So glad to find you!!!!

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lauramarie

lauramarie

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Hello everyone, I just found out today my cat, Junior is diabetic. Going back to the vet in 2 days for first meeting and treatment class. I cried for about 2 hrs after hearing the message. I've pulled it together and this website has made me feel 100% better.

Thank you for being here, you'll all hear from me a lot!

Laura
Barnegat, Nj
 
Hi Laura,
Sorry you had to find us, but very glad that you did!
I assume you have done a little reading here, but don't try to absorb too much too soon. Hearing "your kitty has diabetes" is traumatic, ask anyone here. Good news is that all of us know exactly how you feel.

Hopefully your vet is "current" on feline diabetes, but here are some things to "look for" when you go back tomorrow.

Insulin type - you want to hear one of these options: Lantus, Levemir, or Prozinc/PZI. All are good insulin choices for cats.
Insulin starting dose - your vet should tell you that you will need to shoot 2x per day, 12 hours apart. And the dose should be "low", like 1 unit each shot or less.
Diet - your vet may recommend a prescription food available only from a vet. Not needed! Also, if they mention any type of dry food, say "no thanks, dry food is a no-no for diabetic cats". The best diet for a diabetic kitty is low-carb canned, and it doesn't need to be prescription food.
Home Testing - see if your vet is supportive of you testing the cat's blood glucose at home using a regular human meter. Not only is it the safest way for you to monitor and treat kitty, but it is also much cheaper than relying on the vet to do the occasional "curve" at the clinic. The numbers you get at home will be more useful to you, and long term, to your vet.

Feline Diabetes, and home management of it, are overwhelming at first. But that feeling will go away quickly. A couple weeks from now, you'll be wondering why it made you cry today. Totally understandable that it did though.
You've found the greatest resource on the web for dealing with this. Hundreds of really experienced members, all dealing with the same thing you are. Many, like me, have had their cats go into remission after only a short time on insulin. For some cats, it takes a long time, and some may never "get off the juice". But a cat can live many years with diabetes if it is treated daily, and enjoy a happy and healthy life.
Ask any question that comes to mind. We're all here to help.
 
Welcome to the best place you never wanted to be, but will be so blessed to have found!

A few things you might want to be aware of before heading back to the vet's in a couple of days.

There are 3 keys to managing diabetes in cats.

1) Insulin. Hopefully your vet will be fairly up to date on diabetic cat care and will prescribe either Lantus, Levermir or Prozinc, all 3 of these are long lasting gentle insulin that work very well in cats. Also hopefully they will start you on a low dose, we recommend no more than .5u-1u given twice a day. Cats need insulin every 12 hours because they have such a high metabolism rate. Try to avoid being started on NPH/Humulin N...this is a harsh insulin in cats but works well for dogs. It just doesn't last long enough in a cat's body and causes steep drops and rises.

2) Diet- This is something you can start while waiting to see the vet in a couple of days. We recommend a low carb/high protein diet. You don't need the prescription foods either, there are no "special prescription items in them" and they are expensive compared to those of the same quality or better quality foods available on the commercial market. Popular brands around here on the less expensive side are Friskies Pate, Fancy Feast Classics, or even Walmart's Special Kitty. On the more pricey high quality end would be Wellness, Evo, or Merrick. All of which are canned foods..Almost all dry food is too high in carbs for a diabetic kitty. And if you happen to have a multicat household like I have here, you can switch everyone over to the same diet as your diabetic. The best thing I ever did for my 11 non-diabetic kitties was to adopt two diabetics..The diet switch has greatly improved the health of all of my cats.

3) And this is the biggie....Learning to test at home. This is absolutely your best tool in not only keeping your best friend safe while on insulin but it will also keep a lot of cash in your wallet. You do not need the fancy animal only meter, any human meter that takes a small sample of blood will work just fine. Wal-mart has an excellent little meter called Relion Micro or Confirm that runs about $9 and the strips are about $30 for 100 strips (strips are the most expensive part). We simply prick the edge of our cat's ear much like a human diabetic pricks their finger. The advantages of testing at home is that you will first know if your buddy is high enough to give insulin to safely, second get truer numbers because they won't be influenced by vet stress, and third you won't have to keep dragging your kitty to the vet all the time for curves, because you can do them at home and then share those numbers with your vet.

Lastly remember that the only stupid question here is the one that goes unasked. Everyone that will respond to you either has had or currently have a diabetic cat that they are successfully treating at home....A few of us even have multiple diabetic cats. :-D

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
Welcome, Laura. My kitty simon was just diagnosed on January 5th so I'm new also! We started Lantus 1 unit twice daily and the low carb wet foods from Binky's list and another food link. You'll find it in this post (question I asked yesterday!)
viewtopic.php?f=28&t=60735

So far so good. Simon seems to be improving!
 
We survived our first meeting! Here's the story....

First off, my boyfriend and I travel so much with our jobs that a near full time nanny is a must when insulin becomes necessary. That being said, I went in armed with all the questions recommended from all of you and others through my research. My vet's first call to me with the diagnosis was to get Junior in asap to start insulin. Had pet sitter all lined up, he found another one for me as well and was ready to board him at the clinic just in case. We meet, he talks insulin and I talk diet change to start. He thought it was a great idea and to come back in a week and check is level. I purchased enough Purina dm (dry and wet) to get Junior and his civvie, Johnny cat (putting him on same diet). They've been on dry their whole lives except when I would dabble with wet. They either would rather go starving than eat it, or like it so much they eat too fast then throw up. That's why I stopped wet food. I gave them each a taste of the wet and dry and they love both! I plan to mix them and convert eventually to a full wet diet

I brought up testing at home. My vet never had a client do that before and he's very excited to try it with us. I told him about this website which he's heard of but never been to, and is now all about checking it out.

I may be over excited right now, but I spent most of the day crying (yes, again) about the thought of him being poked and stuck by some stranger or away from home in animal hospital for the next 7 days. And I'm not sure if my vet's excitement is good or bad either! Clearly, more people in my area need to be aware of this amazing help site and i'm going to work on that!!!!

I am hoping for any feedback, good or not. I'm open for anything
 
Amazing! Such fantastic news about your vet working with you to help your kitty!

Sounds like you both have some good game plans going!

Keep us posted. :smile:
 
I came home a day early form vacation to be with the cats! They are madly in love with wet food to my surprise. They've been on purina dm wet and dry for 4.5 days and last night got them going on Friskies and Fancy Feast wet only. I'm going out to get everything needed for testing now and will hopefully have success tonight.

The only advice I have not been able to find in the forum is what treats are carb free? I am amazed at how little important information is on the packages. Any suggestions?

This Friday is the visit to the vet again. That would make 8 days since changing Junior's diet. Anyone think I should make it a few days later or just stick with it? I guess this would also depend on the readings I get at home.

Junior says "thank you"
 
Carb free treats....

freeze dried chicken and freeze dried liver (I found mine in the dog treat aisle, and cheaper than from the cat aisle!)
Boiled or raw chicken/turkey, cut in 1/2" cubes (I understand the raw is great for helping keep teeth clean)
freeze dried shrimp

I know there's others but can't think of them. When shopping for treats, check the label. If the label mentions any type of grain (wheat, rice, corn, etc.) or sugars, it has carbs. You'd be surprised how many have one of those listed first! :o

Keep us posted about the testing, and don't hesitate to holler for help if you need it. :smile:
 
Low carb treats...

Petsmart sells a brand called Beefeater and they are freeze dried chicken breast and salmon. They used to carry shrimp too, but I haven't seen them on the shelf for a while.
Wellness also makes some that are little squares of "jerky".

The favorite for my kitty, Bob, is just plain boiled shrimp. Living a couple miles from a shrimp dock/seafood company, I can always get some freshly caught shrimp fairly cheaply, so lucky for me, shrimp is (in Bob's opinion) God's gift to kitties!
 
Home test success!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I bought the ReliOn micro and 26 gauge lancets. It came with 30 gauge but thought it would be could to use something bigger first time. He was super cool and is a good bleeder. Then he got fresh boiled chicken breast treat.

Now, his first reading at the vet 9 days ago was 475. Just now, if I did it correctly was 354. Junior is also are very high stressed kitty to begin with. I know this is nowhere near where he needs to be but i'm glad its slowly going down.

I was also fortunate to get a urine sample on the ketone strip. I did have to follow him outside in a little rain and he likes to go in the dirt. He was totally wondering what was wrong with me. I know they are sensitive tests and this first one was in the "small" amount color.

I could not have done any of this without all of you
 
Hey everyone, we're back. The diet change was a big bust, started insulin 2.5 weeks ago. Junior started at 1 unit PZI and a week later up to 1.5 units. He's still all over the place. He is on the Purina DM canned. The Binky's list was very overwhelming for me with all the decisions. I just got it together and picked up some 9 Lives pates from the list. Do you think me switching up the diet now will further complicate things?

I'm working on the spreadsheet
 
Welcome Laura and Junior!

I'm kind of new at this so those who have been doing this longer than I have may say something different.

Since you are up and home testing I don't think it would complicate things because you will know what his level is and Junior will be much safer that way. Home testing is the key to keeping track of what their furry little bods are doing. But this way you get to see how much of a drop changing the food actually does! Once the spreadsheet is up and the numbers are coming in you get a better grasp of what is happening. If Junior will let you test every hour that would be great (Sev tested his Kitty every hour and she went OTJ very quickly. Not every cat is as responsive as Kitty but that was fast! Sneakers was diagnosed around the same time but I had problems from the start and didn't do testing until January 1st.)

For Binky's list I pulled out everything 10% carb or less I would consider buying that was in my budget- Fancy feast, friskies, 9-lives, sophisticat... and put it in its own spreadsheet with the carb and calorie count columns. Then I filtered it by brand name and carb count and had a list in ascending order of carbs for each brand name. It came out to a two page spreadsheet- I shortened it further by just taking out those that i would never get to- mainly Walmart as I don't shop there unless I absolutely need something (I do use the relion Micro so will get those there if they can't be ordered through ADW). That left me one page with the carb count, brand name, and specific can. I bought a bunch under 5% to have on hand and a few gravies to keep in the hypo kit.

I haven't been able to find a treat my Sneakers likes so continue to change between 1 or less% carb cheeses. Sharp block, shredded, cream- she likes them all... at one time or another. I have learned the hard way not to give her any other human food (milk, butter, ranch) as it will spike her for days. Sneakers tends to hold onto carbs and insulin for up to three days so I don't change her unless I have at least three if not four days of numbers to look at. I do the very slow approach because of it.
 
HI Lauramarie - glad that you've gotten into the testing successfully. I'm a newbie too, Sitka dxed in December, but wanted to let you know that the first couple weeks on insulin your cats numbers may indeed be "all over the place". Sitka's first few weeks numbers were crazy - one day she would be a 350+ am preshot then the next would be 200 or lower. Then her am number would be low and her pm number high. Finally after three weeks her body finally figured out what it was supposed to do and her numbers became consistent. Everything I read & heard from this site about the three long lasting insulins say to not make a lot of changes quickly because it can take some time for your cats body to adjust. It also doesn't help that every cat is different and you won't know a "normal" for your cat for a while. This is such a great place and everyone is so nice - I know I'm really glad to find it - not sure where Sitka would be now without this group.
 
I just wanted to say that I read a story the other day about jerky treats made by Purina in the dog aisle that get ingredients from China. They are killing and making dogs very sick and since it can't be proven because of a loophole, Purina has not pulled them. Be careful which you choose. I would not choose Purina freeze dried.

Melanie & Racci
 
He's on the prescription wet food. I've been learning of the few weeks of getting regulated. I keep staring at the 9 Lives thinking "should I or shouldn't I" nailbite_smile I know the vet prescriptions have been "poo poo'd" here, but it did make a difference in his numbers before starting insulin. The only treat he gets is boiled chicken.

Here's another question....he's been getting 1 can of the prescription a day (half am, half pm) the 9 Lives says 2 full cans a day. Is this how everybody is feeding?!?!
 
How much does he weight? And how much is he suppose to weight? Generally it is 20-30 calories per pound of ideal weight. So like my normal basic housecat size 10-12 pounders eat about 1 (5.5oz) can per day broken up into 4 small meals, while my big guy at 17lbs eats about 1 1/2 -2 cans of the same size per day also broken up into 4 smaller meals.

The nice thing is Binky's list gives you the calories per can, so just find the flavors of 9-lives you got him and figure out how many calories he needs per day and compare that to how many calories are in the food. That should tell you how much of that brand of food he needs to eat.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
We've found that our guys are liking some "human" stuff for treats. One is canned vienna sausage. One brand (don't recall) has 1 carb, but there is another brand (I threw the can out and put them in a baggie-sorry) that is 0 carb. Just make sure it's the plain ones and not BBQ or something. They are also enjoying human bagged pre-cooked bacon bits, the soft kind, not the hard ones. We don't give a lot of either, but the cats love em and they don't raise our guy's BG.
 
Working on the ss now. This morning was his first of the super supper. He's usually usually hit his lowest around 1:00 never under 125 except once and then shot up to 279 3 hours later. Today it was 171 @ 1:30, 113 @ 3:30 and 72 @ 4:30 now. Slightly freaking out......
 
3 hours, tested again at 7 and it was 183. He just ate. I have not given him a shot. I give it around now. Yes to the Prozinc. I'm afraid to give it.
 
Ideally, we like to see a smile curve. Up at morning preshot, the lower at mid cycle, back up at evening preshot.. His curve today is longer than ideal, getting his lowest number 9 hours in still below 200 at evening preshot.

With his food change, I think the insulin may be more than he needs. I would wait 20 minutes without feeding and retest. If he goes above 200, I think I would reduce his dose to one unit.

Now that you have testing and food change done, please consider coming over to the PZI forum. Everyone there uses your insulin. People post daily with their numbers and get advice.

http://www.felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewforum.php?f=24
 
Doing good. I like those blues and greens :-D .

Everyonce in a while Sneakers gives me a high blue but no greens as yet :sad: .
 
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