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
 
Welcome to the club! Once you get things sorted out, let us know what Junior is currently eating, if he is on insulin (and what kind), and if you are home testing his blood glucose levels. Armed with that info, the great people on this board will give you loads of advice and information!
 
Welcome. I also live in NJ and my Momo was diagnosed today, and also has her first eval on Thurs. They want to make sure it's an accurate diagnosis because she had some other stress factors going on that might have raised her glucose level. Best of luck to you and your cat!
 
Welcome to you both! the best place to be, right here!
Will ask both:
what type of insulin?
how much?
what type of foods?
home testing?

Just a few questions for us all! lol - again welcome and furry hugs to ya!
 
- Don't know insulin yet, or if she'll need it.

- Foods, same. Vet says canned purina w/o the gravy is good.. Gonna see about the test Thurs.

- If she's actually diabetic I'll be testing at home daily.
 
Same answers for Junior as Momo, however..... my cats have been on dry food all their lives. My vet told me tonight it was ok to keep them on it but switch to the healthier variety. I'm leaning towards changing to the wet. Our appointment is Thursday as well.
 
the first thing we'll tell you both is that some cats can be controlled by changing to a low-carb canned food only diet. in some cats, one bite of dry kibbles can send their blood sugar soaring - it depends on the cat.

we encourage you to use the Janet & Binky's Food Lists to find appropriate food. a discussion about feline nutrition and why they need canned food is here: Cat Info & Nutrition.

if you switch to low-carb canned food first, then get blood glucose tests, you will have accurate information for finding a good dose of insulin if you do need it for your kitties.

i just posted an article comparing insulins in diabetic cats and giving information on what seems to be best for the possibilities of remission. i'd encourage you to print it out and take it with you to your vet. we have many users on Lantus (glargine), Levemir (detemir) and PZI (Prozinc) and all are good insulins.

and welcome! you've come to the right place. We'll give you a hand and your kitties will be doing well before you know it.
 
Welcome! I cried too when my cat was diagnosed a month ago. I thought it was the end and there was no way I could care for him. Then I found this site and let me tell you, it is eazy breezy to care for him. If I can do it, you can too. I hope my cat lives forever, but when he does cross over the rainbow bridge, I will definitely adopt another diabetic cat.
 
Welcome to you both!
I wanted to chime in on the food issue. Cedric (-----> my FD) was dx'd in April, right before Easter. When I adopted him for the SPCA 5 years before, he ate just dry. Tehn my vet convinced me to give him both (he would have preferred just canned I think). I had him on fancy feast (all varities) and Blue Buffalo Weight management. Note he never lost weight on this dry food only gained (as did a co-workers 3 cats). I immediately changed his food when he was dx'd to wellness canned and B wilderness can & dry (Cedric is not crazy about the wilderness canned). If you see Cedric's spreadsheet in my signature, you see that the lantus he was on was helping, but his numbers were still in the 200s. The gang here kept at me to ditch the dry, but i was concerned since I work every day (yep, even Sat & Sun) - what would Cedric have to eat during the day? Well, I found an automatic feeder (cat mate C20, I bought mine at petmountain.com) which has an ice pack for the bottom of it. It keeps the food cool - I put a cold portion on one side and a frozen portion on the other side. On may 19 I took his dry away (after reducing it over the previous couple of weeks) and the next day his numbers dropped. Two days and they were normal and he has not had insulin since. Did we catch it early, I think so. My vet put him on Lantus right away (he has some FD experience) but they didn't think he'd get into remission so quickly.

I went out and bought a Relicon Micro at Wal-mart - meter for sale near the pharmacy, strips at the pharmacy counter. Meter ws $9 and strips are $20 for 50. I still test him about every 2 weeks or so and do fine. My lancets I buy at Target because the have little caps that can go over the needle when you are done. I use 28 gague and still have problems getting blood sometimes, even when I heat it up. Cedric is tolerant because he gets a grain free treat when we are done!

Welcome to the boards!
 
Poopy and I welcome you to the best place you could have found for you and your kitty! cat_pet_icon

This place has tons of friendly folks who live with feline diabetes day in and day out, and they freely share their hard won knowledge! Ask any question and someone has been there and done that. :-D

Welcome aboard!
 
Welcome to the group. I'm in central NJ - exit 131 pwky and 11 tpk to give you an idea - if I can be of assistance to either of you, please let me know.

If you ever need a great 24 hour place - Red Bank Veterinary Hospital (exit 109 pkwy ) - they also have an office in Cherry Hill, which I'm sure is closer. http://rbvh.net/locations.php

I don't know how they are with treating diabetes, but I do know they are good for other matters and of course they are open 24 hours - so if ever you have an emergency. just something to be aware of.
 
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
 
Well let's start with the food. Purchasing prescription is a huge expense that you don't need to do. You can get better quality commercial food in the pet stores. - have you looked at binky's food chart yet?

You can return the prescription food for a refund, just tell the vet the cat stopped eating it.

Also as you are learning dry food is not what you want to feed. For more info on the reasons - check out dr lisa's site. www.catinfo.org.

That being said if you need to use dry and I get it, Maui ate only dry and I had to teach her to eat wet. Then buy a better quality dry such as wellness core - which is lower carb than dm.

You could also try raw food and there are many commerical ones out there that are good. Your cats may find they like it. There ione of the foods I use that my cats love is stella and chewy's freeze dried cat food. Petfooddirect.com now sells it and it can be served wet or dry. My cats prefer it dry (I think for the crunch factor). But it is a raw food and better quality.

There are some others, just blanking on the names at the moment.

But you have a lot of options much better than pricey prescription food.
 
First thought while I was reading about your visit with Junior, great great great that your vet is ok and supportive with home testing...mine was not and if I had not found this place, she would not be with me today!
Bean dropped sooo much after fully converting to dry, could not believe it. I have (had) 3 girls that did nothing but dry their whole lives... it was a bit of a chore to transition, but not tooo bad. I did have to watch how fast Bean ate wet at first as she would not keep it down if eaten too fast.
I think you will be amazed how much Junior will drop once the dry is gone.
Will you have time to start home testing before boarding? Just dont forget those carb free treats....makes the pokey poke time better.
Glad your visit went well and btw...crying is total acceptable!
 
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"
 
Look for freeze-dried chicken or fish. The former may be found in larger pieces in the dog treat aisle, then broken up into smaller pieces to use as treats.
 
You can also make your own low carb treats...simply boil up some chicken breast, dice them up into bite size pieces and stick in an air tight container. I will wait until chicken goes on sale buy up some, boil and freeze what I'm not going to use up in a couple of days. Then when the treat bag starts getting low pull some more out of the freezer to thaw.

Another trick here is when Turkeys go on sale like right after the holidays, I buy several, cook those and then pull the meat off the bone and do the same as with the chicken. Dice up meat, freeze and defrost as needed...One good sized turkey can make a ton of bite-size kitty treats.

If you have a dehydrator you can use that as well to make your own treats, again just freeze what you aren't going to use up in a couple of days.

Mel, Maxwell, Musette & The Fur Gang
 
I normally use Beefeaters freeze dried chicken or salmon cat treats--you can find them in the cat treat section at Petsmart. I recently bought some of these to try out with Bandit, and he loves the duck: http://www.stellaandchewys.com/dog-kisses.php. I know they say dog treats, but they're 100% freeze dried meat so cats can eat them, too. There's a Where to buy link on their page, or you can get them on Amazon. I also found these at my local pet food store, which I think I'm gonna try out with Bandit next.

Here's a list of low carb treats: http://felinediabetes.com/FDMB/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=9172
 
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
 
Now that you've joined the vampire club (and good on you for successful home testing! Woot!) you might want to set up a spreadsheet and attach it to your signature so everyone can peek at it when you want some help. :-D

Here's the link for help. :smile:
 
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
 
Switching foods should be fine because you are testing and can keep track of his numbers.

The Spreadsheet is tricky. If you need help, just ask.
 
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