple of extra minutes twice a day to test and give insulin to your cat. I say twice a day because cats metabolize insulin about twice as fast as humans. Shooting every 12 hours is recommended so they have good coverage throughout a 24-hour period.

You can basically pick what times work for you. When she gets her morning and evening meal is the best time to test and shoot, as you want food on board before giving insuline. Snacks or smaller meals in between breakfast and dinner (and overnight) are okay, particularly if she's used to free feeding (grazing). What does she eat, by the way? Who knows, if you switch her to a low carb/high protein (if that works with her other issues), she may not need insulin forever or for long. We call that diet-controlled.

As for just what kind of quality of life once on insulin and stable? Great! She will be the furry girl you know and love!

Please treat her. We'll help you, okay?

Hopeful and encouraging hugs for you both,
Deb and Nikki -- and, Giz, forever dancing in my heart...

PS: Here are links to Janet and Binky's Famous Food Charts (both old and new):
New:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodNew.html

Old:
http://binkyspage.tripod.com/CanFoodOld.html
 
Hi Dawn,

As others have already explained what happens if you decide not to treat, so I will address the how easy it is to treat. The cat you see as my avatar is Maxwell, I adopted him from this board as a diabetic after my own diabetic cat passed away. Now at the time of Muse's passing I still had 9 other cats, two of which were just tiny kittens so I really didn't need another cat in my life let alone one who was first a senior (approx 12 years old) and secondly with a known health problem. But you see Maxwell had already survived hurricane Katrina, only to be adopted by an elderly lady who herself needed to be placed in a nursing home and her family elected not to treat Maxwell and have him put to sleep instead. Well to make a long story short, through the work of several angels on this board his life was spared and he came to live with me. Now if diabetes wasn't such and easy thing to treat I certanily wouldn't have set myself up to care for another one. But it is easy and after a few weeks of insulin shots and a change in diet Maxwell is now off insulin, and has been for the last 6 months. His coat is stunning, his energy off the charts, he plays with my two 1 year olds and he is living a normal cat's life. If I didn't tell you he was diabetic you wouldn't know that he had a thing wrong with him. He's healthy and happy and we are looking forward to spending lots of years with him yet.

You can do this you're a nurse so you understand how easy it can be to give shots and test blood. You've gone this far in treating her various health concerns so what is another couple quick pokes a day?

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang
 
So she was diagnosed a month ago and is not doing well? Poor babe. I understand your concern about multiple illnesses and subjecting her to more treatments. We can't guarantee that all will go well considering her history, but we can tell you that based on our experiences, diabestes can be a relatively easy disease to treat. If everything else is under control, I don't see why you couldn't treat her and allow her to have a reasonable quality of life until the other diseases take precedent. Either way, please, if you do not decide to treat, seek advice on when to PTS so that she does not suffer...untreated diabetes is not good.
 
Hello All, this is Dawn. I'm the one that wrote this email in the first place. I can't figure out how to send you all a message, so this is going to have to do.

Thanks so much for all the helpful info. I so much appreciate it. Can't believe I got so many wonderful supportive emails so quickly.I'm overwhelmed and will call the tomorrow to start the whole process. Thank you all!
 
Please do not let vet start you on NPH. It has worked for a few cats but as you know, It is a very harsh insulin at least for cats it is. also do not let vet talk you into their food. check the chart we sent and buy the foods we suggested.
come back if you have more questions. no question is a dumb question.
also, could you post, state / city you are from and maybe someone is close by in case you need any hands on help.
thanks and welcome to the family. the collective knowledge on feline diabetes on this board far surpasses anything most vets know. people here work 24/7 with this disease and many of the other diseases our furry friends have
you posted just fine in answering, ya did it right
 
Dawn would you like a 'newbie kit' to help you get started? it will have everything in it that you will need to test your baby at home and track her progress yourself. it might make this journey a little easier for you and it's a sweet welcome to our community.
And Dawn,,,,strange as it may seem...I'm almost happy about Tom's 'dire beasties' as aside from the fact that I have him in very good control, he and I formed a bond over this treatment that I seriously doubt I would have had with any animal ever had I not treated him.
Someone said my relationship with any animal in the future will benefit becuase of the relationship I developed with Tom during this diabetic part of his life.
If you desire this newbie kit see my link to it near my signature on this page ok.
Lori
and tomtom too!
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top