Simba's coat

[Simba]

hi
Simba has had diabetes for many years and is on 5 units of caninsulin. (Iuse human needles). I have noticed lately that his fur is very greasy, his skin is dry and flakey. He has such a vacant look in his eyes. When he uses the litter box half the time he misses and pees all over the floor. His body is in the box but not far enough. Does diabetes affect brain function? I am taking him to the vet on Thurs. to get a glucose curve done. Anybody experience this with your kitties?

 

[tuckers mom]

The coat you are describing is usually what we see in an unregulated diabetic cat.

If this were my cat, I would want to start hometesting. Caninsulin is an insulin quickly metabolized. For a good part of the day Simba may be feeling cruddy and since this is on going, the vacant look could be a tired cat.

But, do get him checked, my own little man Tucker(GA) passed away from a brain tumor totally unrelated to FD. Other things can cause our kitties to get sick.

If you're interested in learning to hometest we can show you how, there are videos and pictures, also someone may live near you who can show you in person if you want to post a general area, city/state only.

For a cat on insulin for as long as Simba I would also ask that you look into Levemir insulin. It's a gentle, long lasting insulin, similar to Lantus. We can give you tons of great information on these more commonly used insulins.

 

[Karen & Smokey(GA)]

hi
Simba has had diabetes for many years and is on 5 units of caninsulin. (Iuse human needles). I have noticed lately that his fur is very greasy, his skin is dry and flakey. He has such a vacant look in his eyes. When he uses the litter box half the time he misses and pees all over the floor. His body is in the box but not far enough. Does diabetes affect brain function? I am taking him to the vet on Thurs. to get a glucose curve done. Anybody experience this with your kitties?

I guess you mean you are using human insulin needles, which are for U-100 insulin.

If you are drawing to the "5" unit mark in a U-100 syringe, then that is actually
2 units of U-40 insulin (Caninsulin is a U-40 insulin).

In that case your dose is 2-units, not 5 units.

To give 5 units of Caninsulin in a U-100 syringe you would have to draw it to the "12.5" unit
mark in the U-100 syringe.

Please clarify: Are you giving 2 units true dose or 5 units true dose.

Please tell us what MARK you are loading your U-100 syringe with.

We always need to state the TRUE DOSE here, (not the unit-mark on the syringe),
when using U-40 insulin with U-100 syringes.

 

[Winni]

hi
Simba has had diabetes for many years and is on 5 units of caninsulin. (Iuse human needles). I have noticed lately that his fur is very greasy, his skin is dry and flakey. He has such a vacant look in his eyes. When he uses the litter box half the time he misses and pees all over the floor. His body is in the box but not far enough. Does diabetes affect brain function? I am taking him to the vet on Thurs. to get a glucose curve done. Anybody experience this with your kitties?

I have a Simba too, he's 9 yrs old. Was diagnosed one week ago today with diabetes. Yes, I feel so sorry for my little guy. I've always noticed his fur being greasy, dry and flakey never thought much of it. He's on ProZinc insulin 1 unit twice daily, more wet food now than dry. I've noticed the past week alone flakes are less and fur not as greasy. My Simba misses the litter box here and there, but I think its normal. I'm very new at this. My Simba is going in next week for his B/G Curve since diagnosed....

 

[Traci and Boomer]

Your Simba is SO cute!!!!
You won't have to pay the vet if you do the curve yourself, plus cat's numbers tend to be higher because they are at the vet and scared so you don't get as accurate a reading.
Once you get Simba regulated he may start to feel better in general.

hi
Simba has had diabetes for many years and is on 5 units of caninsulin. (Iuse human needles). I have noticed lately that his fur is very greasy, his skin is dry and flakey. He has such a vacant look in his eyes. When he uses the litter box half the time he misses and pees all over the floor. His body is in the box but not far enough. Does diabetes affect brain function? I am taking him to the vet on Thurs. to get a glucose curve done. Anybody experience this with your kitties?

I have a Simba too, he's 9 yrs old. Was diagnosed one week ago today with diabetes. Yes, I feel so sorry for my little guy. I've always noticed his fur being greasy, dry and flakey never thought much of it. He's on ProZinc insulin 1 unit twice daily, more wet food now than dry. I've noticed the past week alone flakes are less and fur not as greasy. My Simba misses the litter box here and there, but I think its normal. I'm very new at this. My Simba is going in next week for his B/G Curve since diagnosed....

 

[Winni]

Your Simba is SO cute!!!!
You won't have to pay the vet if you do the curve yourself, plus cat's numbers tend to be higher because they are at the vet and scared so you don't get as accurate a reading.
Once you get Simba regulated he may start to feel better in general.
*******************************************************************************************************************************************

Thank you.... He's my baby. Do you think 9 yrs old is young for a cat to be diagnosed w/diabetes ? - Also my vet gave me ProZinc insulin, this ProZinc doesn't seem to be popular on this site. I see alot of cats on Humulin and there's one more that I can't think of the name.

I'm not doing the B/S test at home. His diabetes was diagnosed on 4/25/11; therefore I've been reading so much on it. I did see a video in how to test the blood sugar, but I honestly don't think my little guy will let me do this. He takes the injections well, but I honestly think he would not let me prick his ear. I would hate to miss it.

I'm overwhelmed in regards to the food since I have two cats. My Shadow needs a diet; therefore I have been feeding him the DM Dry since Simba became diabetic. Yes, I've been hearing the dry food is like poison to a cat, but I need to see how things go through out this week unitl I take Simba in on 5/9 for his first B/G Curve. Both Simba and Shadow use to get just a tablespoon of wet food at night, but now Simba gets a full tablespoon in the A.M. & P.M. Shadow was also getting the same, but why would Shadow have severe diarrhea and not Simba ?

The worse thing for me is the food situation. I'm making myself sick that my Simba is not eating enough, but I work all day; therefore it's hard to be there to give him wet food. This morning I gave him wet food twice at 5:30am and again at 7am and he ate it, but I did not give any to Shadow since he has the diarrhea. I'm very frustrated with the food situation, this is my biggest problem right now.

 

[Larry and Kitties]

You said: "I see alot of cats on Humulin and there's one more that I can't think of the name."
In actuality very few kitties or on Humulin now. Humulin ins Lilly's name for a family of insulins That now include N and R and combinations of N and R. Years ago it included L and u and those were good for kitties but manufacturer of those were stopped because new insulins like Lantus and Levemir came out. I think You are talking about Lantus.

 

[Winni]

You said: "I see alot of cats on Humulin and there's one more that I can't think of the name."
In actuality very few kitties or on Humulin now. Humulin ins Lilly's name for a family of insulins That now include N and R and combinations of N and R. Years ago it included L and u and those were good for kitties but manufacturer of those were stopped because new insulins like Lantus and Levemir came out. I think You are talking about Lantus.

Yes, that's it "Lantus.

Winni & Simba

 

[MommaOfMuse]

Winni,

I have 11 cats of which only one is diabetic, they all eat wet food. I just feed them friskies pate flavors and with this diet change my diabetic cat went into remission where he has stayed for 7 months now with no signs of going back on insulin. I to have one that is on a diet, I simply feed him separately from my other herd. He gets a 1/4 of a can (5.5 oz can) every 5 hours. But many cats here are fed twice a day.

Maxwell when I adopted him was a nightmare to test, mainly because he didn't know me and was pretty stressed out from all the changes in his life. At first I just turned him into a kitty burrito, I wrapped him up in a big towel so only his head was showing, then sit on the bed with him between my legs so I could use my knees to gentle add pressure if he squirmed. I loved and snuggled and petted him as well as shoveling pieces of boiled chicken into his face. Then test, and follow with more pieces of chicken. Now even though I only test him once a month all I have to do is get out his blanket and call him with the key phrase..."Its ear time" and he comes running and assumes the position to be tested. He is so good at it now that recently we have gone to both our vet clinic and our local shelter to train others to test, both times he was allowed to wander around and greet everyone, but the moment he saw his testing blanket and heard "It's ear time" he jumped up on his blanket to be tested. As long as you make it a pleasant experience for you both they learn very quickly that a small poke in the ear is rewarded with love and treats.

I will tell you that I have no doubt in my mind that home testing literally save Maxwell's life. Because I adopted him as a diabetic and he went into remission so quickly that had I not been home testing I could have very easily sent him into hypo because we just hadn't had that much time together to get to know each other and I would have very easily missed subtle personality changes that would normal signal the onset of hypo. If I can do it with Maxwell with zero bond already established you can do it with Simba who already loves and trusts you. We might even have someone close to you that could pop over to help out if you want some hands on help. It is absolutely the very best way to make sure that Simba is safe while he is on insulin. My own mother is a diabetic and she would never dream of injecting insulin without testing herself first.

Mel, Max & The Fur Gang

 

[Traci and Boomer]

Well said Mel!

 

[Ginny & Alex]

Don't discount the home testing until you give it a try. My Alex is so feisty and tempermantal that he now have a vet that makes house calls. The last in-office visit was traumatic for all involved. No shots were given and no physical performed.

But within the last 2 wks, we're poking his ears one or twice a day with little difficulty and giving shots twice a day. The shots aren't going quite as well, but part of that could be me.

Hang in there. I know I'm trying to.

 

[PeterDevonMocha]

Hi winni and simba! Just wanted to stop in and say hi! I know you asked if we thought 9 was young to be treated for diabetes .. mocha was only 5 1/2 when she was diagnosed, and I believe there are others that were diagnosed even younger then that ..

 

[Winni]

Hi winni and simba! Just wanted to stop in and say hi! I know you asked if we thought 9 was young to be treated for diabetes .. mocha was only 5 1/2 when she was diagnosed, and I believe there are others that were diagnosed even younger then that ..

Thank you so much for replying, it means alot.

Winni & Simba

 

[Stephanie&Willy]

Hi Winni and Simba! Just wanted to welcome you to the forums. My kitty has been a diabetic for almost a year now, but we are new to the forums too!

I don’t believe 9 years old is too old to be diagnosed with diabetes. That’s how old my kitty is.

When Willy was first diagnosed, we ran out and bought a meter with every intention of testing Willy when he came home from the hospital. He is so mellow and the process doesn't seem difficult, but man oh man, you prick his ear and he goes completely berserk. And he’s a very large cat, so it actually gets kinda scary (they call him “the Pistol” at my vets office and it takes several people and towels to draw his blood). Because of this one bad experience, we didn’t think home testing was possible and we avoided doing it for a very long time.

My vets office won't do a curves because they are expensive and often inaccurate due to stress. My vet really needed us to do a curve at home. So we sucked it back up and decided to try to stick him on the pads instead of the ears figuring his reaction really could not be much worse. He is totally and completely fine with it. I really thought it would have been the other way which is why I didn't do the pads in the first place (I mean it sounds so ouch right). The nice thing about the pads is you have 4 of them and some toes too!

Now that we do home testing, I really don’t understand how we made it this long without doing it. It really does provide a lot of very vital information that can help you and your vet understand what is going on with your kitty’s body. It’s also good because I am a worrier, so if I think Willy is acting funny, I used to be up in arms ready to go to the vet. Now I just take 30 seconds (literally, that is all it takes us now) to prick his foot and I can see that he’s ok.

For feeding: I have 3 cats total and they all eat the same wet food when offered it (twice a day) which is Fancy Feast Classic. I give the 2, non-diabetics, 15 minutes to eat before I take their dishes away and we separate Willy into the bathroom during meal times.

One of my other cats, Zell, is a scarfer (and a bully) and if he finishes before the other cat, Rasta, he will intimidate him into leaving the kitchen. To slow down his eating, we put a large, heavy, nylon-type ball in his food dish with his food. It works best with dry food but has been very efficient with the wet too.

Willy does not tolerate prescription food. I mean in both personality and physically. He has been switched to several different types since his diagnoses, and it ends the same way. First he refuses to eat it. Then (after day or two) he eats it very reluctantly which is followed by vomiting or diarrhea. They have suspected it might be the amount of fiber in it and he will “get used to it” but the ingredients on the label are pretty gross imo.

Welcome to the forums! You will be so happy with the information and support you receive here! It has been a real blessing to my family.

Stephanie & Willy

 

[Sue and Oliver (GA)]

Lantus and Levemir are great insulins, but if you are using ProZinc, we do have an active forum of people who are using it. You might check it out, read some of the posts and check out the spreadsheets. It works very well in lots of cats. viewforum.php?f=24 And here is a great document with lots of info on how it works and how best to use it: viewtopic.php?f=24&t=32799

 

[Traci and Boomer]

Regarding age - my poor Boomer was 2 when he was diagnosed. He had IBD since he was a tiny kitten and was on steroids that probably caused the diabetes.

 

[Simba]

Took Simba to the vet. Looks like the Caninsulin isn't working any more not lasting long enough. Vet wants to try Glargine.

 

[Winni]

Took Simba to the vet. Looks like the Caninsulin isn't working any more not lasting long enough. Vet wants to try Glargine.

So sorry to hear about your Simba. My Simba was diagnosed on 4/25/11 he's on ProZinc. I believe ProZinc is a long lasting insulin. I'm taking my Simba in on Monday May 9th for his first B/G Curve to see where his levels are through out the day. I'm hoping my little Simba stays the same with 1 unit twice daily or maybe it will be a miracle that he only needs 1 unit once a day.

Good luck with your Simba.

 

[Traci and Boomer]

Took Simba to the vet. Looks like the Caninsulin isn't working any more not lasting long enough. Vet wants to try Glargine.

This is great news! Lantus (Glargine) is an excellent insulin - that's what I used to give Boomer (GA) and he went OTJ in a few months. My Mom's cat Francis also went OTJ on Lantus. Once you start you should join the Lantus group to get help and advice (if you need it) to refine the dose. Be happy...

 

[Hillary & Maui (GA)]

whether you use prozinc or lantus (glargine) these are both very good insulins for cats. They each work in slightly different ways, hence the importance to go to the insulin support group and read the information provided.

Both are kept in fridge. Both are given in 12 hour increments.

Prozinc needs to be gently rolled to mix it up, Lantus - you never roll or shake.

I've used both insulins (lantus for my Maui and prozinc for a kitty I looked after for a month).

You can't go wrong with either of these insulins. Please do start to hometest.